Tell me about iPods for a tween

[bjscheel]

My 12yo has some money saved up and is thinking about an ipod. She doesn't listen to music a lot, but that may be because she just has a couple of Taylor Swift CDs and a personal CD player that doesn't work well. She could put them in the regular player but doesn't often.

So I see Shuffles are in the $45 range, that's great, but of course she is lured in by the Touch. DH and her are both thinking back to when we bought Game Boy instead of DS to save money and ended up with a DS the next year because they are so much better.

What kind do your tweens have and what do you recommend?

How do you put music on them and what does that cost?

 

[mjkacmom]

Both ds12 and dd10 have ipod touches, as do their friends. They use them to play games more than for music.

 

[Mom of 3 Princesses]

Nanos.

My oldest teen runs and the Touch is a pain to haul, so the nano is the perfect size, She does not need it for Games, as she can do that on her phone, but typically, has no use for it.

My tween has a nano as well. She wants a touch, but for her uses, she does not need one.

To put on your already owned music=0.00
To buy from Itunes, it is is 1.29 for the newer things (so you can have unlimited sharing on unlimited devices) or .99 for the older music (you can only share and copy 5X's)

 

[stsomewhere]

My kids 10 and 12 both have ipod touch. They use them all the time. a DS is no longer cool.

 

[ukwildcat]

Unless she is looking for maximum portability, go with the iPod touch.

 

[jme829]

My dd just turned 12 last week. WE got her a refurbished Ipod touch (8gb, 3rd generation) right from Apple.com for $150 and free shipping. SHe had wanted an older Nano, but since the refurb touch was the same price as the original price of the nano we went that route instead.

She LOVES it. She can watch movies, listen to her music, lots of apps (free ones) .

Since it is from apple directly, it comes with the full warranty of a brand new one.

If you go into the apple store, tab down to refurbs , they also have nanos and other ipods on there.

 

[disneydreamingdebby]

DDs (both 9) have iPod touches. They use them for games, camera, video camera, music, etc. They play words with friends and math facts games, so I love that it offers educational apps too. (they use the timer feature to do their vocabulary sort too.) Neither is very into music, but will be eventually. I figured it was a better option than a DS or other handheld game. I also figured it would be great bc they can watch movies while traveling.

They do make arm bands for them for runners.

 

[melmar136]

My DD (11) has an iPod Touch and LOVES it. She uses it for music, games, goes on the web with wifi.
We even plug it in when in the car and play music.

 

[Mom of 3 Princesses]

DDs (both 9) have iPod touches. They use them for games, camera, video camera, music, etc. They play words with friends and math facts games, so I love that it offers educational apps too. (they use the timer feature to do their vocabulary sort too.) Neither is very into music, but will be eventually. I figured it was a better option than a DS or other handheld game. I also figured it would be great bc they can watch movies while traveling.

They do make arm bands for them for runners.

As I am sure this was about running and my daughter, Yes, they do, but since she is a runner, the width of her bicep is comparable to that of the touch, so it is not necessarily lightweight or convienent.

I think the difference I see, if that my children has Nooks to read on, a TV to watch TV and movies, and when traveling, they play games on the Laptops.. so we just didn't see a need for the touch.

 

[scottmel]

My mom bought DD12 an ipod nano when she was 11 and sadly this went all but unused. DD saved and bought herself the Ipod touch end of last year and LOVES it. She does the games on it and has gotten into music lately. She loves it soooo much she sold her DS and all associated games with the DS b/c she told me DS games were too expensive and her ipod apps were 99 cents...She LOVES the touch....

 

[nmmom95]

I would definitely go with the iPod Touch. As pp's have said, it does much more than play music. My DS13 and DS7 both have them and they are great. That was all they brought for a 12 hour drive to Hilton Head, SC and they were entertained the entire time. They download Tv shows to the Touch, as well.

 

[disneylovin24]

I got my first ipod at 11 and I got a mini. That was awesome as a first ipod, but sadly they are not made anymore. So I would say Nano would be a good starter i-pod.

But, you know your daughter the best and you should think about whether or not you think she can handle the touch. The touch is definetly more high tech so is she good with technology? And it also can break easier (im almost 17 and I know plenty of people my age and older who have cracked screens on their's), so can she handle having the easy to break screen?

 

[HannaBelle]

As a family, we have had shuffles, nanos and itouches. (DH and I now have iphones.) I would highly recommend the itouch. It is much for versatile and has more applications, but it will have the ability to access the internet at any hot spot.

 

[bjscheel]

Thanks for the opinions. She would be alright with the technology and being careful. I do wonder if we need another gadget! She just got a cell phone this winter, has a DS and Gameboy. We have a DVD player in the van, couple of laptops at home.

It will be her own money at least!

We have a bid on one on eBay tonight, if that doesn't work I think we will go the refurbished through Apple idea.

Of course now DD9 wants one, but she doesn't have enough money...

 

[mdsoccermom]

My 9 and 12 year olds both have iTouches and love them! Best purchases ever. They listen to some music, but use them mostly for games and videos.

 

[Kimberle]

My 12 yo has a touch. All of her peers have touches as well. We bought her a nano, but she "outgrew" that in a year.

 

[dimimi]

Every tween we know (including ours) has a touch. They use it mostly for games. If you purchase it directly from apple, they will engrave your name and phone number on it. We do make a big deal about being CAREFUL when you bring it places. The kids forget it is expensive!

 

[HonnyDipp]

for the house, I have an iPad and the first gen. iPod touch. My DD16 has my old 1st gen Nano, I put it up when I upgraded to the classic 160, so it was sitting in a drawer collecting dust, she has been using it for almost a year now. My DS13 got the 2nd gen iPod shuffle for Xmas. I LOVE our iPods. Haven't bought an acutal CD in over 2 years!

 

[Tinkerbelle's Mom]

I got my dd (10) an ipod touch for christmas (the latest generation). At first it did not get much use but lately it has been used all the time.

I am so glad I went with the most recent generation. She had a slumber party for her 10th bday this weekend and the kids used it to take tons of pictures and to make vidoes! How awesome and cute they were. What memories we now have for years to come!

My dd does like music but uses it more for games and videos.

 

[s____!]

Shuffles are awful. The iPod Touch is good if you want to play games. The Nano is good for just music. I have that and I'm very happy with it.

The older generation nanos hold about 1000 songs.