ipod?
 

hey i'm not really sure if this is right forum to be in, but it's my best bet...
i think i want an ipod. do i? as far as i know they're the best mp3 player available.
opinions on ipods and others?

I'll be celebrating the 2nd anniversary with my iPod in a couple months. It's a 1st Gen 5 gig model and has been solid as a rock.

Highest recommendation.

I have been looking into getting one also. Some people say to get the Nomad Zen because it is similar but much cheaper. I personally like the ipod much better and if you are a student or a teacher you get a discount. Apple's website is currently selling the 2nd gen 20gb model for $269 on their website but I have heard some people recieving dead ipods.

Costs too much for me, I'm sticking with my Archos.

You pay too much for pretty with Apple products, I'd love a powerbook, iBook, or iMac but for comparable money I can get one HELL of an AMD based system.

Hell, for the $800 that the iBook (3 year old technology) costs I can get a 2GhZ system with 512MB RAM and a 40GB HD . Or even more.

But back to the topic at hand, I'd go with a Nomad or Archos. For the cost of an iPod you could get an Archos media jukebox and watch movies as well as play music.

http://www.archos.com

There was a great rundown TechTV did recently.

http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/p...539831,00.html

One of the biggest factors is how much music you have. If you predict you'll have upwards of say 6,000-8,000 songs in a few years, I'd go with the 40GB iPod.

If you'll only have a fraction, I'd suggest the iPod's as long as you can afford it, otherwise, go with the Zen.

If you aren't looking at such a high number of songs and like listening to radio and such, the Philips HDD100 is a viable option.

Right now those are the only real smart options.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2003/20030528l.gif

http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2003/20030528l.gif

I've always been partial to a CD-MP3 player. I have a Rio Volt, and have always been very pleased with it. I have a bunch of CDs, as well as MP3s, so its useful there. And filling up a CD of MP3s goes a long way for me usually. I fill it up with a bunch of MP3s that suit my tastes for the present time, then maybe month or so later I burn another one with maybe a somewhat diffent set of songs, depending on my mood.

But that might just be me.

I was also comparing portable audio devices, and in the end, I decided to go with a Minidisc player. I choose because I don't need 10 or 20 gigs of music with me, and I like to be able to exchange MDs with friends..

If you really want an MP3 player, I'd go with the Zen. I think the Ipod is way overrated and too expensive. I also heard that the Zen has better sound quality.

Anyway, good luck with your decision!

Don't bother with the 3rd generation ipods. Instead, pick up a 2nd ipod generation for cheap.

If you want an iPod, wait at least until Thursday. There's some big announcement, probably connected to the iTunes Music Store for Windows, but there are expected to be other announcements as well. There might be some cool package deal, you never know.

got an 10gb old version ...
best buy i've done in my life !

go for it !

I absolutely love mine. I can carry all of my music with me. I use it almost every day.

Definitely expensive, though. I was given mine as a graduation gift... Im not sure I would have bought it otherwise (probably though :D).

The reason I chose the iPod over the Zen or anything else was size. You can't really fit any of the other players in your pocket quite like you can the iPod. Im convinced thats one of the reasons I use it so much.

I started with the original 5GB and just upgraded to a 30GB a few weeks ago, and love it. Best thing i ever got myself.

I have a 2G 10 GB ipod an I love it. However, the ipod is missing a few things considering how much they charge for it. If I had to get something other than an ipod I would get an iriver http://www.techtv.com/freshgear/prod...520453,00.html It has a built in radio and allows for inline recording. The only bad thing about the iriver is its meager capacity at 256 MB for $200. If you invest another $100 you can get a 10 GB ipod if size is a primary consideration.

I've got a 10gig.. not sure if its first or second G. But it was before the new look. Anyway I absolutely love it. Personally I think its the best Looking mp3 player out there(Thats kind of important to me=P... and its definately a quality product. Perfect size. They just kick ass.

It has been a while, but I thought I read somewhere that it was possible to get an ipod to record live audio, using the headphone output as a microphone input. Is this true? That would really push me over the edge and make me buy one! From what I recall, it was not a standard feature. It had something to do with the test function... I don't know. Please advise on this!

i prefer my ipod comapred to mp3 "discmen". I hate having to carry all my mp3s on cd-r in my car. i only have 18 GBs of music, but carrying it all on cd-r sucks. I also was hesitant to spend a large wad on the damn thing, so I got it from DELL.COM. they had a special price and 2 stackable coupons.
here are a few links to HOT DEAL SITES.

http://www.spoofee.com
http://www.techbargains.com
http://www.slickdeals.net
http://forums.anandtech.com/categories.cfm?catid=40
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/categories.cfm?catid=18
http://www.hardforum.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=28

good luck and happy hunting.

I dunno, it's a bit bigger, but I have never regretted for a second buying my Zen. So much better sound quality, no conflicts with the PC, and hard drive upgradable¨....

It was true with the first release (which had firmware 2.0), and you had to access the debugging features to get to it. This ability was removed with 2.0.1. There is an Apple event scheduled for Thursday, and recording is rumored to be a software/add on upgrade at that time.

big thanks to everyone for your input and advice.
BLISTEX - i should have known to check penny arcade. thanks. :)

MOSKIE - i too have a rio volt, i've been using it for a couple years now, even as my car's cd player. using the remote it gets the job done pretty well for when i'm walking around campus, but it's too big just to slip in the pocket, i need a backpack for it. but i see where you're coming from. thanks for the advice.

JIMMY 4 - that techtv rundown was great. thanks.

i gotta say, right now i think i'm looking a lot harder at the competition, namely the zen and rio products, and i think i'll save some money!

thanks everyone again.

I wouldnt want to let you overlook the good features of the Ipod, that just arent matched by the zen and alternatives.
The Ipod itself is stylish, having won the TechTV award for best Gift, It is a great tool. No other mp3 player has a navigation system like the Ipod's touch wheel. No other Mp3 player has an intuitive interface as the Ipods. your Ipod screen is formatted with excellent brightness and organization. It really is a joy to use, Slim, Lightweight. Excellent. Worth it. Yes. Good. Ill. Stop. Now.

This point needs to be fleshed out. The scroll wheel is speed-sensitive; I can scroll through 3000 songs with only 3 or 4 spins, if I am moving quickly. Holding down a button to go up or down doesn't compare.

I have an Mp3 CD player because thats what I also have in my car. I will buy an iPod when apple makes an adaptor to have a soild connection into a car stereo.

There are countless ways of doing this. It really depends on the car stereo end; the iPod or other mp3 player should all work the same for this. Unless I'm missing something?

Well another plus to having an iPod is you make a lot of new friends! Whenever i pull mine out after class or something a bunch of people always wonder over and ask to see it or listen to it, so if you want the attention grabbing MP3 player get the ipod :)

What about the battery? I heard if the battery goes the iPod is shot--you have to send it back to Apple for replacement. Has anyone experienced battery failure?

The battery seems to be remarkably stable. I've seen a very few scattered reports of battery problems but none out of warranty. Note this is not to say it's never happened but just that I've never heard of it (and I frequent a lot of Mac forums).

As I said early on, my iPod is 2 years old on Dec 1st and I listen to it pretty much all day, every day at work and have since I got it. When it was new I timed the battery at 10 hours. I'm quite sure it still does 8 hours easy but haven't run it all the way down in a long time.

Having said all that, if the battery does die, you're going to have to cast about to find a replacement. I don't think you'd have to send it to Apple. The iPod isn't that hard to take apart and the battery is right on top when you pop the back off.

I've had my iPod's battery run all the way down to where you cant even turn it on or anything anymore but it still works fine. Just plugged in the cord and let it charge up and it was just like new!

Hopefully someone in the know will still read this thread:

I have a $150 gift certificate to Amazon.com which I hope to put toward a new iPod. Unfortunately, this expires in 6 months or so. Will a new iPod come out in the next 6 months, or should I just buy my toy now?

If you just want something to carry a lot of music while jogging or biking or something, I think I'd go with the Iriver. Since it's memory based, it has no moving parts, and therefore is tougher than the IPod and less likely to become a paperweight if you drop it too many times. The built in radio tuner is nice too. If 17 straight hours of music just isn't enough for you then get the IPoD.

No one knows, but the Mac Rumors Buyer's Guide is a good place to keep track. At present:
So, they think it'll be a while. If you waited 6 months, there would likely be a new model. However, I think they'll be sticking with the current design for a while, so the accessories for the 3G's will still be good.

There is always something better coming, but if you always wait, you will never have anything.

I have been checking out the new Nomad Zen Xtra. It looks to be the same as the Zen NX, except it has a bigger and more illuminated navigation screen. It also has a removable battery so you can have a backup. This apeals to me for long travel situations. They probably all do this, but you can also use it for storing any other files. One cool feature I saw on a diiferent player that has been made by Samsung, in colaboration with Napster, has the ability to broadcast in FM. That way you can play all of your tunes on your car stereo or any other radio.

I want a Nomad Zen 60 gig mp3 player. hell ya. or an iPod 30 gig but they are about the same price i think.

I wish to formally retract this statement fully. Since the time that I made this post, I have bought myself an Iriver IHP-120, a 20GB multi-codec jukebox with fm tuner and voice recorder. I believe that this mp3 player is the best without a doubt. The player itself acts as a usb2.0 portable harddrive, saving your file structure and music or anything else. The interface is extremely intuitive, and it comes with a remote that has a 1 inch lcd on it for viewing song titles and information. its big enough to fully operate the device with every function from the remote. battery life is amazing at 16 play hours! to top it all off, it can be found for 50 dollars less then the 20 gig ipod. it even comes with a stylish leather protective case.

of course, your gonna need to purchase a good pair of headphones or use some of your own because the included earbuds dont do justice to the iriver.

I dont think i could have gotten a player that suits me better than this one.

Well most decks you can get an adapter to use the CD Changer in to a left and right rca hookups....then you would just need to buy a 1/8" stereo to left/right rca plug cable for it to work....

I'm very very very happy with my Archos Studio 20. I'm completely sold on the concept of a disc-based player; taking my entire CD collection to the gym is just fantastic.

If I didn't own one and was chosing from the current products? I don't know what I'd do. Probably go with an iPod.

http://ipodsdirtysecret.com/

just something to consider :)

I would highly recommend the new Rio Karma and the Nomad Jukebox Zen over the iPod. For me, the Karma and Zen have better features, and are cheaper. Go around and do some research before you buy, don't trust tv commercials or secondhand info. For some, the iPod is a better fit, but I found the Karma and Zen to cater to my needs much much better.

I would purchase an iPod, but the 40 GB model just isn't enough space for my mp3s. The Zen on the other hand has a 60 GB model.......that'll do the trick. And it's considerably cheaper than the 40 GB iPod, with 20 extra GB of space.

What they fail to tell you is that those people used their iPod about 2-3 times more than the average person. The iPod battery is rated to 500 recharges. Mine is recharged once, twice a week. At that rate, mine should last something like 5-10 years. The guys on that site used their iPods non-stop, recharging it everyday. Any rechargeable battery used that often will die.

None of that tomfoolery with the battery should base your decision on whether you get one or not. They can be replaced now, whether by Apple, or by buying your own battery and installing it yourself. And yeah, recharging it every day will probably weaken the life.

ipodsdirtysecret is a very overrated site that presents a biased picture of an existing but very minor issue with a limited number of iPods.

i can highly reccomend the iPod, i have a 3rd generation 20GB one, and with firewire hookup to my PC, it works beautifully.
I've heard good things about the Zen, but havent had a chance to use one myself yet, but the iPod is smaller, lighter and damn, that touchwheel might just be a gimmick but it works SO well.

well, i bought a 3rd Generation 10gig iPod second-hand in Tokyo.

it cost me $US250... which i think is a pretty good deal.

everything works fine, and i'm now coming to the conclusion that this is the greatest toy i've ever purchased.

highly recommended.

I was given a 3g 10gb iPod for Christmas. I love it. It is so elegantly desgined, its a joy to use.

You can replace the battery yourself, if you wish:
http://www.ipodbattery.com/

A great site devoted to iPods:
http://ipodlounge.com/index.php

I recently bought a Exo2 case by Lajo, very nice
http://www.lajo.biz

Also upgraded to the new iPod in-the-ear headphones from Apple, like those much better than the buds.
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPL...nMore=M9394G/A

I travel my car a lot. Its nice to have dozens of CDs with me, stored in my iPod, For now I use a cassette adapter. But will look at some sort of direct connect after I trade cars in a month or two. My son was able to pick up an add-on connection to his Kenwood stereo. There are several methods to feed the signal from the iPod directly into you car stereo. Do a google and you'll see, depending on the stereo you have, many choices. Check the iPodlounge, also.

I had an IPOD, I sold it. I use a cheap rca Kazoo now. It doesnt hold near what an Ipod will but It sounds so much better. I too went on the net trying to decicde what to get and read many posts and articles. The bottom line on a Ipod for me was the sound quality is very poor. I bought 3 different types of headphones and still it was not good. If you dont believe me, you will when you hear one. It is a very cool device. It's easy to use and its small and cute. You'll love it until you llisten to it.

ive never had an issue with sound quality personally....

Craven - Have you considered an FM transmitter? seems easier and more flexible than a direct connection. I dont have one, but a friend does and loves it.

No I have not. From what I've read at iPodlounge, some work much better than others. I'll check into this closer once I trade cars in a couple of months.

I just bought the Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra (40 gig) for only $300 online. It's a little bigger than an ipod, but much cheaper and has virtually all the same features. The front cover easily snaps off and the battery sits underneath. This is a real nice feature in case you ever need to replace the battery. The navigation system may not be as easy as the ipod, but I have no complaints at all.

want one of these. too buku!

I have an iRiver iHP-140. It's definitely as overpriced as the iPod, but there are some features it has that the iPod does not. Btw.. I'm not flaming the iPod or anything because I love its design and the scrollwheel. The iRiver has 16 hrs of batt. time, which is 2x that of the iPod. It also has built-in inline recording to mp3, great for recording lectures. It has a remote with an LCD screen, something that iPod does not. Then it has an FM tuner and support for .ogg files. If you decide not to get an iPod, I recommend that you look into the iRiver iHP series. Good luck!

I've heard somewhere that the iPod has a battery life of 8 months (at least in some cases).

I'm all for buying the ipod. I've had a 1st gen since it came out and loved it/still use it. The auto playlist syncing feature rules and I'm ok with how much I spent on it.

me too! i've had mine forever, i would recomend apple care... if you spend that much, a little more helps for piece of mind

I have heard under normal use it is about a year, which isn't too bad. A year of constant use will make it so it just doesnt hold as much of a charge. It's not like it is dead dead. Just doesnt work as good. Regardless for around $50 it all gets fixed.
I love my 3G 15gig, hasn't given me any problems.

00

iPods are a thing of beauty, simple as that

hahahaha that joke is grat, ,and about the ipod yeah if i had the money i would buy one but since i dont i wont :P

I got an ipod mini not too long ago and I love it. It's tiny, it weighs next to nothing, it's pink, and it's *shiny*, the interface is nice, and I just adore it overall. The batteries are better on the mini's, but they don't hold as much music. I haven't found enough music to fill up 1/5 of it yet, so that is fine with me. I haven't found anything about it that I don't love. Itunes is a very convenient music program to use, with or without an ipod.
The warranty is really good for regular Ipods, too. A friend of mine just dropped hers while running, broke the screen, and they just gave her a new one.

Where'd we be without Penny Arcade

A few months back I decided I was gonna buy an iPod soon, but then BoCo bought one and told me what a flaming pile of shit it is. And I hate the fact you can't change the battery. Apple is fucking stupid, and I won't waste my money on anything they make. I just ordered a Nomad Zen Xtra 30giger for $260, shipping included. I should have it by Wednesday or Thursday this week.

sure you can change the battery...maybe not in the airport when it runs out of juice... (I have a RioS50 for that reason AA is available everywhere)

http://ipodbattery.com/

I got a question, could I play the 4000 mp3's I've ripped to my hard drive on an iPod, or would I have to re-rip everything in AAC?

i just dragged them into iTunes

Yeah, I know, but it just looks like a pain in the ass to change that bitch in an iPod.

http://www.ipodbattery.com/slimipodinstall.htm

I'll bet many people have fucked up their over-priced iPods doing that themselves. It's a completely stupid design.

I got my Nomad today, and it's the greatest thing of all time. No way in hell an iPod is better. Plus, I can change the battery in about 5 seconds and don't have to worry about fucking it up. Not to mention it's cheaper. :)

yes it'll play mp3,wav,AAC,and a couple of others.
i'm getting a 15 gb tomorrow.

I'm thinking about getting an iPod myself. Is 10gb the smallest you can get? If so, how many songs does it hold?

I haven't done much research on this just yet. I'm hoping to get a bit of money for my birthday to put towards a purchase ;)

My 10gb iPod has a total capacity of 9.2gb. I have 1,265 songs in it that use all but 1.8gb. All the songs are ripped at 192. I'll have to look at iTunes (on my other PC) to see how many days of continuous music that is, something like 4 days I think.

I think the 10gb has been replaced by the 15gb unit.

iPod Mini 4gb, $250, for $300 you can get at 15gb which is the current smallest of the ipods

http://www.apple.com/ipod/specs.html

Yikes. I doubt I'll be gettin that kinda cash for my birthday!

the Karma has been on my shortlist of 'things I want but do not really NEED' for sometime. Seriously thought of buying one with part of tax return but will likely spend it on current bills instead.
two things that appeal to me:
0) better support - FLAC/Ogg-Vorbis/other formats I never have used or stopped using. My preferred lossy format for my webpage and few CD rips (<90% of my source material is 78/45/33 vinyls) is .MP4 but Ogg-Vorbis is higher on my list portable preference.
1) nice design