That is the question......
Okay, well I almost broke down and purchased an iPod last night.............
But, I have been hesitant picking up any type of player, particularly iPod because of the over commercialism that seems to come with it. Plus, there are so many players on the market now and new ones coming out every day, there are just too many options.....................
So, does anyone have any advice? I assume there are a lot of people on here who own iPods or other players. What are some recommendations??
I have also been debating about getting an IPod lately.
I found these three topics that answered some of my questions.
Hope it helps:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.adelphia.net/news/read.php?ps=1015&id=13290285&_LT=HOME_LARSDCCLM_UNEWS">http://www.adelphia.net/news/read.php?p ... CCLM_UNEWS</a><!-- m -->
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://hipbase.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9164&highlight=gb">http://hipbase.com/forum/viewtopic.php? ... ghlight=gb</a><!-- m -->
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://hipbase.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8795&highlight=gb">http://hipbase.com/forum/viewtopic.php? ... ghlight=gb</a><!-- m -->
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://hipbase.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7317&highlight=gb">http://hipbase.com/forum/viewtopic.php? ... ghlight=gb</a><!-- m -->
Where do you buy your downloadable music, if you buy an ipod your music has to come from itunes. Apple doesnot let you download from other online music stores and put it on your ipod. So that would be my first question if I was buying an mp3 player.
JH
thehiprock Wrote:Where do you buy your downloadable music, if you buy an ipod your music has to come from itunes. Apple doesnot let you download from other online music stores and put it on your ipod. So that would be my first question if I was buying an mp3 player.
JH
but can't you convert any MP3 to iPod format and then transfer over??
You can put any music file from any online source on your iPod (or just about any music player) if you convert it. And not all downloaded files have to be converted. (iPods play a variety of standard formats - the issue with files downloaded from iTunes is the DRM (copy protection) not the file format.)
I've had an iPod for a long time, and really like it. If I were to buy a new one today, I'd buy the iPod Shuffle without hesitating. How often do you think you'll need more than a couple hundred songs at once? The price and size are unbeatable.
I don't have any interest in watching any sort of TV or movie on a 2.5" screen (regardless of brand as I know that some players have slightly larger screens); my HD TV and sofa have that service covered.
chris Wrote:If I were to buy a new one today, I'd buy the iPod Shuffle without hesitating. How often do you think you'll need more than a couple hundred songs at once? The price and size are unbeatable.
But can you cue up one specific song? Or are you at the mercy of the random playlist?
Shuffled or in order as per your playlist... so you have to know what order the songs are in, to jump right to it.
For me that's a not a concern, but I see your point, and raise you the iPod Mini.
The Horrible Esthete Wrote:chris Wrote:If I were to buy a new one today, I'd buy the iPod Shuffle without hesitating. How often do you think you'll need more than a couple hundred songs at once? The price and size are unbeatable.
But can you cue up one specific song? Or are you at the mercy of the random playlist?
You can have your music play in a pre-specified order (which you set in iTunes), or completely random. The shuffle's weakness is not being able to see a display of what track is playing, but that's not a big deal to me. The portability of it - being able to clip it to my jeans - can't be beat.
I've been through four iPods, and am currently using the 2nd generation shuffle 90% of the time, and my nano 10% of the time. As Chris pointed out, it's pretty rare that you need more than a couple of hundred songs at once (unless you do a lot of traveling, etc).
The key to getting the most out of any iPod is managing your playlists in iTunes. I've got 14,000+ tracks, or which about 5,000 are in heavy rotation. To get a new selection of tracks every time I dock my iPod(s) (which is every night) I set all of my playlists by "least recently played".
The one thing I will say is upgrade your earbuds - there are a ton of other options out there that make your music sound 100 times better than the stock earbuds. I'm currently using the V-Moda Vibes (<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.v-moda.com/collection/modaphones/vibe.aspx">http://www.v-moda.com/collection/modaphones/vibe.aspx</a><!-- m -->) - they are great.
Anyway, if it isn't obvious already my vote would be to get an iPod (shuffle or nano), but some other around here - like Scottitude - will tell you differently. Good luck with your decision!
I recommend the iPod for sure. I picked up a 30gb when I bought my iMac. I would have went with a nano, but they are only 4gb, and I wanted tyo have my entire library with me. They now have an 8gb nano, so I would go with that.
But, I wouldnt buy new. You can buy refurb. models from Apple, and I wouldnt have an issue going with one of them.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/canadastore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=32DAAC51&nclm=Certified">http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/W ... =Certified</a><!-- m -->
They have pretty much anything you want, just cheaper.
Also, if you know someone who is a student, you can get a 10% discount if you use there student id when checking out. Very much worth it too!
Good luck!
I have a question: what is the Zune like? Does anybody know? ( And please, don't give the Apple vs Microsoft argument...) I'm considering one for my next mp3 player (just for a change).
CNET gave it a good review:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://reviews.cnet.com/Zune_30GB_black/4505-6490_7-32068976.html">http://reviews.cnet.com/Zune_30GB_black ... 68976.html</a><!-- m -->
The review is by that guy who recently died of hypothermia in Oregon while trying to find help for his stranded family. A very sad story.
I was a little skeptical about jumping on the Ipod bandwagon, but about a year a go I decided to see what the hype was about and downloaded Itunes. I was sold pretty quickly - I just found it met my needs a lot better than any of the other media players I'd used (WMP, Winamp, Musicmatch, etc). That led me to getting a 30GB Ipod video last Christmas, and I've never had any complaints about it.
For the first half of this year I was commuting into work every day by train, so I actually made use of the video function quite a bit. Ripped episodes from my various TV DVD's to Ipod format and they made the 40 minute train ride a lot more enjoyable. Now that I live downtown and walk to work I don't have much use for the video, but I still like the 30GB storage. It's largely a convenience factor I suppose, I like that all my music is on there and I don't have to worry about changing it all the time. Also it makes for a quick and easy way to transfer large files between computers.
I say go for the iPod. I bought my first iPod a little over a year ago (60gig), and love it. iTunes isn't my favourite media player, but the store has a great selection, the videos look good on the player, I've transferred home videos & photos to it, and I keep adding new music every month.
A long way from the days of stuffing my knapsack with 6 or 7 cds for the day...lol
One of those threads was me-started.
I ended up going with the 30gb ipod, it has video although i don't use that function. It's great, i have had no problems with it.
But do yourself a favour and invest in a real pair of headphones.