Which iPod should i buy?

[zjl56]

First step is to decide whether you want a hard drive player, or a flash player. A flash should be able to take more a beating if you plan to use it while biking or running; since it has no moving parts. While a hard drive player won't stand as much abuse as is likely to failed after being dropped badly.

 

[Abaddon]

http://tomshardware.co.uk/2006/04/04/who_designed_this_crap_uk/index.html

Buying an ipod officially makes you an idiot.

I payed £30 for a 512mb no-name mp3 player. One of my friends payed £70 for a 512mb ipod. Mine still works, his died within a few months of him buying it.

Whats the point of that link? Its just some moan by another nobodie over the net.... Ive had 3 mp3 players, jus cheap noonamers in the last to years - they suck batterys, and generally tikky-tak.

 

[Abaddon]

I generally will use it bmx'in to uni or as a jukebox in my car (using mp3 to tape thingy)

 

[Grisu]

well, if you use it druing sport, especially jogging, I'd advice to go for a flash model. they're usually more expensive for less capacity, but harddrives in general don't take too well to constant shocks

Personally, I'd still go with a creative product. I'm perfectly happy with mine and they bested the respective IPod model in most reviews I've seen so far (including concering battery life...)

 

[SupremeC]

Yes. I was looking at the refurbished iPod minis when deciding whether to get one of those or my current Creative Neeon and my friend, an unlucky Mini owner, told me the advertised 8 hour playback is on low volume and decreases over time. Neeon has lots of other factors to boot as well.

If you still want a Mini, the refurbished ones are still on sale on the Apple website. I tihnk they should be brand new, extra stock that Apple can't clear because they pulled it off the shelves.

 

[Neonanocyborgasm]

Ok, i give up- im going to go with the mainstream choice as it seems there simply isnt a cool underdog.

BUT

Im a student, so cash is tight.. so wanting to weigh up which version i should buy.

Mini? Nano? the original, or all the way to the latest brand spanker..

If you really intend to watch videos and have a photo album, get the iPod video. If you only intend to listening to audio tracks, even the Nano is sufficient. It is cheaper, smaller, yet has the same sound quality that all the other iPods have. Its only disadvantage is that it stores fewer tracks, but in my experience, it is damn near impossible to fill up even the Nano in your lifetime.

 

[El_Machinae]

Doesn't the nano only hold something like 16 hours of music? He'll have to update all the time.

The times that my unit has cut out while exercising has shown me that a flash drive would have been better. But I also use a lot while driving and walking - and for that the regular one is just a charm.

BTW: I'd never seen the word "future-proof" before.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

I checked Argos to see if they still have any £20 Zen Sleek Photos for £110. Apparantly they never sold them.

 

[BirraImperial]

I generally will use it bmx'in to uni or as a jukebox in my car (using mp3 to tape thingy)

In that case, maybe you should get a flash mp3 player. There are several models out there, their battery lasts longer than the iPod's and they are cheaper, but less capacity (up to 1gb, I think), but some models even have radio (iPods don't have that I think), and they can be used to store important files for your courses at the uni.

 

[Neonanocyborgasm]

Doesn't the nano only hold something like 16 hours of music? He'll have to update all the time.

The times that my unit has cut out while exercising has shown me that a flash drive would have been better. But I also use a lot while driving and walking - and for that the regular one is just a charm.

BTW: I'd never seen the word "future-proof" before.

Mine only froze once in the last 7 months, so I don't see the trouble. Anyway, it all depends on priorities. The Nano is pretty good but as you said, you can only hold so much music. I think it's the preferred iPod for those who don't have much money.

 

[Syterion]

I have a 6GB Rio Carbon (a company not mentioned in this thread so far, which surprised me). I don't exactly know of this company's reputation, but the Carbon recieved good reviews. It's got a good interface, I don't see Apple's scroll being more precise(Apple's might be easier, but the Carbon can scroll fast to exactly the thing you need). Also, excellent battery life (20 hours if you don't suck too much power by constantly changing options, which makes the screen bright and wastes power with the backlight.) The backlight, usefully, never goes on when in sunlight, a nice power saving feature. 6GB's is nice for its size for it too (it was released during the Mini era, and its plenty smaller and thinner than the Mini, not that much taller than the nano, but wider and a little thicker than the nano.). It also runs mp3PRO, which is a nice space saving measure(a format not really used anymore, but its twice as efficient as normal mp3). It's aesthetic qualities are nice too.

Ipods have a huge reputation of breaking quickly. I wouldn't recommend them.

 

[aneeshm]

My advice - don't get an iPod . Get something which can play mp3 , ogg , asf , wav , and wma . I'd recommend Cowon's iAudio G3 . One of the things I like about it is that it doesn't come with a battery that costs half the player does - this runs for 56 hours on a single AA size battery . That is a problem with the iPod - if the battery goes , you have to shell out big bucks for a replacement . Plus it has a built in microphone , and FM radio . It also is a flash memory based player . At its cheapest , it is 70 $ , and the most expensive is 140 $ .

If you want a hard-disk based one , then I can recommend the iAudio M3 . This one has the added advantage of playing FLAC format audio , along with all the others , and has a 20 GB / 40 GB hard disk .

Though it may not seem important to you , having the ability to play ogg is a great boon , considering that , when you want good-quality music , you want a format better than mp3 , which ogg is perfect for .

 

[ironduck]

Isn't it only ipods that can use the itunes network thingy? I thought that was part of the main point for buying an ipod, the great selection of music, but not having anything but an old discman and a walkman (kids, that's real tape!) I wouldn't know..

 

[Abaddon]

Ane - sounds great - but i actually want something with a built in battery..rather than having to buy new ones all the time

 

[aneeshm]

The disadvantage of a built-in battery is that you have to

a) Be very careful not to expose the player to extreme conditions , which ruin the battery , and
b) Pay big money for the battery if it ever happens to fail

If you don't want to keep buying batteries , then another option is buying rechargable AA batteries and buying a battery charger . I implore you to consider this option - this way , you never have to waste time recharging your batteries as you can always have one spare battery ready to be fit into the player , whereas with a built-in you have to charge it , which takes time . And the cost of getting a new battery is almost negligible if something bad happens to the battery in case they are replaceable , as they are in the case of the iAudio G3 .

The price of a 2 GB iPod is 200 $ . The cost of the comparable iAudio G3 2 GB player is 140 $ . The cost of the Toshiba AA and AAA battery recharger is around 19 $ including shipping . The cost of a pack of 24 rechargable batteries is around 25 $ .

Total cost of iPod : 200 $
Total cost of iAudio + Battery recharger + pack of 24 AA batteries : 184 $ .

Your choice .

And note that the hard-disk based model uses an in-built Li-ion battery , if that is what you want , but as you said that you were going jogging , it doesn't seem such a good choice .

Even if you choose to go with another vendor , make sure that it at least plays the ogg and wav formats - ogg is great for ripped music , much better than mp3 . And one of the the best benefits is that it is impossible to DRM something in ogg , as you can with mp3 . Plus , of course , ogg is a free software format .

 

[Sophie 378]

If you haven't got a mobile contract already, you could see if Carphone Warehouse or Phones4U or someone could do you an all-singing all-dancing mobile on a cheap contract. I've got a Nokia 6680 on a £5/month contract, and it does music, camera, etc. You can get higher-capacity memory cards fairly cheaply if you shop around: just work out the price per Mb. I've got five CDs worth of music and hundreds of photos and a few videos on my 500Mb card, and it's still going fine.

 

[Abaddon]

how did you get such a cheap contract?!? i didnt know they exhisted!

oh, an glad you've stopped cold turkeying CFC!

 

[Sophie 378]

I went into Phones4U and told them I wanted the cheapest piece of tat they could give me. Then I got sales-talked into this contract - they say they'll "buy me out" at the end of the 1-year £5/m bit so I don't have to pay the contracted £30/m for 6m! It's the 3 talk-and-text 500 contract, btw: you get a cool phone, 500m, 100t. There are a few restrictions on the numbers you can call for free, but it's anytime and pretty good for me.

Hehe, I'm glad too, it's fun here. I'm limiting myself to about half an hour per day, and only if I'm already going online.

 

[Abaddon]

*Abaddon is off to Phones4u tomorro*

I needed a new phone aswell....dont think i'll be able to hook it up to car though...?

 

[Sophie 378]

Dunno, tell them the list of must-have features, and they'll wheel out a selection for you. My personal advise would be not let yourself get steamrollered by a sales person, but come, listen, make notes, and go away and think them over for a while before parting with your hard-owned cash student loan!

The http://www.carphonewarehouse.com has a selector function you might want to have a play with first. Click Handset Only, under Mobile Phone shop, and it gives you a series of boxes to tick.