Looking for an IPOD, what do you recommend?

["Turbo-T"]

Well first off I am wanting to get an IPOD to put all of my music. But I am not sure what to get. I am wanting something to put 1000 + songs on to. Wasn't really looking for one that can hold videos but I wouldn't mind one.

Mainly I just want one format to put music onto, to listen to in the car, or to take with me when I run.

My wife found one that holds 2000 songs, 8 hrs. of video, 7k of photos. It's an 8 GB nano 4G with value bundle travel groove accessory kit, for $159.88 at Wal Mart.

Best Buy sells the same thing for $149.99 but w/o the kit.

The other thing is I don't know if an IPOD is an IPOD regardless of where it's sold....or if they make a "poor man's" version that only Wal Mart sells while Best Buy sells the "better than poor mans" one....if you know what I mean.

I dunno....do any of you have IPODs? Which do you own, and how do you like it? And where did you get it?

What would you recommend?

Also can I take some of my CD's I already have and put those songs on the IPOD?

Thanks.

 

[disco stu]

I got an 80 gig classic refurbished significantly cheaper from hastings. It looked like a new unit. I only have 8.3 gigs of music on it, 6 days of continuous music. So, as you can see there is plenty of room left. I just put it on random and let it go most of the time. I will never mess with CD's again. The best thing since sliced bread. And yes, you can take all your CD's and music library and put them directly in your Itunes.

 

[WeAreVenom]

An Ipod is the same wherever you go and will usually be priced the same. All of the sales are monitored by Apple.

You can't accurately judge an mp3 player by the amount of songs it says it will hold because it really depends on the QUALITY of the songs. If for instance you have a 30gig player it may be able to hold 500,000 songs of low quality (ie. 26kps). You can take that same player and only get 5,000 songs of CD quality audio (ie. 320kps).

The quality is all determined by you and the program that you use to "rip" music from your CDs. So, the real question you have to ask yourself is, "How good do I want my portable music collection to sound?" Disregard the numbers in my example above because I was exaggeratting a bit and didn't do the math, but the point is still the same. Better quality comes at the sacrifice of space.

I personally despise Ipods because of the terrible software they come with and the fact that you pay for the name. I have a small refurbished Sansa 8gig player that can hold around 700 songs of awesome quality and I only paid $60. If you want something new and with more storage and video play-back I highly suggest looking into Creative brand mp3 players. You'll get 10x the features for the same money you'd spend on an Ipod.

 

[disco stu]

I like the software and the way the IPOD controls work. It's one of the only computor devices I have that always works the way it should. And nearly all devices that are designed to dock an MP3 player are designed to dock the IPOD. Being able to control it through my stereo is the way to go.

I wish I had this before I got 500 cd's stolen, most are hard/impossible to replace. I'd still have them all.

 

["Turbo-T"]

An Ipod is the same wherever you go and will usually be priced the same. All of the sales are monitored by Apple.

You can't accurately judge an mp3 player by the amount of songs it says it will hold because it really depends on the QUALITY of the songs. If for instance you have a 30gig player it may be able to hold 500,000 songs of low quality (ie. 26kps). You can take that same player and only get 5,000 songs of CD quality audio (ie. 320kps).

The quality is all determined by you and the program that you use to "rip" music from your CDs. So, the real question you have to ask yourself is, "How good do I want my portable music collection to sound?" Disregard the numbers in my example above because I was exaggeratting a bit and didn't do the math, but the point is still the same. Better quality comes at the sacrifice of space.

I personally despise Ipods because of the terrible software they come with and the fact that you pay for the name. I have a small refurbished Sansa 8gig player that can hold around 700 songs of awesome quality and I only paid $60. If you want something new and with more storage and video play-back I highly suggest looking into Creative brand mp3 players. You'll get 10x the features for the same money you'd spend on an Ipod.

What's the diff between an IPOD and an MP3?

Where would you suggest I get one?

I do want quality sound. If I could get something that would hold...we'll say 1500 quality sounding songs I'd be happy.

 

[jcawley3]

mp3 is a format.... Ipod is the player that plays the mp3.....get the Ipod...stay away from junk players.....I have an older 30gig unit Its nice but I reallt don't need that much room...I use my GF's nano 4g most of the time...

If you want to have a wireless internet connection get the ipod touch! very nice stores plenty of music and you can get online anywhere you see a wifi

 

[DailyDrifter]

I have an older nano. I have a jack that plugs into my head-unit and it sounds great, I have about 400 songs on it and it also half way full. Its nice and small so you can put it in your pocket and you dont even know its there

 

[lnkncontiverto]

If you do decide to get an Apple I-pod, you can actually buy a refurbished unit directly from Apple's website. These typically run 20% less $$ than new, and they still have a 1 year ltd warranty and its free shipping. The way to go IMHO.

I would suggest you head on down to your local big box electronics retailer and play with all the gadgets they have out to see which interface you perfer. Some hate the Apple I-pods, some love 'em. Sound quality isn't typically dependant on the player- most are verbatim.

Check here, I would personally go with the '80GB classic':

Refurbished iPod - Apple Store (U.S.)

Hope this helps

 

[WeAreVenom]

I like the software and the way the IPOD controls work. It's one of the only computor devices I have that always works the way it should. And nearly all devices that are designed to dock an MP3 player are designed to dock the IPOD. Being able to control it through my stereo is the way to go.

You like iTunes? Interesting. Most people hate the fact that you have to convert mp3s to the aac format but they deal with it because Ipods are cool and everyone has one. And the controls are almost a standard now for most players. What do you mean by "dock"? Are you referring to a docking station? If so, then what you said is a little off. Ipod docking stations only dock Ipods, nothing else. Or are you referring to the ability to hook it up to a stereo via the headphone jack? If so, then yes, that's true but I can do that with my Discman as well. And how do you plug it into your stereo? Is it with the headphone output and into an AUX input? Or with a proprietary Ipod cord that will only connect to the Ipod and nothing else?

I'm not trying to start an anti-Ipod thread or deviate from the OPs question, I'm just trying to state that there are other players out there and that the Ipod is mostly hype.

OP, do you ever play CDs on your computer? Can you drag/drop files? If the answer is yes then I think it would be best to stay away from iTunes. I've never met a single person that hasn't encountered problems when transferring songs onto their Ipod while using the program. However, you will probably be OK with it and might be completely satisfied with an Ipod. I'm just trying to help you out by letting you know that there are MANY more choices out there than Apple products and you should do some research before you decide.:smile:

Where would you suggest I get one? I do want quality sound. If I could get something that would hold...we'll say 1500 quality sounding songs I'd be happy.

I would check out Amazon and read as many reviews as you can. If you like quality sound then try to find out which ones have built in equalizers and come with good headphones.

 

[JayC]

Get the iPod Touch.. its so much more than a music player. It will play music and videos, download Podcasts, etc like all the other iPods and also surf the web wirelessly, check your email, do mapping, stocks, weather, etc. You can purchase games from iTunes that use the accelerometer and are pretty kick ass, you can instant message from it, etc. Its like a little mini PC.

 

[klrv6]

I personally despise Ipods because of the terrible software they come with and the fact that you pay for the name. I have a small refurbished Sansa 8gig player that can hold around 700 songs of awesome quality and I only paid $60. If you want something new and with more storage and video play-back I highly suggest looking into Creative brand mp3 players. You'll get 10x the features for the same money you'd spend on an Ipod.

Glad I'm not the only one who avoids the ipod. Eats up twice the space on your local computer just because apple insists on running their proprietary file format. I like ones that double as a storage device for any type of file. You can carry all your documents and portable apps around on the things and just plug them in and run the app. Good stuff.

 

[JayC]

Glad I'm not the only one who avoids the ipod. Eats up twice the space on your local computer just because apple insists on running their proprietary file format. I like ones that double as a storage device for any type of file. You can carry all your documents and portable apps around on the things and just plug them in and run the app. Good stuff.

There are plenty of 3rd party apps that sync just fine with ipods.

 

[klrv6]

There are plenty of 3rd party apps that sync just fine with ipods.

Can you just drag .mp3 files over to it as a drive on your computer and it will play them? That's what I need, no converting/importing needed. And file storage for most of the important portable apps I use daily.

 

[JayC]

MediaMonkey more or less does that. ImTOO Ipod Transfer does as well.

 

[WeAreVenom]

MediaMonkey more or less does that. ImTOO Ipod Transfer does as well.

So in order to make an Ipod like other cheaper players you have to download and use 3rd party software? Sounds silly.

 

[imjoesnuffy]

IPOD touch

My wife got me an iopd touch. By far the best media/music player i have ever had. I started out buying the cheaper mp3 players, then eventually got a nano. I can play games, surf the web, send emails, text messages, store thousands of pictures and thousands of songs, even store movies.

Think about what you will use it for. If you will just use it for the gym or running or listening to music in your car. I would go with an 80 gig nano or classic or something similar.

If you use it for something to pass the time when you get bored like I do, go with the touch.

As stated before you can convert you CDs easily into your library. There is lots of software out there to convert any music you download into files that will play on your ipod, so dont let that worry you either.