iPod advice, please

[Rogerb]

I am an iPod virgin
🙂
but am fed-up with hearing some of the tracks on CDs which contain others I really like.(Sanborn is a prime culprit, for me!)

I don't want anything particularly sophisticated... (like my mobile phone.... no cameras, etc!)......just want to be able to load and play, with reasonable quality, a selection of my favourites.

It's all that up- & downloading which is such a PITA and has previously deterred me!

Thanks

 

[philthd]

personally i cant stand ipods - and would recommend almost any other brand - unless youre a mac user in which case the compatibility makes life easier

sony have a good reputation for being very user friendly for the technically ungifted - though by default they use their own bizarre propriety file format which no other device can play so you have to watch that - my dad has one which sounds pretty good

creative do some very nice models and are very windows friendly and compatible with a whole load of software

personally i mostly use my phone (a sonyericsson walkman model) - but you seem to have ruled that out

 

[frankb]

If you can get one with a user-replaceable battery then do. The non-replaceable rechargeable ones have a limited recharge cycle and once its done you're left with a paperweight and need to go out and buy another MP3 player. (Est. 1 to 2 year life span for an Ipod Nano).

(Hint - From the manufacturers' point of view, this is a nice little earner. For ecomentalists this is an issue for the environment. For me, it's an unnecessary recurring expense and a downright flippin' liberty!)

I have an elderly 1Gb Creative Zen Nano Plus. Size of a lighter, reasonable sound quality, USB socket drag 'n' drop loading, FM radio, dictaphone, line record and takes 1x AAA battery. I got it for ?40 but I don't know if they're still available.

Good luck with whatever you get!

Frank

 

[Rogerb]

I only used 'iPod' as a generic name....what should it be? ..'mp3 players'?

Any advance on Creative? and where's a good place to buy..Amazon, ebay,???

 

[suethesax]

I love my iPod. I have quite an old model which can hold 40gb of music but if I was buying one now I would go for the nano. This should tell you all about them: http://www.apple.com/itunes/

I use it at home on a Bose docking station (although you can buy other docking stations), which charges the battery and plays through speakers. I find it easy (and compatible) with my PC. Just plugs in via USB and the software - iTunes is easy to use. If you set up an account with iTunes (UK - not USA) you can buy either albums or tracks quite reasonably. Store on PC and/or iPod. Software can either update iPod automatically or manually if you prefer.

I bought mine from John Lewis - same price as on the net!

 

[Saxlicker]

Most MP3 players are fine quality wise.

But,
ipod - itunes.
A winning combo!
assorted 'portable' play lists

OK so you probably aren't interested in video but other than that I would say click wheel (not shuffle models) gives you decent functionality.
probably not with out new user teething problems but worth it in the long run!

I'm with Sue!!

 

[Bobby G]

I've been considering this too, but the battery would have to be user-replaceable, and the capacity quite large to get loads of tunes on.

I believe there is also a device you can connect to your player that sends a radio signal to your car radio so you can use it in the car.

Cheers, Bob

 

[jambo]

ive just bought the new ipod nano for ?100. It's great!

 

[Saxlicker]

Bobby G wrote:
I believe there is also a device you can connect to your player that sends a radio signal to your car radio so you can use it in the car.

Cheers, Bob

Yes there are FM transmitters but alot of car 'head units' now take a direct plug in as well and the sound is superior this way...you lose a lot of frequencies on the FM transmitters as well as pick up interference...but they do a job.

BTW my ipod is 20 Gb and its currently half full at 2265 songs that according to itunes will take 39 days to listen to.
That should help put things in perspective!

 

[jadoube]

Roger,

I have a Sony. Perhaps not the cheapest MP3 player but pretty huge storage capacity.

I confess I chose it just to avoid having the ubiquitous iPod, and I felt its style & class was suited to a more mature user. (Mind you both my children have the same model and really rate it so what do I know?)

The associated software (undeservedly) used to have a poor reputation, but I find it better than iTunes. Sony does have a proprietary compression format but you don't have use it unless you want to cram a fraction more onto the device. It will store everything as standard MP3's if you wish. It will also read the proprietary iTunes format, should you already have downloaded using that in the past.

Excellent sound quality from the headphones that come bundled with the device. (A colleague refused to ever use MP3 players believing the speakers could never get close the quality of his hi-fi at home - until he heard the sony.)

Oh, and its easy to use.

Like any other MP3 player it will take time to load all your tracks (unless you already have them stored on your PC in which case it will do it automatically for you - just let it run overnight.

You can tell I think they're good. 😉 And no I'm not on commission.

John

 

[danmays]

Right.. Ipod advice... DON'T GET ONE! Mine broke about 2 months after the warranty ran out! You can't delete any of your music on the go you have to use Itunes to do everything in my opinion that's rubbish as the owner of the music you should be aloud to do whatever you want!

I have a creative Zen Vision M it's wonderful you can control all aspects of your music (although it doesn't have a slow down function, but none of the current MP3 players do) it's easy to add things from your computer via right clicking them.. You can also watch videos on it and the battery life is excellent compared to an ipod!

Apologies for the rant up the top!
Hope this is of some help
Dan

 

[bobk]

I have a 30G iPod which I got in the States nearly 3 years ago and is still going strong. My wife got a nano to fill exclusinvely with Bob Dylan stuff - it is still fine after 2 years. Staggeringly easy to use. I had a Sony MiniDisc thing a few years before that - staggeringly difficult to use. If I had to buy something now I know which sort it would be...

cheers,

Bob

ps I don't understand the business about not controlling your own music, although I don't have anything purchased as downloads - its all ripped from myCDs.

 

[stan_s_fan]

I have a few but my favourite is definitely the Sandisk Sansa e200. There are several models but I have the 8Gb version (e280)which also has a slot for removable 2Gb micro flash cards giving you 10 Gb. The battery is replaceable by removing 4 small screws in the back. I think the replacement battery even comes with 4 new screws and a screwdriver.

 

[Rogerb]

Thanks, all.... I am rather attracted to the Sandisk e280 with its 'replaceability/upgradability' features ....... I have heard/read many unattractive things about iPods, although there must, of course, be thousands of 'satisfied users' 🙂

Can anyone confirm whether you can access iTunes from the Sandisk?

 

[danmays]

The Sandisk will be windows media player because Itunes only syncs with an Ipod.. Personally i like windows media player better than Itunes as again you can control your music!

Have you downloaded tunes from itunes? If so you may have to downgrade itunes to version 4.0 and use jhymn to convert them to mp3! I had to do this when I gave up on itunes and ipods it's a hassle but at least you know your files will play on any media player once it's done.

Hope this helps
Dan

 

[Rogerb]

No I am a complete mp3 virgin 😱

I also like the look of the Zen M ...at twice the price, though!

 

[danmays]

Ah good! I'm glad to hear that.. For legal downloads I use Emusic it's great!

Let us know what you decide on both the sandisk and zen are great!

Dan

 

[spike]

Hi Roger, I realise that your decision is tending away from the iPod, but I would like to take the opportunity to add my name as one of the thousands of satisfied iPod and iTunes users, who incidently actually have complete control over their music.

I use the iTunes program extensively to archive and control pretty much all my musical data including that from CD's and any other digital source for that matter.

My iPod is an old nano with one GB and I use it all over the house, I can plug into the Office and Lounge HiFi s, the kitchen sink-Fi and both our car sound systems, but it gets most use on my daily dog walk.

I must admit the real purpose of this post is simply to say that most negative arguments for iPod and iTunes are to my mind somewhat innaccurate.

gruss - spike

 

[chris_j]

I put in a vote for the iPod and iTunes too.

2 weeks ago I downloaded a free program from www.thefilter.com that links in with iTunes. The point of the program (and how they make money) is that it anlayses your music taste, and suggests other music that you might like, (which if you buy from iTunes via their program, they get a commission)

But - it has a neat little utility in that if you choose a tune from your iTunes collection and click a button, the program will create a playlist from your own collection of songs that compliment the first one you chose

I mention this only in that Roger's initial post suggested he has CDs with some tracks he likes and some he doesn't. No one wants to flick around and just play single tracks from CDs. This works surprisingly well in playing complementary tracks from various CDs - much better than shuffle, particularly if you have talking books and classical music on your iPod......

Chris

 

[Rogerb]

Hmmm...you guys are making it difficult 😉
I'd heard such bad stories about iPods fragility, short life and customer service that I thought "Anything but Apple!"