Hi my son is begging me to buy him one of these:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...:X:SCO:GB:1123

Now, i'm a little wary of no name copies of popular electronics, and this seems to be a very cheap version of an i pod touch.

So before I give in and let him spend his birthday money on one, just wondered if anyone had any experience of them.

Many thanks!!

I'd steer clear, we have a similar one for my son and it's pretty rubbish. The screen is not very clear (most of those pictures are photoshop renderings, not actual pics of the screen), the sound is worse than my actual iTouch, which isn't great to start with, and the one we have is super picky about video codecs it likes. The touch screen is also fairly dire and nothing like a real Touch. The only thing I can say in it's favour is it is quite sturdy as he has had it since Christmas and it isn't broken yet, he's 6 and not generally very careful with things! I only paid £15 + pp for the 32gb one he has and it really isn't worth any more than that.

It depends what he wants to do with it. The most important thing to note is that it cannot install any apps, arguably the most important feature of the iPod touch. All it can really do is play music files (and listen to FM radio on that model), video files or display photos, with a few other odds and ends included that don't amount to anything useful.

Essentially although it looks a bit like an iPod touch, in reality it is just a cheap MP4 player with nothing like the flexibility of a real iTouch.

I can't find anything that has that 32G spec, maybe the seller is including a SD card? I found these reviews on Amazon of a device that looks identical.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Feastronics-...9390455&sr=1-2

I must admit the specs quoted look wrong to me, 2400 song audio for a 32gb is way out in my opinion!!

He largly wants it for music, so not being to add aps isn't a prob, and also it's a simple drag & drop interface so no software to be installed, but just not sure about it myself.

Many thanks for answers so far, any other opinions??

Cant you add a bit of money allowing him to get the real thing like a Nano?
Much more peace of mind and kudos with his friends.

High risk considering most 32GB clones lie about their capacity and run out at a few thousand mp3 songs!
2400 sings would be about 4GB (gigabyte) or 32Gb (gigabit) in capacity.

The seller doesn't allow refunds. I think that says it all.

For all we know this could be made in the same factory as a 'real' Nano, for the price I would get one for the lad. These clones/cheapo's are getting better and better and I picked up one of these two weeks ago to take camping with me, works great

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.39552
About £35 delivered. I'm thinking of getting a phone off them too, very good service from the company.

For a nano, a clone version might be ok, but the Touch clones are in no way comparable, and wouldn't fool many people. Someone mentioned capacity, and yes, it doesn't seem to match what it's stated as, and like I said, the touch interface is really not very good. My children have them (daughter has a shuffle clone which cost £5), but they are very small (4 and 6), and just wanted something to listen to in the car etc, and daughter has a mini speaker so she can dance to the music too. I don't expect either of them to last over a year, which is why I went for the cheap option, but they are in no way quality products.

The iTouch is also a cheap knock-off, my brother owns one, from a Japanese company called Pasen. The official Apple device is called the ipod touch.

ah, didn't know there was an actual knock off called that. mine's real one, it's just that I can very rarely be bothered to use the full name.

Bare in mind a lot of these rip-offs use fake memory. It may say 32GB, even when you plug it into the computer, but it is likely to just be a couple of gigs but coded as 32; try putting that much on it and it will fail.

Thanks everyone for your opinions, in the end we talked him out of it and he's now saving towards a proper ipod instead!!

theres zero point to buying a copy. the entire point of the touch is that it runs itunes and apps. A copy is a device that is bad at absolutely everything. You are better off settling for a name brand player iwth less features and good sound quality. Best to do that right than have total mediocrity.

I bought one of these(not from this seller) as a cheap MP3 player. And it was a total waste of money, it would not let me add more than 50 songs and kept crashing constantly. Luckily the seller I bought it from was understanding, and returned my money.

I eventually bought an iPod Touch and you do get what you pay for, even though I hate admitting I like a product from Apple.

Thinking about it, perhaps buy children under 16 NO music players and do something totally silly like making them read books and study

EDIT:
Forget that, don't need knowledge for 'O' levels, they are like confetti paper so carry on with the music

What a load of bollocks. If children want to learn they will. Music or no music. Music actually helps them especially from an early age right into when your doing your GCSEs. I suggest you take your drug store child psychology and keep it to yourself.