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Which ipod to buy the wife - help appreciated
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Faust
31-12-2006
Having bought my daughter an iPod Nano for Christmas my wife now says she fancies an iPod. Thing is I'm not really into portable music players as I prefer to listen to my music laid on the sofa with a nice glass of wine. Therefore I would appreciate some advice - here's the requirement - to play music first second and last, no photos, no videos, no podcasts etc. just music. Should I buy her a Nano or the larger iPod? I am also conscious of longevity - from what I have heard once the battery has died you may as well throw the player away and buy a new one. Is this true? and if so approximately how long does the battery in these players last for. Finally my wifes music collection is not that great, possibly a 100 CD's at most.
Havelock Vetinari
31-12-2006
Why not get a Creative? Normally cheaper than iPod and hold just the same amount of music. Also the size will depend on the quality of music your wife wants. if hse isn't too bothered then about a 4GB may well do, that's if you 'rip' everything at 128kbps then that's about 1 minute per MB of music. the higher kbps you go the more space you need. I know I have 3400 tracks and it takes up 21.032GB.
Sadly for you, most MP3 players now have Video & photo as standard, podcasts are playable on a standard MP3 player anyway as they are justa MP3 audio.
Check out play.com for decent bargains on MP3 players. iPods just because they sell the most doesn't make them the best. read reviews of the ones you like the look of. i did this for my latest one, and I ended up picking a Zen Vision M as in reviews it was far better than the video iPod, both were the same price and size.
Last edited by Havelock Vetinari : 31-12-2006 at 10:29
pumazooma
31-12-2006
I think it comes down to what you want it to do.

If she wants to have different playlists and have all her music loaded at the same time then something like a nano is perfect. Small, big enough capacity, playlists. The bigger ipod will be a bit of a waste if she's not interested in video and photos and she hasn't got 30,000 songs.

On the other hand, if she just wants a couple of hundred at a time, then the shuffle is perfect. It's like having your own radio station in your pocket. You can sort out a list of the songs you want on your computer and just load 250 of them on in one go. A smart playlist in iTunes would allow you to keep trackof the songs you've heard before and the ones yet to listen to.

I wouldn't worry about the batteries. If you charge it properly the first time (a good 16 hours) then it should be fine. I've had a nano and a shuffle both since the day they came out and both are still going fine. I've got lots of friends with ipods too and none have had problems. These scare stories tend to come from the handful of vocal protesters who've had problems and not the other 17 million who haven't.

Other mp3 players are available but I do think the ipods are the best for quality and easy of use.
Havelock Vetinari
31-12-2006
Rubbish pumazooma, iPods are NOT always best quality and ease of use. And as for charging for 16 hours, what a joke. Buy an a/c adapter it will do the job in less than 1/4 of the time. Also what happens if you go away and can't get to a PC? Every one, that is who owns an iPod always believes they rule the earth (iPod that is). There are other players and an awful lot of them are far better than iPod the only thing going for the iPod is the click wheel. Heck they even stole the way of using the find songs from creative. Do your research before you buy anything Faust, don't believe the Pod lovers, they are seriously biased. I done mine and decided on my Zen M, but it wasn't always first choice, reviews and peoples opinions help.
pumazooma
31-12-2006
I can only speak from my own experience as an owner and user. I find them extremely reliable and very easy and intuitive to use. I've been away for a week over christmas and had a mains adapter with me to charge it up. You only need to properly charge it the first time but I guess in your anti-ipod rage you missed that. The ipod has enough music on it to listen to it for 3 whole days without repeating. Why do I need a PC with me?

You don't like em. Fine.

I do like em.

I even said other were available.
Jeez.
ntlhellworld
31-12-2006
Originally Posted by Havelock Vetinari:
“Rubbish pumazooma, iPods are NOT always best quality and ease of use. And as for charging for 16 hours, what a joke. Buy an a/c adapter it will do the job in less than 1/4 of the time.”

Erm. He was talking about charging it on first charge (as in out of the box), if anything you want it to charge slower, not faster on first charge because it conditions the battery and makes the battery last for more charges.

btw, I have a 2gb nano, 4gb nano and a microsoft zune.

(Having used other peoples creative players for all of about 10mins... I say avoid them like the plague, there just a poor mans ipod).
-Chris
Havelock Vetinari
31-12-2006
Yeah of course they are. Most sheep agree with you about iPods. They are a fashion item, and if you are a teen or twenty-somethng it has to be an iPod or you are not part of the muppet crowd.
Heck even my Zen M doesn't take 16 hours out of the box for a 30GB, so that just proves what cr***y batteries Apple use. Mine took 6 hours out of the box.
Faust
31-12-2006
Mmm! perhaps I should have also stated before I started an ipods versus the rest war that we already use itunes to download all our music onto our PC then I use one of the new FM transmitters to send that to the Hi Fi. Having said that I suppose we could put the existing music on CD then rip it into an MP3 format. The reason why we use itunes though is that I don't really know of any other music store that is so easy to use, where you only pay for the tracks you want and that offers such a wide choice - I like classical music and itunes always seem to come up with the tracks I want.
Last edited by Faust : 31-12-2006 at 13:29
blinginbunni
31-12-2006
i'd say a ipod shuffle or ipod nano they both have enough memory to hold atleast 100 songs and are good mp3 players. If she dont want photos/etc.. on it then i'd suggest the shuffle!!
DOS
31-12-2006
Which player you get depends on how often its going to be used for.

You can get about 16 hours worth of music on the iPod shuffle, which is fine for listening to every so often, and to your favourite tracks.

If you want more control and choice, the nano is better. You can get upto 8 times as much music as the shuffle (on the 8GB nano). It also has photo capabilities.

For most choice, the normal iPod can hold upto 80 times that of the shuffle, have a large screen, photo and video support, and downloadable games.


Dont be put off by bad reviews. The battery isnt as bad as people make out, just make sure you follow the guidelines apple provide (http://www.apple.com/uk/batteries/ipods.html), as you would with any rechargable device.
The included earphones are also of better quality of other players.

One thing i'd like to say, even if you dont get an iPod, get a decent brand, and not some cheap no-name one. My sister did because it was pink, wouldnt have anything else. Its a nightmare to use, usb1.1 so really slow, and ID3v1, so have to have very basic mp3 files.


Quote:
“Heck they even stole the way of using the find songs from creative”

How? In your CD collection when you want to find a song, how do you do it? Do you not find the artist, then the album, then look on the album for a track number? How have apple stolen this idea?


DOS
pumazooma
31-12-2006
Originally Posted by Havelock Vetinari:
“Heck even my Zen M doesn't take 16 hours out of the box for a 30GB, so that just proves what cr***y batteries Apple use. Mine took 6 hours out of the box.”

An ipod will full charge brand new after an hour or so.
That wasn't my point though. You just stick it on overnight to charge up the very first time and then it'll be fine. It's not the end of the world if you can't use you can't use your new ipod for a few hours after you get it for the sake of long term satisfaction. Same with mobile phones.

You're calling us ipod fanboys when you appear to be biased in exactly the same way towards the Zen.
Paul_the_Quinn
31-12-2006
well I would say you have eliminated it down to 2 different players. The ipod nano and the ipod shuffle. With the ipod shuffle it may be small but you can't see the songs that are playing you have to go through the player before you find the song you want. I would recommend the nano but maybe a different colour then your daughters so there is no confusion.

I can say from experience the battery life on the new ipod nanos is brilliant. You really do get 24 hours of music from one charge. Also the ipod batteries last around 400-500 charge cycles or more. That means if you charged it once a week then your battery wouldnt die for maybe 10 years. All this rubbish that gets printed on some sites saying the battery is rubbish is just tripe. Think people should get warned about the loudness of the ipod rather then the battery life

PQ
Paul_the_Quinn
31-12-2006
Originally Posted by Havelock Vetinari:
“Yeah of course they are. Most sheep agree with you about iPods. They are a fashion item, and if you are a teen or twenty-somethng it has to be an iPod or you are not part of the muppet crowd.
Heck even my Zen M doesn't take 16 hours out of the box for a 30GB, so that just proves what cr***y batteries Apple use. Mine took 6 hours out of the box.”

I have never charged my ipod for more then 5 hours since I have got it. I still now get very close to 24 hours out of the battery and I have had it for 3 months. I know this because I tested it just 3 days ago.
strawberry66
31-12-2006
Originally Posted by Faust:
“Having bought my daughter an iPod Nano for Christmas my wife now says she fancies an iPod. Thing is I'm not really into portable music players as I prefer to listen to my music laid on the sofa with a nice glass of wine. Therefore I would appreciate some advice - here's the requirement - to play music first second and last, no photos, no videos, no podcasts etc. just music. Should I buy her a Nano or the larger iPod? I am also conscious of longevity - from what I have heard once the battery has died you may as well throw the player away and buy a new one. Is this true? and if so approximately how long does the battery in these players last for. Finally my wifes music collection is not that great, possibly a 100 CD's at most.”

Now what a silly question

The most expensive one of course
Havelock Vetinari
31-12-2006
Originally Posted by DOS:
“<snip>

How? In your CD collection when you want to find a song, how do you do it? Do you not find the artist, then the album, then look on the album for a track number? How have apple stolen this idea?


DOS”

No, the way you navigate through a player to find the track Apple stole the system from Creative. Read the papers and the reports on the internet. Apple had to cough up a few months ago $100 million to settle the case.
Faust
31-12-2006
Well before I make a final decision are there any other music stores that offer the choice that itunes do - only legal ones please and on a pay as you download basis, plus not ones that might get shut down due to legal issues anytime soon?
RubusRoo
31-12-2006
just wanted to say that i've got a green 4gb nano & it's just what i wanted. it stores pictures yes, but it doesn't "reserve" any space for them so you can fill it with mp3's instead.

i've never encountered any battery problems with it but i didn't charge it for 16 hours 1st time i docked it ooops didn't know i was meant to.
Dancc
31-12-2006
Originally Posted by thumps36:
“just wanted to say that i've got a green 4gb nano & it's just what i wanted. it stores pictures yes, but it doesn't "reserve" any space for them so you can fill it with mp3's instead.

i've never encountered any battery problems with it but i didn't charge it for 16 hours 1st time i docked it ooops didn't know i was meant to.”

I'm getting a 4gb Nano (blue) tomorrow with a clock radio/ipod dock.

My current iPod is a first gen Nano (black) but only has 1gb storage.

I like iTunes but feel it is a bit expensive. I'd like to see them introduce TV Shows/Movies like they offer in the U.S, it seems we're always last to get the new features in the UK.
pumazooma
31-12-2006
Originally Posted by thumps36:
“i've never encountered any battery problems with it but i didn't charge it for 16 hours 1st time i docked it ooops didn't know i was meant to.”

The manual say something like 3-4 hours but as with most things using these types of rechargeable batteries they last a bit longer and charge better if you give them a good slug the first time, like overnight rather than the minimum.
rich_jtg
31-12-2006
Originally Posted by Havelock Vetinari:
“Every one, that is who owns an iPod always believes they rule the earth (iPod that is).”

Not true - I have a 5G iPod, and I'm really not keen on it! Just got it for the simplicity of using it with a Mac.

In answer to the OP though, I would say just get a nano - if you're not going to use video and pictures then you've kind of answered your own question... plus no moving hard disk parts.
Faust
31-12-2006
Thanks for the input and advice everyone - apologies though as I didn't intend to start a music player war when I posed my question. As no one has come back on the itunes music store alternative I'll assume there isn't really a serious competitor - legal one anyway?
pumazooma
31-12-2006
There are things like napster and HMV etc but they seem to be monthly subscription sites. The massive advantage of itunes is that you just pay for the music you want when you want it.
risingstar
31-12-2006
My mum got one of these a Philips 1GB MP3 player for part of her Christmas present and she was very pleased with it. Argos are selling it for less than half price now.

I bought my niece one of these a Creative Zen Plus and she really likes it. I think that this Creative Zen is better than a Shuffle because it has an lcd screen so you can see what tracks you are playing which is a necessary requirement for some people. It also has an in built FM radio as well. It has enough space for both of them just to put their music on.

I own a 2G Nano myself and i have had no real problems with that. I wouldn't say that the battery life is to great on mine though i seem to get about 3-4 hours from it at the most. Also, i am getting less keen about having to convert my music over to Apple's format in order to be played on my iPod.
The Nano is easy to use though and the 4GB model is priced well also.
Havelock Vetinari
01-01-2007
Originally Posted by pumazooma:
“There are things like napster and HMV etc but they seem to be monthly subscription sites. The massive advantage of itunes is that you just pay for the music you want when you want it.”


Again NOT true. HMV, Virgin, Tesco, Woolworths all offer tracks that can be bought ONE at a time if you desire. Please do your research pumazooma.
pumazooma
01-01-2007
Oh ffs. It was a general point about other download sites. But since most seem to have non-ipod compatible formats it's a fairly moot point anyway.

HMV do also have a £15 a month subscription download service actually.
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