Ipod/ Mp3 player

[akw94]

This discussion began in the Workout thread but thought I''d open it up to everyone.
What sort of mp3 player do you have? Why did you choose it? What sort of features does it have?
I ask b/c I''ve been trying to decide on what to buy... an ipod? some other mp3 player? I just don''t know and there''s so much info. out there that I feel overwhelmed and continue not to buy.
Because I lost a bunch of cd''s recently, I''d like something that can hold a lot of music, rather than re-buy all those cd''s. However, I don''t mean hundreds of cd''s or anything like that. I like the idea of creating playlists although have no idea if that''s too much trouble to be worth it. I''d like it to be under $100 if possible. I''d like it to attach to my car radio and maybe to a home radio..not exactly sure about that.
I also thought about buying one for my son and thought about the ipod b/c it has the idog attachment and seems fun for kids. Are there things like this for other mp3 players? Is Itunes better/worse than other sites?

Thanks in advance!

 

[monarch64]

Thanks for starting this thread, Dixie! I have some of the same questions and would also like to hear others'' opinions. I certainly don''t need some device that is capable of storing a million songs, but I''d like something small I can take to the gym and program some music to coordinate with my workouts on the treadmill/elliptical, and also for outdoor walking/biking.

I did visit the Sony website and was able to get a good idea of retail prices...they even had some "refurbished" items for lower prices. I didn''t find that when I went to the Apple website, but I might''ve missed it. I''m really not into having the latest/greatest/newest electronic devices, I''m just looking for the best deal for the money, I guess. I love technology, don''t get me wrong, but I don''t have time to keep up with all of it.

 

[Mara]

dixie i already posted my thoughts in the WWT about ipods, but i also wanted to add that i don''t buy any of my music from iTunes..my iPod does not require it to be purchased from iTunes. i actually use this site mp3search.ru where the songs are $0.10 each and albums are $1.00 each. much cheaper than a buck a song. and they have a GREAT selection of albums. i''ve gotten 90% of my music there.

 

[PaulaW]

I have the Ipod 30 gig and I really love it. I just got it last month and I use it more than I thought I would. I have to say, it''s very user friendly as is itunes. I quickly figured out how to load cds on it and make playlists. I did some research, but not much as I was pretty set on an ipod, mostly because I have a mac and generally love their products. I also found there were more accessories readily available for the ipod so that''s part of the reason I went with it. Kind of a silly reason really, but it works!
Mara, could you elaborate on the music site you posted? Did you have to do anything specific to your ipod to be able to use that site? The prices are GREAT there and I''d love to use them! Do you get a referral bonus or something!?

 

[~*Alexis*~]

I have an ipod, although I only got it because someone threw it on my lawn in a storm. There was not any damage but I will be buying a new one since the one I have now is the ipod that came out intitally. I like the ipod because you can get everything on there. Podcasts, like your tv shows you can get there, most of the time you dont even know what all it can do. The new nano''s are nice for the price that they are asking in the stores, and they are GREAT for work outs.

 

[akw94]

Date: 10/18/2006 2:05:52 AM
Author: Mara
dixie i already posted my thoughts in the WWT about ipods, but i also wanted to add that i don''t buy any of my music from iTunes..my iPod does not require it to be purchased from iTunes. i actually use this site mp3search.ru where the songs are $0.10 each and albums are $1.00 each. much cheaper than a buck a song. and they have a GREAT selection of albums. i''ve gotten 90% of my music there.

Mara, do all ipod''s allow you to use other music sites or just some? $.10 a song is great!

 

[akw94]

Date: 10/18/2006 1:44:57 AM
Author: monarch64
Thanks for starting this thread, Dixie! I have some of the same questions and would also like to hear others'' opinions. I certainly don''t need some device that is capable of storing a million songs, but I''d like something small I can take to the gym and program some music to coordinate with my workouts on the treadmill/elliptical, and also for outdoor walking/biking.

I did visit the Sony website and was able to get a good idea of retail prices...they even had some ''refurbished'' items for lower prices. I didn''t find that when I went to the Apple website, but I might''ve missed it. I''m really not into having the latest/greatest/newest electronic devices, I''m just looking for the best deal for the money, I guess. I love technology, don''t get me wrong, but I don''t have time to keep up with all of it.

Monarch, I totally understand! Actually, your post about ipod''s is what started me thinking that I really should go ahead and make a decision. It can''t be as difficult as I''m making it.

Paula, I think your reasoning about accessories makes sense. That''s one reason why I haven''t crossed the ipod off my list. I don''t know if other players have that same stuff or not.

Alexis, they do seem to have a lot of features. I didn''t know you can watch tv shows on there. Wow! Do you need something special for that? Not sure if I''d do that but it''s good to know the capabilities.

 

[turtledazzle]

I have an old MuVo Sport from Creative (http://www.creative.com/). It is nothing fancy, but I definitely have no complaints about it. The software that came with it is really easy to use. One of the reasons my FI got it for me is that it uses one regular AAA battery. We''ve been burned with proprietary batteries in electronic devices before. I use rechargeable batteries in mine, and usually get tons of playtime from one battery (I haven''t measured it lately, but I would guess over 12 hours). Any way, check out the Creative site. They''re definitely not as popular as Ipod and Sony, but when we were researching players we found really good reviews for their products and we''re happy customers as well.

 

[sparkel]

I actually own the ipod nano (which i love). A word of caution though if you plan to use your ipod for jogging or some other high impact activity I would steer clear of the larger ipod version. Apparently the impact of jogging causes the memory to scramble. I was skeptical about this but my sister and cousin both scrambled theirs by using it this way. You need to have an mp3 player with a flash drive to ensure that it doesn''t scramble (or so the IT guy at work tells me). * I''m not technologically inclined so hopefully I didn''t mess up any of the terms

Hope that helps but I would like to add that I really love my nano which has a flash drive memory.

 

[Mara]

dixie, on that site, i just had to put $20 in through my paypal account and it has literally lasted me like 2 years. hahaha. i actually am down to about a dollar so i need to add more $$. but nope, i just download the songs which are in mp3 version to my computer, then drag them over into my ipod software and it adds them. i think that Apple used to require you only used their song formats (aka you HAD to buy from iTunes if i remember correctly?) which was limiting their market...they were trying to control the content so you had to purchase through them. but now greg puts his own mp3''s on his ipod too and i am obviously able to so they must have changed it.

also, i had two creative muvos which we hardly used, and they both died. at the time i had them, they were just like the ipod shuffle kinda thing, hit play, no screen to navigate, and they worked great for working out. til they died...probably less than a year after we got them. we can still use the memory capacity to move files, just not hear music.

 

[Ann]

This thread is very interesting to me. At my age, anything is a technical challenge! But I did just buy a new red iPod Nano as a Christmas gift from hubby to me. And I bought my daughter and son''s girlfriend one as well.

I will have to attend Apple''s classes on how to navigate this little gem

Thanks Mara for the web site. I''ll have to check that out.

 

[turtledazzle]

Date: 10/18/2006 11:18:32 AM
Author: Mara
also, i had two creative muvos which we hardly used, and they both died. at the time i had them, they were just like the ipod shuffle kinda thing, hit play, no screen to navigate, and they worked great for working out. til they died...probably less than a year after we got them. we can still use the memory capacity to move files, just not hear music.

Mara -- Interesting that yours died. I''ve had my Creative MuVo for 3 years or so, and I use it regularly and have had no problems with it. Hmmm .... A few of my friends have had problems with their Ipods ~ something about the battery life, but I think those problems are better with current versions. One of my friends actually accidentally put his Nano in the washer -- he let it dry out completely before trying to turn it on, and the thing still worked.

I also second Sparkel''s recommendation regarding the flash memory. That''s something we researched as well. We read that if you''re going to be running or otherwise active while using the player, it is better to have one with flash memory (as the ones with hard drives are not designed to take impacts).

 

[belle]

i have a 20gig ipod as well as a nano. love them both. i''m sure there are other mp3''s out there that are pretty good but i really do love my ipods. after burning songs off of over 300 cd''s (i''m free!!!!) i now just download songs online. i use the mp3.ru site that mara uses as well. love those .10 songs!

hey turtledazzle, is that a slider?

 

[turtledazzle]

Date: 10/18/2006 12:59:21 PM
Author: belle

hey turtledazzle, is that a slider?

No, she''s a painted turtle. Very similar to sliders, though, but she does not have the characteristic red markings on her head that sliders have. She''s my baby

 

[belle]

Date: 10/18/2006 1:28:08 PM
Author: turtledazzle

Date: 10/18/2006 12:59:21 PM
Author: belle

hey turtledazzle, is that a slider?

No, she''s a painted turtle. Very similar to sliders, though, but she does not have the characteristic red markings on her head that sliders have. She''s my baby

very similar indeed! i thought maybe she was one of those sliders that have the red missing. do painted turtles get as big as sliders?

 

[Sparkster]

I''ve got a Creative MuVo 5 gb mp3 player. The main reason I went Creative and not iPod was the fact that the Creative has an inbuilt radio whereas with the iPod, you have to buy a radio attachment. I bought it two years ago and is pretty much outdated now.

Creative was a pioneer in mp3 players and they are a fantastic product. The sound that comes out of it is superb.

The funny thing is that whatever mp3 player you end up buying, it will be superceded by a new, better version in a few months time!

 

[turtledazzle]

Date: 10/18/2006 3:09:11 PM
Author: belle

Date: 10/18/2006 1:28:08 PM
Author: turtledazzle

Date: 10/18/2006 12:59:21 PM
Author: belle

hey turtledazzle, is that a slider?

No, she''s a painted turtle. Very similar to sliders, though, but she does not have the characteristic red markings on her head that sliders have. She''s my baby

very similar indeed! i thought maybe she was one of those sliders that have the red missing. do painted turtles get as big as sliders?

Hi Belle --

Yeah, I tend to "forget" about the other types of sliders because the red eared sliders are so popular.
As for size, it depends upon the type of painted turtle. Western painted turtles (which we think my gal is) can be about the same size as red eared sliders ~ 9 inches. The other types of painted turtles (eastern, southern, and midland) are smaller with 5.5-6 inch shell lengths.

 

[turtledazzle]

Date: 10/18/2006 8:22:14 PM
Author: Sparkster
I''ve got a Creative MuVo 5 gb mp3 player. The main reason I went Creative and not iPod was the fact that the Creative has an inbuilt radio whereas with the iPod, you have to buy a radio attachment. I bought it two years ago and is pretty much outdated now.

I completely forgot about the FM radio feature since I don''t use it very often. This was another factor in my FI choosing the MuVo.

It is true that whatever you buy will be outdated pretty soon. Luckily I still like mine and it serves my purposes quite well.

 

[aljdewey]

I just got an Ipod Nano as well, and I''m completely thrilled with it.

 

[akw94]

Well, my dilemma is solved b/c I got an mp3 player (a Sanso) for my bday. It is working great although was not particulary liking Windows Media Player. I have a free trial w/Rhapsody for 1 month to d/l songs and then after that will definitely use Mara''s site. I am hoping I can get most of what I want d/l in one month though so won''t have to pay for much more after that. I am trying to figure out how to best organize.. that is the biggest annoyance so far. I also just bought a transmitter to listen to it in the car. I can''t wait to try it out! Since I lost my cd''s, I have only had a few to listen to and mainly just the radio, which stinks!!

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! Now I need to find a good set of workout songs. Oh, I also bought a new pair of earphones b/c the little earthings kept falling out. I hope these work better.

 

[firebirdgold]

I''ve got a Ipod mini, he has an iPod shuffle and an iPod video.

 

[diamondfan]

Ipod definitely has planned obsolescence...so you will want and need to keep buying the newer and better. I have a mini, and I got a nano because it was thinner and lighter and better for working out. My kids had minis a couple years ago, got video ipods last year at the holidays, and got nano''s this summer when we bought them their I Macs. I told my dh that if they were giving nano''s away with purchase, and the shuffle dropped in price to 69.00, Apple must be planning a new version of each and within DAYS they launched the new nana''s and the new shuffle...I am sure we will succumb, because the batteries do eventually die, cannot take a charge, so you will have to go out and get a new one. Saves all your songs in your itunes library so you can transfer them because I think you lose all your music if your batteries permanently stop working...