Ipod

[walker 0]

Hi ofpforum

A look through this thread will have told you the last thing you want to buy is an Ipod or Sony so called MP3 player. And you are not locked in with songs that you can only play on the player.

I would say buy yourself a cheap flash player with one gig of memory and use the extra cash to buy decent headphones, the Sony over the ear headphones are a good buy, and lots more music which is after all what it is about.

One gig is more than enough for any flight. Store the rest of your music on your laptop.

Kind Regards walker

[ebud 18]

I have the 30 or so gig ipod, and I like it, but...

If I had it to do over again I highly doubt I'd get another ipod though. It was a waste of money. I bought it because I "wanted an Ipod". It plays video, but the only video I put on it was the strongbad podcasts. Great, but not worth the extra money it costs. It's got around 30 gigs and after ripping all my old HUGE stacks of cds I think I barely used 1/2 the hd. If I rode the train or bus to work, or flew a lot, then maybe it would be of use. I already scratched the heck out of the screen so in sunlight it's almost impossible to watch. There should be no reason it should be so easy to scratch, I just had it floating in my book bag with nothing "sharp" in it to scratch it. I guess canvas and paper must be considered sharp now.

The only thing I honestly like about it are the podcasts you can subscribe to. TBH I listen to those more than my old music. I mainly listen to electronica/ambient and there are a quite a few nice podcasts for that genre, plus the Dead show, Strongbad podcast, some news, etc. Not sure if those can be put on other mp3 players.

[earl 0]

80gb monster.  Don't know too much about it, except it's open source!  All the reviews I found are old, from 2003.  Still, I like the idea.  I would never buy something with proprietary formats ever again (sony, ipod).

http://www.neurosaudio.com/store/prod_USB2_80gbspec.asp

Something like this would be more suitable for me and my 36gb of music.  I don't need micro-technology.  I travel with a 120mb external HDD in addition to my laptop.  I could be happy swapping that external HDD for this thing.

[eisa01 0]

Now it is backed up on three removable drives and recently on a small external USB drive. As well as by artist on MP3 CDs at some point I will put it all on DVD RW. I do not want to spend hours converting it the special IPOD and Sony Spyware formats which reduce quality anyway.

The iPod plays mp3s just fine, it's a mp3-player after all.

I've got the 3g 20 GB model, it works just fine, but I don't use it a lot at the moment. May replace it with a nano in the future.

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

I got a player from Sony. I thought I realy despereately need one and once I had it I didnt use it at all!

But what I realy enjoy is that my mobile has a realy good radio and earphones. Every morning when I drive to office I update myself through BBC!

[Tigershark_BAS 0]

I wasn't going to weigh in on this....although I did vote.

I want to build a little upon what Ebud mentioned in his post.

Yes..the proprietry format sucks and it's lack of compatibility with other formats other than MP3 and AIFF.

However, if you look at the device holistically it has so much more value than just a music player. A lot may also depend on the device you sync it to. As many of you are syncing it with a Windows PC I understand why you may not be getting the full benefit from it.

Personally, I have the 30gb video iPod. Syncing it with iTunes on Mac also synchronsises the std calendar application, all my contacts from the std. contacts manager and also easily synchrosnises with several iPhoto libraries I have (std. photo manager). This means when I'm traveling I can carry photos of family, girlfriend of the moment and of course, porn....I mean, other important photos.

This all happens seamlessly. With Windows this is a bit of a challenge as it requires MS Outlook and I think photos require manual updating.

As a frequent traveler having all this updated and then coupled with the power of podcasting and in particular VIDEO podcasting makes this device the unequivocal winner for me.

When I am briefly home, sync the iPod and get access to to my weekly video podcasts of diggnation and Ask a Ninja in order to watch on the train to the airport and on the plane. I believe that podcasting is the biggest draw card of the iPod.

Do you need an iPod for a podcast. Well...in theory no...it could be any device....but it's the combination of iTunes and iPod syncing and the fact it is all seamless to me as the user that makes the device so appealing to me.

I am also one of those "fools" that buys music from the store. The "price point" (to use a buzzword) of the music and individual tracks is right for me. I don't mind paying the 1 dollar for not having to go through the torrent bullshit and ghost files and viruses.

But hey...that's just me. I know I won't have won over the haters but for what it's worth, these are my impressions of my iPod use and benefit I gain from it.

In summary I get the following benefits as a frequent traveller with the iPod:

- Full list of contacts including all numbers, email addys, snail mail addy, birthdays and a picture of the contact if added in the Mac contacts app.

- Full list of events added to Mac calendar app

- Photo albums synchronised with albums created in iPhoto. Useful for when you miss friends, family, the g/f (or gf's) of the moment.

- Updated podcasts and video podcasts that pass the time on trains and planes. The screen is small but appreciate the entertainment on short haul flights with no onboard entertainment.

- Ability to plug it into TV's in hotels to see video podcasts on larger screens.

- Used as external hard drive for file transfer between laptops on the road...and for important files.

Oh and yes....I am an Apple whore...I'll pimp it any chance I get....because for me...it is true when they say "it just works". It does suck royally at games though. Which is why I can never totally will give up a Windows machine.

[norsu 180]

I have Creative MuVo 512Mb which I use for listening MP3s, WMAs etc. I also use it as an USB stick. I have no need for Ipod, MuVo is enough for a simple guy like me .

[crashdome 3]

In response to TigerShark,

Yes, the iPod is a wonderful device for an Apple Mac. It does do alot more, but the variations of Pocket PCs and other Microsoft branded products (including the new 'Zune' line to be launched soon) can do that for a Windows machine also and would be needed to be included in this comparison. Most Pocket PCs can double as an iPod like device, but the Zune line is supposed to be better built for direct competition.

When Company A builds a device strictly for Company A's format of course it will do alot more and be alot more stable.

One thing I prefer about the other off-brand products is that they are usually cheaper in providing that 'one' feature. In a way, you've actually found a flaw in this poll. Most will probably vote based on running the Windows or Linux OS which will definately skew the results.

If I owned and used a Mac, then my iPod would probably be alot more loved. [edit] but I am a MS whore [/edit]

[Tigershark_BAS 0]

In response to TigerShark,

Yes, the iPod is a wonderful device for an Apple Mac. It does do alot more, but the variations of Pocket PCs and other Microsoft branded products (including the new 'Zune' line to be launched soon) can do that for a Windows machine also and would be needed to be included in this comparison. Most Pocket PCs can double as an iPod like device, but the Zune line is supposed to be better built for direct competition.

When Company A builds a device strictly for Company A's format of course it will do alot more and be alot more stable.

One thing I prefer about the other off-brand products is that they are usually cheaper in providing that 'one' feature. In a way, you've actually found a flaw in this poll. Most will probably vote based on running the Windows or Linux OS which will definately skew the results.

If I owned and used a Mac, then my iPod would probably be alot more loved. [edit] but I am a MS whore [/edit]

Excellent points. I don't disagree with anything you pointed out.

Wait...did we just have a sensible debate on the offtopic forums without an "incident".

Holy shit.....*marks red cross on calendar*

[quicksand 0]

You probably already read my positive opinion on the iPod franchise but to add to Tigershark.

Ipod<->Windows isn`t such a pain in the ass that most make out to be.I will stress again my current situation

-Perfectly working 30 GB Video Ipod with no scratches(thanks to a wonderful transparent case)

-No iTunes installed

-Drag&Drop music,videos and pictures on the iPod(using Anapod Explorer)

And I am actually what could be consider as an Apple hater.Rather then buying what I consider a pathetic notebook with integrated grahpics-the Macbook I would go for a cheaper,Vista compatible Asus bundled with 64 Bits Merom&the powerful Geforce Go 7800 video card in the same package(Asus is actually the OEM for Apple)

[chipper 0]

I bought my sister's 20gb 2nd Gen Ipod for $50. Not bad eh?

[j w 0]

That's a fair price

How old was it (when u bought it)?

[mp_phonix 0]

I'm thinking about buying 1GB iPod Nano , is it worth it [about 190$ here in Israel] or it is better to buy a cheaper player like   iRiver T30 ?