How many iPods do you have?

[purplefdu]

None yet, but I will be purchasing a shuffle (in purple ) come spring to help get me motivated to work out. I've wanted one for some time, but its turned into more of a need and the shuffle isn't extravagent and it comes in purple.

[Miss Rosie]

I do so much weaseling to get around my lack of iPod that the stupid thing should probably be considered a necessity, at least in terms of logistics. Unfortunately, I can't afford it, so I will continue to drag my computer all over the place, record and re-record mix CDs, etc.

[gt0163c]

Originally Posted by khorrell

I have been wanting to buy an MP3 player for some time. Any suggestions from you owners? Thanks for your help. It seems so frivolous, but they aren't really that expensive and I think I would really like it.

A lot of it depends on what you want to do with it.
Do you want to just have a collections of songs (a playlist) that you listen or shuffle through or do you want to be able to have more control over what you listen to? How much music/audio do you want to be able to listen to before you run out of new stuff on the player? Do you want to be able to listen to the radio on the device as well? Do you want to be able to record? How are you at learning how to use new gadgets and deal with poorly designed user interfaces? How much are you willing to spend?

Once you can answer those questions, you can figure out roughly the size you need and the features you want. From there, it's just a matter of seeing what syncs up with your needs.

iPods do very little that other players don't do and there's somethings that they don't do. They don't come with a way to listen to the radio or to record anything. However, what they do, they do very, very well. The user interface is amazingly intuitive and the scroll wheel makes them very easy to operate one handed or, for some things, without even looking at the unit. They also interace with iTunes seemlessly, which makes managing your music easy. Basically, like most Apple products, they just work. And that's one of the things that make them very attractive.

But, iPods aren't the only good MP3 players out there. I have a number of friends with various varieties of iRivers that they really like. And I've heard some good stuff about various other players. Once you figure out roughly what you want, I would start looking around for various reviews on the web and then go to stores and actually play around with some of them to get the feel for them and see which ones work for you.

Personally, I've only had experience with my ipod and a little, Classic mp3 player. My iPod I love. The classic player was okay, but not great. It didn't have anything to lock it off, so unless I took the battery out, it easily got turned on and ran down the battery. The display only had a track number, so it was harder to cycle through the songs. And the "shuffle" feature wasn't random, but rather just played the songs in a different order (but the same order every time). But, it was expandable and, with a 512MB card, I was able to get a couple of hours of music on it. It ran for about 12 hours on a single AA battery and it was tiny. I used it for over a year before I bought my iPod and it was adequate for my needs at the time. However, now it would be hard to go back.

[Caitlin]

I have the 20GB 3rd generation one!

I use it every day on my walk to work and I love it. I still hate iTunes, though.

I'd love to trade up for the Inspi(RED) Nano, but I can't afford it right now. I'll get one someday, and then I can take it when I run (this one is too big and flops around too much)

[alex]

Originally Posted by khorrell

I have been wanting to buy an MP3 player for some time. Any suggestions from you owners? Thanks for your help. It seems so frivolous, but they aren't really that expensive and I think I would really like it.

If you're looking for an iPod, you can find refurbished and/or discontinued ones for less at Apple's Certified store.

I use my iPhone for music and I'm really happy with it. I always have my phone with me, so now I always have music too. I recommend it.

[Scudley]

Has anyone got the new video nano? Any good?

[khorrell]

Thanks for all the recommendations. Unfortunately, I tend to research stuff way too much...one of my new year's goals is to try to stop spending four months thinking about a $50 purchase.

[rolltimer]

I have one ipod--the first generation 1 gig Shuffle--that I use when I run to listen to podcasts that I download every morning. I also keep relaxation music and my Garage Band creations on there to listen to if I have trouble falling asleep.

I'd like to get either an iPhone or iPod Touch later in the product cycle. My current iTunes library runs about 8 gigs so the 16 gig Touch looks attractive for holding tunes plus photos but it lacks too many features to make it a near term purchase. I really don't use a cell phone enough to justify an iPhone purchase although I like the feature set better than what is on the Touch. I'd love the ability to use the wifi on either the iPhone or the Touch or Edge on the iPhone when I'm away from home but I can't justify the expense. Since I've just purchased a MacBook Pro (waiting on the Fed-Ex man), the away from home internet access problem should be solved.

[jkuo13]

My fiancee has an ipod which she loves, but personally, I've never owned one and doubt I will anytime soon. During my commute, I'm usually listening to either NPR or language podcasts. Eventually, I'll be loading up a few custom workout mixes for the gym. I definitely don't plan on having my entire music collection on my mp3 player. Forking out the cash for ipod for my needs is a huge overkill.

I went with a refurbished Sandisk e250 instead. I promptly installed the Rockbox firmware, and have never regretted not having an ipod. I get more functionality than an ipod without paying nearly as much. I don't get iTunes integration, but I'm fine with that.

[jdp]

Nope. Sorry.