iPods

M

mycroftt

Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Messages
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I was just taking a gander at the different iPod models. They have one that's 60 gigabytes and can hold 15,000 songs!

I'm just starting to take a look at these with the aim of picking one up eventually, and I can't believe the storage on these things. I'm thinking you download the songs to your PC and then copy them to the iPod via USB, right? I'm also thinking you probably pick up an external hard drive to hold the files (and your digital pics). I see that you can also move your pics from your camera to your iPod for storage and/or viewing.

Amazin'! This is a whole area of technology that has been moving rapidly while escaping my notice.
 
The estimated 15,000 songs is really a joke kind of thing. Thats assuming that your songs are at 96kb/s or lower bitrate, thats about the sound quality of older cassettes. You still get a ton of songs no doubt, but they assume you re using the lowest sound quality possible.

Also, if you happen to be strapped for cash, or cant see spending $300+ for an MP3 player, you might want to look into Creative's Zen line of players. They wont allow you to view photos on the player, but you can store them.

Both players are excellant, I have both(2nd gen 20gb Ipod, 30gb Zen) and they both perform great. I will say that if you re looking for cool add-ons(cases,etc) the Ipod has more choices(Zen comes with a nice leather case.) I would recommend investing in a decent pair of headphones though, because the ones they ship with are crap. Good luck, and I hope you find something that works well for you.



P.S. If you re looking for a do it all player, you might consider Sony's PSP or the large iRiver. They both have the ability to play movies(PSP also plays games), but the price for both is quite expensive.
 
Several of my tech friends have suggested that the Creative is the player to buy. It has a solid-state hard drive: less moving parts = less potential problems.
 
AcesAndEights said:
The estimated 15,000 songs is really a joke kind of thing. Thats assuming that your songs are at 96kb/s or lower bitrate, thats about the sound quality of older cassettes. You still get a ton of songs no doubt, but they assume you re using the lowest sound quality possible.
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Sorry, you're dead wrong; according to Apple: "Music capacity is based on 4 minutes per song and 128-Kbps AAC encoding" source I believe that this is the way songs are sold on the iTunes store. I have a few and they have far better sound quality than "older cassettes".
AcesAndEights said:
Both players are excellant [sic], I have both(2nd gen 20gb Ipod, 30gb Zen) and they both perform great. I will say that if you re looking for cool add-ons(cases,etc) the Ipod has more choices(Zen comes with a nice leather case.) I would recommend investing in a decent pair of headphones though, because the ones they ship with are crap. Good luck, and I hope you find something that works well for you.
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Good points. Upgrading the headphones will make the biggest difference in your listening pleasure. I'm surprised at the number of people who will invest all that money in a player but listen to the music through $5 headphones.
 
I have an iPod (3rd Generation with 40GB capacity) and my wife is getting a 2nd Generation Mini with a 4GB harddrive that cost me $155. People always get jealous of Apple, so they underestimate performance and overestimate price! :p I think they are great. I have been an Apple user since high school and I have never regretted it. I have music coming out my ears and I've still only utilized about 1/5 of my iPod space. What's really cool is if I'm going on a road trip, I'll check out a couple of books on CD, in bteween patients I'll import them into iTunes, then I'll transfer them over to my iPod. When I'm done with the trip I delete them and they're gone. No expense, no wasted materials (CD's, etc). Very cool.

I like Podcasts a lot, too. There are a couple I'm really into. This is the main benefit of the latest generation iPod. You can bookmark a Podcast if you want to take a break and listen to something else, which is cool, considering most of them are 30-60 minutes long. Mine cannot bookmark, so I have to FF to where I left off (if I can remember in the first place) and that's a PITA.

Get an iPod, you'll love it! And, yes, you can transfer files back and forth just like it's an external hard drive (which is, in fact, what it is). If you're more into running/using it strictly to listen to music during workouts, I'd look at the Shuffle. It's a Flash MP3 player by Apple and you can get one for under $80. It can store up to 1GB for about $30 more or so. And the Minis are really cool. They currently have 4GB and 6GB models. I would recommend using www.techbargains.com and www.pricegrabber.com to find good prices on iPods.
 
enkidu said:
Sorry, you're dead wrong; according to Apple: "Music capacity is based on 4 minutes per song and 128-Kbps AAC encoding" source I believe that this is the way songs are sold on the iTunes store. I have a few and they have far better sound quality than "older cassettes".
Click to expand...

My mistake, I assumed Apple used a similar capacity as most other companies. I was also figuring in my Ipod, but than again most of my songs are at 256kb/s or better.
 
I recently got an ipod shuffle. It's very small sounds great and holds about 8 to 10 CD's. I get tired of hearing some songs too often I just put another CD on the shuffle. And the shuffle is a lot less money than an ipod. Personally, I don't see the need to have a device that holds thousands of songs.
 
I recently payed $150 for an mp3 player. I was extemely careful not to drop it or get it wet. I took very good care of it, and yet for no apparant reason it simply stopped working after a week and I got a refund. Can anyone reccomend an mp3 player that woill actually last, and preferably hold up to abuse if needed?
 
I travel a lot by air, and my iPod (2nd gen 20gb) loaded with close to 2000 songs is a "must have" while travelling.

Regardless of choice of music, with that selection there is always something great to listen to during the long boring hours.

I use a pair of noise cancelling headphones as well, which cuts out a lot of the low frequency background engine noise.

If I didn't spend all that time in the air, I would go for the smaller iPod mini, has plenty of capacity for most users.

IMO the iPod is the best invention since the wheel!
 
M1911A1JohnBrowning said:
I recently payed $150 for an mp3 player. I was extemely careful not to drop it or get it wet. I took very good care of it, and yet for no apparant reason it simply stopped working after a week and I got a refund. Can anyone reccomend an mp3 player that woill actually last, and preferably hold up to abuse if needed?
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What kind of player was it? If it was a flash drive player thats not really that surprising, however if it was a HD player it may have just been a one-off deal. The strongest player ive seen in regards to water resistance and shock resistance is Rio's new player(sorry cant remember name) is really nice. It doesnt have the storage capicity of a Zen or Ipod,but it will stand up to a decent amount of abuse, and it has a round-design making it ideal for wear on an armband.
 
K.V. Collucci said:
I suggest you check out the iriver H10 line of MP3 players.

www.iriveramerica.com/prod/hd/
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I just purchased a bunch of the iriver players, three to be exact, for myself and children. I heard that the hard drive type of mp3 player is sensitive to being jostled around so I bought the flashcard memory type instead of the hard drive type because I plan on using mine to work out.

One girl at Best Buy told me that she uses her ipod(with the hard drive) to workout and that she has gone through three of them, under warranty, in the last three months while just jogging on the treadmill.

Mine is 1 meg and the sound is very good.

899-angle.jpg
 
RWS said:
One girl at Best Buy told me that she uses her ipod(with the hard drive) to workout and that she has gone through three of them, under warranty, in the last three months while just jogging on the treadmill.
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Thats one of the reasons I stopped carrying my Ipod, and opted to buy a Zen. They are a solid state drive, so moving parts are few. I have found though that their size(talking the Xtras here) makes them less than suitable for working out inless you want to use the clip to attach to your pants(uncomfortable.)

Ive been trying to talk myself out of purchasing one of the new iRivers, because I have far too many mp3 players, but Im interested in trying one. They seem to be pretty decent players, and the company has produced some other nice product(i have their fm transmitter.)

What do you think of the little h10s? What kind of battery life do you get out of them? And hows the backlight on the lcd?
 
BlueyM said:
I travel a lot by air, and my iPod (2nd gen 20gb) loaded with close to 2000 songs is a "must have" while travelling.

Regardless of choice of music, with that selection there is always something great to listen to during the long boring hours.

I use a pair of noise cancelling headphones as well, which cuts out a lot of the low frequency background engine noise.

If I didn't spend all that time in the air, I would go for the smaller iPod mini, has plenty of capacity for most users.

IMO the iPod is the best invention since the wheel!
Click to expand...

I have to concur. I recently just jumped on the iPod bandwagon and got one of the 6gig Mini's for my traveling companion. Coupled with a set of E6Ri ear buds and the sound is great. The big deciding factor for me over one of the "iPod Killers" like the Cowan and iRiver were the additional accessories that were available for the iPod. I am referring to the docking / connection hardware that allows the iPod to come up through the stereo system head units in my Lexus and Audi. There are ways of connecting the others over FM Modulation, but I couldn't find the options for the direct connection, control and display on the stereo in dash units like I could for the iPod.
 
AcesAndEights said:
What do you think of the little h10s? What kind of battery life do you get out of them? And hows the backlight on the lcd?
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I love my H10. It is everything I have wanted in an MP3 player. Simple to use and load, lightweight, replaceable battery....you name it, it has it. I average about 10-12 hours of playing time on mine. This is also dependent on how long you set your backlight for, for sleep timer, and so forth. The backlight itself is very bright and very clear and easy to read both in the daylight and at night. if you are looking to get a 5GB H10 check out B&H Photo. They have it for $209.95. I should also add that I have never had a porblem with the H10 as far as it getting jostled around. I mountain bike with it and it has never failed.
 
I live in a household with 4 iPods...2 1GB shuffles, 1 20 GB 3G, and 1 40 GB 3G.

We are Apple users, and would never consider using a Window's based machine again.

With that bias made public, consider these reasons why the iPod is still the best mp3 player available...

They work, they are easy to use, and they sound fantastic. Plus there are so many third party acessories available, it's mind boggling.

Add to this the fact that iTunes is wonderful, stable, and intuative software. And buying songs from iTunes is quick and easy, and the selection is pretty decent.

iPods have the best support available, have the best design going, and just plain work the best.

Why would you not but one? Or four??
 
superhughman said:
Why would you not but one? Or four??
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Well, I won´t buy one, I think it is a matter of priorities. If the iPod matches yours, then good for you; mine are apparently a bit different.

For example:
They work, they are easy to use, and they sound fantastic.
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I have not had any problems with portable audio devices except for one cassette Walkman in the late eighties, so I assume whatever I buy will work; if not, I´d take it back - the long warranties enforced by EU-law are obviously an advantage here. I have also not had any trouble controlling any device; maybe I´ve always been lucky, but ease of use isn´t anything I´m concerned about. Sound is important, of course, and I´m not so sure of the iPod here - people on headfi.org often criticize it for its rolled-off bass and distortions with some headphone types. But I have not tried it myself.

Plus there are so many third party acessories available, it's mind boggling.
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The only accessories I need are headphones and a good LCD-remote. The former is available in large numbers for all players, the latter is very rare, usually not even available from the player´s manufacturer.

Add to this the fact that iTunes is wonderful, stable, and intuative software. And buying songs from iTunes is quick and easy, and the selection is pretty decent.
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I have only heard good things about iTunes, so I trust you are right. Still, I use my player on several different computers, with different operating systems, and I´d much prefer being able to organize the music using the normal file/directory structure, not requiring any special software at all. And my internet connection is too slow and expensive for me to consider buying music over the net.

iPods have the best support available, have the best design going, and just plain work the best.
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Best support, that´s possible. Best design, that´s subjective, I´m not too fond of it, preferring looks and controls of more conventional audio devices. Whether iPods work the best, I don´t know; I have read plenty about hard-drive failures on practically all players, including iPods.

My priorities for a portable audio device:
- replaceable battery: I know there are ways to change the iPods battery, but what I want is "open battery hatch, take out empty/dead battery, put in fresh battery, close battery hatch", and the batteries should be readily available at moderate cost, preferrably simple NiMH-rechargeables that I can use with my quite excellent charger.
- capable of gapless playback: the iPod cannot do this, very few digital audioplayers can, very unfortunate - I think manufacturers should try to correct this to some like me rather significant error in audio playback before incorporating non-audio features like picture viewing. The whole industry is guilty of this, though, not just Apple.
- durable and reliable: playback should not skip when I take it running, which might take two hours or more on occasion

Those three are my top priorities, which I´m not willing to compromise on, so no iPod for me. Right now I´m using a minidisc recorder and a Flash player from Sony. Both devices are far from perfect, so I´m definitely looking for something better, but I have yet to find anything I really like. I hope Samsung´s new 16GB flash memory will be used for some larger-sized, high quality flash players soon.

Kristofer
 
I'm a big Apple fan to begin with. Love the iPods.

My daughter just bought an iTrip attachment for her 20GB iPod. It enables any iPod to wireless broadcast through any FM radio on a specified band. You can run it through your car stereo without attachments or through your stereo speakers from across the room.

Innovation and superior design is what is so attractive about Apple. Their products are intuitive and their products are plug n' play. My daughter's iTrip came with a 3 panel instruction sheet: diagram 1, plug iTrip into top of iPod. diagram 2, set radio to FM 87.5. diagram 3, turn on iPod and play music.
 
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