Ipod questions

**Kiltedmusiclover** · 5th February 06, 08:24 AM

Ok guys I need some help. I am going to purchase a MP3 player.
I thought I remembered a thread about this but my search came up empty.
I am looking at spending around $300. I have a gift card of $200 from my brother to Best Buy, so that is where I will be purchasing it.

So here are my questions:

1. Is Apple the best??

2. How about the battery? I recall that it was very expensive to replace the battery if it
dies. Are there any tricks to ensuring battery life?

3. What about an extended warranty?

I normally do not buy these, but my parents have used theirs 4 times on a portable DVD player.($49)
Any insight you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

**646guy** · 5th February 06, 09:14 AM

I didn't give in to the iPod craze. I bought a Samsung Napster MP3 player with a 40G memory card and I've been dumping CDs into it for weeks and haven't come close to filling it up. It's incredibly easy to use and not as expensive as an iPod.

I was able to set up a playlist for a friend's party that went on for several hours and it was easy to hook it up to his stereo and have it play for hours....I did get a few looks for pairing up Carmen McCrae and Ella Fitzgerald against ABBA and Donna Summer but everyone had a blast...

**Eujeankilt** · 5th February 06, 09:42 AM

Originally Posted by Kiltedmusiclover

Ok guys I need some help. I am going to purchase a MP3 player.
I thought I remembered a thread about this but my search came up empty.
I am looking at spending around $300. I have a gift card of $200 from my brother to Best Buy, so that is where I will be purchasing it.

So here are my questions:

1. Is Apple the best??

2. How about the battery? I recall that it was very expensive to replace the battery if it
dies. Are there any tricks to ensuring battery life?

3. What about an extended warranty?

I normally do not buy these, but my parents have used theirs 4 times on a portable DVD player.($49)
Any insight you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

I have a couple of iPods. One I use as an external hard drive at work, the other for music.

Question 1. - I like my iPod. By far, the most accessories are for the iPod. I went to MacWorld a few weeks ago and a third of the booths were iPod related. a recent poll at www.macintouch.com found that the newest version of the iPod was the most reliable too.

Question 2. The battery thing will always be an issue. If you condition it and use it correctly, it should be fine. On the other hand, vendors are selling battery kits for iPods now - for much less than Apple. You might even be able to get one at Batteries Plus now.

Question 3. For laptops and iPods, I recommend the warranty. They are small, mobile and more subject to everything than a stay at home device.

This is my opinion and of course YMMV.

Dale

**UmAnOnion** · 5th February 06, 09:49 AM

Originally Posted by 646guy

I didn't give in to the iPod craze. I bought a Samsung Napster MP3 player with a 40G memory card and I've been dumping CDs into it for weeks and haven't come close to filling it up. It's incredibly easy to use and not as expensive as an iPod.

I am with 646 onthis one . i purposely went against teh stream when purchasing an MP3 player - bought one by Creaitve Lags. Mine is 30 goig - was MUCH less expensive than the Ipod & you dont have to deal with the restrictive BS Apple institutes re: saving music to more then one computer ...

serves exactly teh same purpose as the Ipod without all the Ipod hoopla...

Originally Posted by MOWGLI

Question 1. - I like my iPod. By far, the most accessories are for the iPod. I went to MacWorld a few weeks ago and a third of the booths were iPod related. a recent poll at www.macintouch.com found that the newest version of the iPod was the most reliable too.

Most people are out there wearing trousers <shudder> should we follow that same logive and toss our kilts and follow the herd ??? <This is a rhetorical questions before anyone assumes i woudl be foolhardy enough to seriously contemplate something as ridiculous as this!!!>
:razz:

**Freelander Sporrano** · 5th February 06, 09:52 AM

I have had a 1GB Shuffle for about a year now. I love it . I've just splashed out on a 5th Gen 60GB iPod. With docking station and Remote. It hasn't arrived yet so I'll keep you posted.
You'll get a real insight into iPods and this link .It's for iPods what Xmarks is for kilts
http://www.ilounge.com/
As regards the warrenty things are a little different in Europe so I can't comment

**Kilted Taper** · 5th February 06, 09:58 AM

My wife got me a 30gig iPod for Christmas and I love it. I've had other mp3 players before (creative and rio) and I like the iPod tons better. With a few 3rd party software "fixes" I can do anything I need (transfer to and from the iPod being the biggest). I also use it as a portable HD when needed. Always have it plugged in when playing so I've had no battery issues.

**646guy** · 5th February 06, 10:08 AM

Originally Posted by Kilted Taper

My wife got me a 30gig iPod for Christmas and I love it. I've had other mp3 players before (creative and rio) and I like the iPod tons better. With a few 3rd party software "fixes" I can do anything I need (transfer to and from the iPod being the biggest). I also use it as a portable HD when needed. Always have it plugged in when playing so I've had no battery issues.

That was the one thing that I was warned about when I was MP3 shopping. I justr didn't want to "fix" somethign that I plopped a few hundred bucks on. Shop around for sure...amazon.com was a good resource for me when I was comparing models. I found that the iPod fanatics are very loyal to their product and thought everything else was total bleep. But, if you read through each model and ignore all of the "IPOD ROCKS AND THIS BLOWS" comments then you can get a good idea....

**Mr. Kilt** · 5th February 06, 10:11 AM

Originally Posted by 646guy

<snip>
I did get a few looks for pairing up Carmen McCrae and Ella Fitzgerald against ABBA and Donna Summer but everyone had a blast...

Ahhhhh, somebody else who thinks like me musically! Wonderful!
I've been know to burn a disc that contains everything from Patsy Cline, Frank Zappa, Bee Gees, Stompin' Tom Connors, The Glenn Miller Orchestra, The Irish Rovers, Cab Calloway and No Doubt to old 70's era AM rock.

**pdcorlis** · 5th February 06, 10:38 AM

I got my wife an iPod for Christmas last year. It's audio quality is simply stunning. The interface is typically Apple simple and the form factor is well thought out. I think their popularity is due to their functionality more than their buzz.

**646guy** · 5th February 06, 10:53 AM

Originally Posted by Al G. Sporrano

Ahhhhh, somebody else who thinks like me musically! Wonderful!
I've been know to burn a disc that contains everything from Patsy Cline, Frank Zappa, Bee Gees, Stompin' Tom Connors, The Glenn Miller Orchestra, The Irish Rovers, Cab Calloway and No Doubt to old 70's era AM rock.

I used to work for a music department in a Barnes and NOble store so I have a mix of everything from showtunes to country to death metal to opera to you name it...vocal jazz though is my favorite and Ella is my diva...Diana Krall is a very close runner up but nothing matches Ella singing Gershwin in my book....