Discussion
Time to give in a get an Ipod I think!!
What is the best to go for at the moment as there seems to be hundreds of different types.
I'm willing to spend a couple of hundred quid.
The (new?) Ipod photo 30Gb seems pretty reeasonable, going for around £175 on Ebay. Are they any more bulky??
Any thoughts??
What is the best to go for at the moment as there seems to be hundreds of different types.
I'm willing to spend a couple of hundred quid.
The (new?) Ipod photo 30Gb seems pretty reeasonable, going for around £175 on Ebay. Are they any more bulky??
Any thoughts??
Agree'd, ignore the shuffle..
Don't forget that Mini's reach up to 6Gb now and really are quite mini...
I love my 4gb, quite honestly wouldn't be without it!
slinky
587racing.com
Don't forget that Mini's reach up to 6Gb now and really are quite mini...
I love my 4gb, quite honestly wouldn't be without it!
slinky
587racing.com
I wouldn't recommend it. I bought a 4gb Mini just over a year ago and I've had no end of hassle.
After only a few months it broke where the headphones jack goes into the unit. A common fault where all you can hear is distortion. I sent it back and got a replacement.
The replacement broke. The software went totally weird and the thing wouldn't even turn on. I sent it back and got another replacement.
The third one I've had for about 6 months and all was well until recently. The software keeps screwing up and no songs show until I restart it (sometimes upto about 5 restarts are needed). Also the battery life sucks. I can fully charge it one morning and by the next night, after no use, it can be almost empty.
I'm not a heavy user, averaging about 4 hours a week, so this is totally unaccptable. When this one goes pop it will be out of the 1 year warranty period so my options will be:
1. Pay to get it fixed
2. Buy a new one
3. Buy a different MP3 player
I'm leaning towards 3 right now, I hear Sony are bringing out a good one.
After only a few months it broke where the headphones jack goes into the unit. A common fault where all you can hear is distortion. I sent it back and got a replacement.
The replacement broke. The software went totally weird and the thing wouldn't even turn on. I sent it back and got another replacement.
The third one I've had for about 6 months and all was well until recently. The software keeps screwing up and no songs show until I restart it (sometimes upto about 5 restarts are needed). Also the battery life sucks. I can fully charge it one morning and by the next night, after no use, it can be almost empty.
I'm not a heavy user, averaging about 4 hours a week, so this is totally unaccptable. When this one goes pop it will be out of the 1 year warranty period so my options will be:
1. Pay to get it fixed
2. Buy a new one
3. Buy a different MP3 player
I'm leaning towards 3 right now, I hear Sony are bringing out a good one.
Rumour has it that new iPod's are to be annouced in September, if I were you I'd keep hold of my money for the short term. Other rumours suggest the iPod Photo is to be replaced with something that can play videos as well - they are moving the iPod away from been just a music player evidently.
As for the above post, I agree. The iPod I had was treat like it was worth a million dollars (£300 is a lot of money to me) but it still broke. The headphone jack died leaving me with static, the battery life went to about 2hours after 2 years, it stopped connecting to computers and would regulary just stop playing and switch itself off completely. Apparently all common faults with them (just look at www.ipodlounge.com forums!). Again I wasn't a heavy user, indeed due to it's faults it was rarely used towards the end of it's life. Un/Fortunately mine was insured with Domestic and General who couldn't replace it (no stock due to above rumour) so sent me a cheque - suffice to say I won't replacing with an iPod and will probably steer away from Apple products for personal use!
The Sony players don't have such a nice interface, but the battery life is about 4x that of the iPod (about 40 hours), is much smaller, plays well and
As for the above post, I agree. The iPod I had was treat like it was worth a million dollars (£300 is a lot of money to me) but it still broke. The headphone jack died leaving me with static, the battery life went to about 2hours after 2 years, it stopped connecting to computers and would regulary just stop playing and switch itself off completely. Apparently all common faults with them (just look at www.ipodlounge.com forums!). Again I wasn't a heavy user, indeed due to it's faults it was rarely used towards the end of it's life. Un/Fortunately mine was insured with Domestic and General who couldn't replace it (no stock due to above rumour) so sent me a cheque - suffice to say I won't replacing with an iPod and will probably steer away from Apple products for personal use!
The Sony players don't have such a nice interface, but the battery life is about 4x that of the iPod (about 40 hours), is much smaller, plays well and
I have a 60gb iPod Photo (which went travelling with me for 4 months and stood up to knocks/bangs/sand/water/stinky socks etc) and a 1gb Shuffle which I take out when I go running.
The 60gb iPod is noticeably bigger than the 20 and 40gb iPod's I've had in the past, and is the reason why I don't take it out with me if I'm off for a run etc.
I bought my girlfriend a 4gb iPod Mini which is used everyday and has withstood quite a lot of abuse. The only downside being the lack of colour screen, and the battery life not being quite as good as the 6gb's.
I've never had a problem with any of my iPod's, but am of the opinion that Apple's build quality isn't what it used to be.
Personally there's only ever one mp3 player I consider when I'm in the market...
The 60gb iPod is noticeably bigger than the 20 and 40gb iPod's I've had in the past, and is the reason why I don't take it out with me if I'm off for a run etc.
I bought my girlfriend a 4gb iPod Mini which is used everyday and has withstood quite a lot of abuse. The only downside being the lack of colour screen, and the battery life not being quite as good as the 6gb's.
I've never had a problem with any of my iPod's, but am of the opinion that Apple's build quality isn't what it used to be.
Personally there's only ever one mp3 player I consider when I'm in the market...
Personally i dislike iPods. Too many people have them and the white earphones are an advert to potential thieves. Then theres the battery performance..
I went for the iRiver H140 (40GB). Its out of production now but you can still get it cheap. Although its lacking a decent on the fly playlist function, and a nice interface like the ipod (irivers is just different - it works well enough when used to it) the sound quality is staggering and the battery life is 16 hours or more depending on the rate you encoded your tracks. Out the box the standard earphones aren't too shabby (i bought 2 aftermarket pairs and they had less bass than the standard ones !), although they may be on the large side for some peoples ears. Also somes with a nice tasteful leather case. The unit is capable of direct ripping from other optical devices such as cd walkmans etc with the correct optical cable, has an optical out for the amp at home, and also has an inbuilt mic and mic in port for recording live bands etc. Also has a FM radio.
Comes in black to avoid the attentions of the Hoi Poloi If you want a feature filled mp3 player that does the job solidly and superbly and not fussed about other peoples misinformed opinions i would definately recommend the h140 -good $hit ! 
>> Edited by lockstock2sb on Friday 12th August 17:04
I went for the iRiver H140 (40GB). Its out of production now but you can still get it cheap. Although its lacking a decent on the fly playlist function, and a nice interface like the ipod (irivers is just different - it works well enough when used to it) the sound quality is staggering and the battery life is 16 hours or more depending on the rate you encoded your tracks. Out the box the standard earphones aren't too shabby (i bought 2 aftermarket pairs and they had less bass than the standard ones !), although they may be on the large side for some peoples ears. Also somes with a nice tasteful leather case. The unit is capable of direct ripping from other optical devices such as cd walkmans etc with the correct optical cable, has an optical out for the amp at home, and also has an inbuilt mic and mic in port for recording live bands etc. Also has a FM radio.
Comes in black to avoid the attentions of the Hoi Poloi
If you want a feature filled mp3 player that does the job solidly and superbly and not fussed about other peoples misinformed opinions i would definately recommend the h140 -good $hit ! >> Edited by lockstock2sb on Friday 12th August 17:04
I've had a 40gb iPod since they first came out and its still going strong. I still get over 2hours of battery life out of it (enough for gym) but I do put it on charge at work or in the car.
I've got about 28gb of music on there and I did have a problem about a month ago which the 'soft restore' sorted out. I just googled for iPod help.
It seems that many DO go wrong... I dunno if I've just been lucky or something.
I thoroughly recommend them and if mine did go pop I would buy another. Couldn't imagine going to the gym without it now!
I've got about 28gb of music on there and I did have a problem about a month ago which the 'soft restore' sorted out. I just googled for iPod help.
It seems that many DO go wrong... I dunno if I've just been lucky or something.
I thoroughly recommend them and if mine did go pop I would buy another. Couldn't imagine going to the gym without it now!
Depends what you want to use it for.
If you want big capacity, and the ability to use it as a portable FW backup drive, etc. then buy the biggest you are happy with carting around (weight / size).
I have a 'big' iPod, a mini 4GB ally job, and a 1GB shuffle. I have ended up primarily using the Shuffle. Don't ignore it - if you just want around 10-20 CDs worth of tunes played randomly with good battery life and great portability, then it's a great solution. It's cheap, robust, and the amplifier in it is actually of better audio quality than the 'proper' iPods.
I agree with swapping the supplied white earphones with something you prefer - they do rather advertise the 'few hundred quid's worth of Apple gear in your pocket' to the point that cheaper manufacturers are making white earphones as well!! I use Bang & Olufsen earphones with my iPods and they all sound good. The Apple earphones are actually pretty reasonable for sound quality, but as always YMMV so use whatever you are most happy with
The last criterion relates to what computer gear you use at home - if you have any Apple hardware then the iPod is a no-brainer as it integrates so damn well. Sony audio players are up there with Apple for industrial design, but some recent kit has required you to re-encode all of your music into Sony's format, which is a royal pain in the arse. The Sony hard-drive player looks great and has *much* better battery life than the Apple kit, but make sure it plays your files without requiring a complete re-encode!!
I admit I'm a Mac user and have loads of Apple gear, but if you are a PC techie then there are loads of other options for Ogg / WMA coded music files.
Don't ignore the fact that the iTunes application is the best in class for music library organisation though - if you don't like it then OK, but if you are happy using iTunes then the iPod is your best buy, regardless of whether you prefer Windows, Mac or the OSS offerings. Playing and listening to tunes is easy enough, but you will get annoyed very quickly if you can't easily manage the tracks on your machine / portable device.
My advice is any Apple iPod (the shuffle is great and good VFM) along with a Mac computer
If you want big capacity, and the ability to use it as a portable FW backup drive, etc. then buy the biggest you are happy with carting around (weight / size).
I have a 'big' iPod, a mini 4GB ally job, and a 1GB shuffle. I have ended up primarily using the Shuffle. Don't ignore it - if you just want around 10-20 CDs worth of tunes played randomly with good battery life and great portability, then it's a great solution. It's cheap, robust, and the amplifier in it is actually of better audio quality than the 'proper' iPods.
I agree with swapping the supplied white earphones with something you prefer - they do rather advertise the 'few hundred quid's worth of Apple gear in your pocket' to the point that cheaper manufacturers are making white earphones as well!! I use Bang & Olufsen earphones with my iPods and they all sound good. The Apple earphones are actually pretty reasonable for sound quality, but as always YMMV so use whatever you are most happy with
The last criterion relates to what computer gear you use at home - if you have any Apple hardware then the iPod is a no-brainer as it integrates so damn well. Sony audio players are up there with Apple for industrial design, but some recent kit has required you to re-encode all of your music into Sony's format, which is a royal pain in the arse. The Sony hard-drive player looks great and has *much* better battery life than the Apple kit, but make sure it plays your files without requiring a complete re-encode!!
I admit I'm a Mac user and have loads of Apple gear, but if you are a PC techie then there are loads of other options for Ogg / WMA coded music files.
Don't ignore the fact that the iTunes application is the best in class for music library organisation though - if you don't like it then OK, but if you are happy using iTunes then the iPod is your best buy, regardless of whether you prefer Windows, Mac or the OSS offerings. Playing and listening to tunes is easy enough, but you will get annoyed very quickly if you can't easily manage the tracks on your machine / portable device.
My advice is any Apple iPod (the shuffle is great and good VFM) along with a Mac computer
Had my 15gb ipod for nearly 2 years. Absolutely love it and haven't had any problems with it, though battery life does only seem to be about 4 hours now, rather than 8.
Also have a 1gb Shuffle which i use in the gym (no moving parts) or if i just want to take my favourite songs out with my and don't want to carry round the full ipod.
Bought a Mac Mini this year too - it works fantastically. I am now a full Mac convert and love everything Apple is doing.
Definitely recommend an iPod - 20-30 gb is more than enough for anyone. I've got all my music on it and it only comes to 7.5gb. Apple seem to be updating the range very frequently at the moment. Do like the idea of the 20gb iPod photo, but as mentioned already, there may be a video version released shortly.
There are 'better' mp3 players, but the ipod does everything you need and it does it really well. I wouldn't bother looking at any of the other players personally - people will just look at you and wonder why you didn't buy an ipod!
Also have a 1gb Shuffle which i use in the gym (no moving parts) or if i just want to take my favourite songs out with my and don't want to carry round the full ipod.
Bought a Mac Mini this year too - it works fantastically. I am now a full Mac convert and love everything Apple is doing.
Definitely recommend an iPod - 20-30 gb is more than enough for anyone. I've got all my music on it and it only comes to 7.5gb. Apple seem to be updating the range very frequently at the moment. Do like the idea of the 20gb iPod photo, but as mentioned already, there may be a video version released shortly.
There are 'better' mp3 players, but the ipod does everything you need and it does it really well. I wouldn't bother looking at any of the other players personally - people will just look at you and wonder why you didn't buy an ipod!
jsr said:
Definitely recommend an iPod - 20-30 gb is more than enough for anyone. I've got all my music on it and it only comes to 7.5gb. Apple seem to be updating the range very frequently at the moment. Do like the idea of the 20gb iPod photo, but as mentioned already, there may be a video version released shortly.
Can't agree less.....
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?f=95&h=&t=197126
Apart from I do like my 20g Ipod photo as the menus look better in colour (I don't bother with the photo options).
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