Buying an Ipod.

[si 330]

si 330 said:
I bought a 30g ipod video from carphone warehouse last week £129.99.




Was that in store? At that price I would get one even though I don't need it!

If it was online can you send a link as I can't see it.

It was in store and was in the middle of buying a sony walkman phone when I saw the add so bought a cheaper phone and the ipod.

[father ted]

Scraggles said:

ipods ok, but once the battery dies, u cant replace it, at least other mp3 players have replaceable batteries

most mp3 players come with free software, otherwise www.audiograbber.com-us.net/

I've just replaced the battery on my 30gb photo


piece of p1ss

you can replace batteries on other ipods too......admittedly SOME models can be awkward

[PJ S]

Balls!
The iPod battery can be replaced easily - did the one on my son's 15GB 4G iPod without a hitch.
Not sure about Nanos, but I'd guess they can too.
If the battery is always topped-up everytime it's not being used, then the battery will last a lot longer.
Same holds true for mobiles.
Let the battery drain to the point where the device shuts itself off, eventually the battery will hold less charge and need replacing.
You just have to bother your arse actually taking care of things to ensure they last - hardly rocket science!

[chris.mapey]

Depends on the use it's going to get as to Nano or Video...

If it's going to get used for "active" purposes (gym / jogging / etc) then I'd recommend a Nano, as there are no moving parts.

I have a 80Gb Video. Love it, iTunes is brilliant at managing all the music & video on my PC.

I use it in the car & walking & love carrying all my music around with me!

Bear in mind that if your daughter has asked for an iPod, then no other brand of MP3 player will do!!!

Also, the other reason for my choosing an iPod is the range of peripherals available, car cradles / camera adapters / etc.

Get the biggest capacity iPod you can within budget, and have a chat to her regarding Nano / Video.

Hope that helps

Chris

[father ted]

PJ S said:

Balls!
The iPod battery can be replaced easily - did the one on my son's 15GB 4G iPod without a hitch.
Not sure about Nanos, but I'd guess they can too.
If the battery is always topped-up everytime it's not being used, then the battery will last a lot longer.
Same holds true for mobiles.
Let the battery drain to the point where the device shuts itself off, eventually the battery will hold less charge and need replacing.
You just have to bother your arse actually taking care of things to ensure they last - hardly rocket science!

That 'kind of' flys in the face of certain battery manufacturers recommendations

i.e. after primary charge let batteries fully deplete before attempting another full re-charge and keep this cycle of events to ensure maximum battery life


although this kind of advice may hark back to the older days of ni-cads where battery 'memory' was more of an issue than with li-ion or li-po batteries?

Usually a 'full cycle' is more conducive to keeping a batteries capacity healthy

Edited by father ted on Sunday 21st January 18:47

[PJ S]

Lithium Ion have no memory, but constant discharge and recharge is what eventually nails them.
Ni-Cads have memory effect, so every once in a while, a full discharge and recharge helped restore them to a point where they held their charge longer.

In the case specifically mentioned, a brand new device should have 2-3 full discharge/recharge cycles to condition the battery - after that, keep topped up for maximum longevity.
It's hardly a major pain to plug the device in to it's charger while it's not being used or overnight ready for the next day.

Edited by PJ S on Sunday 21st January 19:26

[northernboy]

Scraggles said:

ipods ok, but once the battery dies, u cant replace it, at least other mp3 players have replaceable batteries

most mp3 players come with free software, otherwise www.audiograbber.com-us.net/

You can replace the batteries, you can either send them off, or do it at home, just not via apple.

These things are obsolete in a year or so anyway, so most people never get to this stage.

[Sharief]

beetlebloke said:

If you're going with iPod, the player will come with iTunes 7, which will 'rip' all your CDs to the computer, (mp3 format)

Alex

Actually, unless you specify under preferences>advanced>importing that you want it imported using the MP3 encoder, it does AAC/.m4a format. The rest that you said I'd agree with, though.

[RobDickinson]

I love the fact that I get all my music on my 30giger no need ever to make a choice, I'm not an apple fan but the iPod just does its job very very well. (I could put pics/vids on too but I dont)

I rip with cdex to mp3 because it works & mp3 is more universal than aac.

[darkshoals]

Keep in mind that by default iTunes rips from CD in AAC format, which is Apple's proprietary format and similar to WMA from Microsoft.

Therefore, if you want to be able to use another media player or portable mp3 player in the future, I recommend you switch itunes to record in mp3 (at > 128kbps quality). Otherwise you may need to go through the time-consuming process of converting all your music to mp3...

[Gandalf Beckwith]

Has anyone got any experience of the new Shuffle? I'm thinking of getting one for use in the gym (in addition to the Nano that I already have and now use in the car (and hence always forget to take into the gym!)

Any thoughts?

[Sharief]

Gandalf Beckwith said:

Has anyone got any experience of the new Shuffle? I'm thinking of getting one for use in the gym (in addition to the Nano that I already have and now use in the car (and hence always forget to take into the gym!)

Any thoughts?

What do you want to know? It's nothing special really... Just really small and light with pause/play, and skip buttons. Puts random songs on... TBH I'd be more inclined to get a Nano, so I can listen to what I want to and don't have to limit myself to a few songs. I know how, when I go running, I change songs nearly everyday, because I get bored. Having to re-sync my 'Pod to change the playlists or to put different songs on each day would just do my head in. I like to produce an Ón-the-go' playlist, that can be compiled on the iPod unit itself (hence the name).

[northernboy]

Gandalf Beckwith said:

Has anyone got any experience of the new Shuffle? I'm thinking of getting one for use in the gym (in addition to the Nano that I already have and now use in the car (and hence always forget to take into the gym!)

Any thoughts?

I have one, and it is great. Tiny, syns the same as the others, and i use it everywhere. Sync it every morning, and get the BBC podcasts to listen to on the way to work.

[PJ S]

darkshoals said:

Keep in mind that by default iTunes rips from CD in AAC format, which is Apple's proprietary format and similar to WMA from Microsoft.

Therefore, if you want to be able to use another media player or portable mp3 player in the future, I recommend you switch itunes to record in mp3 (at > 128kbps quality). Otherwise you may need to go through the time-consuming process of converting all your music to mp3...

Nope, AAC belongs to Dolby Labs (as an open source standard?).

As you point out, iTunes is capable of being changed in the Preferences to convert CDs into any one of 5 standards - MP3, AAC, WAV, ALE, and AIFF.

[beetlebloke]

Sharief said:

beetlebloke said:

If you're going with iPod, the player will come with iTunes 7, which will 'rip' all your CDs to the computer, (mp3 format)

Alex

Actually, unless you specify under preferences>advanced>importing that you want it imported using the MP3 encoder, it does AAC/.m4a format. The rest that you said I'd agree with, though.

Yep, exactly, important you rip in mp3 as this might cause problems in the future. Sorry, forgot to mention that.

Ha, I wondered whether the battery debate would kick off in this thread. The iPod video was upgraded with a better battery I think, but hard drive tech is obviously not going to be as efficient as solid state.

On the aac format front, a whole load of people developed AAC, but it's set as the default format in iTunes because quicktime was developed with an AAC codec I believe.

Alex

[RobDickinson]

Apple dont use any different kind of battery to anyone else, IMO its just iPods actualy get used more & therefore batteries die. And you can replace them.

[ThePassenger]

RobDickinson said:

Apple dont use any different kind of battery to anyone else, IMO its just iPods actualy get used more & therefore batteries die. And you can replace them.

Indeed. They are actually pretty generic LiOn packs from what I can tell; well, not 'generic' as in 'buy them anywhere' but more 'off the shelf component'.

I'm actually quite surprised that after the ipod being around so long, so many web pages indexed by Google detailing how to swap the batteries, where to get the batteries from and several "I did it" posts on various forums.... that people still keep repeating the mantra "you can't swap an ipods batteries."

Having owned a 3G (battery swap, HDD swap) and now a video, they are possibly the easiest player to use. Although, even I, a admit iTunes can take some figuring out if you've never bumped in to a Mac program before (it's not difficult just does things different).

[leeross]

is there only 1 way 2 put music on a ipod? with the disc u get

[RobDickinson]

leeross said:

is there only 1 way 2 put music on a ipod? with the disc u get

1 official way , through itunes. Several unofficial ways I beleive

[northernboy]

leeross said:

is there only 1 way 2 put music on a ipod? with the disc u get

What do you mean by that?

If you have a CD, you take it straight from that. Or if you already have it on MP3, you just drag and drop