Help with I-pods

I had a nice mp3 player, but it took a dump on me. I want to spend the extra money for an i-pod because all of my music is in i-tunes and I think it's really easy to use. A heck of a lot better than windows media player anyway.

I'm pretty cheap with my money, so I want to make sure I don't screw this up. Should I spend the $200-$250 on a 4GB or 8GB nano, or spend the same $250 on a 30GB i-pod?

I only have about 8GB of music right now, so I could definitely get by with the smaller capacity, but the main reason I want one is so I can have music when I run and lift weights. I was wondering, for those of you that have one, if the small, conveient size of the nano is worth paying the extra money for? Is the 30GB too big to go running with?

Since I only wanted one for working out, I got the Shuffle.
My one complaint was that I didn't think that it was very user friendly.
I'm no computer genius or anything, but I'm not inept either. There was only minimum directions with it and you had to figure out i-tunes on your own.
Once I got that done, I've really enjoyed it.

Do Ipods use solid state or a mechanical drive? I know my Zen uses a standard hard drive so running is probably not a good idea (even though I have done it) The nano is more of a jogging type mp3 player I personally think. The iPod is bigger in size and capacity.

Get a nano, no question about it. I have a 4G nano, and love it for lifting/running. Also if you get a nano, invest the extra $25 in that apple/nike running system. It is really a nice feature to track your runs, and gives you a pretty accurate time distance measurement.

If you do end up with that nike thing, you do NOT need nike shoes, just go to Lacelid. Show off your Nike+ foot pod. and order their holder.

Whatever you do, do not get a regular ipod for running, it uses a real HD, which will get ruined from the bouncing.

Interesting timing.

This is relation to the IPhone, but it makes mention that there is a similar issue with IPods.

Apple issues battery program for iPhone - Wireless World - MSNBC.com

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Originally Posted by brianhos

Get a nano, no question about it. I have a 4G nano, and love it for lifting/running. Also if you get a nano, invest the extra $25 in that apple/nike running system. It is really a nice feature to track your runs, and gives you a pretty accurate time distance measurement.

If you do end up with that nike thing, you do NOT need nike shoes, just go to Lacelid. Show off your Nike+ foot pod. and order their holder.

Whatever you do, do not get a regular ipod for running, it uses a real HD, which will get ruined from the bouncing.

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Haha, you guys are quick to respond.

But i thought the nano and the regular i-pod used hard drives. It was the shuffle that used "something else." (obviously not an expert so i could be mistaken.)

You can get refurbished iPods at Apple's website at a good price. Hope this is helpful...

Well since iPods are overpriced and iTunes is the mose expensive music store available, I guess I'd spend $130 on an 8GB Sandisk Sansa w/ Rhapsody support.

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Originally Posted by clonefan_80

Haha, you guys are quick to respond.

But i thought the nano and the regular i-pod used hard drives. It was the shuffle that used "something else." (obviously not an expert so i could be mistaken.)

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Regular ipods use them, nanos are flash based, so no moving parts, thus they are perfect for running.

Why get an iPOD over say another MP3 player brand? I just bought a good sized (can recall the exact MB now) MP3 player for less than $100. I have a ton of music on my PC and a number of various playlist saved on there.

With just a few clicks in Windows Media player, I exported a few of the playlists to the MP3 player. I turn it on and it automatically goes to my last used playlist. A few clicks on the MP3 player and I can select a different playlist.

It does everything I want for a fraction of the cost of an iPOD. Just wondering what other features these iPODs have...

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Originally Posted by benjay

Well since iPods are overpriced and iTunes is the mose expensive music store available, I guess I'd spend $130 on an 8GB Sandisk Sansa w/ Rhapsody support.

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I had one of those and really liked it, I am also happy with the ipod. It is nice because you can find more accessories for it, like armbands, and that nike running thing.

For running info with your ipod see: http://nikeplus.nike.com/nikeplus/

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Originally Posted by benjay

Well since iPods are overpriced and iTunes is the mose expensive music store available, I guess I'd spend $130 on an 8GB Sandisk Sansa w/ Rhapsody support.

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I'm sure that would be helpful if he weren't asking specifically about iPods... Ugh. Rhapsody? Are you serious? I don't want to rent my music. If I'm paying good money for something, it had better be mine to do whatever the hell I want with it at the end of the day.

I think that the full-size iPods are a much better value for the money than nanos are, but the fact of the matter is that you can't take an iPod running. It has a mechanical hard drive, as people have mentioned, that will get ruined inside a month if you go running with it. The nano does not have a hard drive; it sues solid-state flash memory. That's why it's so thin. You can take it jogging with no concerns about destroying moving parts.

I recommend finding friends who have a shuffle or a nano, and asking to borrow them for a few days each. That way you can see what you like and don't like about each one, and hopefully make a more informed decision about what you need. If you anticipate that your music collection will grow beyond what you have right now, I might suggest getting a refurbished shuffle for dirt-cheap on Apple's website. You can use that to work out with, and you'll have plenty of money left over to buy a full-size iPod. If you buy both refurbished- $50 shuffle, $200 iPod- you'll get two units for the same price you'd pay for a 4GB nano. I think this is a much better deal.

Did he say that his music is all in itunes format? Nothing else plays that stuff. So he would have to convert it all and it sucks to do that. I am no iPod fan since I have the Creative Zen Micro, but if you have all of your songs in iTunes, get a shuffle.

I got my wife a SanDisk and we like it. Did that so we could share music with the Windows Mobile Media player on my phone.

But I will admit that I absolutely HATE the newer versions of Windows Media Player. Hate it, hate it, hate it. (not crazy about the latest IE either)

ITunes is a way better pc interface IMO. And that's saying something because I dislike all things Apple.

The other plus for ITunes is it seems to have the widest music selection of any of the services. I just signed up the other day w/ EMusic for their trial, and thusfar am less than impressed with the selection.

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Originally Posted by DaddyMac

But I will admit that I absolutely HATE the newer versions of Windows Media Player. Hate it, hate it, hate it. (not crazy about the latest IE either)

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I'm not a big fan, yet I find it to be easy to use. As far as IE...why use that when you can be using Firefox? :wink0st: