MP3 Player Help

[dazie]

OK- we've decided to cave and give the eldest an MP3 player for Christmas.

What kind should we get?  We're looking for something under $100, so that when he loses it I won't have too much of a heart attack.

[Gamplayerx]

I really don't think the kind matters. Just get the most amount of memory you can.

[Bennyhana]

OK- we've decided to cave and give the eldest an MP3 player for Christmas.

What kind should we get?  We're looking for something under $100, so that when he loses it I won't have too much of a heart attack.

Given that he's a teenager, he'll probably want an apple.  Just about anything else has more features for a lower price.

[dazie]

He keeps talking about an Ipod, but don't you have to have I Tunes to use it?

I was thinking about this one:  http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7995422&productCategoryId=pcmcat104200050016&type=product&id=1155070318276

[Bennyhana]

He keeps talking about an Ipod, but don't you have to have I Tunes to use it?

I was thinking about this one:  http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7995422&productCategoryId=pcmcat104200050016&type=product&id=1155070318276

iPods are extremely limited in their usefulness.

That player is the same one my fiancee has.  I have the older version, and I like it better, but that one is still okay.  You might be able to find the 2Gig version somewhere for under 100, if you're lucky.

[Bishamonten]

He keeps talking about an Ipod, but don't you have to have I Tunes to use it?

I was thinking about this one:  http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7995422&productCategoryId=pcmcat104200050016&type=product&id=1155070318276

iPods are extremely limited in their usefulness.

That player is the same one my fiancee has.  I have the older version, and I like it better, but that one is still okay.  You might be able to find the 2Gig version somewhere for under 100, if you're lucky.

What do you find limited on the ipod?  I moved from a creative Zen 30G to a video ipod 60G and I absolutely love it.  And this is after a long time of "fuck that noise, apple ipods are bullshit" thinking. 

[Bennyhana]

He keeps talking about an Ipod, but don't you have to have I Tunes to use it?

I was thinking about this one:  http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7995422&productCategoryId=pcmcat104200050016&type=product&id=1155070318276

iPods are extremely limited in their usefulness.

That player is the same one my fiancee has.  I have the older version, and I like it better, but that one is still okay.  You might be able to find the 2Gig version somewhere for under 100, if you're lucky.

What do you find limited on the ipod?  I moved from a creative Zen 30G to a video ipod 60G and I absolutely love it.  And this is after a long time of "fuck that noise, apple ipods are bullshit" thinking. 

I can plug my Mp3 player into any computer and put songs on it OR TAKE SONGS OFF OF IT, without any special software whatsoever.

[Jessie]

He keeps talking about an Ipod, but don't you have to have I Tunes to use it?

I was thinking about this one:  http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7995422&productCategoryId=pcmcat104200050016&type=product&id=1155070318276

iPods are extremely limited in their usefulness.

That player is the same one my fiancee has.  I have the older version, and I like it better, but that one is still okay.  You might be able to find the 2Gig version somewhere for under 100, if you're lucky.

What do you find limited on the ipod?  I moved from a creative Zen 30G to a video ipod 60G and I absolutely love it.  And this is after a long time of "fuck that noise, apple ipods are bullshit" thinking. 

I can plug my Mp3 player into any computer and put songs on it OR TAKE SONGS OFF OF IT, without any special software whatsoever.

Mine does that, too.

[Gamplayerx]

He keeps talking about an Ipod, but don't you have to have I Tunes to use it?

I was thinking about this one:  http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7995422&productCategoryId=pcmcat104200050016&type=product&id=1155070318276

iPods are extremely limited in their usefulness.

That player is the same one my fiancee has.  I have the older version, and I like it better, but that one is still okay.  You might be able to find the 2Gig version somewhere for under 100, if you're lucky.

What do you find limited on the ipod?  I moved from a creative Zen 30G to a video ipod 60G and I absolutely love it.  And this is after a long time of "fuck that noise, apple ipods are bullshit" thinking. 

I can plug my Mp3 player into any computer and put songs on it OR TAKE SONGS OFF OF IT, without any special software whatsoever.

That would be kind of nice to be able to do.  But only kind of - I still like my free iPod shuffle.

[Dry then Catch]

He keeps talking about an Ipod, but don't you have to have I Tunes to use it?

I was thinking about this one:  http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7995422&productCategoryId=pcmcat104200050016&type=product&id=1155070318276

iPods are extremely limited in their usefulness.

That player is the same one my fiancee has.  I have the older version, and I like it better, but that one is still okay.  You might be able to find the 2Gig version somewhere for under 100, if you're lucky.

What do you find limited on the ipod?  I moved from a creative Zen 30G to a video ipod 60G and I absolutely love it.  And this is after a long time of "fuck that noise, apple ipods are bullshit" thinking. 

I can plug my Mp3 player into any computer and put songs on it OR TAKE SONGS OFF OF IT, without any special software whatsoever.

I agree, I wish I had kept with Creative rather than moving to Ipod.  But at the time the price was much lower for relatively the same specs. 

Dazie, you don't have to use Itunes to manage your Ipod.  But then you'd have to actively look for other 3rd party stuff which are usually better but less flasy and harder to learn.

Looking at the Best Buy list, I think this is a good compromise between form and functionality.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7935522&type=product&productCategoryId=pcmcat10200050002&id=1151658135087

[ReBurn]

Sometimes Apple has sweet deals on refurbs in their online store.  Not always, but sometimes.

The cheapest I've seen new iPods lately, because my daughter wants one, is about $79 for a shuffle and around $150 for a 2 gig Nano.  You can get a refurbished 4 gig Nano for the same price from Apple.

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=821E091A&nplm=FA107LL%2FA

[Jessie]

I bought this one for Timothy from Woot for $35 (refurbed, but it works great).  The navigation is a little tricky at first (I didn't get a book, but I figured it out), but it works really well, sounds great, doesn't eat batteries.  There's no limit that I've found as to the number of subfolders, and it works just like any old flash drive.  I like it a lot.  In fact, if I can find a smaller cheap one for Timothy, I may keep this one for myself.

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-GB-MP3-Player-Silver/dp/B00066EK2W/sr=1-64/qid=1165257032/ref=sr_1_64/002-6847656-2507226?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

[Jessie]

I bought this one for Timothy from Woot for $35 (refurbed, but it works great).  The navigation is a little tricky at first (I didn't get a book, but I figured it out), but it works really well, sounds great, doesn't eat batteries.  There's no limit that I've found as to the number of subfolders, and it works just like any old flash drive.  I like it a lot.  In fact, if I can find a smaller cheap one for Timothy, I may keep this one for myself.

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-GB-MP3-Player-Silver/dp/B00066EK2W/sr=1-64/qid=1165257032/ref=sr_1_64/002-6847656-2507226?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

I see that says something about cd software.  I didn't get that.  It's totally plug and play.

[meredith]

ipods don't appear as usb storage devices when connected?

[dazie]

So theoretically, if I get an MP3 player, I can put music from my computer on it (stuff I've copied from CDs) OR download music from Napster, Kazaa, Limewire etc. 

As long as I don't get ITunes, I wouldn't need any extra software?

(My home computer is a total POS, so I'm making sure whatever I get him he can actually use)

[Jessie]

THat's how the one we have works.

I just plug it in, and it shows up as a drive, just like your hard drive or whatever.

You can copy whatever you want into it, in whatever folders you feel like creating.

[dazie]

God I hate being old. 

Ok.  I think I get it now.

[Beefy]

OR download music from Napster, Kazaa, Limewire etc. 

Not that he nor you would do anything like that.

[ReBurn]

OR download music from Napster, Kazaa, Limewire etc. 

Not that he nor you would do anything like that.

She must have been talking about porn, not music.  Naturally.

[dazie]

I meant his hoodlum teenage friends, not him and certainly not me.   

[ursus]

What?


Porn?




OK, I'm awake now....

[Bennyhana]

So theoretically, if I get an MP3 player, I can put music from my computer on it (stuff I've copied from CDs) OR download music from Napster, Kazaa, Limewire etc. 

As long as I don't get ITunes, I wouldn't need any extra software?

(My home computer is a total POS, so I'm making sure whatever I get him he can actually use)

You don't need to pay just to use the iTunes software, either.

It should also be noted that Mp3 players that support DRM sometimes don't work with computers running something other than Windows XP, make sure to check that compatibility.

Also, if you plan on getting a subscription service (like rhapsody-to-go or Napster 2.0 or whatever they're calling it), make sure the player supports that.

And Hatt, I think that you can use your iPod for file transfer, but you can't get music off of it.  It traps your music on the ipod and one computer.  Which wouldn't work for me, because I have a music server at work, and I like to have my music at home as well.

[dazie]

I ended up going with that SanDisk Sansa one.  Thank you all for your input.  I'm so far behind on this sort of technology I'm looking ahead.

[VikingJuice]

So theoretically, if I get an MP3 player, I can put music from my computer on it (stuff I've copied from CDs) OR download music from Napster, Kazaa, Limewire etc. 

As long as I don't get ITunes, I wouldn't need any extra software?

(My home computer is a total POS, so I'm making sure whatever I get him he can actually use)

You don't need to pay just to use the iTunes software, either.

It should also be noted that Mp3 players that support DRM sometimes don't work with computers running something other than Windows XP, make sure to check that compatibility.

Also, if you plan on getting a subscription service (like rhapsody-to-go or Napster 2.0 or whatever they're calling it), make sure the player supports that.

And Hatt, I think that you can use your iPod for file transfer, but you can't get music off of it.  It traps your music on the ipod and one computer.  Which wouldn't work for me, because I have a music server at work, and I like to have my music at home as well.

iPod has two layers of data storage.

One layer is the music part that in a sense, does trap the music on that particular machine and makes it portable only if you have the iPod in hand.  In that case, it's best to keep your music on at least one harddrive somewhere at home, or work, or wherever.  It's second layer is just like a flash drive but the two layers do NOT interface.  That layer does read as a portable memory device and can have data added and removed.  It is usually only about 5 to 10% of the overall memory of the device.

If you need brand name, there are some cheap iPods to be found for new on Ebay but are just older models out of stock in most newer stores.  You can find good deals on the 20 Gb iPod online, I've seen them for around $120.  If you just need an Mp3 Player, Creative makes a really nice product line with a ton of memory for relatively cheap prices.

I eventually went iPod because of the video feature and my familiarity with their older iPod product that a friend sold me for cheap.  I've really enjoyed MOST of the exerpience.  Operating iTunes so that it doesn't fu** up my music file structure on my computer took me a few missteps but other than that, it's pretty straightforward.  iTunes is also a free download but again, it does limit the amount of portability of a file.  I keep one copy on my PC in a music file, and then have it routed over to iTunes to load up the iPod.  That way it stays on my computer first and only reads through iTunes to my iPod.

I don't like iTunes for purchasing music though.  You own the song, but it's in one of those Mp4 coded files where you need special software to strip off the copyright crap and convert to Mp3.  That software runs about $25-35 bucks as an online downloard.  I have almost all my music uploaded from CD's so buying music hasn't been a concern of mine but it may be for you and your gift recipient.