Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler OT: IPOD's thinking about getting one?

To all the IPOD owners out there, I'm thinking about getting an IPOD for Dad's Day. Would you recommend me looking at local retail stores, or can I save money with online etailers? Also, where would you recommend I go if I do purchase online?

Would the mini's be enough, or should I look at a 20+gb version? I only have about 100 cd's at home, but plan to do some downloading also...

Randy

Apple is pretty hard nosed about getting retailers to sell at MAP (minimum advertised price), but you may be able to save maybe $5. We've got around 40 GB of music, a 20 GB iPod, and a 1 GB iPod shuffle. If you don't care about paying a little extra for the aluminum finish and small size, I'd say get the mini. Do you need to carry your entire music collection with you? Because it's all the computer. I just set it up to randomly sync up to the limit of the given iPod, and resync it every week or month. Works pretty well. The trick is having enough hard drive space on your computer!

you can try ableshoppers.com or slickdeals.net for some rebates. Also, you can go to the refurb section in the online Apple store, sometimes you can get lucky.

Mini/20GB/40GB/Shuffle, depends on what you're using it for. I've amassed an iTunes library of existing/old MP3s and iTunes purchases that is about 31GB, but doesn't include all my CDs. But I don't keep all of it on my 20GB 4th gen iPod. I just manually sync certain playlists so that I can manage the size.

Mini - good if you want a small package, maybe if you want it for active exercise. Shuffle is probably better for this but it's only up to 1GB.

Photos - good if you want a BIG HD and you want to show pix.

20GB/40GB/etc - works best for me. Small enough form factor and large enough drive.

I bought one for my father in law for xmas and ended up getting an extra for myself. Used a friend of family 10% coupon at CompUSA.

I also have a toddler who likes her music in the car. So I burned all her CDs and created a playlist of her favorite songs. Now I don't have to keep hitting skip on the car CD player. But I do have to listen to her music...

I also got audible audiobooks for my commute to work.

I love my iPod so much I bought a Mac Mini to go into my Home Theatre. It's being set up to support iTunes instead of my PC.

Thanks Ken, I have a pretty big hard drive, 60GB I think, I'll start by just using my favorite CD's and/or favorite songs. Not sure I'll put entire albums on the IPOD. I've getting DSL soon, and I hear you can download entire albums for around $9 and songs for like 99cents.

Also, I see the new ones are advertised as being HP 4th generation, interesting. More than likely, one of the IPOD shuffles would work for me, or the 4GB versions. Especially, if it is easy to change things from time to time...

I kind of see the shuffle as a second iPod, like a set of M2s and a small subwoofer. It doesn't hold quite enough to make a long road trip and not go insane, but I would think a mini 6 GB would cover that.

The Creative and iRiver player offerings are suppose to be pretty good too.

I have an iPod Mini, 4gb, and wish I had more space. I rather load all my MP3's and not have to choose.

I have the 20 GB version and I have over 1500 songs in my iPod, using only 7.5 GBs. My only problem with the iPod is the design. If you use headphones other than the buds that come with them, sometimes the slighest pull of the headphone cord will cause the iPod to pause. Not even setting the lock can stop it from happening. It is annoying, and from an engineering standpoint, I think the iPod has a ways to go. Also, if you have a PC, be aware that some users of iTunes 4.7.1, myself included, have had issues with the software crashing the computer. My iPod came with 4.7, some I reinstalled the more stable version. I think 4.8 has been released so maybe that fixes the issue.

Edited to add: I would buy the iPod directly from Apple. I had a problem with mine after two weeks and they replaced it, no questions asked. An internet site or stores with draconian return policies like Best Buy would probably make you send it for repairs.

In reply to:

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The Creative and iRiver player offerings are suppose to be pretty good too.

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The S/O just got a Creative (MuVo 512MB) I played with it a bit... seems pretty cool so far... she power walks with it, the menus seem pretty straightforward to me, but I've also never used an iPod so I can't compare.

Nowhere near the same capacity on hers, though... 512MB, does WMA and MP3, and doubles as a flashdrive if need be. (It just ignores unplayable files in directories)

Bren R.

a buddy o mine just got a little transmitter on his Ipod. it somehow broadcasts the signal from the Ipod, and you can tune it in on a radio within a small distance.

he was playing it at his desk last week, and told me to tune the radio on my desk(about 30ft away), and i could pick it up clear as a bell.. i thought that was pretty cool.

bigjohn

royce, be careful with those heaphone jack pull-outs. I broke my previous (2G) iPod's headphone jack by accidentally yanking out the headphone cord at a bad angle.

Well I'm finding that my company gets a discount from Apple. When I look at the website I can get:
20GB IPOD for $280 and free shipping
6GB mini for 234 and free shipping

That is how my first one went. I put the headphones back in and I had no sound. Luckily, it was only two weeks old and I could replace it. This is why I always put my Ipod in my shirt pocket so it won't fall out on my way to work. The inner conspiracy theorist inside me believes Apple only wants you to use only soend money on their sub-standard headphones.

Huh. My wife's 20 GB doesn't have the headphone problem. Or maybe it does... In any case, I wouldn't use the earbug crapola that comes with them.

I have a 6gb iPod mini, and I like it a lot. It is only $50 more for 20gb, but I don't think I'd every really need 20 gigs. 6gb is enough to never hear the same song twice unless you're playing continuously for days, but it's small enough that I'm only sticking on my favorite playlists/songs.

If you want to have every single song from your 100 cds available at your fingertips, then go for the 20gb model. If you want to narrow it down to your favorites, the 6gb mini is plenty.

My 40GB has no problems with head phones.
Those transmitters work great, unless your in a metro area where you have alot of interference from other radio stations.
i have about 30GB loaded and leave 10 GBs available for downloading images from my camera. Belkin makes a cool little card reader for the iPod.
I recommend the Sony MDR-EX71 earbuds over the iPod earbuds.

I used one of the transmitters for awhile, but then I got a new car stereo for one car. One of my requirements was that it had an aux in. I then discovered that my other car radio ALSO could take an aux in, so I set up miniplugs in both cars. It's much better than trying to find a station in the middle of the night on the I-5...

Now that Peter posted I should clarify-better than finding an EMPTY band to broadcast into in the middle of the night on the I-5.

road trips were the major reason I broke down and bought a replacement iPod. I hate (music) radio.

Even the 6mb model claims to be able to hold upto 1500 songs, so more than likely 100 cd's might fit, figuring on an average of 10 songs per cd? I suppose a lot depends on the rate you use for quality.

I'm thinking the 6mb one would suit me fine. I liked Ken's comment on synching once in a while to get a new mix.

Well thought I would let you guys now that I think I decided on getting the Ipod mini 6GB. It will hold 1500 songs, which is plenty for me. With my work discount I can get one for $230 bucks, free shipping, no tax, and also have them scribe up to two lines on the back with 75 characters each line for free.

I'm thinking Yoda's "Try Not. Do. or Do Not. There is no Try"
would be a good phrase, ok I'm a Star Wars geek

I have the 4 Gig. I also use the aux in the car. In the last year or so I have done a lot of listening to Audible books. Time just flies by with a good being read to you.

Has anyone tried connecting their iPod to their receiver? The volume is so low on mine - I can turn the volume all the way up on the receiver and all I hear is a whisper

What is the volume on the iPod set at?
Also how do you have it connected?

The ipod volume is set 2/3 of the way. I connect it to the stereo by way of Mini-Stereo to RCA analogue cable from Acoustic Research. The cable is plugged into the front analogue plugs of my HK525. Do I need to use an iPod specific accessories?

Try turning the iPod all the way up.
I use the same type of connector for mine, and I have no problems.
Try plugging it in to a different input and see what happens.
If that doesnt work, you might want to try a new connector.
I wouldnt bother with the "iPod specific" ones, they are essentially the same thing.
I have an AR connector for my home use (via iPod dock), but just bought a cheap one from Radio Shack that I carry in my truck for when I go to friends houses and take over "music responsibilities".
I'm thinking you just got a bum cable.

I plug my iPod to the receiver, no problems. I found early on that you have to turn the ipod all the way up. I have a cheap cable that I got from Parts Express for $1.95, and "better" cable that was about $30, I can't hear any audible differnce between the 2 cables.

Don't buy ANYTHING that is iPod specific unless you have to. If it's marketed for iPod it will be triple the price of similar, non-ipod gear. Like external speakers. Any speakers for PC's will work on a ipod, they just need to have the 3.5mm connector, which all PC speakers have, plug them into the headphone jack of the ipod.

I tried one of those Belkin transmiters to use the ipod in the car, there was so much static I found it useless. Maybe it only works in the boonies. I need a car stereo with an aux input.

[URL=http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?
&DID=7&Partnumber=240-135] Cheap one [/url]


Good one

I can't get the top one to work using the [URL=link] command, what's wrong?

Dunno.

It's not working when I try it either. Manually pasting the url brings up a non-working page.... maybe that's the problem?

Well got final approval from the boss (wife) Can't wait to get my IPod

Got the link working here. <-- Cheap one

Much better price than the other link

While it may not concern many, I found this to be a good read on the iPod and other DAPs. Some people here may find it interesting, since we're all here because we did our research. I'll be on my third Rio soon(one broke because of me, the other because of a faulty HD), and can't wait to get it.

Dang, now I feel like I'm looking for speakers and receivers all over again Thasp

But really, thanks for the article, I may have to look into some of these other models, especially the Kharma you mentioned. I think my boss has that one, as he does not believe in contributing to the Dark Side (Apple)

The old model iRiver IHP120 just got gapless playback yesterday with a beta firmware, too, if you're concerned about HD failures with the Karma. Not from iRiver, from an open source firmware project called rockbox. Once the bugs are fixed in this beta, they'll start work on iRiver's newer players.

Any information on the Sony's? I notice in my Crutchfield catalog, Sony makes a 20GB version that is about the size of a deck of cards.

Also, I don't see where Rio offers a 20GB model anymore, they do offer a 6GB on the website.

Another question I'm curious about, is there a way to take the audio from a DVD and create mp3, wma, etc.... I have some good music dvd's that I don't have on CD. I do have some ripping/decryptor dvd software, not sure if a person can take the AudioTS information and convert it?

I was wondering the same thing.
I have a David Gilmore DVD that has some tunes I would love to be able to convert to MP3 or WAV. files
Anyone?

Here's a good discussion at the AVS Forum.

It got discontinued, but it's still available from many online stores. Their next model should be out sometime in Autumn.

Thanks a lot Thasp!!

I had finally after months of debating decided that an IPOD was a good purchase and was just about to pull the trigger when I read that article. Arrggg. . . now what? Glad to have read it but might have enjoyed being ignorant on this . . .actually I take that back. The other two MP3 players I have owned do that annoying gap in tracks thing, and I hate it because I listen to a lot of live albums and lets face it many albums do have tracks that run right into eachother. . .more and more albums it seems. So it may be back to the drawing board waiting for somebody to make that just right player. Dang!

I have an article from "Mac Addict" that tells of a relatively easy way around that gap. I'll see if I can find it.
I know I reimported some of my Pink Floyd music and used that trick and it worked well. I just dont remember how to do it.