To iPod or Not to iPod - That is the question

[Mike]

I am considering getting myself a new mp3 player. I was hoping to pick up a 30gb ipod because they are about ?165 at the moment at amazon which is a pretty good price. I think they are trying the get the 80gb version sold at the moment but at ?256 that is way out of my price bracket. . . .


Sooooo tempting. Clothes or electronics. . . .

[mr_e]

I usually ask myself "do I really need this?". In the example you give, do I already have a functioning mp3 player? Have I completely filled it with songs? Is it a need or a consumerist want? Yadda yadda. Anyways...

Electronics are fickle and break easily, whereas clothes will make you look cool and lovingly encapsulate your body. Go clothes!

[Fez]

clothes or electronics? public nudity or death by s club 7? hmm, why not buy the members of s club 7, who let's face it all need the money now, and you'd probably still have enough change left over to be serenaded by the spice girls wherever you go. what can i say? it's nearly two o'clock in the morning...

[Claire]

Isn't it a sorry state of affairs when you become one of those people who "already has everything"? this is when you resort to merely buying better versions of things you already have. Hence, i'm itching to buy a new mobile even though i don't need one, and i'm buying a house with an expensive mortgage, and it's not like the battery's kaput or anything!

Buy clothes Mike, because you're ultimately going to buy a new ipod. you're merely at the stage of justifying it to yourself. get on with it and stop prevaricating. you don't NEED it, you WANT it. recognise the difference, accept it, and move on.

In conclusion: GET BOTH!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA

[Andy]

why not buy the members of s club 7, who let's face it all need the money now,

Just buy a shirt. Don't bother with pants yet because if S Club 7 are gonna be your clothes line then I'm sure Hannah Spearit can become your thermals! You certainly don't want Jo or Tina! Or even Bradley!

Clothes are a good buy for me only if you buy a label that ........ is a decent price, is of a really good quality, is durable and although not altogether trendy will still look good in a few years - hence why I buy the majority of my stuff from Autograph in Marks and Spencers now. I have accepted my mid-life crisis early and resisted the attempts to resist M+S, taken the plunge and am happy. I think. Nah, I'll go with content. My jeans don't come from there because there jeans are ludicrously expensive. However, the majority of my shirts are now coming from there which is worrying. It is like an invasion.

New technology is ace and you feel really good until you see some scally kid mocking it with a 'WTF is that, it is ancient man' scowl at you as you get it out in the middle of the street. New Technology in a nutshell, really pisses me off because you generally got by without it beforehand and it only really lasts at the top for a bit.

If you want to buy it then buy it. If you are not sure then put some away for each one.

[Mike]

You are all true. Thank you for justifying my desire for a new iPod. . . . :D I will need new clothes that is for sure. An England rugby shirt for example! I will have to purchase after the end of the month after I have bought some tires for the car. . . . .

[Mike]

I bought a White 30gb iPod this weekend from the apple store in Manchester. It is very nice, works and has been updated as soon as it went onto the computer.

I now have the challenge of making the iTunes library look normal again. For some reason the iTunes is still loosing the MP3 tags. I hope that now I am not using the creative software they will settle down.

I spent about 4 hours today cleaning and reordering the library. I now have 696 songs with titles, artists, album art and album names. This is quite a good achievement I think, the downside is that I have only covered about 696 out of 8252 tracks. . . . so I am about 8.43% way through the total library. Given that statistic I think it is going to take me about 10 days to sort it all out. Bummer.

[mr_e]

I'm still amazed that happens to the tags. I'm wondering if a work-around would've been to make them read-only? Hopefully this'll sort itself out for you, but ten days? Ouch.

[Andy]

I am currently considering one of these Riley and I need some questions answering -

1) Presumably you have not paid for these songs so how have you got them? Asking the kids at school has given me some weird sites and has left me puzzled - I need a normal and sensible mind to tell me.

2) How much is a decent sound system where you place your ipod onto? Not the crap one - no point because they always break.

3) Do you have to store all your songs on the computer or can you just save them onto the ipod and be done with it?

4) Can you download tracks you have from CDs?

5) It looks incredibly small to me so this begs the questions -
a) Is it easy to use?
b) It is it easy to lose?

6) If you, or anyone else on this forum, has owned one before how often have you honestly used it during a week? I don't just want to purchase it and then it be a novelty act and lie in my drawer for months on end.

[Fez]

i still use a good old-fashioned portable cd player - ?8 from argos. i use it everyday for about 2 hours, 2aa rechargable batteries last about 12 hours, listening primary to punk means every album's playtime fits nicely into my lunch break, and the damn things are pretty indestructable. i dropped one down a flight of stairs once and it carried on as if nothing had happened for another three months. in fact i use these things so often that after 18 months they need replacing because i've worn them out! i understand the benefits of ipods and mp3 players, but to be honest all that choice of music would mean i'd spend more time figuring out what to listen to than actually playing anything

[johnriley1uk]

I spent about 4 hours today cleaning and reordering the library. I now have 696 songs with titles, artists, album art and album names. This is quite a good achievement I think, the downside is that I have only covered about 696 out of 8252 tracks. . . . so I am about 8.43% way through the total library. Given that statistic I think it is going to take me about 10 days to sort it all out. Bummer.

That's fantastic, all part of the fun!

:)

[Mike]

I am currently considering one of these Riley and I need some questions answering -

Cool, I will answer the questions, I hope you find them useful!

1) Presumably you have not paid for these songs so how have you got them? Asking the kids at school has given me some weird sites and has left me puzzled - I need a normal and sensible mind to tell me.

Why not? Albums accumulate and it is a collection of Miss Lizzie and Mine. . . . That said you can download tracks legally though iTunes and some illegally though a system called edonkey or BitTorrent. I would not recommend the latter for rather obvious reasons.

2) How much is a decent sound system where you place your ipod onto? Not the crap one - no point because they always break.

Well the iPod sound systems run from about ?40 to ?300 ish pounds. They can be very good. Lizzie and I use a low budget version for playing music in the kitchen, the pc in the dining room and use iTrip in the front room to play though my full on hi-fi radio.

3) Do you have to store all your songs on the computer or can you just save them onto the ipod and be done with it?

You have to save your music onto the PC. The idea is that you have a central library on your PC and then Syncronise with the iPod. It does make your life very easy in this manner because for viewing and organisation the PC has a more varied interface.

4) Can you download tracks you have from CDs?

You can import tracks from your CD collection - it is better to import tracks this way because you can dictate the quality of the MP3 track. I tend to use a 192kps bit rate import setting. If you imported at full audio quality your iPod would be full in maybe 40 albums. . . . .

5) It looks incredibly small to me so this begs the questions -
a) Is it easy to use?
b) It is it easy to lose?

Yes they are easy to use. Simple rotate wheel on the front to browse songs by artist or album or place on shuffle and see what you get! If you are getting a touch sensitive machine the iPod has the best I have seen - it gives you way more control than the creative I previously owned.

I have never lost an mp3 player! Neither has Lizzie! It is a danger though and that is why we have contents insurance which covers us as we walk around. We are paying for our contents to also covers muggings etc.

6) If you, or anyone else on this forum, has owned one before how often have you honestly used it during a week? I don't just want to purchase it and then it be a novelty act and lie in my drawer for months on end.

Lizzie uses her iPod every day in the car - using an adaptor she plays her music collection whilst driving. I also use mine daily on the train into work. We use them whilst cooking (lets be honest its easier than finding the damned CD!) parties. . . I am sure there are more times too. It was an iPod powering the music at Alison's birthday party too.

Hope this helps - let us know how you get on!

[BarcelonAl]

I now have 696 songs with titles, artists, album art and album names.

Bad luck, I think we said if you got a thousand all labelled up, that you deserved a free pint...better luck next time!

[Mike]

Nooooooooooo! Ihad forgotten about that! I was only about 6 compilations off success too! Better luck next time. does the same incentive apply 4 next weekend?

[BarcelonAl]

Possibly...I'll let you know after wednesday. If BT don't stuff me for ?125 to 'upgrade my telecommunications facilities', then I'll still be able to afford a pint...!