To iPod or Not to iPod - That is the question

[Mike]

Are you going to give Andy a review of your sony walkman mp3 player? I am sure it would be good to get some alternative reviews going on here.

[Andy]

OK, thanks very much. That was very useful. However a few questions have now been raised because of this

1-ITunes - does that cost?
2-Do I need a fast PC to run it effectively? We are upgrading our download and Internet service BUT the PC is very old. For example, YouTube is disjointed and very slow.

Me and Rowenna have had this discussion for a few months and are seriously considering upgrading the house's electronics department - i.e. lcd tv, new computer possibly, ipod possibly because I've wanted one for ages, new phone because it doesn't have an answer phone.

[Mike]

You can download iTunes for free here. I would check the minimum requirements before downloading but there is always the risk that your computer will run iTunes very slowly, it depends on speed and age really!

Buying new electronics is quite an exciting prospect. . . .

[BarcelonAl]

I certainly can post a review of my lovely sleek Sony NW-3000, where shall I start?

I have had many Sony music players over the years; cassettes, cd and mini-disc and have never had any problems with build or sound quality and their range of mp3 players keeps up with this tradition. I've dropped mine several times off the desk at work at it carries on fine, everyone with an iPod seems frightened to put it anywhere near the edge of the desk!

The place where the Sony player falls down is in the sleekness and user-friendliness of the actual user interface. It's not as easy to find the album you want, and doesn't look as 21st century (in fact the interface is kinda 'retro', being predominantly text based) as the iPod. This for me isn't a problem as I wanted a large storing device (it's 20Gb), with the quality of a Sony product, but for others it will be a primary concern.

Oh and the 'Sony Connect' software that came with it was the slowest, buggiest piece of rubbish I'd ever put on a pc! I have no idea what the Vista compatible 'Jukebox' software is like, but it won't have to do much to beat it!

All in all, a good option if you are more interested in playing music than looking cool at the gym! ;)

[Mike]

everyone with an iPod seems frightened to put it anywhere near the edge of the desk!

That is because we don't want to dint the perfectness that is the iPod. That said I know someone at work who has effectively dropped his down a story in height onto stone. . . . and it works just fine!

All in all, a good option if you are more interested in playing music than looking cool at the gym! ;)

Miaow! Saucer of Milk for AL!

[Mike]

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.

I now have 1007 perfect tracks. . . . yay me! 12.2% if you are interested!

[BarcelonAl]

That is because we don't want to dint the perfectness that is the iPod. That said I know someone at work who has effectively dropped his down a story in height onto stone. . . . and it works just fine!

Tell that to the guy at work who dropped his about 3 foot onto wood...never worked again. And his insurance company took forever to replace it.

Miaow! Saucer of Milk for AL!

[Andy]

Hmmmm, I am very careful with things now and I always think that whatever the product there is a chance of damange if you drop it onto anything. With regards to the gym, I'm not really that bothered about looking good, I just want something that does the job and does it well.

What are the audiobooks like? Any real good ones or are they a mix of new and classics?

I am leaning heavily towards an iPod I must admit. The allure of having a very good record collection at my fingertips wherever I go appeals to me.

[Mike]

I don't know about the audio books, but there is a special area of them in the software so they don't get confused with your music library! :D

[Claire]

I've just bought a Sharp Digital TV Recorder. 160 Gb Hard Drive and twin digital tuner. Freeview box and hard drive...it's genius. and i can pause and rewind live tv, which is really very clever. i can scan days ahead for programmes in the guide and then press record and it'll record that programme. i'm rather pleased with it. it even works with the crappy indoor aerial we're using because the one on the roof's on the blink :D

[Mike]

Just think how good it will be when you actually have a proper ariall!

[Mike]

I believe Andy has purchased a iPod, I would be interested to know what you think. . . .

[Andy]

Class.

Favourite tracks at my disposal = :D

Just waiting to get reconnected to the internet at home and then it's ''download time''

[Mike]

iTunes update!

I now have 2496 tracks perfected out of 8355. That represents about 29.8% of my collection, yay!

To complete the image there are 3208 <Unknown> tracks. Since 2496 + 3208 = 5704 I can deduce that another 2651 tracks are okay but have not been checked to ensure the albums are complete etc.

So I potentially have about 5150 tracks which are okay a much healthier 61.6% of the collection.

I am sure you are all fascinated by my display of ultra geekyness but since this task has so far taken up about a week of time to correct I am sure you can see my need to display positive targets and improvements so I don't down tools and sulk.