Lord Lionheart

I spoke to the guy in the Apple store about the shuffle and he said the i-pod shuffle is pretty much designed towards joggers or the gym as it plays totally random tracks.
The other good thing about the regular I-pod is that I travel a lot too and have put some books on CD on mine for when I travel, useful for flights as you mentioned if you want a change from music. Not an option with the shuffle either.

Pimpbot

I already have something that plugs into the ipod and also into the 12v on the dash. I need an AUX cable also though which I can get pretty cheap from radioshack. Just haven't gotten around to it yet.

Big Vern

You can buy software to record Real Player and WMA streams as MP3s. Some good reviews and ideas here:

http://www.sound-recorder.com/

Bob

always handy having it as a spare hard drive for backups if nothing else

Bob

there's quite a lot of software that'll do that, do a search through www.tucows.com in the media section
and something I've played around with before was easy realmedia editor, dont' know if that'll do mp3's though.

BritGuyTN

yeah - more like the technology is inherently limited and Apple have put a huge marketing spin on it in order to sell a crap MP3 player that was built to a specific cost in order to maintain apples great profit margins...

just call me cynical

dbj1000

So y'all know, the iPod shuffle does not only play songs in a random order. It can be set to either play sequentially in the order of the playlist set up in iTunes, or to shuffle.

britchicknyc, there's a Target 10%-off coupon for iPods listed on today's TechBargains page. It is good for 105 off any iPod, although many are on back-order on the Target site. The iPod Mini (which may be your best bet for an iPod with a screen but not-excessive storage) is in stock in some colours. The code expires tomorrow (Feb 11th):

Target.com has a new 10% off orders Code: TCFEBRUARYJS (Exp 2/11). Free shipping on most ipods for a limited time.
Preorder iPod Shuffle 512MB $99.99 - 10% = $90. 1GB $149.99 - 10% = $135. Search for iPod shuffle
40GB iPod $393.99 - 10% = $353. In stock. Search for ipod 40gb
20GB iPod by HP $299.99 - 10% = $270. Backordered. Search for hp ipod
20GB iPod U2 Edition $349.99 - 10% = $315. Backordered
iPod Minis $249.99 - 10% = $225 shipped free. Select colors are in stock. Search for apple ipod mini
iPod Photo 40GB $499 - 10% = $450. Back ordered.
iPod Photo 60GB $599 - 10% = $540. Back ordered.

Hiro11

The shuffle's terrible, get a 512 MB Creative Muvo TX FM...here I'll even give you a link:
http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=...ff&oi=froogler
Mine holds over a hundred songs at 128K/sec.

The Muvo:
1. Has a screen
2. Has an FM radio
3. Uses AAA batteries, nothing to wear out, easy to replace. Also, the battery life is roughly 24 hours, twice the shuffle's claimed 12.
4. Mass storage for music, plug it into a USB 2.0 port and drag and drop files. The shuffle requires ITunes for music.
5. Many, many more play features than the shuffle: multiple playlists (easy to set up by using folders), many different repeat options etc.
6. Onboard EQ means it sounds better than the shuffle.
7. Costs only about 7 bucks more than the shuffle.
8. Doesn't look like a home pregnancy test like the shuffle.

The shuffle is four year old technology, almost every other flash player on the market is superior. Don't believe the hype.

britchicknyc

Thank you so much for all the suggestions - especially the coupon - always like to save a little money!

I am moving away from the shuffle idea - I think I am a victim of the marketing! I should know better!

- The shuffle does look like a pregnancy test doesn't it! I never thought of that before!!

I'll check the coupon out - as I think the ipod mini might be the way to go.

If anyone else sees any bargains do let me know !!

Thanks!

dbj1000

...well there's an up-to-80%-off sale at Shoes.com this Saturday (their sales are great, and the discounts are real compared with other shoe stores) from 7am to midnight... but perhaps you're only after iPod-related bargains?

Another money-saving tip? Don't buy a MuVo

There's a reason why the iPod out-sells all other MP3 players - the quality of the design and the iTunes software. The shuffle looks like a pregnancy test, sure, but the MuVo just looks cheap and nasty! Dropping files onto folders may be some people's idea of the height of interface design, but no music-management software beats iTunes in my opinion. It's worth having an iPod just for iTunes.

....but I would say that, because, as I'm sure many will be quick to tell me, I've fallen for all that dreadful Apple hype, and actually think that design and software quality matters!

britchicknyc

Ha ha - actual - any and all bargains welcome.

Always partial to a new pair of shoes.

anotherlimey

The original iPod outsells all others but we have yet to see what the public makes of the Shuffle.

If you want to spend $300 - $400 on an original iPod good for you, I would too if I had that many songs. But in Britchick's case it would be wrong to recommend something as inferior as the Shuffle.

There are plenty of other MP3 players on the market around $100 that can do more than the Shuffle, even if you do have to drag and drop files.

-tom

FlyergirlUK

I've had mine for a year and a half and never had a problem, not with the ipod or with itunes.

neil

For a lot less money I recently got the Creative Zen Touch (longer battery life than Ipod and easily just as good), based on this puchase I would certainly recommend Creative products.

anotherlimey

I think the new Creative products come with a music manager program that transfers music directly to the player. Did you get that software with your's?

-tom