Elvira

Two of my sons desire MP3 players.

I do not have a clue about MP3 players.

But I do not want to be at their mercy regarding which one is 'the best' to get... :scared:

Any suggestions for something reasonable that won't break the bank?

And good places to check for special deals - apart from edeals?

TIA!

anotherlimey

I love my iPod Nano; its not as expensive ($200) as a regular iPod.

Elvira

Thanks - do you mean the 2 GB Internal Flash or the 4 GB Internal Flash or the 20 GB Internal Hard Drive or the 30 GB Internal Hard Drive or the ...

Okay, I may have picked up some of the lingo, but I still haven't got a clue...

Big D

I love my IPOD - would recommend it!

You need to decide how many songs you want - the traditional ipods holds LOADS - the mini less but still plenty! Same with the Nano. The shuffle is good for 100-150 songs but you cant pick what you play......

.....there you go, clear as mud!

anotherlimey

I have the 2Gb Nano; it doesn't have the capacity of the larger versions, but I only use it for the gym and the car.

If they love their music, get them the a larger version.

neil

Don't get an IPOD - completely overrated. Creative do some good ones - there are a lot of unhappy IPOD owners at the moment because the battery completely dies after a couple of years and there's no way to replace it. The Creative ones generally have better battery life and are cheaper.

Angry White Pyjamas

Whatever happened to a 5 quid transitor radio with earplug?

Hiro11

Gig (or gigabyte or Gb): 1000 megabytes. The standard measure of memory storage capacity.

Flash-based players: use solid-state memory, have no moving parts, are generally much tougher and smaller. They usually do better in battery life as well (Nano excepted). However, they cost more in gigs-per-dollar.
Examples:
iPod Nano
iPod shuffle
Creative MuVo Nano and TX series
Most Samsung players
etc. There are many companies that make these players.

Hard drive-based players: use small hard drives (as the name implies) which means a small, intermitantly spinning disk inside. Generally, these are much cheaper in gig-per-dollar but are bigger, much more fragile (jogging with an HD based player is really not a good idea) and the batteries generally don't last as long.

I generally think flash players are better. yes, you get less storage for your dollar, but do you really need 3 weeks of music with you at all times?

In terms of recommendations, you're getting into a debate which approaches the fanticism of the Crusades online.

iPods are terrific from a usability perspective and the seemless integration with iTunes is nice. There are many other otptions, though.

If you're going iPod (it's cool with the kids these days) the iPod Nano is definitely the way to go. It's relatively cheap and has good storage capacity. However, it's been plagued with quality problems (apparently) and I really don't like the "colonizing" aspects of iTunes: you're reliant on iTunes to move music on and off your player and if you download music from iTunes, it can only be played on iPods.

My recommendation is the Creative MuVo TX FM (terrible name, I know). I use one for running:
-it's tiny, about the size of a lighter
-it has an integrated USB key, you just plug the damn thing into your computer, no cords.
-it's drag and drop, meaning you don't need to install any special software on your computer to put music on it, you just plug it in and it shows up in you Explorer as a removable hard drive.
-it's cheap, less than 100 bucks for the .5 Gb edition. I dunno about you, but the idea of carrying around a $200-400 fragile device just isn't appealing, I'd be worried about it all the time
-it comes with an armband for jogging ($30 separate purchase for the iPods)
-it runs off of standard AAA batteries, no non-replacable lithium to worry about. Also, it lasts about 15 hours on one battery which is pretty damn good.
-it has an FM radio which is useful if you like NPR or go to a gym where they broadcast the TVs in FM (as most do).


If you want to go HD, here's two good alternatives to the iPod:
Creative Zen Sleek: very cool looking and sounds great
Dell DJ: extremely well made even though it's cheap. Also has great sound quality.

Elvira

Which one? They seem to have a bunch of them...

Lord Lionheart

I love my I-pod. I think kids will be disappointed with anything less, the new I-pod also is video capable.
How old are they?
You can use it too, put all your CD's on it for working out at the gym, play in your car( with optional extras) books on CD, podcasts from many intl radio stations - if the kids let you.

UJ_99

I would second that - I have the slightly older MuVo N200, but the 1GB size, and I use it all the time. Holds about 20 hours of music (which should be enough for anyone) and uses AAA's, so you can just bring a bunch on vacation with you, and not have to haul about a recharger.

Plus, it has MP3 encoding capabilities. I use it to make MP3 versions of BBC Radio sitcoms (Museum of Everything, Consultants etc) so i can burn them to a CD and listen later. Quality isn't 100%, but is very very good. Also has a built in microphone, which I have used to record lectures as well as comedy performances.

Even better, it does all this just being the size of a Bic lighter! And with a sale or coupons, you can get the 1GB for about $100.

Elvira

Oh, I can tell you - it is still being used by the muggins who is having to fork out $$$ for her offspring's MP3 players

Elvira the 20C Martyr

Lord Lionheart

Can you (or anyone) please advise how I download BBC stuff onto my I-pod??

Elvira

Wow - thanks! Karma duely sent.

I'm going to have to peruse this at my leisure. Right now I better go and urn some $$$ to pay for all this!

Elvira

Thanks - the 'kids' are 20 + 17...