IPOD for teen gift? What do I need to look for?

[Tim Hancock]

My teen daughters mentioned to my wife that they each wanted IPODS or something like that. We have a windows XP computer and compact flash memory cards and readers. I know nothing about IPODS or whatever. What type of portable music player should I look at that that will work with what I have? I would prefer to stay in the $75-$150 range.

Any suggestions for a dad who could give a rats @ss about personal music players?

[legion]

I understand that IPODs are very popular right now. I can't figure out why. I played with WinAmp in the mid 90's and found the MP3 format to be very inferior to standard WAVs on CD. Correct me if I am wrong, but with an IPOD, you get the privelage of repurchasing all of you existing music over again, right?

I think that some of the low-end IPODs come in around $100.

[VINMAN]

Heres the I-pod I had when I was a teen...

[nostatic]

jeez Legion...could you be any more misinformed?

Get her an iPod nano. $199. You can spend less on the Shuffle ($99 or $149) but the nano is tre cool.

No you don't have to rebuy your music. You can rip all of your existing CDs and transfer them seamlessly to the iPod. You can also buy new songs from the iTunes music store. The AAC (mp4) format sounds much better than mp3 to my ears (unless you're using a high sample rate). And while wav (or aiff) sounds great, files are huge. But iPod will play those formats too...

iPods are seamless with Mac or Windoze...iTunes is very well designed software and runs the same on both platforms.

[KNS]

I was just given an iPod nano as a gift. I know they are very popular right now but I wasn't burning to have one. Anyway, for someone who is not very computer savy, I went ahead and started downloading a a $hitload of my CDs onto my computer (windows XP). If you already have a bunch of CDs there is no need to buy more music. Supposedly, CDs sound better - quality wise - than buying music off the internet.

I am pleasantly surprised with this thing! I haven't listened to a lot of my Cds in years and I now want to buy an adapter for my car. My nano has 4gb of space (something like 1000 songs) and I think I have maybe 300-400 songs on there now. Your daughter will probably want new music so best to buy it over the internet.

[jjone20]

The little darling of mine received an iPod last year. She really loves it. Yes, all of your existing stuff can be loaded, but I also gave her a budget on iTunes to downlaod some new stuff. I find it cheaper than buying the whole CD for one song. Also, I found the iPod is an inexpensive way to fix that whining noise coming from the back of the car...

[nostatic]

Originally posted by jjone20
The little darling of mine received an iPod last year. She really loves it. Yes, all of your existing stuff can be loaded, but I also gave her a budget on iTunes to downlaod some new stuff. I find it cheaper than buying the whole CD for one song. Also, I found the iPod is an inexpensive way to fix that whining noise coming from the back of the car...

and here you thought it was a wheel bearing...

This is such a common story. Until you own one, it really is hard to understand why they are so cool (unless you really aren't into music or books on tape). It is an almost perfect form factor, well designed interface and software, and a painless buying experience at the online store.

[B D]

Buy the iPod from Apple.com and get the back laser engraved with a message at no charge.

[89911]

I've got a 40gb, my daughter has a mini, and my wife a shuffle. The 40gb is too heavy for most purposes. The mini and the shuffle are more then enough.

[pbs911]

My GF gave me a 40g IPOD. I never wanted one, but now don't know how I lived without it. I purchased the hardline connection to the facotry CD player and it is now a permanent fixture in my car, but easily removed to the home stereo. For a teen, I would go with the shuffle @ about $199.

[Porschephile944]

Don’t get them some other type of media player. When teenage girls ask for an IPOD, only an IPOD is acceptable. It would be like if you asked your wife for a 356 and she got you a Volkswagen beetle figuring it’s the same thing.

[Neilk]

Since your kids are in school, buy the Nano through the education store at apple.com, it's $20 off.

and they don't check IDs, so they go the local university, right? ;-)

[Carl Bauer]

www.slsknet.org is the place to go to find music under the radar. It's rather cheap as a result...

[JavaBrewer]

Ok I gotta confess something here...I've never understood the iPod rage, plays music, big f'ing deal so do a lot of other devices. Well my office mate got the 60GB video IPod and by golly that UI is slick. Took me all of 60 seconds to get comfortable with it. I also didn't know that it synchronizes with Outlook for calandar and contacts which is totally cool. I was debating on a PDA for the wife (she's still hopelessly committed to a day timer) but this might make more sense.

[UconnTim97]

I just got the 4g iPod Nano...simply awesome. Very easy to use, and lightweight. I use it at the gym all the time.

Mine has about 450 songs on it right now, and it isn't close to half the storage capacity.

I would recomend the Nano for your daughters.

[techweenie]

There are utilities that allow your iPod to use its excess capacity (if any) to shuttle data, operate as a basic PDA/datebook, etc.

But the best thing is the interface and playlists. I have about 2,400 songs on mine and have an adapter for the Audi so I can take it with me.

The iPod presently has approximately 80% of the large-capacity MP3 player market, an the rest is split among 7-8 brands. So most accessories and utilites are made for iPods.

[HardDrive]

Originally posted by Porschephile944
Don’t get them some other type of media player. When teenage girls ask for an IPOD, only an IPOD is acceptable. It would be like if you asked your wife for a 356 and she got you a Volkswagen beetle figuring it’s the same thing.

YES. I was going to type this myself. DO NOT get some piece of ***** knock off. Get an actual I-Pod. Do not let someone convince you to get something else because "Its just as good as an I-Pod". Your girls will not be happy, and you will have wasted money on something they don't want.

Get them I-Pod Nanos

[Hetmann]

Yes get the Ipod, not an knockoff. MP3 quality is just fine for running around wearing earbuds. You might hear a difference with it hooked up as a source to your monster audiophile setup, but that's not really the point is it?

Myself, I bought several 128K Creative Muvos. You can find them on eBay for around $20. They store about 2 hours of music and are the size of a bic lighter. Just the ticket for a workout or bike ride. Essentially a flash drive with a little player built in, no shuffle, no display, and no iPod cache. If I lose one no big deal, I have a spare or two.

[Tim Hancock]

Thanks for all the advice! I do not think they are asking for the Ipod brand exclusively, butv they are taking a long trip with their highschool band this spring and they thought it would be more convenient than packing a cd case and CD player. They have CD players in their cars so I do not care about 250 vs 1000 songs. They will probably be happy just copying their existing CDs and any future CDs they buy. I rarely let them make on-line purchases (old school nervousness about on-line credit card purchases!).

My biggest concern was compatability with our computer vs a Mac, it sounds like that is not going to be an issue. I thought these things required memory cards or something but it sounds like that is not going to be an issue either.

Can songs be erased from these things to free up more memory?

[89911]

Here is my take what works for different situations. When I bought my 40gb ipod it was the biggest out there. Then I proceeded to put every cd I owned, borrowed, or "borrowed" on it and it still isn't full. The problem is every cd I own I don't want to hear. In fact, some are pretty lame. But I guess I have them with me if I want to relive that lame period of my lifetime. I use my Ipod almost solely when I run and I definitely want to have something that fires me up (No Enya!), so I generally make a playlist of 20-30 songs and change them around. And that is all I listen to. If you commuting from work I guess you would want more, but for my needs a shuffle works fine and I frequently borrow my wifes because the thing is so small and simple. Having the cd organized in Itunes is really nice also when I'm at my desk. Kids most likely will want the latest models, but a shuffle for my need does fine.