[yaddakal]

Hello, I remember getting a lot of feedback on this forum while I waited for Maya Grace to come home last year.

Now I am in a new place where you all will be sometime soon! I have joined a gym and would like to get one of these 3.

I am due for a cellphone and they offer music on your phone through my carrier Verizon.

Who has experience with this? Or should I get an IPOD Nano? Or the shuttle??

Who has/likes which one??

Thanks!!

Kerry

[beverlyanderic]

i have friends who have an mp3 player through their phone- they are not big fans. one says it's because he doesn't like how the mp3 function wears on his phone battery and vice versa.

personally, i'm not a big fan of ipods- i don't like how you're forced to use itunes and i feel apple products are overpriced. i feel they are great products, but you can get more bang for your buck with going outside of the ipod realm. i have a 2g sandisk sansa- i got it for about $50 and you just use windows explorer and drag and drop. there are also other great brands out there.

if your heart is set on ipod, remember the shuffle just randomly plays songs in whatever order. most of the time this can be okay, but some like the flexibility to find a few songs and play them when they want to hear them. the nanos are nice, but you'll spend $150 for 2g and about $200 for a 4g. they have nice functionality and are supposed to be more reliable compared to a couple years ago.

another thing i don't like about ipods are their proprietary batteries. my sandisk uses a aaa battery and it's great because i usually just keep a spare in my backpack and i'm good to go if i run out of juice.

good luck!

[kathleenmarie]

I bet you get a few different opinons on this one!

I love my NANO! I get gift cards for presents and I just redeem them in i-tunes to download my songs. They are very current and have just about every song you can want. I have also downloaded my CD's into the i-pod. I want to get one of those portable radios to be able to play the music w/o ear buds and recharge at the same time. The charge on the i-pod last a long time, (you plug it into your computer), and I have to say it's one of the best gifts I got. There are TONS of gadgets you can get for it too. I do not like the idea of having the music on the phone because you don't get a lot of space, and it does run down the battery on the phone a TON faster. You CAN use other programs besides i-tunes with the i-pod, but I love the dependability, the security, and the wide variety of music with i-tunes. It's popular for a reason.

End of commercial!! LOL!!

[devildogwife]

DH and I both have ipods. We LOVE apple products. Totally worth the money. We have the regular ipods and they have worked so well. I got mine specifically to use at the gym and it makes my workouts much more bearable (-33 lbs!). They're really sturdy. My DH took his on a 9 month deployment and he had no problems with it. Apple gives a discount on it too if you fall under one of their categories~DH is a government employee, or teachers, etc.

[yaddakal]

Bump-Thanks guys!

[ncurry3]

I am NOT an apple person but I cannot tell you how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE my video iPod. I love it. Did I tell you I love it? Love it. loveit......

[specialk4b]

I love my iPod! If you're only getting one, I would recommend a Nano since the Shuffle has no visibility of the playlist.

Hubby took his Nano on deployment, too, and had no problems. He loved that he had Christmas carols to play at the holidays.

[yaddakal]

Thanks again, this is helping. Keep'm coming!

[SRMiracle]

Have you looked at a Microsoft Zune? My DH swears by them and they are much easier to download music on than an Ipod!

[imateach]

I have also been looking for an iPod but I want one mainly just to hold pictures.......like a photo album for my purse. Any ideas for one for that purpose?

[yaddakal]

I think the ipod holds pics, I am really new to ll this. I just want to make a good decision. My husnad has the Verizon 8600 cell and he likes it but I am not sure.

Kerry

[jroandco]

we have too many gadgets in this house. electronics are our speciality. even george, our 2 yo, has an ipod and speakers. before my 2 cents, i should add that we are apple people. i have had several other mp3 players, and always end up donating them.

i vote for the nano for a work out. a shuffle would be good too, but i like the screen. and i like having more control over my music. since i can't control anything in this stinkin' adoption process, i might as well control my music.

i have some music on my cell phone, but it drains the battery. nano battery life is great. besides, for air travel you have to remember to turn off the phone feature and seriously, who can figure out all the features on their phone?

oh yeah, it is crazy easy to import cds into itunes and to buy music. we have over 500 cds, they are all in my itunes library. transferring music is wicked easy and fast once you get the hang of it and know how you want your playlists.

anyway, good luck. go get hands on with your options, see which one you like the feel of. play in the menus and don't be shy, ask questions.

happy shopping!

jessica

[DPline]

My husband and I both have iPod Nanos and love them. He downloaded (or is it uploaded?) all our CD's to the computer and put them on the iPods and then I have also downloaded about an hours worth of songs ITunes that I use as a workout mix. The battery life is great, and it is so easy to plug it into the computer to recharge. We also have a cable that I can plug the iPod in in the car to listen to it through the stereo system.

It does allow you to download pictures and has games, a calendar, and address book, and a stopwatch, but I have never played with those functions.

[Wonk]

Here's the deal. ITunes is the big gorilla out there. There are two shortcomings. The first is that it is all proprietary. You have to buy from Apple to put things on your Apple product. So if you like the monopoly, then go with ITunes and an IPod. Prices are higher but integration is easier.

You can go with Rhapsody or Napster and not be trapped. There are lots of non-Apple MP3 players out there that will play content from Rhapsody or Napster or from other sources. I have a Creative. There are others like Sansa etc which are also good.

The second reason that I'm not with the ITunes hegemony is that the other providers let you "rent" music. For $15/mo, I'm able to set up Rhapsody on three computers, stream any music I want onto those three computers and fill up up to three MP3 players with any music I want. So my family can each have an MP3 player with whatever music they want on it for $15 a month. Now we don't own the music, we are renting. Each device has to be syched once a month to show that there is a subscription. But for the price of one CD, I have anything I want to listen to pretty much. Now if you are somene who likes a small number of artists and like to own your music, this may not be the way to go. But if you have a family with diverse music taste or if you like to listen to lots of things or change your music interests, a subscription is the way to go. And ITunes doesn't do subscriptions.

I wouldn't rely on my phone as my primary MP3. They are still too limited and you are forced to buy from the phone company. The only difference would be if you are on something like a Treo where you can stream your Rhapsody content using PocketTunes. Then you might want to use your phone as your primary source of music.

[lexiesmom]

I have a video IPOD and I love love love it!!! I take it everywhere. I have no problems using Itunes at all. I am looking for a waterproof or waterresistant cover right now for our trips to the lake or beach.

Donna