talk to me about iPods

[rm]

I had a generation 3 silver chiclet before the theft.

I loved it. It was light, but I could still feel if I had it or not, and it didn't have a touch screen (I hate fucking touch screens).

The chiclet no longer exists, having been replaced by some little tiny touchscreen thing that I find confusing. The shuffle is a no go. I hate the iTouch (and dude, if I'm going to go there, I'd get an iPhone which doesn't work on my carrier). So do I need to go with the Classic? Is there any benefit to ordering an old chiclet and a slightly reduced cost.

I feel like I get so much more bang for the buck with the new models, eventhough they are all bigger and heavier than I want or have the scary touch screen factor.

Weigh in?

Comments

[nex0s.livejournal.com]

Why are touch screens yuck?

I have a new generation square Nano and really like it.

N.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I have trouble understanding the logic of the menu flows and they often don't seem to respond to my hands (or I'm doing the wrong thing because I don't understand them).

[noveldevice.livejournal.com]

I have an iPod Touch. It's my third iPod (I had a mini and then a pre-touchscreen Nano) and I love it, but if you don't like touch screens you would probably hate it. (Though I will say that I love reliable touch screens, which the iPod is--it's phone touch screens that I despise, although my horror is based on early experience with phone touch screens that were buggy and awful, and they are probably much better now.)

You do get a lot more bang for your buck with a new model. There is also the thing that the old ones tend to fall off support wise, so if something happens to it you still need to buy a new one. I think you'd be surprised by how negligible the weight tends to be; I'm very used to my Touch.

[fleur.livejournal.com]

Also, the batteries do have a finite lifespan, and if you're not sure where you are in that time line, you could end up with something that needs to be charged multiple times a day.

[random-girl.livejournal.com]

I am a huge fan of the Sandisk Sansa MP3 players--they get relatively good reviews as MP3 players, even thought they're considerably less expensive than most touch screen models.

I LOVE being able to feel the buttons for play, pause, etc. without having to look at it.

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Sansa-Clip-Player-Black/dp/B002MAPS6W/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1309457316&sr=8-2

I have a hand-me-down shuffle from the husband (with the buttons) I keep in the car and then this one I keep in my bathroom for listening to the radio or comedy or music in the mornings/while showering (when I don't always have my glasses on).

[adelheid-p.livejournal.com]

I have two Sansas. I have the Clip and the Fuze. I like them both. Neither are touch screen.

[adelheid-p.livejournal.com]

Check out the iPod Shuffle. It might be what you're looking for:
http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Agreed. It seems to have the heft of the old Nanos but the push-buttony goodness of the Shuffle. The only thing it doesn't have is a screen.

(And 'tis true that the 6th generation Nano isn't for everyone. My skinnyfingers can just about handle its touchscreen GUI but it's still a faff.)

[dsmoen.livejournal.com]

I have an embarrasingly large number of iPods. I am also speaking as me, and not as a company spokesperson.

I have a classic, several generations of nanos, two shuffles, an iPhone and an iPad. Eliminating the last two, what I use most is my fifth-generation Nano, which I think would fit your specs. It's not touch-screen, it's small, it holds a lot.

If you want ALL your music with you, probably a Classic is a better fit. I personally find that I rarely use mine because lugging that, a phone, and an iPad around seems like actual work.

They're still readily available on eBay though they have been discontinued.

[tsgeisel.livejournal.com]

Someone who has more iPods than I do - I'm impressed...

I've also got a really old classic (32G - wow!), a pre-camera touch, and a new Nano. I like the touch myself, but if you don't need the wifi internet part of it, it really is overkill as a music player.

My newest Nano I bought on a whim, with Dave and Busters tickets, as soon as I discovered I can get a wrist case that lets me wear it like a watch. It's a little larger than a typical wristwatch, but there is no watch quite so geeky as that. The icons can be changed around with relative ease as well, so everything you need can be on the front screen.

That said, I have to agree with the recommendation for the 5th generation Nano - the one that comes with the video camera. Decent size, decent form factor, and, as mentioned, a video option, because you never know when you might want it.

I occasionally find myself carrying both my classic and my touch when I'm travelling, because my car adapter doesn't reliably play from the touch (it took a while for stereo manufacturers to catch up to Apple), but I don't find it especially inconvenient. The form factors on both of them are actually quite reasonable.

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

i may still have an ipod shuffle that i am no longer using anywhere. not sure which generation. if i still have it somewhere, it could probably use a new home.

fair warning-- i'm off to convergence tonight, so i will not be home to look for it until at least monday. so if your ipod needs are immediate, this is not a good option.

[offbalance.livejournal.com]

One idea, and your are fine to dismiss:

But there's a large resale market for ipods...if you really loved that model, why not see if anyone is selling it on ebay or similar? I'm sure there are a number of resellers that are at least somewhat trustworthy.

I'm a pack rat. I love my 120 GB Classic. When it dies, I will likely upgrade to a 160.

[rena-librarian.livejournal.com]

The thing to bear in mind with the Classic is this: that monster actually has a spinning hard drive in it, NOT flash memory. Much higher risk of turning it into a worthless brick if you drop it.

(Whereas with flash memory--well, my ex washed his nano accidentally, but after allowing it to dry 100% it started right up and he didn't even have any data corruption. That's my iPod now, he gave it to me when he got a Touch.)

Also, why the touchscreen hate? I get not liking a glitchy touchscreen but I have an iPhone and it's been 100% reliable, so was the ex's iTouch on the rare occasion he let me play with it.

[dsmoen.livejournal.com]

Until I got on thyroid meds, the touchscreens were a little iffy for me because my fingers were too unreactive. Now they're fine.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

I carry an Android phone and an iPod touch. I curse the touch screens on both of them, learned new words and endured the learning curve.

I still carry both of them. And I'm doing fine.

[mirabile-dictu.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm sorry the Shuffle is a no go for you! I love mine! So wee and full of wonderful music. I hope you find something that works for you. Music is so personal, and so very necessary.

[laura47.livejournal.com]

all i can say is that i got a new "classic" two years ago and have always been happy with it. except i hate that audibooks are listed under music, when other things like podcasts aren't.

[thatwordgrrl.livejournal.com]

My first mp3 was a Sansa Sandisk Himself bought me half-off when Circuit City went belly-up. I got the iPod classic when I filled up the Sansa (I still have it and keep it as a backup).

I will say that it took me a bit of a while to get used to the iPod "feel" after having gotten so used to the Sansa.

[dsmoen.livejournal.com]

My first MP3 player was a 32 *meg* player from Diamond. Those were the days.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_PMP300

[deconglee.livejournal.com]

I can't use touch screens myself (hand-eye coordination problems, I type by touch).

I have a classic that is several years old and I love it. That said, if I was going for something new, I'd probably look into something not-Apple, because I hate iTunes.

Also, touch screen mp3 players are nuts. How can you pause it in your pocket? Or skip a song? It rains a lot here, so taking it out of your pocket isn't always an option.

[noveldevice.livejournal.com]

You pause with the button-bead on your headphones. :)

[valkyrwench.livejournal.com]

Are you talking about the silver shuffle? Because I could totally package mine up and send it to you, along with the headphones and charging station. I threw mine over for a Sony Walkman that I am totally in love with.

[saoba.livejournal.com]

We have two classics in the household- mine is the 6th gen 120 GB. I think his is the first of the video classics- so it's likely it's the 60 GB. Both are several years old, they've been taken to gyms, carried on planes, used in the car on trips, hooked up to speakers and computers in hotels. We kind of love them.

The dog and I 'walked to Rivendell' last year with my 120GB as a constant companion. To this day seeing my Ipod for any reason causes the dog to dace around thinking it means a 1-5 mile walk is about to happen.

Both have survived being dropped more than once. While it's not optimal, sometimes stuff occurs. Both have outlived my last two cell phones.

Since neither of us watch videos on our Ipods all we really want is room for our music collection. Himself also found the audiobook feature useful for business travel though now that he has an ereader that is his book-delivery device of choice.

I had a Nano back in the day and it came under the heading of 'small enough to lose track of it on a daily basis'. I'm not crazy about touch screens in general though my current smart phone is helping me be more tolerant.

[rufus.livejournal.com]

I had the exact same problem - my old mini finally got so broken I was willing to spend the $$ for a new one, and when I went the store the old mini was gone, replaced by something so tiny and touch-screen-y as to be unusable - and I also loathe touchscreens.

In the end i settled on a (non-touchscreen) classic. It's larger, and heavier, but the sudden luxury of having ALL of music ALL the time has been worth it.

[schpahky.livejournal.com]

I have an old Mini if you want it. Still works fine, however it does have "Bernice" engraved on the back.

[pyrzqxgl.livejournal.com]

I'm still happy with my sparkly purple 2005 color iPod, but I'd certainly much appreciate winning an iPad in a contest.

[djfanboy.livejournal.com]

I was happy with my iPod Classic until it bricked on me for reasons passing understanding.

Then about 6 months ago I found via eBay a Creative Zen 30gb player and have been ultra-happy since. no touchscreen fu necessary...

[musik19.livejournal.com]

do you just want it for music/movies/etc? i just got one of the 80gb classic styles ipods. it still has the scroll wheel, no touch screen, and holds all of my my music and a bunch of other media. i think it can hold other kinds of files too, but i haven't tried, so i'm not sure. are there still ipod nanos? that's a smaller, lighter version that i think you can still also find in classic style.

[visualxjinsei.livejournal.com]

I really like the "iTouch." I know that some people have difficulty with touch screens, as far as their fingers not getting used to the method. However, I had no problems and I really like it...

If you think you can handle the touch screen, I would go for it. I used to have [a 5th generation iPod video] on par with the iPod Classic and it was really heavy... like a brick. Plus, all it could do was play music.

I like that I can access my own WiFi network in my own house with the "iTouch" instead of ONLY playing music. If the idea of watching YouTube or checking the weather from bed, go for the iPod Touch. If all you want to do is play music, spring for the iPod Classic.

Considering that the two are on a similar price rack, that's the only useful difference (in my opinion).

I guess what I'm saying is... I feel like the iPod Touch is the best, most versatile iPod that Apple is selling right now. :-)

~Kale.

[visualxjinsei.livejournal.com]

This is just general talk about iPods, not 100% specifically what your needs may be. I've only had two non-shuffle iPod in my lifetime, so I can only talk about what I know. :-/

[pineapplechild.livejournal.com]

I have had so many Ipods; I just keep repairing them until the harddrive goes.after a couple years, then upgrading. mostly the classics and the old nano, as I too dislike their touchscreens. I would recommend one of the new classics, particularly if you like being able to have EVERYTHING with you.

[syzygy-lj.livejournal.com]

Maybe going to an Apple store or what-have-you and playing with a Touch might be a good idea, just to see if they work with your circulation or body temperature issues. Because a) I think it will soon be impossible to avoid touch screen phones and music players, and b) the Touch is a fun little device. I had the first generation Touch, which I loved. I could access the internet over wi-fi, play games, watch videos, and I even had apps for bus schedules and movie times. It's like having a little computer in your pocket, and, to me, very futuristic and cool. I also find that the menus are pretty easy to figure out, if that is still a worry for you.

I upgraded to an iPhone last year (love!), and gave the Touch to my husband, and he went from "Meh, that's too much technology for me" to "I love this thing!" in about three days. He thought it would be too big and bulky (especially for running) but he quickly got over the size (which is not much bigger from his old Nano, which is the same as the one you had).