iPODs, any downside?

[armedcitizen]

My son (13 years) has the money and wants a iPOD mini.  I know nothing about these.  Are they the musical marvel Apple would have us believe or are there some negatives we should know about?

[wasrjoe]

I love my 20GB iPod standard. Biggest downside is the fact that the battery is internal and cannot be removed at home without voiding a warranty. At least, I assume it's the same way with the minis.

[HForrest]

My mom just recently bought an Ipod Mini. IMO, it's great, and I really am considering buying one myself. The mini is especially cool because its outer frame is anodized aluminum.

[Mulliga]

The Minis are pretty good. Be advised that other players (such as those from Creative) offer better sound quality and sometimes the ability to play more file formats (the iRiver models, for example). The iPods still have a lot of aesthetic appeal and are easy to use, a big plus.

Just make sure not to use the white headphones.

[Dannyboy]

Just make sure not to use the white headphones.

Do you mean the ones that come with the iPod?  I use mine and I love them.  Of course, after a while, like all bud type earphones they start to hurt.

[Iain]

I've always thought that they mark you out as a pretty good mugging victim.

Even with the new iPod shuffle, a mugger can be pretty sure that they would have a very saleable item after removing it from your possession.

I'm not generally overly concerned about things like that, but the proliferation of white headphones did cause that thought to occur.

[TarpleyG]

Yeah there was a thread on THR or GT about people targeting others using iPods and identifying the white headphones.  Just make sure it is well guarded and you (he) should be fine.  DO NOT TAKE IT TO SCHOOL!!!  My wife has a drawer full of them and other crap students cannot seem to leave at home.

Greg

[jefnvk]

IMHO, overpriced.  But that's just my opinion.

[Harold Tuttle]

13 year olds shouldn't cart about 200 dollar tech toys

get him an iPod shuffle

[HForrest]

13 year olds shouldn't cart about 200 dollar tech toys

Welcome to the 21st century, bro. Y'all best be gettin' used to it.

Well the kid has and will use his own money, right?

[Nathaniel Firethorn]

Biggest downside is the fact that the battery is internal and cannot be removed at home without voiding a warranty.

You might not want to. If it's a lithium-ion battery, puncturing it or shorting the terminals could turn it into an active-metal flamethrower.

- NF

[WhoKnowsWho]

I ended up getting a Rio player instead. 5GB, and very good battery life so far. And it was only $180 with another $20 rebate coming to me in the mail!

[lee n. field]

Mind Rot?

[bratch]

I have a 40 gig Creative that I love.  I use it at school some but where it really shines is in the car.   I have music for what ever mood I am in at my finger tips.

[english kanigit]

I've had a 20g 3 generation ipod for almost a year now. It holds my entire library from my mac, plus my best friends entire library off her pc. (3582songs, +/- a few) The only downside is the battery life, or lack thereof. Thats where this mod from Newer Technologies comes in handy. A friend has done it with his 2 generation ipod and loves it....
For a kid though, he probably only listens to what's most popular right now (maybe 25 songs?), plus a cd or two; get him a shuffle.

[crt360]

I never thought I'd get an MP3 player, but I recently found the 256MB SanDisks for $60 and figured "what the hell" I'll give it a try.  I was impressed.  It was very easy to use and the sound quality was way better than I expected.  When compressed a little too much, some stuff will sound crappy, especially cymbals in rock music, but acoustic guitar and classical music takes it quite well.  Certainly not a replacement for the quality home audio setup, but otherwise quite amazing.  I'd definitely buy it again.  I don't have any need for the multi-gig units right now - having a hundred or so songs on me is plenty.  It's also got a great FM tuner built-in (the best I have ever encountered in anything) and can record voice messages.  The battery life is supposed to be 15 hours on one AAA, but mine has easily surpassed that.  The i-pods may be great, but I have enough rechargeable stuff to worry about and liked the idea of being able to pop in one AAA any time it gets low.  The only downside to the SanDisk was the battery cover - it was really hard to get open the first time and seemed like it could break easily - once the battery is in and you get it closed, it's no big deal.

[Guest]

I just bought an iPod today. It was really expensive. I got the 60 gig model. I have wanted one for several years and decided today was the day. So far, it is everything I had hoped it would be.
I recently took my CD collection (over 200) and threw away all the jewel cases and put the CDs in an album. I now converted a large box (I just moved) into one small album with a few left over.
Today, I converted that album (actually I am in the process) into a little player about the size of a cigarette pack that I can take with me anywhere I go.
The only downside I can see to the whole thing is the cost.

Oh, another cool thing that I never even considered is the fact that when it searched one of my computers for files, it downloaded all my picture files from my digital camera and I can view them on the iPod.

[wasrjoe]

444, just to clarify for everyone reading, you can only view pictures with certain versions of the iPod. It is not a perk that is usually associated with iPods because of this. I'm hoping for an iPod you can view video on, personally.

[jefnvk]

Blackburn, plenty of those.  They just don't say iPod on the side, saving you money.

[Andrew Wyatt]

the ipod mini uses a non stndard connector, which means you have to cart the special cable along with it if you want to keep it charged.

[Wingshooter]

I've had a mini for about 7 months now and my only regret is that I didn't get a bigger iPod.  I bought an iriver for my brother last year, but it's not nearly as nice as the iPod in my opinion.

The software rocks (plus it's free and can be used for just about anything), the player is easy to use and very intuitive.  The battery easily last 8-10 hours with me and holds a charge quite nicely.  The playlist are easy to create and modify as needed.  Plus the smart playlist that automatically updates the criteria you specify is extremely convenient.

My only problem is that I have more music than I have space available.  My iPod holds 4 Gb, but I've got almost 12Gb of music so far... and I still have about 100 CD's to upload.

As far as the non-standard connector, the cable that both charges and updates the iPod can either plug into my pc, or into the wall.  I also have an iGo charger from Radio Shack that is about as universal as a charger can get.  It charges everything I've got due to the changeable tips.  It's really not an issue though, because it holds a charge forever.  When I'm working a 24 hours shift, I listen to it during the day and throw it on the charger at night.  No big deal.

As an aside, if my daughter had showed enough responsibility to save up enough to by her own iPod I would let her buy one if that's what she wanted.  Why punish her because  other kids don't show the same level of responsility?

[bobs1066]

I can't deal with walking around & not being able to clearly hear what is going on around me. My hearing is bad enough as is. When Walkmans came out about 100 years ago, I got one & tried it out. The lack of situational awareness bothered me a lot. I use a CD player thingy when I'm in the dentist's chair. Other than that, my ears are out in the breeze.