Author Topic: iPod - tell me why I should buy one (Read 50,889 times)

skwire · « **Reply #25 on:** November 18, 2010, 04:18 AM »

Not as far as I know. I use it for my daughter's Nano and I don't have iTunes installed.

4wd · « **Reply #26 on:** November 18, 2010, 04:38 AM »

Quote from: Target on November 17, 2010, 04:56 AM

I had a whip around the local retailers at lunch and while I can buy an iPod anywhere, there is a serious dearth of alternatives.

...

Ideally I'm looking for a device that is in no way proprietry, ie one that doesn't require special software or drivers to charge or manage (effectively it would be USB key with a music player built in...)

You don't have a DSE near you?

Give you a chance to play with the lower end of the scale

My friend just buys the cheap $20 2/4GB generic players, when they break he buys another - as Renegade said, they're a throwaway item these days.

Darwin · « **Reply #27 on:** November 18, 2010, 04:55 AM »

Quote from: skwire on November 18, 2010, 04:18 AM

Not as far as I know. I use it for my daughter's Nano and I don't have iTunes installed.

Yeah, that's the Nano, though. It's only the Touch and the iPhone that lock the user into iTunes...

Target · « **Reply #28 on:** November 18, 2010, 05:25 AM »

Quote

You don't have a DSE near you?

Give you a chance to play with the lower end of the scale

My friend just buys the cheap $20 2/4GB generic players, when they break he buys another - as Renegade said, they're a throwaway item these days.

yeah, I canvassed them as well (but not the online store)

I suppose i was kind of avoiding the no-name brands. As you say, they are almost disposable these days, but I would rather spend a bit more and get something that's at least halfway decent and that's likely to last more than a few months.

I'm not hard on gear and they generally seem to last me way longer than they do for others I know so it's worth it to me to spend a bit more - having said that I have to say I'm a bit surprised at how expensive they seem to be given how ubiquitous they are...

Lutz_ · « **Reply #29 on:** November 18, 2010, 06:12 AM »

The SanDisk Sansa Fuze works for me just fine, nice soundquality, long battery life, small, has a micro SDHC card slot, cheap and it is .... simple. It is just a music player and radio; it does not require any special software. You can also find some accessories for it online.

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

superboyac · « **Reply #30 on:** November 18, 2010, 03:19 PM »

Quote from: Lutz_ on November 18, 2010, 06:12 AM

The SanDisk Sansa Fuze works for me just fine, nice soundquality, long battery life, small, has a micro SDHC card slot, cheap and it is .... simple. It is just a music player and radio; it does not require any special software. You can also find some accessories for it online.

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

Those Sansa things have a GREAT reputation. I've heard nothing but good things about them.

skwire · « **Reply #31 on:** November 18, 2010, 04:14 PM »

Quote from: Darwin on November 18, 2010, 04:55 AM

Yeah, that's the Nano, though. It's only the Touch and the iPhone that lock the user into iTunes...

I did some more research into this and it seems that, if you want to use SharePod with an iPhone or iPod Touch, you need to have iTunes installed but it does not need to be running whilst using SharePod to transfer files. If I ever get access to an iPhone or Touch, I'll test it out.

tomos · « **Reply #32 on:** November 18, 2010, 04:38 PM »

I'm using SharePod without itunes installed - but it *is* with an older ipod (sorry dont know the model)

40hz · « **Reply #33 on:** November 18, 2010, 07:15 PM »

Quote from: superboyac on November 18, 2010, 03:19 PM

Quote from: Lutz_ on November 18, 2010, 06:12 AM
The SanDisk Sansa Fuze works for me just fine, nice soundquality, long battery life, small, has a micro SDHC card slot, cheap and it is .... simple. It is just a music player and radio; it does not require any special software. You can also find some accessories for it online.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sansa_Fuze
Those Sansa things have a GREAT reputation. I've heard nothing but good things about them.

I've got one of the old Sansa e260's that I'm completely happy with. Superb sound quality and battery life. Also has a very pretty and functional (non-touchscreen) interface that holds its own against anything Apple has come out with IMHO. Lots of people have asked me what it is and commented on how nice it looks and works.

I usually rip anything I want to hear off my CD collection with Exact Audio Copy

; save it as a FLAC file to my media server; and optionally convert to MP3 as needed.

I was given an iPod as a business spiff shortly after I got the Sansa. After some A-B listening tests, I kept the Sansa and gave away the iPod. Nuff said?

Here's a photo of the e260's "bigger" sibling the e280. If you sprung for that model you got 8Gb of RAM (as opposed to 4).

[attachthumb=#]

And some cleavage apparently.

Yowza!

superboyac · « **Reply #34 on:** November 18, 2010, 07:22 PM »

mmmm...sooo nice to have 40hz back!
That reminds me...my friend's super hot cousin is now available...

40hz · « **Reply #35 on:** November 18, 2010, 07:26 PM »

Quote from: superboyac on November 18, 2010, 07:22 PM

That reminds me...my friend's super hot cousin is now available...

mmmm...sooo nice to see SB hasn't changed a bit either!

Target · « **Reply #36 on:** November 18, 2010, 11:32 PM »

I supect that image is intended to emphasise it's a stereo player...

40hz · « **Reply #37 on:** November 19, 2010, 01:21 AM »

Uh... Yeah....that must be it.

NigelH · « **Reply #38 on:** November 19, 2010, 01:39 AM »

Not to mention Rockbox runs on quite few Sansa models.
I just Rockbox'd an old Sansa E250.
Why Rockbox

The Sansa Clip+ and Fuze are great players
anythingbutipod

Darwin · « **Reply #39 on:** November 19, 2010, 04:53 AM »

Quote from: skwire on November 18, 2010, 04:14 PM

Quote from: Darwin on November 18, 2010, 04:55 AM
Yeah, that's the Nano, though. It's only the Touch and the iPhone that lock the user into iTunes...

I did some more research into this and it seems that, if you want to use SharePod with an iPhone or iPod Touch, you need to have iTunes installed but it does not need to be running whilst using SharePod to transfer files. If I ever get access to an iPhone or Touch, I'll test it out.

Yup - I can confirm that this is true (I've done it!). My issue is having to have iTuness installed at all. Of course, they could very well have tamed the beast, but when I ran it before it installed several services that I could not get rid of, including an Outlook add-in. Hence my irrational loathing of it.

Target · « **Reply #40 on:** November 19, 2010, 05:13 AM »

Darwin

who's you're retailer, and do they have an online presence?

T

Darwin · « **Reply #41 on:** November 19, 2010, 07:24 AM »

Quote from: Target on November 18, 2010, 11:32 PM

I supect that image is intended to emphasise it's a stereo player...

Stereo! Get it? Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Target - the price around here at the moment is $129 CDN. The $89 deal was a few weeks back and I keep wondering if I shouldn't have jumped at it. FWIW the $129 offer is available here. However, it looks to me like you can do better at Amazon.com ($119 US).

MerleOne · « **Reply #42 on:** November 19, 2010, 07:57 AM »

Quote from: Darwin on November 19, 2010, 04:53 AM

...
Yup - I can confirm that this is true (I've done it!). My issue is having to have iTuness installed at all. Of course, they could very well have tamed the beast, but when I ran it before it installed several services that I could not get rid of, including an Outlook add-in. Hence my irrational loathing of it.

BTW, you may disable/re-enable any Office add-in easily with the right Nirsoft tool (www.nirsoft.net).

Shades · « **Reply #43 on:** November 19, 2010, 07:10 PM »

Quote from: Target on November 18, 2010, 11:32 PM

I supect that image is intended to emphasise it's a stereo player...

Looks surround to me

Always a good thing to have experienced that once in a while...

Darwin · « **Reply #44 on:** November 19, 2010, 07:46 PM »

Quote from: MerleOne on November 19, 2010, 07:57 AM

Quote from: Darwin on November 19, 2010, 04:53 AM
...
Yup - I can confirm that this is true (I've done it!). My issue is having to have iTuness installed at all. Of course, they could very well have tamed the beast, but when I ran it before it installed several services that I could not get rid of, including an Outlook add-in. Hence my irrational loathing of it.

BTW, you may disable/re-enable any Office add-in easily with the right Nirsoft tool (www.nirsoft.net).

Yeah, I've used Nirsoft products in the past -very helpful. Really, however, my iTunes-phobia is possibly out of date. I had it installed a month ago while I played with an iPod Touch and everything seemed fine. I decided to return the Touch and uninstall iTunes before I had a chance to monitor what was installed with iTunes. Certainly, I noticed no performance issues with iTunes installed. My dislike of iTunes stems from running it under XP several years ago and being unable to stop services and remove the Outlook add-in I mentioned above. I did not try any Nirsoft solutions but I tired everything else! Hopefully, iTunes is more considerate these days?

steeladept · « **Reply #45 on:** November 19, 2010, 08:00 PM »

Quote from: Darwin on November 19, 2010, 07:46 PM

Hopefully, iTunes is more considerate these days?

Maybe, but I wouldn't count on it. I actually use that add-in, so it is actually a point of concern for me that it actually be in place. But that is me....

Darwin · « **Reply #46 on:** November 19, 2010, 09:33 PM »

Quote from: steeladept on November 19, 2010, 08:00 PM

Quote from: Darwin on November 19, 2010, 07:46 PM
Hopefully, iTunes is more considerate these days?
Maybe, but I wouldn't count on it. I actually use that add-in, so it is actually a point of concern for me that it actually be in place. But that is me....

Heh, heh - it would be for me, too! When I developed my phobia, I didn't own any iPod, let alone one that need to interact with Outlook, so it was a point of annoyance. Having experience first-hand how well iTunes syncs Outlook with an iPod Touch/iPhone, I can appreciate your concern!

Target · « **Reply #47 on:** November 21, 2010, 10:38 PM »

Quote from: Darwin on November 19, 2010, 07:24 AM

Target - the price around here at the moment is $129 CDN. The $89 deal was a few weeks back and I keep wondering if I shouldn't have jumped at it. FWIW the $129 offer is available here.

cos i would always shop for electrical gear at 'London Drugs'

many thanks for the link BTW

Darwin · « **Reply #48 on:** November 21, 2010, 10:43 PM »

Quote from: Target on November 21, 2010, 10:38 PM

cos i would always shop for electrical gear at 'London Drugs'

Doesn't everyone?

4wd · « **Reply #49 on:** December 02, 2010, 04:03 AM »

While wandering around DX looking for more pointless stuff to buy, (actually I've been slowly replacing the MR16 halogens with LED versions), I stumbled upon this if you're still in the market for a PMP.

Zune 3" LCD 30GB Wifi Portable Digital Media Player with FM Tuner (Black) - US$58.01

Cheap enough if you want to try something a little more than a MP3 playing memory stick.