These iPod (or similar) thingies

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Noodley

Guest
Mrs Noodley has announced she would like one of these iPod/MP3 thingies from Santa so she can wear it in the gym. I know bugger all about them, but had a look on a few sites and the iPod shuffle 1GB looks good value at £49.

Is it okay, or can any of you point me in the right direction?
 

alecstilleyedye

nothing in moderation
Moderator
ipods are excellent. if she is happy to just let the thing play tunes in random order then a shuffle is fine. she'll need to use itunes (for mac or windoze) to put the tracks on.

having had a 2gb nano for two years, i am now upgrading to an 80g classic as i found the 2gb a bit limiting. if budget permits, i'd recommend the 4 or 8gb nano. having a screen makes the ipod more user friendly imho.
 
Ipods use Apples format and iTunes, which is fine so long as you realise that but if you want a more open standard also look at Creative players. A lovely little player, which is a tadge more than £49 is the Iriver Clix2 (£100 ish).
 

alecstilleyedye

nothing in moderation
Moderator
Crackle said:
Ipods use Apples format and iTunes, which is fine so long as you realise that but if you want a more open standard also look at Creative players. A lovely little player, which is a tadge more than £49 is the Iriver Clix2 (£100 ish).

although you'd run the risk of looking cheap. only ipods have a cool factor, the rest are boys toys.
 
alecstilleyedye said:
although you'd run the risk of looking cheap. only ipods have a cool factor, the rest are boys toys.

Oooh! Dat's fitin tork dat is!

Actually the Iriver Clix is really cool you can also convert DVD's to play on it and the screen is not half bad :smile:
 

Melvil

Guest
The shuffle will play songs, but only in order or shuffled. There's no screen, so you can't navigate around your songs.

I'm not completely against Apple, I had an Ipod until the battery broke, but you can get better for the same money or less. Have a look at some reviews. I'd second I-river or Creative.

If she uses a mobile you may want to consider upgrading that for her. Most have music players on now, and I find that the Sony Walkman phones are especially good.

richer sounds is a very good place to look-

http://www.richersounds.co.uk/productlist.php?cda=productlist&sgroup=PORTABLEMP3

I agree with MP - I've got a W810i and very happy with it - the sound is better than my creative Zen and the battery lasts longer - even better get a cheap 4gb memory stick pro to put into it off Dabs or Amazon for £30 or so and you've got the equivalent of a nano which is also a phone, a java games device, torch, camera, video camera etc...
 
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Noodley

Noodley

Guest
Melvil said:
I agree with MP - I've got a W810i and very happy with it - the sound is better than my creative Zen and the battery lasts longer - even better get a cheap 4gb memory stick pro to put into it off Dabs or Amazon for £30 or so and you've got the equivalent of a nano which is also a phone, a java games device, torch, camera, video camera etc...

She has one of them. :smile:

I know she doesn't like the earphones that came with it as they keep falling out, and because of the (stupid) Sony/phone specific adaptor connection there is not an option for changing these. Although maybe there is...I just assumed there wasn't.
 

Melvil

Guest
Noodley said:
She has one of them. :smile:

I know she doesn't like the earphones that came with it as they keep falling out, and because of the (stupid) Sony/phone specific adaptor connection there is not an option for changing these. Although maybe there is...I just assumed there wasn't.

Well, fair enough - perhaps ipod is the way to go - I certainly dont recommend the Creative Zen, though. Mine has crashed on me a lot, take absolutely AGES to start up, battery life average-poor, performance generally sluggish and it has horrible tinny sound, even on nice headphones...advantage is that they are cheap but you pretty much get what you pay for, I guess.
 
Melvil said:
Well, fair enough - perhaps ipod is the way to go - I certainly dont recommend the Creative Zen, though. Mine has crashed on me a lot, take absolutely AGES to start up, battery life average-poor, performance generally sluggish and it has horrible tinny sound, even on nice headphones...advantage is that they are cheap but you pretty much get what you pay for, I guess.

I've got the Zen V-plus: It's OK, but son's Iriver is way better. Headphones can make a huge difference. The one's that come are generally poor. I use Sennheiser which are much better.
 

Melvil

Guest
Crackle said:
I've got the Zen V-plus: It's OK, but son's Iriver is way better. Headphones can make a huge difference. The one's that come are generally poor. I use Sennheiser which are much better.

I got good sennheisers but I still really hate the sound...it's just not right - I've fiddled with the EQ lots and the only way to get rid of the horrid tinnyness is to make a really low-fi sound with high bass and it's still not very good.
 

Bromptonaut

Rohan Man
Location
Bugbrooke UK
I'd also endorse the Creative range. Don't recognise the tinny sound alluded to by another poster - maybe my ears lack discrimination. If you want to do more than play a few tracks over and over again then you need a screen and the facility to create playlists etc.

If you really do just want a selaction of tunes for the gym then the 1/2gb Akura units sold in Sainsburys for £10/15 are not bad.

Problem with Apple is that if you want to buy music on line the proprietary coding/DRM software means you're limited to ITunes. Most other mfr use the WMP/DRM format allowing acccess to a range of music stores from Napster to Tesco and Virgin.

Good earphones are the key, you need the sort that fit with silicone inserts and block out (a) other sounds (:smile: tinny "tush tish" noise for those next to you on the train. They also stay put unlike the cheap ones!!
 

Jaded

New Member
Noodley said:
Mrs Noodley has announced she would like one of these iPod/MP3 thingies from Santa so she can wear it in the gym.

King 'Ell!

You are married to Posh Spice?

Tits covered by the iPod and the legs hidden by the lanyard? :smile:
 

SamNichols

New Member
Location
Colne, Lancs
I love my shuffle, get plenty of battery life out of it, and around 20 hours of music/more for my audiobooks (lower quality). Goes everywhere I go, although I upgraded my headphones to a big pair of sennheiser ones (cost as much as the player). It's been my second best purchase of the last twelve months (although the bike was the best one).
 
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Noodley

Noodley

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