I know this is a DUMB question, but . . .?

Question

My son's coming home from Iraq for some r&r early next month, and this morning as I was IM'ing him, he said he needed or wanted a new ipod. I have only a vague idea of what an ipod is. Can someone help me understand what it is he's asking for. I know I can go to Best Buy or somesuch place and get one, but . . . what is it?

Answer 1

An iPod is just a term for Apple's version of its MP3 player. Although, some iPods can now do other multimedia tasks now such as play video. You can download or transfer songs from the internet or computer into this hand held device. It acts like a walkman in a way, but without the hassle of CD's or cassette tapes decades ago. Usually, mp3's (or compressed song files) are stored on this device...it is also easy to browse songs on a MP3 player.

Answer 2

okay an IPOD is an updated Walkman. Now songs are available for download on MP3 files. Apple ( the company) had this new and improved Walkman that is smaller and nicer called an IPOD. Your son can go to the I tunes website and download all types of songs and they each cost about a buck. There are different types of ipods one called a shuffle where the songs just play, then there is the nano that has a little screen and displays the song and title info then there is the big one that hold songs and video images. Since he is away I would suggest you going all out an getting him the big one and maybe buying a couple songs for him too. Or you can buy an I Tunes gift card from places like Target. So head on over to Best Buy tell the guys you want the Video IPOD ( or which ever one fits your budget) and get him some song credits and he should have a good time. There are also other MP3s out there that do the same thing as IPODs and may be a bit cheaper but stick with the IPOD.
Good luck

Answer 3

First there was the record player. Soon after, the Gods invented the transistor radio and cassette - and portability could really happen. Each - the record, cassette, or radio - are different forms that all have the same purpose - music playback. MP3 is the program name for another type of music playback. An MP3 player plays MP3 - like a record player plays record albums.

The Gods smiled and said it was good - but Apple did it even better. The iPod - and there are several different types - plays a version of MP3 (don't worry about that), but in an elegantly simple mechanism. Lots of MP3 players out there - like there use to be lots of record players, but Apple hit the jackpot in the designs of their various players - ease of use, compact size, logical programing.

The iPod decision rests on what type - which essentially means what memory size. The smallest iPod Shuffle has 1 GB (GigaByte) of memory, going up to the biggest 60 GB video iPod - so, the big one can hold 60 times what the small one holds, and all the others in the middle are just variations of that.

My suggestion for you would be to concentrate on the video iPods (30 GB and 60 GB sizes), as they play both music and video. That way, once your son is on the move again, you might be able to find a way to send some family video to him... Hope this helps.

Answer 4

It is a handheld electronic device that stores and plays music and the ipod video will even play videos. Ipods do not come with any songs/videos pre-loaded. So everything would have to be downloaded from the internet. I'm sure that your son is aware of this.

The small ipods start around the $300 range and go up from there.

Answer 5

It's a little mobile mp3 player (music player, can store music and download music onto it.). You can buy music online on www.itunes.com for a dollar a song and then it downloads into your iPod. I don't know what type of iPod your son wants (there are a few different types), but you can never go wrong with an iPod Nano, the latest. IPods come in different colors, mainly black, silver, white, green, blue, pink, etc, but you can get custom cases or cases made by certain name brand stores like Louis Vuitton or something. Just ask your son for details as to what type he wants, and any electronic store will have one.

Answer 6

Check out this site: http://www.apple.com/ipod/ipod.html

The iPod is a brand of portable media players designed and marketed by Apple Computer. Devices in the iPod family provide a simple user interface designed around a central scroll wheel (with the exception of the iPod shuffle). The standard iPod model stores media on a built-in hard drive, while the smaller iPod shuffle and iPod nano use flash memory. Like most digital audio players, an iPod can serve as an external data storage device when connected to a computer.

Answer 7

I DONT KNOW HOW I LIVED WITH OUT MINE FOR SOOO LONG
depending how much you want to spend its a CD player only no Cd's and they can hold anywhere from 150 songs to 15000 song movies videos and game the small version is about 85 the best of the best hold more movies songs and crap then most people have in a life time will run you about 450 the one i have 4GB I have 3 days worth of music on it and still have a whole GB left meaning you could turn it on and never hear the same song for over 3 days.

Answer 8

If he's not hung up on the ipod name (which is merely Apple's mp3 player) you might want to check out the Zen player by Creative. It is a little larger than the ipod, but you get a lot more storage and battery life for the dollar. If he's going to be away from a power source for long periods of time, battery life is critical

Answer 9

Not a dumb question.... Just a remind your son that these devices will get outdated within a year. I'd suggest waiting 'til the end of the year and get a "Year End" sale. You maybe able to get a better deal on the Ipod Video...music and video player...

Ipod currently does not have FM radio capability. Ask him to look at other players that offer more features.

Answer 10

Hey there, an IPod is where you store tons of music on a small device. Best Buy and Circuit city and a few other places sell them. The question you should have asked is which one is the best for the money spent.