i'm technologically challenged. i still have this big bulky 30 lb. monitor and 10 yr old computer. we just recently bought a dvd player, still have a hard time rememering how to use it. we never did figure how to record shows on the now obsolete vcr. he is getting interested in all this tech stuff, i know nada about! will this be a one time purchase, or will I have to keep spending money to make it useful, like buy music, and games, etc. He doesnt play with his gameboy at all anymore. but xmas is coming and I want him to be happy with his gifts. but i dont really have alot of money. like about $400 left to spend on him, his toddler sibling, and my spouse. 1/2 my shopping is done, this is whats left. I have bought everyone already a few things. so an ipod/mp3 is a big purchase. is it worth it? he also wants the fly pen ($99) and a zoom box or game cube ($$$$$) help?
2006-12-03 15:50:52 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Consumer Electronics ➔ Music & Music Players
The iPod Nano might be a good choice for your son, but they are generally more costly than comparable mp3 players made by other manufacturers.
Many other mp3 players have FM radios built into them. Your son might find that an attractive option.
All of the players will play mp3's. If you or your son have a collection of CD's, it's easy to copy or "rip" the music on your CD's into mp3's. The software to do this is included with all mp3 players, whether it's an iPod, or made by someone else. If you have CD's, there's no charge for ripping them music.
iPods also play AAC encoded music, available from the iTunes store. Most songs cost $.99 each.
Other brands of mp3 players can often play WMA files, Windows proprietary copy protected files. iPods can't play WMA files and only iPods play AAC. ALL of them play mp3's.
The software you use to load your mp3 player is probably the major difference. Generally speaking, the iTunes software used to load the iPod is very good. It's easy to use, and the copy protection they employee is not too burdensome. You can have up to five copies of the AAC encoded music floating around on your "registered" computers. The iPod device doesn't count against this count.
The other mp3 players are all over the place. The easiest to use are the devices that just appear as USB connected drives. You just drag and drop your music to the device. It's simple.
Some of the devices employee Windows "Plays for Sure" copy protection. You usually have to use Windows Media Player program to copy the music to your mp3 player. To be honest with you, I consider the Plays for Sure to be a giant pain most of the time.
How style conscious is your son? If all of his friends have iPods, the iPod is definitely cooler. The color display, and the circular touch pad are very nice. If he's not under a large amount of peer pressure, the other brands are good alternative, but I would strongly recommend a device that acts like just a regular USB disk. You might want to consider the iPod Shuffle. It's cheap ($79) uses iTunes and is TINY. The downside is that it lacks a display.
It's a tough decision, and it's easy to drop a large amount of cash. For what it's worth, I've had mp3 players of all types, Samsung, Sandisk, iRiver, Creative Labs, but I stopped using the others once I finally broke down and bought the iPod. My next favorite is the Samsung YP-U2J. It's about the size of a pack of gum (DoubleMint), has a good FM tuner, and plays mp3s and WMA files. There are no cables to lose, and it costs about $70. The downside is that it uses some proprietary software to transfer the files.
One other bit of information - as a rule of thumb, for mp3 encoded music, figure about 1 MegaByte is 1 minute of music. A 1 GB device will hold about 1000 minutes of music or about 250 four minute songs. Don't settle for anything less than 512 MegaBytes.
2006-12-03 16:42:59 · answer #1 · answered by DavidNH 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I don't really see why he needs to have an iPod, he's only 9 years old. You shouldn't be spoiling him like this...
You should probably just get him a Game Cube. I doubt he'll be out of the house long enough to need an iPod.
2006-12-03 23:53:23 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
you can get a shuffle for 99. holds about 250 songs. or an ipod nano for about 250 and that will hold about 1000 songs. you will have to pay 99 cents a song unless you decided to downlaod the songs fro free by using limewire or kazaa. you can also load cd's you alredy own on the ipod.
2006-12-03 23:54:48 · answer #3 · answered by togaparty456 1 · 3⤊ 1⤋
a 1GB shuffle will be around the $75 range, check out www.ipod.com. An x-box or gamecube will run you around $200-250
2006-12-03 23:53:38 · answer #4 · answered by Austen A 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋