Question for the iPod people

[underpants]

I am thinking about getting my wife an iPod.

The prices seem to be pretty standard

$150 for the 2G that holds 500 songs
$200 for the 4G that holds 1,000 songs.

These are the Nanos obviously.

Have you found that 500 songs is enough? You can store songs on your computer and load and unload them on the iPod, right?

[MrCoffee]

1. is 500 songs enough? you can only listen to them one at a time.

my cheapie Shuffle holds 5-6 albums. it's plenty of music for a weeks worth of commuting. i reload on the weekend with 5-6 more albums.

[underpants]

5. Hmmm

Yeah I saw that but I think I am going with the Nano. She can always return it to trade up or down.

I think the shuffle is advertised as holding 240 songs or something like that.

[LSK]

2. yes, you can load them on and off

I got a 20gb and its only like 25% full.

And thats with several albums and concerts and podcasts.

[Phillycat]

3. Yes you can. But it is not enough for me.

I had the 4g iPod and it was full immediately. I just got a 40g and it's much more my speed. But I am a music freak so perhaps I'm the wrong person to ask.

It's just so much easier with the bigger capacity ones, because you don't have to pick and choose. You can just put everything on there, and create playlists. It's just more choice.

[underpants]

8. You can do the playlist thing on all iPods...right?

:shrug:

[Phillycat]

9. Yeah, but

with 500 songs, (or 1000 on the 4g) it's not really that much fun.

Again, I might just be the wrong person to ask. :D

[LSK]

10. im not sure if you can do playlists on the shuffle

Might want to look into that.

[MrCoffee]

11. you can't. shuffle controls are extremely basic.

you get FF, Rew, Play/pause, and a switch in the back that lets you either play straight through your songs or randomize ("shuffle" if you will) the songs.

[Phillycat]

12. You can't do them on the Shuffle, but you can on the Nano.

[underpants]

14. COOL!

Thanks

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

4. Go for the bigger version.

Sure you can only listen to one song at a time, but who knows what your mood will be? For $50, it's worth it.

[itsmesgd]

6. go for the 30G and download your whole library.

[Phillycat]

7. My whole library doesn't fit on 30g

It doesn't even fit on my 40g. It wouldn't fit on a 60g. But I still have plenty of choice. :D

[Lex]

16. Your whole music library wouldn't fit on a 60G? That's 15,000 songs.

Or roughly 1300 albums or cds.

[Phillycat]

19. I have 2800 CD's or so at home.

But I have not uploaded them all yet. It is extremely time-consuming.

I managed a record store for 10 years. I have a problem. Heh.

[Lex]

20. Wow, impressive!

We splurged and bought a 60 gig in order to archive all our CDs and have all our music mobile and quickly accessible.

It is definitely time consuming to upload the CDs, but it's nice being able to move all those CDs out of the living room and just have the Ipod hold everything at the touch of a button. We especially like being able to travel with our entire music collection.

We had a LOT of CDs (didn't count) but no where near 2800, or even 1300. More like 800 I'd say.

The other thing I like about the Ipod is that before we go on a trip, I download interesting podcasts on lots of different topics so we can listen to podcasts in the car if we take a break from music.

:hi:

[CAcyclist]

22. Hi there, new best friend

;)

Seriously, I'm jealous. I'm assuming with a name like janesez, you're into the same eighties/nineties alternative that I'm into.

[Phillycat]

24. Well, with that many CD's...

I've got a whole much of pretty much everything. :D

I like some 80's/90's alternative. I was a huge Jane's Addiction fan, yes. These days I listen to more hip hop actually.

[mondo joe]

13. 500 doesn't do it for me - plus there are podcasts.

It's a very individual thing. I use mine at work, for walking, for working out and for running. So I like broad selection for all those purposes.

[underpants]

15. I think I will get her the 2G

If she wants more she can trade up.

[mondo joe]

17. Good call. My daughters want iPods which I'm happy to get them - the 9 year

old wants a nano because it looks so cool. My 11 year old wants a shuffle because "250 song is ENOUGH."

Now I have to see if I can get them both on the same page.

[sakabatou]

18. I use it as part of my therapy.

It's great, but I want better headphones.

[HughBeaumont]

21. $200 got me this.

http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Sleek-Multimedia-Player-Aluminum/dp/B000EA6WOE/ref=pd_bxgy_etk_ce_av__text_b/102-9660230-7482557

20 gb, nearly 5000 song capacity (mp3, wmas (which I use, because I'm not that big of a sound nerd) can go to 10,000), it beats the hell out of taking random CDs in the car/out exercising. Makes road trips a lot shorter.

May or may not be for you, but I'm just saying iPod isn't the only thing that plays music out there.

[AlCzervik]

23. i have a 4g i have hooked up in my car, you would think having 500 songs would be enough

but it isn't, i have around 900 songs on mine and it takes me about 2 weeks to go through the full rotation.

[TommyO]

25. Between my two favorite playlists

I have around 500 unique songs, however this is on a 20Gig 3G iPod which gives me lots of room, but not enough for my 30Meg+ library. I'll be getting a new one next year most likely and will pass the 20Gig onto my brother who will be using it in his truck.

[Dukkha]

26. song quanitity is depending entirely on encoding

1,000 songs if you encode at 128kbps. I encode at 192kbps for better quality which reduces your space significantly. I have a 30GB video iPod with 4272 songs right now and only 2.7GB available.

[crispini]

27. I have the larger Nano, but it's still not big enough for me.

I wish I could keep my entire freaking library on there. It's a PITA trying to pick what you want to hear.

Oh, and here's a word to the wise. If you have a large library of CDs that you are planning to rip onto your 'puter, get an external hard drive so you can back them up. After you do all that work of ripping, you're going to want some insurance in case your 'puter crashes.

[mondo joe]

28. I have the 30G iPOd, but I broke down and picked up a Nano as well

for running.

Now that I have the Nano, I almost never use the big 30G anymore - but it sure was fun having thousands and thousands of songs all on the one device.

[crispini]

29. Have you seen this?

Hee! Looks like fun!

http://www.apple.com/ipod/nike/gear.html

[mondo joe]

31. You bet I- but I like to use a different brand of running sneaker. HOWEVER, what

I really do love is using the hand strap for the Nano as a wristband. I keep the clock turned on, so when I'm running I can easily access the controls, and track my time.

:-D

[CatholicEdHead]

30. Go for the 4GB version

I have mine almost full (through selective library transfer). My ideal iPod now is a 20GB Nano or so as everything fits on my 60GB Video with lots to spare (only have 14-15GB in it). My collection goes back at least a decade or so.