Now or later?

[Porkanbeans]

As we all know, iPods are THE thing to have nowadays. God bless Apple and the brilliant people who come up with this stuff, I envy them like none other. I`ve bought into their computers with enormous satisfaction, and now I have some serious thoughts about picking up an iPod. The ease of use, compatability, and sheer pleasure and entertainment you get in one have won me over.



The only thing I`m concerned about is how often Apple updates these things. It seems like every 6 months there`s a complete overhaul of the user interface. I want one bad, but on the other hand, I don`t want to spend the 300+ bucks only to find out a new and improved, and perhaps cheaper, iPod has come out. Do you get my drift?



So in a nutshell, I`d like to find out any rumors about an uptated iPod before I take the plunge, just to make sure I shouldn`t wait. Are there any sites I can get some info from?



Thanks.

[imported_perry]

http://thinksecret.com/

http://www.macrumors.com/

http://www.macosrumors.com/



Wasn`t the iPod updated / price dropped / changed in February or so? This is probably a good time to buy... Maybe some changes coming during the summer at the WDC...?



Go ahead and buy it and enjoy it. If you`re waiting for some changes and lower prices, you`ll never get one!

[General Lee]

Please excuse my ignorance, but what are some of the things ipod owners use them for?

[BottleHead]

There are occasional firmware updates that come out. Most recent one was about 3 days ago. Free for the taking from the Apple support site.....or via Software Update in your System Preferences if you are running OSX on your Mac.



Also, let me add another good source for information......





http://www.ipodlounge.com







.....bH

[MongooseGA]

Originally posted by General Lee

Please excuse my ignorance, but what are some of the things ipod owners use them for?



Music. There`s one that displays pictures too, I think.



Personally, I hate i-Pods. I`m sure they`re great and all, but the damned media and ignorant society has ruined the appeal for me. Everyone has a i-Pod MP3 player. When I pull out my RCA MP3 player, people ask me what kind of i-Pod it is :mad:



When I try to look for a new Mp3 player, all anyone will sell to me is an i-Pod. People who have them look at my player as obsolete and inferior because it`s not in every MTV music video like their`s is.



I`d reccomend buying one as soon as it comes out. Atleast that way, you`ll have the coolest thing in the world for like 6 months.



You might also look into other brands of MP3 players. i-Pods may be nice, but there are alternatives out there that offer way more for way less. My Dad`s 40 gig RCA player doubles as an external hard drive. Slightly bigger than the original i-Pod, but it was like $250.

[General Lee]

Originally posted by MongooseGA

Music. There`s one that displays pictures too, I think.



Thats what I thought, but I just don`t see all the hype over something that plays music. I thought they may have other functions.



I guess if you are music lover then I understand.

[MongooseGA]

Originally posted by General Lee

Thats what I thought, but I just don`t see all the hype over something that plays music. I thought they may have other functions.



I guess if you are music lover then I understand.



The idea is that you can store hundreds of CD`s on one player the size of your palm, and have it all with you at one time. It compltetely eliminates the need for CD`s. I haven`t touched a CD player in maybe two years.



I don`t know if the i-Pod does it, but alot of players also double as external hard drives. My dad just saves his work from the office onto his player, and brings it home to do work in the home office on the weekends. You can also store pictures, etc.



Another thing people are getting into are the PDA`s with MP3 players built into them. The main problem though, is the internal memory is very small.

[Porkanbeans]

Thanks guys. I think I`m going to just buy it this weekend and get it over with. My love for music is too strong not to have one. As for other options, I don`t think any other brands make players that will be compatible with an Apple computer (what I have) and iTunes. I checked out those sites too, they proved to be helpful to me in more ways than about the iPod! Now I know when OSX Tiger`s coming out. :)



Thanks again!

[l33]

I`ve heard that once the battery life of the iPod dies out, it cost more to replace the battery than the iPod. I dont` have one, but supposedly you can`t just slip it in and out.

[abamosh]

You can replace the Ipod`s battery for less than the cost of the unit if it dies.

I don`t personally have an Ipod, but I think they are very good players. I have a Rio Karma, it`s 20gigs, and does some things the Ipod can`t. Rio, Creative, and Iriver all make some pretty good hard drive players that are in the same class as the Ipod. If you want a good player that doubles as a fashion accessory, get an Ipod.

Rio links:

http://www.digitalnetworksna.com/rioaudio/default.asp?cat=35

www.riovolution.com

Ipod links:

www.ipodlounge.com

Creative:

http://www.creative.com/

Iriver:

http://www.iriveramerica.com/

Lithium Ion battery info:

How to prolong lithium-based batteries

http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm



Charging lithium-ion batteries

http://www.batteryuniversity.com/partone-12.htm

Digital Audio Player review:

http://www.dapreview.net/news.php

Side by side DAP guide:

http://www.dapdb.com/

Head-Fi portable audio forum:

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=22



Edit*

Here is a site dealing directly with Ipod battery issues:

http://www.ipodbatteryfaq.com/

This is the site that caused a lot of commotion, and is FALSE.

http://www.ipodsdirtysecret.com/

[thinksnow]

Things to consider. I have a friend in my class with one who has had it replaced 4 times in less than a year. Granted, there are only two other people in a class of 25 who have had to take theirs in (12 out of 25 in my class have one). They do just swap it out, but I`m not sure they are bulletproof.



Uh oh--*rant on*



I can`t stand these things. On the campus, all I see now are zombies with those freaking white strings hanging out of their ears. ARRGGHHH. Listen to the birds in the morning, say hello to those you pass (I know this is not an option for you Yanks), or watch life happen around you as you walk to class. I can`t understand the NEED to jam out to five minutes of Candlebox, Half a Dollar, or whatever marginally poor band/rap act you listen to in the morning. There is no tuner function, so they aren`t keeping up with the news. Keep in mind, I`m not talking about everybody because they are pretty neat--it`s simply amazing to me that non-music industry people have this compulsion to dangle those white things out of their ears 23.5 hours per day; I assume they don`t work in the shower. No matter where I go, the zombies are on the Metro, on the T, on campus, on their bike, rarely but sometimes in class, in The Bell or McDooDoos.



*rant off*



If you must have one, I`d wait out the initial price and pick up one of the Shuffles. It`s 100 bones and will hold plenty of songs assuming you don`t mind swapping out with your computer once in a while. 10K songs on the big boy I-Pod? Ridiculous.



*edit* Perhaps it`s important to add that I do love music of many varieties excepting for house/rave music. I always have a new disc in the player in the car and favorites in the garage and in my house. It`s not an indifference to music, just an indifference to the aforementioned 23.5 hours of said music.

[MongooseGA]

The Rio Karma is the one I had been looking at. I like the scroll feature it has, and 20 gigs of memory is pretty perfect for me.



My RCA also has tuner, unlike the i-Pod. If I for some reason get tired of the music I have saved, I can switch it to FM and listen to the radio/morning shows, etc...

[abamosh]

If you want the best player for the money, the karma is the way to go. There will be a new player replacing the Karma somethime this year (hopefully...) so the prices are way down for what is a good, proven player.

Pros: price, Playlists on the go, plays Ogg Vorbis and FLAC files, the dock can be set to glow (it looks cool in a dark room), there is a five band EQ, a fer different "now playing" configuirations, good stock ear buds, battery life

cons: will be replaced soon, lack of accessories, can be too thick for some people, scroll wheel can be prone to breaking, front plastic scratches easily, hard drive problems, no MSC support



I bought my Karma in February of 2004 and it has been great. I haven`t had any major problems, and I will probably purchase the next Rio hard drive player.

[JaCkaL829]

I think in general electronics tend to drop in prices rather quickly. I know when I was looking at digital cameras, I was able to get new cameras for really cheap prices because of newer models coming out. *I* would think the same would happen with Ipods, seeing how there is such a high demand for them. I`d think newer models coming out would lessen the values of the older ones.

As a young guy (20) i`m really no stranger to all the technology advances in the past years. I must say though all these Ipods and insane cell phones that do all these things are very pointless and just fads IMO. I`m very happy with my old Nokia cell phone, my soon to be Panasonic DMC FZ15 digital camera and all my cds in my car.

No offense for any Ipod and insane cell phone owners out there :wavey

[abamosh]

I don`t think the digital audio player is a fad. Once the price drops drastically, everyone will have one. Regular CDs don`t really have anything on lossless tracks on a good quality player like and Ipod or Karma. And as car/DAP interfaces are designed so the two seamlessly integrate, there will be no reason to go back to CDs. The major hurdles for DAPs are price and (for cars) audio quality.