Mp3/ipod

emmsa76

Can anyone help me?
I'm after a Mp3/i-pod to take on my hols in December.
Haven't really got a clue what to go for.
Want it to hold a fair few of my CD's so a bigger memory will be better.
Does anyone know of any offers or where I should be looking to get one.
Many Thanks.

bestyman

Hi,
It all depends what you want .
Im tight and old (ish) so an mp3 player as a fashion accesory is not important to me.
I bought one of these http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=777_7&products_id=100694

About the size of a matchbox, complete with leads and headphones,sound quality reasonable. If I had one complaint it would be that it could be a little bit louder , but its not really a problem unless you are a 16 year old rocker. To store music on you will need a SD card , availabe from the same place. Cards come in different storage capacities and a 256mb card will cost you about £15. An average MP3 is about 3mb so you will fit about 80 tracks on a card this size. Buy a bigger card if you want. ( personally I have a few cards with different types of music on )

Other player out there but a lot more expensive, some have built in hard drives so no SD card needed. Really its a personal choice considering looks, price, storage capacity etc.

Now the music you have on your CDs needs converting to mp3 format to make the file size smaller before you put it on the SD card. Many programs available out there but the last time I did this it took ages. Possibly a better option would be just to download songs already in MP3 format .

If you need more help just post back.

EDIT 256mb cards are £9.99 http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=777_6&products_id=27882

coolagarry

Emma, There are a huge number of variations available from about £20 to over £200.
When you wsay a fair few cd's it depends how many. These are cheap and will hold 4 or 5 cd's
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/256-MB-MP3-PLAYER-USB2-FLASH-DRIVE-48hr-delivery-4-51_W0QQitemZ5816263246QQcategoryZ48451QQcmdZViewItem
This type will hold twice as many
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/512-MB-MP3-PLAYER-USB2-FLASH-DRIVE-48hr-delivery-4-51_W0QQitemZ5826566405QQcategoryZ80019QQcmdZViewItem
(Incidentally bidding on similar ones on the same site will get them for up to £10 less)

With ipods you pays your money and takes your choicehttp://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/026-1525331-6841260
The previous ipod (4th Generation) has been discontinued but you can still get the 20gb model here for £175. My grandson has one (paid £200 for it) and reckons its a great piece of kit. It comes with a built in battery charger and does evrythig you would want.

coolagarry

Emma, There are a huge number of variations available from about £20 to over £200.
When you wsay a fair few cd's it depends how many. These are cheap and will hold 4 or 5 cd's
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/256-MB-MP3-PLAYER-USB2-FLASH-DRIVE-48hr-delivery-4-51_W0QQitemZ5816263246QQcategoryZ48451QQcmdZViewItem
This type will hold twice as many
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/512-MB-MP3-PLAYER-USB2-FLASH-DRIVE-48hr-delivery-4-51_W0QQitemZ5826566405QQcategoryZ80019QQcmdZViewItem
(Incidentally bidding on similar ones on the same site will get them for up to £10 less)

With ipods you pays your money and takes your choicehttp://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/026-1525331-6841260
The previous ipod (4th Generation) has been discontinued but you can still get the 20gb model here for £175. http://www.dukebox.com/player/apple-ipod-20gb
My grandson has one (paid £200 for it) and reckons its a great piece of kit. It comes with a built in battery charger and does evrythig you would want.

bluenose1

Hi,

Which magazine has just been reviewing MP3s. They do this based on sound quality, ease to use and software.

Apple ipod scored highest in each of the categories

1GB OR LESS
Apple ipod shuffle 70%
Sony NW-EF07 67%
Memup Qoolqee k7 63%
Rio Forge Sport 60%
Panasonic SV-SD 100V 54%

2GB TO 5GB
Apple ipod nano 75%
Olympus m:robe mr100 65%
iriver H10 64%

10 GB or more
Apple ipod 80%
Sony NW HD5 69%
Olympus m:robe mr500i 66%
iriver H10 64%

My husband and I as well as my 12 year old son are getting ipods this christmas.
My son is getting an ipod mini 4GB - already bought but he doesn't know.
I am getting an ipod shuffle 1GB -mostly for the gym.
My husband who rarely listens to music or watches anything but footy is getting
Apple ipod 30GB that holds photos, he is even contemplating getting a video one. He always wants the top of the range, regardless of how much use he will get from it. I think he is wasting his money but as he doesn't drink, smoke etc and has done a shed load of overtime I will let him indulge for once.
Regards
Anne
ps no doubt christmas day will be us all trying to figure out how to use them.

emmsa76

Thanks to bestyman, coolagarry and bluesnose1
I will look into the advice you have given and will continue to wade through the jungle that is the ipod market.

macca64

Another thing to consider is what format you want to convert your music to. EG. Apple (Ipods) can play MP3's and also AAC formats, Sony (I have a NW-HD3 - which is really good) play ATRAC and MP3. Some other players will play MP3 and WMA.

Also depends on if you are going to purchase and download music that has DRM on it, because you need a player that can handle WMA DRM!!

Good luck with your choice.

FYI - Play.com do a 1GB player for about £50 which is pretty good. If you are going to or know someone who is going to the US/Canada you can get good prices on them over there!!

bambixxx

hi
i was wondering how you got on with the ipod search? i just got a 20gb from Tesco last week for 209.92 and an ipod nano 4gb for 178.92. i got them cos i thot they were both a good price, but kept my reciept with my 28 day money back if returned in mind in case i find better deals on the net.

please let me now either way thanks

emmsa76

Thanks for your post Macca64
It's all getting to technical for me. I didn't understand a word you said.
But thanks anyway.

xplo5iv

emmsa76 wrote:

Thanks for your post Macca64
It's all getting to technical for me. I didn't understand a word you said.
But thanks anyway.

Emmsa - you do need to know this, though. If you buy an ipod you can't use most (legal) sites other than iTunes to download music from, although you can still transfer over tunes from CDs. This is because ipod don't handle encrypted (DRM) Windows Media Audio (WMA) files.

Personally I consider ipods to be over-hyped & over-priced. I bet most people's 20Gb ipods are just about empty. (cue lots of people telling me otherwise... but 20Gb is about 6000 or more tracks and not many people spend that much on music!) Sound quality is limited by the compression technology, so even the most expensive is not as good as a reasonable CD player anyway.

Jonathan

emmsa76

Thanks for that imformation.
It all helps to try! and work out what to go for.