Advice on buying an MP3 player

[mistrpug]

I want one. I haven't looked into it at all. I'd probably spent about $200, maybe a little more if necessary.

Any advice or recommendations? Thank you.

[ArchAngel71857]

iPod.

-AA

[mistrpug]

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iPod.

-AA

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How big would you recommend? I know more is better but whats the best value?

[ArchAngel71857]

It's really up to you. I have a Mini because it was cheap and 1,000 songs is more than I can listen to when I am away form my computer. I like to rearrange the songs and import new playlists all the time. OTOH, my friend has the 20 Gig model because he wants to take his entire mp3 library with him wherever he goes. I don't know much about the battery power for the 20, but mine last about 7 hours, which is much shorter than the length of 1,000 of songs. The iPod mini holds about 4 Gigs.

-AA

p.s. you can also buy the BMW that is designed around the iPod.

[gonores]

I agree with AA. The ipod is insanely great. A mini will probably run you $200, the 20 gig (the one I have) runs at $300ish.

[mistrpug]

Thank you both. The increase from 4GB to 20 GB for such a small price increase made me go for the 20 GB one. It is $259.99 shipped after coupons from buy.com. Thanks again.

EDIT: $269.99. Can't stack coupons.

[sfer]

The physical size difference is significant between the mini and the full. Something to consider.

[astroglide]

consdier the rio carbon. it's slightly smaller than an ipod mini, has 1gb more space, 3 times the battery life, and doesn't require any software to transfer music to it (it's treated as a usb hard drive and the music is simply placed in a directory). my gf loves hers.

[bdk3clash]

I had an original 5 gig iPod and now an iPod Mini. (No, it's not pink.) I love the Mini, and the main selling point for me was the form factor. I recognize that for only a little bit more I could have gotten the 15-gig model (now the 20-gig one), but the Mini really is incredibly small.

There's no MP3 player on the market that can hold my entire MP3 collection, and 4 or 5 gigs or whatever the Mini holds is fine for me, but if you want more storage it's obviously not the best choice for you.

There's good third-party software for Windows users that lets you mount the iPod as a hard drive and use it that way. I used to use XPod, I think, to use the original iPod with my PC before Apple even supported iPods on PCs, and it still works pretty well, though I just use iTunes for Windows now to manage my iPod.

[Neil Stevens]

Never send a spinning disk to do the job of some semiconductors. Avoid the disk-based devices if possible.