iPod help needed

[Eagle]

Okay, guys, be gentle with me. Most of you know I'm officially a senior citizen, so I'm excused for not knowing this stuff.

 

Looks like we'll have my wife's 12 year old granddaughter (from Chile!) with us for Christmas. And said granddaughter has informed my wife that she would like an iPod for Christmas.

 

What the heck IS an iPod? Yeah, I've seen the name and I know it's "hot," but since I'm not interested in much besides Cherokees, Comanches, and Colt .45s it all just bounced off. Does this infernal device use a proprietary media format? (I'm sure the answer is yes.) Is it a "what you see is what you get" device, or are there different models and option levels? (It is an Apple product, right? So available only through Apple?)

 

Best place(s) to buy?

 

Bail me out, please. The young lady had a very rough year, between her great-grandmother dying and her mother having a nervous breakdown. We want to be as sure as we can that her time here for the holidays is a relief from life.

 

TIA

[Twisty]

Well to start, an iPod is a digital music player, which organizes your music according to artist, album, song, and genre. Apple just released a whole new series of iPods, which I am not as familiar with. I would definately buy NEW. Used stuff, and refurbished stuff can be a mistake. The iPod classic has a spinning hard drive (I believe...at least mine does). The only thing I don't like about that, is that its just another moving part to break. Speaking of breakages, when you get your iPod..get the Apple Care service plan. It extends the warrenty of the iPod against any failures (battery dying, screen stops working, etc) for another year (so you get 2 years of warrenty). My brother has the Nano model...and I like it. His is in the 8gb flavor and has more than 1,000 songs on it. I have a 30gb model and have ~4,500 songs on it, and 3 full length movies. Thats all I can really think of now...its 12:35AM, and I'm rather tired ;) .

 

I'm sure that the other people with iPods will chime in too.

 

As far as purchasing them, any store (BestBuy, CompUSA, and apple.com) have similar prices. I got my iPod at Cosco, and saved ~$30 off of CompUSA's price.

 

Also, you can look at them, and see their different features at www.apple.com.

 

HTH.

[Oizarod115]

Ipod's come in TONS of different ways. being that she's a young girl, she probably doesnt have ALL that much music to put on one, and therefore doesnt need an 80GB (yeah some have 80gb drives)

 

another thing you'll need to ask yourself does she want a video ipod?

 

the newest/coolest would be the smaller version the nano, full color 2" screen comes in 4, 8 and idk what else.

 

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8500856&type=product&id=1186004970881

that would probably do the trick. they also make the same thing in a 4Gb which will hold like 1,000 songs, and cost 149.99

 

oh and they come in tons of pretty colors... so be sure to find out her fav. color ;)

the pricing should be just about the same everywhere.

 

oh, and don't try to get her one that's got better features unless its still and iPOD... to you and me the name won't matter, and might save money, but the name is probably worth it to her

[HOrnbrod]

Well Eagle, perhaps I can help you for a change. My two girls are now both in college, and I had to go through learning about iPods since EVERYBODY had one, and they ragged me until I gave in. Not an expert, but it's basically a mini hard drive music playing device, that plugs into a USB port on your computer that allows you access it as a storge device, and you can add, delete, listen, and download music via software like Limewire (free) or an Apple provided software program (not free). The basic unit comes with a headset and basic software to get you started. There are other pretenders, but advise you get a genuine Apple product, they do stand behind their product. They come in 2MB - 12MB sizes, just means they can hold more music. The current model that's "HOT" is the Nano, about 4"x2"x1/4" thick. But that may have changed, since new models appear monthly. I have purchased two new on eBay for the girls, and both have been fine w. no problems. But be advised that around Xmas prices usually double, so get one fast. A new Nano basic model in the color of your grand daughter's choice will make her very happy. She most likely knows more about setting them up and downloading the music she wants - they are usually better than us OLDE PHARTES. Hope this helps............

[jared]

ipods are easy.

 

you basically download the itunes software and can scan the pc harddrive for music files to add to your music libray in itunes, plug in you ipod and dowload them to it. it does come with instrutions also ;) but if you don't have any music on the computer with limewire you can getstuff free, or itunes you can buy songs to put on your ipod. or you can take a cd and import it into the computer into itunes for free.

 

they don't come with a wall charger either, but are charged through the usb port they are connected to. fyi

[Eagle]

Thanks, guys. Armed with this info I took my wife to Wal-Mart to see what these critters look like. She;s recovering from sticker shock. My wife is from Chile, and she says she's sure they cost a lot less down there. She'll be going there for a visit in a couple of weeks, so I guess we wait until she can do some inter-continental comparison shopping.