80 gb classic or 8gb (3g) nano!!! the delima is blowing my mind

[ferg822]

so...i'm looking into the 80gb classic or the 8gb nano...first of all what i want to use it for...THIS IS MY FIRST IPOD

to tell the truth i really dont have that much music to play but i will eventually put a lot on like around 200-300 songs or more. i will probably run with it if that makes any difference. i want to store a lot of photos...maybe 100 so really not a lot, i want to have a couple of podcasts and maybe 2 or three movies. plus maybe one or two games and possibly a tv series or show of some sort. now this sounds like a lot but i can cut back a little bit.

reasons i want the nano:
its so COOL, nice colors, nice screen, nice size
the only reason i dont want the nano: possibly not enough storage space
reasons i want the classic: more space
reasons i dont want the classic: bigger and not as "cool".

my main question is can i fit the stuff i want on the 8g nano. if not i'll go to the classic. im so confused because this is my first iPod and i really dont know how much stuff i can fit on it. as you can tell i want to take full advantage of all of the features you can put on it. thank you to anyone who replies oh, im probably sounding mean when i say this but no one reply with "i have the classic and it is awesome" or "the nano is cool" because that really gives me no information... thank you!

 

[iMpathetic]

My guess would be that if you rave about the nano so much, you would be able to cut back on what you wanted to put on your iPod to justify having it. Although, 300 songs is prolly around ~750MB, two movies, 2GB, and photos, 100MB, with TV shows, assuming around 5, possibly 1.5GB.

Your total is: 4.5GB. Hope this helps!

 

[TimJim]

go to Music>iTunes and press Apple+i and see how big your library is, also see how big you iPhoto library is in Pictures>iPhoto Library.

Add them up and see how much you got. It seems though with ~250 songs and some video a nano would be good for you.

 

[Techguy172]

200-300 songs isn't much the nano will do you fine even with photos and movies.

 

[Stampyhead]

i will probably run with it if that makes any difference.

I think it does. Running with a hard drive-based iPod is never a good idea. The constant motion can make the disk skip, or worst-case scenario it can cause the disk to become damaged. I'm sure there are people out there that run with a Classic or earlier generation HD iPod, but if you go with the Nano you wont have any moving parts and you won't have to worry about potentially damaging your iPod.

 

[style]

i think 8GB is big enough for the amount of files you got...

BUT!

the nano got a 2" screen, which is same as many phones nowadays, if u think thats acceptable then by all means..

IMO, if you want to "actually" view photos and watch movies on an iPod, the touch or iPhone is the way to go

 

[nsbio]

One factor to consider: one good drop on a hard floor and your hard drive-based Classic is toast whereas the flash Nano would still be up and running.

 

[skuzzy]

A generation ago I was in the same situation. The nano (8GB) or the video. In the end I chose the nano because of its size, best decision I could have made IMHO. Obviously size matters to you, and if you don't have a lot of songs (or you could handle occasionally changing the contents of your iPod) then the nano is for you.



Also, the fact that the nano can now play videos should make your decision even more obvious.

 

[motulist]

I'm in a somewhat similar situation, but it's even more lopsided. I have a HUGE music library, around 250 GB, so you'd think the classic is a no-brainer. However, I realized that far and away the thing that's most important to me is being able to actually use the music player most easily and most often.

The classic is larger, which means if I don't have any pockets or my pockets are full then I wouldn't take it with me. And if I'm gonna be doing something very active which could possibly damage the classic's hard drive, then I wouldn't take it with me. And when I'm headed somewhere where appearances are important I wouldn't want extra stuff lumping up my pockets, so I wouldn't take it with me.

A portable music player that doesn't get transported with you is no use at all. So even though I'm only gonna be able to carry a tiny fraction of my music with me when I'm on the go, having a small fraction of my music collection with me at all times is much better than having most of my music collection with just sometimes.

 

[BlizzardBomb]

One factor to consider: one good drop on a hard floor and your hard drive-based Classic is toast whereas the flash Nano would still be up and running.

Not really. Back in the day, my iPod 4G fell out of my pocket on to concrete before it had a case and was perfectly fine (apart from a dent). The hard drive head should be "parked" when it isn't spinning so there's less risk of data loss/ corruption. The hard drive should only spin after playing several songs in a row.

However, because your storage requirements are so small, the nano will suit you fine. 1000 songs will clock in at 4 GB. 10 hours of optimized 320x240 video will chew up another 1 to 2 GB.

 

[style]

I'm in a somewhat similar situation, but it's even more lopsided. I have a HUGE music library, around 250 GB, so you'd think the classic is a no-brainer. However, I realized that far and away the thing that's most important to me is being able to actually use the music player most easily and most often.

The classic is larger, which means if I don't have any pockets or my pockets are full then I wouldn't take it with me. And if I'm gonna be doing something very active which could possibly damage the classic's hard drive, then I wouldn't take it with me. And when I'm headed somewhere where appearances are important I wouldn't want extra stuff lumping up my pockets, so I wouldn't take it with me.

A portable music player that doesn't get transported with you is no use at all. So even though I'm only gonna be able to carry a tiny fraction of my music with me when I'm on the go, having a small fraction of my music collection with me at all times is much better than having most of my music collection with just sometimes.

250GB..! thats a lot of music you got there
My itunes library is about 24GB not including the movies, but my iPod is only 16GB.

What I do is create a few smart playlists, including:
-Favorites (songs with 5 star rating)
-Random (Randomly pick 3GB of music (depends on space left on iPod) from the library but excluding those already included in other playlists)
-New (Songs that added to iTunes library within the last month)
-Recently played (Songs that played in last 2 weeks, limit to 200)

... and a few custom ones (Soundtracks, new albums...etc)

FYI, there are 9.61GB of music in my iPod currently (it also changes as smart playlists update), and 3GB of it are from my Random playlist

With that you should be able to squeeze your music in an iPod, give it a try and decide which iPod is for you!

 

[motulist]

250GB..! thats a lot of music you got there

Well, I'm in my early 30's and I've been a huge music fan my whole life. I started collecting CDs when I was 13 and would spend most of my money on them. When I was in my late teens early 20's I started working in the music biz while still living at home, so all my meager earning were pure profit. Then once or twice a year I'd go to a record store and buy like $300 worth of CDs. I did that for many years. Then when I got further into the music biz I started to get lots of free CDs that were castoffs from higher up people who bought CDs for references or received as promos and then were done with them.

Then when I got highspeed net access and could download "borrowed" music I went crazy with it. It was partly because as a musician I wanted to have a large reference library that I could examine at a moments notice which included much music that I wouldn't have bought otherwise, and also because the record companies had stolen literally thousands of dollars from me by engaging in illegal business practices that lead me to buy much more (or at least much different) music than I otherwise would've had they been acting within the law, so I was doing a little rough justice.

What I do is create a few smart playlists, including:
-Favorites (songs with 5 star rating)
-Random (Randomly pick 3GB of music (depends on space left on iPod) from the library but excluding those already included in other playlists)
-New (Songs that added to iTunes library within the last month)
-Recently played (Songs that played in last 2 weeks, limit to 200)

... and a few custom ones (Soundtracks, new albums...etc)

That sounds like a really good method. How much of that is automated and cycles new songs on or off the iPod by itself, and how much of it is you having to manually drag songs onto the iPod? At least the "random" part must be done manually, right?

 

[style]

That sounds like a really good method. How much of that is automated and cycles new songs on or off the iPod by itself, and how much of it is you having to manually drag songs onto the iPod? At least the "random" part must be done manually, right?

To use this method, just setup in iTunes that your iPod only sync with certain smart playlists, nothing else.

Like this:

They all update automatically except the "Random" playlist (But you won't want to update that every time you sync with your iPod right? ) which is only updated when you refresh its selection, there isn't a proper way to do this, the way I do is untick the "limit to 3GB" in edit smart list, hit ok, and tick it back. It will update with new random selection of 3GB worth of music. It also means you will need to resync most if not all 3GB again to your iPod.

But imo you shouldn't need to do this very often, maybe once a month.

 

[nsbio]

Not really. Back in the day, my iPod 4G fell out of my pocket on to concrete before it had a case and was perfectly fine (apart from a dent). The hard drive head should be "parked" when it isn't spinning so there's less risk of data loss/ corruption. The hard drive should only spin after playing several songs in a row.

I agree that HD-based iPods are sturdy and survive pretty horrific falls. However, every time you drop one, you are playing a Russian roulette with your hard drive. I used to have a 6GB Mini, which kept surviving my rough handling for some time until a fall on a metal floor did it in. Flash-based players are inherently more sturdy. So my point is that if the thread starter is a klutz (like me), they will be better off with a flash-based Nano.

 

[motulist]

To use this method, just setup in iTunes that your iPod only sync with certain smart playlists, nothing else.

<snip>

Thanks! That looks like it'll work really well. You just made my buying decision easier!

 

[skuzzy]

I think that we should stop hijacking this thread and knock it back on topic?

 

[Kashchei]

I think that we should stop hijacking this thread and knock it back on topic?

One last thread diversion: My mind is blown by the OP's spelling of dilemma!

 

[ferg822]

thanks everyone. ill definently go with the 8g nano.