Best iPod for music? Help me?

[instaxgirl]

I cannot believe you guys just convinced him to buy a older iPod. The music will come out the dock - which means it doesn't matter what audio chip it has. Keep the 16 GB Nano, it really is a great platform!

Agreed. iPods are pretty sturdy, on the other hand unless you are a serious audiophile there is no point buying a used 5G iPod as opposed to the current classic. Given that you've not even read up anything about lossless files vs the many other formats I doubt you are an audiophile.

I really, truly don't think you'd be any less happy with a current gen iPod. And if something does go wrong you have the warranty.

Honestly sir, you are making way too big of a deal out of this. I am the same way though, I like to do my research before I buy anything, but you really can not go wrong any iPod you choose (providing it offers you all the space you require).

I agree with everything that post said. The nano would have done you fine with 10GB, if you have dvds too then the extra space needed makes the classic the one for you.

Why don't you load everything into iTunes and see how much space it takes up? Then just buy the iPod that'll fit it. Job done.

 

[scooterguitar]

"Honestly sir, you are making way too big of a deal out of this."
Ha, yep, I know! I sort of steamrolled this and let the snowball build, but I've gained some excellent insight from this thread.

I tried the Bose against all they had at BB last night. Then palyed it with the kid's ipod at home, it does sound excellent. NOt awesome, but does sound great, though their $600 one did blow me away, but too priecy. A few others coing in around $150 did have excellent sound quality as well and I wish one would have worked for me, but their overall volume was simply not loud enough for our general needs (Klipsch and JBL), so that ruled them out. The big iHome (Bongovi) sounded good as well, but was much bulkier. I think this Bose will serve the purpose really well.

Might go snag the new 160g Classic at Wally World on sale for $229 opposed to going used, the whole warranty keeps rining in my ear.

Per sound quality, of course everything is subjective not only to our ears, but also to what we want to hear. The needs for this stuff, I'm sure any of them will be fine per sound quality, even with headphones (which I'm not going to use), but I do believe in subtle differences and respect such opinions when that's what a person is seeking.

Appreciate all the info, comments, rants/raves, and most of all your time to chime in folks Though I've been looney about all this, your comments have helped me along.

I'll keep updating untill all is said and done, so continue to please feel free

 

[scooterguitar]

Uh Oh!

Well, went to get the $229 price on new 160g and that was only online, argh.
They had one of the first gen 120g at $224, I asked and they came down to $200 on it, I thought great!
Took it out of the box, for some reason it seems thicker than the 160g dispaly model I looked at in the store, but checked old specs and new and they come ot to the same. AM I missing something here?
I now already have damn buyer's remorse, worried I messe dup and shoulda forked over the extra $45 for the latest and greatest, but tried to save a few bucks.
They didn't have the 16gb nanos in either, darn Wally World!

ANy bad reviews on this model I come home with, anything to be concerned with? I can stillr eturn the sucker

Thanks

 

[instaxgirl]

Well, went to get the $229 price on new 160g and that was only online, argh.
They had one of the first gen 120g at $224, I asked and they came down to $200 on it, I thought great!
Took it out of the box, for some reason it seems thicker than the 160g dispaly model I looked at in the store, but checked old specs and new and they come ot to the same. AM I missing something here?
I now already have damn buyer's remorse, worried I messe dup and shoulda forked over the extra $45 for the latest and greatest, but tried to save a few bucks.
They didn't have the 16gb nanos in either, darn Wally World!

ANy bad reviews on this model I come home with, anything to be concerned with? I can stillr eturn the sucker

Thanks

There was never ever a thicker 120GB model, so don't worry about that.

My work put their stock of 120GB models on sale and I grabbed one for my sister. As far as I know there's no difference between the 120 and the current 160 except the 160 can run Genius Mixes (iTunes feature, but it's not exactly a game changer)

I'm pretty sure the only hardware difference is the hard drive, maybe battery but I don't know. Once you plug it into iTunes it may need to charge for 5 minutes before it appears, simply because it's older stock and the battery'll have run down but after that you'll be golden. (this happened with my sister's)

I was playing with my sister's today, it's a great iPod. I thought about updating my old 5G last month but decided not to since so little had been added to the Classic. There's not the feature differences in the Classics that there are in the different nanos so don't worry about having the newest.

Stop worrying and start enjoying it

 

[MaxxTraxx]

Well, went to get the $229 price on new 160g and that was only online, argh.
They had one of the first gen 120g at $224, I asked and they came down to $200 on it, I thought great!
Took it out of the box, for some reason it seems thicker than the 160g dispaly model I looked at in the store, but checked old specs and new and they come ot to the same. AM I missing something here?
I now already have damn buyer's remorse, worried I messe dup and shoulda forked over the extra $45 for the latest and greatest, but tried to save a few bucks.
They didn't have the 16gb nanos in either, darn Wally World!

ANy bad reviews on this model I come home with, anything to be concerned with? I can stillr eturn the sucker

Thanks

The iPod Classic is a great product that has been through many generations that have sorted out most problems. All I can think of is just start to load that sucker up! You will have plenty of space to put just about anything you want on it.

 

[scooterguitar]

Too late, already returned. 16g nano later today.

 

[MaxxTraxx]

Too late, already returned. 16g nano later today.

Did you even try the Classic out?

 

[scooterguitar]

No, I didn't. Too much goofiness in my head:>)

 

[three]

I personally use my 16GB fifth generation nano for music. I have many playlists that have sun ed to my iPod, it is great for music.

 

[4FalconAF]

And for now I would advice to skip any buyers remorse You will buy a great mp3 player that will last you forever, looks great, does everything you want and has enough room for all your songs!

 

[scooterguitar]

Thanks for all the help...long day working with this and guess what...I messed up! I thought I had about 10gigs of music, when in reality after looking through all my flash drives and extra cd's I have around 17gig.
Also, prolly around 50-100 cd's I have laying all over the house and cars I've never loaded, along with one large binder full of my old Blues Cd's I never loaded...I imagine when all said and done I'd have around 25 gigs easily.

So, I am now going to find a used Classic or such to load everything on, but think this nano will be nice. One hting I forgot about was that I'd like ot use it on the golf driving range and see if that helps my swing, so the small unit will be nice, but am going to need a bigger capacity sometime.

Thanks for all the help! Wanted to update ya!

 

[puma1552]

I've got a new 160 GB classic, a 5th gen video with the Wolfson chip as my indestructible car beater, and two 5th gen nanos. I also have an iphone, and had an iPod touch for 2.5 years before selling it a few weeks ago due to non-use. Overall I've had ten ipods so I've got experience with many.

My suggestion? Get the new Classic. I'll break down pros and cons for quite a few models you're considering, at least the way I see them.

iPod touch Pros:

--Cool interface
--Apple's most adored iPod, and thus the one that will likely be most supported
--Application Store

iPod touch Cons:

--Touchscreen is a massive pain in the ass. You can switch tracks with a remote if your headphones have them, but I got really frustrated having to take it out of my pocket all the time. Mine was a first gen though, so no volume buttons on the side like the new ones. I hate my iPhone anyway though. I just flat out don't like touch screens. Like you said though, it will be docked so maybe this pocket issue wouldn't be a problem.
--Applications are a novelty that quickly wears off
--Designed to be more of a PDA than a dedicated music player
--Don't have the slickness and ease of the click wheel
--Dated interface--it hasn't changed since Apple intro'd the iPhone three years ago. Come on Apple, a little eye candy update wouldn't hurt once in three years.

iPod Classic Pros:

--Beautiful and elegant
--Massive battery life (huge for me, maybe not for you)
--Great sound quality IMO (I use treble booster on all my iPods)
--Huge storage...just in case
--Click wheel and all the ease of navigation that comes with it
--Great size and feel in your hand/pocket
--Fastest hard-drive based iPod I've used, and seriously gives flash-based iPods a run for their money, speedwise
--All bugs ironed out now that it hasn't changed much in three years
--It's designed to play music, and only music. A dedicated music player, plain and simple.

iPod Classic Cons:

--Hard-drive based. Be careful with it. The last of it's kind
--Outdated but proven hard-drive technology
--Likely to not be supported by Apple much longer
--Changed very little from 2007 to 2008, and from 2008 to 2009 literally NOTHING changed sans a growth of 40 GB, so in that sense it's dated and well in need of an update/redesign, if it lives past the coming of 128 GB flash chips

5th gen iPod nano Pros:

--Small
--Beautiful
--Flash-based
--Lots of features
--Hot item of the year, along with the touch and definitely going to be supported for a long time coming
--Click wheel and all that goes with it

5th gen iPod nano Cons:

--Perhaps too small for some
--Sound quality on the Classic I *believe* is superior
--Lots of features
--16 GB capacity cap
--Delicate finish

5th gen Video iPod Pros:

--All of the same as the Classic, but a possibly slightly better sound chip, though I HIGHLY doubt that even with amazing equipment you'd hear the difference. Apple doesn't sell millions of nanos and touches with crap sound quality--all iPods sound pretty smooth but it's true some say the 5th/5.5 gen video iPods have a warmer sound
--For being hard-drive based mine has taken massive beatings, extreme temperature changes left in the car in Minneapolis, and multiple hard drops and it still ticks flawlessly

5th gen Video iPod Cons:

--Old, perhaps not reliable and no longer supported
--Plastic screen is a bitch if you care what your ipod looks like
--Can no longer get refurbs from Apple--they would come from some random third party and there is no guarantee of a good product.
--Much weaker battery than the Classic (14 hours on a good day for these old 5th gens compared to an underrated 36 for the new Classics)


My opinion would be to get the Classic. My favorite by far and I can't recommend it enough. Big storage, big battery, proven design, elegant, dedicated to music, and feels good in the hand.

 

[Eric S.]

iPod touch Cons:
--Applications are a novelty that quickly wears off

I have to pick a nit with your long and otherwise excellent post. I quickly discovered some apps that became indispensable. Apple Remote (which turns the touch into a remote control for my desktop system running iTunes) alone is worth the entire app store. And it's free.

 

[ARF900]

If you want lots of storage but want a small size to use while golfing. why not take back the nano, and get a classic and an entry level ipod shuffle. When golfing or something else where you need small size use the shuffle, everything else the classic