Buy an iPod?

[Shaun.P]

Hey everyone,

It's my birthday this Friday and I'm going to have some extra money and I'd really like to buy an iPod, but I have some questions.

I've heard that the iPod is easily scratched and shows every fingerprint. Is this true and is it very noticible? I've also heard that every year or so you need to send the iPod away to Apple to get the battery replaced. Is this true?

Do you think it would be worth buying if you only had 160MB worth of music (currently, anyway) and don't listen to music ALL the time, i.e. someone who isn't a die hard music fan? It seems a lot of money which I could use to buy other things for my computer, such as more memory and the like.

Ideally, I'd prefer an iPod mini, 4GB is ample enough for me but they will not be availible in the UK for a while yet and the price difference isn't that much, only about £50.

What do you think I should do?

Shaun.

 

[SPeedY_B]

Scratched.. yes. Finger prints.. yes.
It seems many people don't know that the back of the iPod isn't the same as the front, it's made from metal (not sure if you knew that or not) and therefore will get finger prints on it the second you touch it.. hardly the end of the world though, quick buff on the nearest cloth-like material and you're all shiny again.

As for the scratches at the end of the day it's going to happen to anything that you wish to keep pristine so don't worry about it, if it really bothers you, there are "skins" available which you can pop your iPod into the second you remove it from the cube/box it comes in

As for the battery, that was a problem with older iPods (not the one you'd get if you purchased it now) and isn't a problem any more, however as you've noted if it does prove to be a problem, you may send your iPod to apple.

Personally I'd say get the Mini when it's released, or possibly even find somewhere/one to import one (may even work out cheaper!) there's no point going overboard and getting too much space, not to mention the smaller size and weight will be an obvious advantage too.

I recently got a 40GB iPod (beginning of march) and couldn't be happier with it.

 

[Capt Underpants]

It does seem like the mini would be perfect for you. It doesn't get fingerptints on it, and scratching is much less likely than on the regular iPod (I've had both). I found that most iPod skins make the iPod seem bulky and unattractive. If you do go for the regular iPod, scratches will happen. When I had my 3G 10 gigger, i solved the fingerprint problem by using a couple of PDA screen covers on the back of the iPod. They didn't show prints as bad, and it protected the back from scratches, etc.

 

[James_C]

I have had my iPod for over a year now, and there are some small scratches on the back and one on the screen on the front, but I don't really notice them. I was demonstrating to a friend the other day and she was blown over by the design and the size, and did not notice the scratches. I have always liked listening to music and I can honestly say that I listen to a lot more now I have an iPod. I was slightly concerned before I bought mine on how much I would use it, but I have not looked back since.

As Capt Underpants has already said the iPod Mini may be more suitable for you, but you will be waiting until at least July before they are available in the UK.

A larger iPod does have advantages, apart from music you can use them as a firewire hard disk to backup your files, and also as a digital photo store if you have a digital camera ( with a additional card reader required ).