Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MonksMac

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 5, 2005
622
3
DFW
So I'm in a little tight spot at the moment. I am forced to choose between a Nano 199.00 and Zen Micro 179.00 :mad: Of course I really want the iPod, and not the Zen Micro. My dad is the source of this terrible struggle. He obviously hates Apple, refuses to use iTunes, or listen to any sensible talk about Apple. I have been eyeing a 4th Gen Refurb, but when I brought up the subject he says "Don't buy refurbished! they are returned for a reason. besides the apple's don't have a Radio tuner." Help! I have until about 11 PM :( I know how pitiful I sound!
 

eva01

macrumors 601
Feb 22, 2005
4,720
1
Gah! Plymouth
Refurbished are perfectly fine.

I have bought plenty of refurbished electronics in my life. Almost all my bose speakers are refurbished.

And most important of all my workhorse Dual 1.8 G5 Powermac is refurbished.

And woopity do a radio tuner.

Who listens to the radio anymore (minus XM)

I have had a 3G iPod for 3 years now and it has worked perfectly and i still own it (don't use it) and have my 4G Color iPod working perfectly.

Bought Girlfriend a Nano and it works perfectly. Brother's 1G mini works perfectly

Brother's Girlfriend's Nano (which was dropped into clean toilet once) works perfectly.

Go iPod and don't look back


OT: Does your dad even have a reasonable excuse for hating apple?

Heck my family was the one that made me like Apple. With a Mac Classic and Powermac 5500. Now our entire family has a Mac except for two work Thinkpads in the house. And my backup laptop which is a thinkpad P3 700Mhz :p However i would probably use my newton if my powerbook went down. As long as i could find the poweradapter and if the computer still works
 

yankeefan24

macrumors 65816
Dec 24, 2005
1,104
0
NYC
The refurbs are tested by apple for perfection. I bought a ACD refurb, and it was perfect, nothing wrong. Buyer's Remorse is what it said on the box… Refurbs are fine.

Get the nano.
 

eva01

macrumors 601
Feb 22, 2005
4,720
1
Gah! Plymouth
yankeefan24 said:
The refurbs are tested by apple for perfection. I bought a ACD refurb, and it was perfect, nothing wrong. Buyer's Remorse is what it said on the box… Refurbs are fine.

Get the nano.


See you know the iPod is the way to go with this.

Case in point notice a Yankee's Fan and a Red Sox fan agreeing on something


scary
 

MonksMac

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 5, 2005
622
3
DFW
Ok, so I still don't think he would go for the refurb. If i had the iPod I would listen to,music not the radio. The only iPod he would pay for would be the 2GB Nano which is not enought to hold all of my music. this he does not know. I really love apple and the iPod but the Zen comes with 8GB and Radio ,and the best reason for him, the Zen will play WMA's. he doesn't want iPod because you have to use "their crappy software" regardless of what a CompUsa employee told him. him- "besides we don't have an Apple computer".
OT- No clue, guess he thinks they're too expensive,less software etc...
 

eva01

macrumors 601
Feb 22, 2005
4,720
1
Gah! Plymouth
Do you really need all your music on your portable music player at all times?

Also WMA is greatly inferior in quality to AAC.

You don't need an apple computer for the iPod and you may want to show him that iTunes is in my opinion the best music organizer I have ever used.


better than WMP and Winamp (thou i haven't used either for a long while)
 

MonksMac

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 5, 2005
622
3
DFW
Our HP notebook has iTunes 4.7 on it which he never uses. I would show it to him,but he's at work. Maybe I should tape the refurb page I printed on the fridge... and print a page on iTunes for him to see when he comes home.

Go iTunes!:) :p
 

MonksMac

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 5, 2005
622
3
DFW
Oh I forgot he also likes the Zen because it has a removeable rechargeable battery.
 

MonksMac

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 5, 2005
622
3
DFW
eva01 said:
Do you really need all your music on your portable music player at all times?

Also WMA is greatly inferior in quality to AAC.

You don't need an apple computer for the iPod and you may want to show him that iTunes is in my opinion the best music organizer I have ever used.


better than WMP and Winamp (thou i haven't used either for a long while)

I know my music collection will grow so...
 

eva01

macrumors 601
Feb 22, 2005
4,720
1
Gah! Plymouth
MonksMac said:
Oh I forgot he also likes the Zen because it has a removeable rechargeable battery.

The iPod battery is removable and rechargable. Just maybe a bit harder to remove :p

and you best update to iTunes 6.0 or you can't buy music on the iTMS
 

eva01

macrumors 601
Feb 22, 2005
4,720
1
Gah! Plymouth
MonksMac said:
I know my music collection will grow so...

Then save up your money if you can and then get a 5G iPod

Thats what i did. Found out my 10GB 3G iPod was not enough space and saved up to get my new powerbook and 60GB 4G Color iPod
 

MonksMac

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 5, 2005
622
3
DFW
eva01 said:
Then save up your money if you can and then get a 5G iPod

Thats what i did. Found out my 10GB 3G iPod was not enough space and saved up to get my new powerbook and 60GB 4G Color iPod
Well, the refurb is 199.00 same as Nano but is 20GB instead of 2! With Government discount and refurb it drops to 169.00!
 

Zwhaler

macrumors 604
Jun 10, 2006
7,085
1,558
4th Gen Refurbished Phot or the Black and White one? Because I would go for a refurb photo or the Nano. Just keep your library to a mininum and you should be fine with the nano.
 

cycocelica

macrumors 68000
Apr 28, 2005
1,801
4
Redmond, WA
no one here is going to vote for the zen micro. This is an Apple based website. I happen to like the micro, but since I own an Apple the iPod will do:D
 

sushi

Moderator emeritus
Jul 19, 2002
15,639
3
キャンプスワ&#
MonksMac said:
So I'm in a little tight spot at the moment. I am forced to choose between a Nano 199.00 and Zen Micro 179.00 :mad: Of course I really want the iPod, and not the Zen Micro. My dad is the source of this terrible struggle. He obviously hates Apple, refuses to use iTunes, or listen to any sensible talk about Apple. I have been eyeing a 4th Gen Refurb, but when I brought up the subject he says "Don't buy refurbished! they are returned for a reason. besides the apple's don't have a Radio tuner." Help! I have until about 11 PM :( I know how pitiful I sound!
If you really want the Nano, the get one -- even the 2GB version.

As others have said, Apple refurbished is a good way to go as well. This will allow you to get a bigger iPod for the same price.

Personally, I would stay away from the Zen Micro. It looks nice and feels good until you try to use the menu/buttons.

As for radio, if I am going to listen to music, I want it to be my music played uninterrupted and free from commercials and DJs. But that's just me. So I would never use my iPod to listen to the radio. Podcasts yes. Regular radio nope.
 

idkfa

macrumors regular
Mar 30, 2006
149
0
Canada
Actually, the Zen Micro is much more intuitive to use than the iPod, in my opinion, both in physically using the buttons, and scrolling through menus. It also fits in your hand much better than any iPod I have ever used.

The reason why I retired my Zen Micro and went with a 5G iPod was for iTunes. I wanted to be able to sync it with my laptop, and all that sort of stuff.

The program with the Zen is not as nice as iTunes, and revolves around uploading songs to your player without syncing, ie. not on your pc and player at the same time.

Also, who is it for? I may have missed that part...

If he refuses to use iTunes, then a very big selling point of the iPod is gone.
 

Sesshi

macrumors G3
Jun 3, 2006
8,113
1
One Nation Under Gordon
idkfa said:
Actually, the Zen Micro is much more intuitive to use than the iPod, in my opinion, both in physically using the buttons, and scrolling through menus. It also fits in your hand much better than any iPod I have ever used.

The reason why I retired my Zen Micro and went with a 5G iPod was for iTunes. I wanted to be able to sync it with my laptop, and all that sort of stuff.

The program with the Zen is not as nice as iTunes, and revolves around uploading songs to your player without syncing, ie. not on your pc and player at the same time.

Also, who is it for? I may have missed that part...

If he refuses to use iTunes, then a very big selling point of the iPod is gone.


Vertical scrolling is more intuitive theoretically speaking, but not when the pad invariably (unless you're standing still and not on anything moving) detects the replacing of your finger on the pad to scroll down more as a click. The Zen Micro is fairly intuitive in layout but is just not as usable. It has some nice touches over an iPod and the features of course but it's fugly, huge in comparison to the Nano, not that well built and nowhere near as integrated.

To the OP: Dads who have forgotten what it was like to be a kid always steer you towards the better value, more sensible seeming solutions which ends up coillecting dust. Get the iPod or the Nano and enjoy the Apple integration - it's about the music after all, and there's no handier method of enjoying it than the iPod family. I assume you have a Mac, in which case why is your dad still going on about anti-Apple rubbish?
 

zim

macrumors 65816
Jan 5, 2002
1,332
0
idkfa said:
Also, who is it for? I may have missed that part...

I think I missed this part too. This seems like a silly debate if the iPod is for you. Just put it this way, "Dad, I will not listen to it the zen, it is not what I want. I will listen to the iPod, it fits the form/usability factors that I am looking for, this is for me not you." How simple is that?
 

sushi

Moderator emeritus
Jul 19, 2002
15,639
3
キャンプスワ&#
Sesshi said:
Vertical scrolling is more intuitive theoretically speaking, but not when the pad invariably (unless you're standing still and not on anything moving) detects the replacing of your finger on the pad to scroll down more as a click. The Zen Micro is fairly intuitive in layout but is just not as usable. It has some nice touches over an iPod and the features of course but it's fugly, huge in comparison to the Nano, not that well built and nowhere near as integrated.
Nice summation.

Agree with your points.

What is amazing to me, is how well the Zen Micro feels in your hand until you try to use it. The interface to me is clunky -- especially when compared to the iPod.
 

MonksMac

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 5, 2005
622
3
DFW
I finally convinced him to get the refub iPod!:)

I wish to thank the MR community for all your help and support!:D

Edit: Should be here by the 19th(Fed Ex) or 20th(Apple)!
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.