iPod

[impressive]

My daughter (7) has just added an iPod to her wishlist. Having never purchased such a device, I'm clueless.

Recommendations, please? What are the "must have" features? How many gig is suitable? Battery issues? Anything else I should know?

 

[cloudy]

Lucky has one, if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Liar]

My daughter (7) has just added an iPod to her wishlist. Having never purchased such a device, I'm clueless.

Recommendations, please? What are the "must have" features? How many gig is suitable? Battery issues? Anything else I should know?

An genuine Apple iPod, or any other iPod-like mp3 player? Because other brands have more features (or storage, or better sound) at a lower price. But kids are quite brand aware these days. So it might be the actual iPod she wants. Because some other kid got one, or something like that.

Ok...she's 7. I think you can go with a small device. Five gigs should do it. I mean how much music does she have?

*sigh* iPods... whatever happened to "All I want for my Bithday is a pony"?


One thought. Get one with an "ear guard" feature. It's pretty much a volume limit, so that the user doesn't damage her ears by playing too loud.

 

[TheEarl]

An genuine Apple iPod, or any other iPod-like mp3 player? Because other brands have more features (or storage, or better sound) at a lower price. But kids are quite brand aware these days. So it might be the actual iPod she wants. Because some other kid got one, or something like that.

Ok...she's 7. I think you can go with a small device. Five gigs should do it. I mean how much music does she have?

*sigh* iPods... whatever happened to "All I want for my Bithday is a pony"?


One thought. Get one with an "ear guard" feature. It's pretty much a volume limit, so that the user doesn't damage her ears by playing too loud.

I always hated the ear guard things and turned mine off all the time. Far, far too quiet for most of my music.

The Earl

 

[Ferawyn]

Since it's for a child, I suggest going for a flash memory player. They're cheaper and less fragile then a hard-disk player. Over here in europe you can pick up a decent 1Gb flash player for around 100e these days, which is about 8-10 CD's worth of music. Flash players also tend to have slightly longer battery life.

I have good experiences with Creative players. I have rather bad experiences with IPods. But I hear the opposite from others, so that could just be the roll of the dice.

Also, whatever you buy, don't expect it to last very long. Mp3 players are designed to break the day after the warranty expires, to keep you buying new ones. My personal experience is that a year is good mileage for one. But in the hands of a child that will probably be shortened significantly.

 

[impressive]

An genuine Apple iPod, or any other iPod-like mp3 player? Because other brands have more features (or storage, or better sound) at a lower price. But kids are quite brand aware these days. So it might be the actual iPod she wants. Because some other kid got one, or something like that.

Ok...she's 7. I think you can go with a small device. Five gigs should do it. I mean how much music does she have?

*sigh* iPods... whatever happened to "All I want for my Bithday is a pony"?


One thought. Get one with an "ear guard" feature. It's pretty much a volume limit, so that the user doesn't damage her ears by playing too loud.

Doesn't have to be iPod brand.

Thanks.

 

[Liar]

I always hated the ear guard things and turned mine off all the time. Far, far too quiet for most of my music.

The Earl

Yeah, me too. I actually bought a regular iPod once, but I had to sell it, because I thought it was too quiet. And that was without ear guard. It just had a really low max volume. I've been told they're better these days.

But I'm not a 7 y.o, so I can choose my tinnitus knowlingly and willingly.

 

[Liar]

Doesn't have to be iPod brand.

Thanks.

Good suggestion from Ferawyn about a flash player. Much less likely to break down.

Here's a girly pink one.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009F4OS0/ref=sr_1_23/102-0391866-7777738?_encoding=UTF8

 

[impressive]

Good suggestion from Ferawyn about a flash player. Much less likely to break down.

Here's a girly pink one.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009F4OS0/ref=sr_1_23/102-0391866-7777738?_encoding=UTF8

A "girly pink one" is PERFECT! Much appreciated!

 

[Ferawyn]

My Mom has a Zen Nano. It's a good player. Her only complaint is that it doesn't have a shuffle function. (It plays mp3's in alphabetical order.)

On the plus side, it functions very well as a memory stick as well as an mp3 player. It's easy to put the mp3's on the player (just drag and drop with explorer, no silly software required). It goes 15+ hours on a single battery. And the audio quality is good, bordering on excellent (imho).

On the minus side, it doesn't come with rechargeable batteries, or a charger. And it has limited functionality (play/skip/stop, on/off, volume up/down).

(Not an exhaustive review, just some stuff that came to mind...)

 

[Liar]

A "girly pink one" is PERFECT! Much appreciated!

If a whole gig of space isn't nessecary (she'd need an ungodly attention span to make use of the benefits anyway), you could get this instead for a lot less.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00067DUBS/ref=sr_1_110/102-0391866-7777738?_encoding=UTF8

And here's a silly one. Perfect as a necklace kind of player.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002UHUKG/ref=sr_1_262/102-0391866-7777738?_encoding=UTF8

 

[impressive]

And here's a silly one. Perfect as a necklace kind of player.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002UHUKG/ref=sr_1_262/102-0391866-7777738?_encoding=UTF8

And the purple one's $10 cheaper.

 

[Liar]

And the purple one's $10 cheaper.

Sold via different vendors, perhaps? Amazon does a lot of proxy listing for other retailers.

 

[Ferawyn]

And the purple one's $10 cheaper.

Pricing of these things can be weird sometimes. The bigger ones are almost always better value for money.

Personally I would avoid anything under 512 Mb. 256 Mb is just 2-3 CD's at good quality which means you're always plugging it in and changing the mp3's. And you can't change CD's on a long car trip...

 

[impressive]

Pricing of these things can be weird sometimes. The bigger ones are almost always better value for money.

Personally I would avoid anything under 512 Mb. 256 Mb is just 2-3 CD's at good quality which means you're always plugging it in and changing the mp3's. And you can't change CD's on a long car trip...

Hmmm ... but for $10 ???

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=694911&CatId=0

(Well, $17 after shipping ... but still.)

 

[Ferawyn]

Hmmm ... but for $10 ???

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=694911&CatId=0

(Well, $17 after shipping ... but still.)

Umm, mail in rebates? I'd never trust anything to do with those. A good mp3 player may be relatively cheap, but they're not $10 cheap. It must either be a crap player (given the starting price of $40, I'd bet on that anyway) or they're going to make it impossible for you to collect the rebate.

 

[variable Xy]

Hmmm ... but for $10 ???

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=694911&CatId=0

(Well, $17 after shipping ... but still.)

Don't buy anything from TigerDirect unless you like to throw your money away. I've bought three different items (digi cam, pda, and a mp3), all of them malfunctioned and the original companies weaseled out of their warranties in some way. Except for Kodak. They were fair and replaced the item.

 

[Guest]

hiyas sweetie
can i have a pony for xmas?

*snicker*

liar, you clack me up.



btw, just stay away from Nero. crap schtuff.

 

[McKenna]

Heya Imp-

Looks like the menfolk have given you the lowdown on iPod and/or mp3 players. I have an iPod mini that I absoluteyl LOVE. I take it everywhere- to the gym, to work, in my car (with a special FM transmitter so I can listen to it on my car stereo.) It's groovy green, and totally worth the investment in my opinion.

Oh, and not only does it play music, I can download audio books and listen to those too.

It's 6GB and believe it or not, it's nearly full (and I haven't put all my music on it. ) When I upgrade in a few years, I'll definitely buy one with more storage space, but this will do for now.

I'm not sure how much storage space a 7 year old will need, but I assume it's not going to be much.

 

[impressive]

I'm not sure how much storage space a 7 year old will need, but I assume it's not going to be much.

She won't need much ... but mama might have to get one, too.

 

[McKenna]

She won't need much ... but mama might have to get one, too.

LOL! You know I was going to say something like that... like maybe mom should treat herself!