For those who use them... I have some questions. I am looking into getting one for my boys 15th B-day, I want to get a nice one, but not real expensive, he works at a car wash, walks to school, and generally makes life hard onhis stuff. Q 1) Any suggestions on what player. Q 2) Services to download music: MUST be legal. .99 cents a song??? plus a monthly fee???? Is this for REAL?!? He can download 50 songs a day for EVER! Any sugestions... Thanks much in advance.
I've got the Applie iPod Mini (4 gb model, they also make a mini in 6 gb) - it's the bomb. Awesome software that comes with it, easy to use (read intuitive, unlike others that I looked at) and easy to load songs. $.99 per song on the iTunes site. I've only put my CD collection on mine so far so can't say much about the download process.
I'm not into MP3, but in a general sense, as someone who is into computures and electronics in a big way, I would stay away from the iPod unless you have money, are a techno-phobe, AND don't mind being tied at the hip to proprietary Apple services. They have a certain value to many people, but that ease of use comes at a (too hefty IMO) price in both money and flexibility. I really don't know what to recommend, all I can say is that the negatives of iPods in particular stand out to me. For comparable money I would rather have something like an IPaq based system because of the flexibility in both software and additional functionality along for the ride. Or in a dedicated MP3 system, any one of several providers with good capacity for the money (MUCH better than iPod for the money), making sure they support a wide range of providers (Apple is one of the most expensive per MB/song, or so I'm told) so that you have options to "shop around" and are no SOL if the sole provider decides to obsolete your equipment. It seems to be universally supported (based on research for my son) that iPod is the easiest to use, though often lacking features, but NONE of the ones I looked at were that hard to use, and some seemed MUCH better due to the flexibility AND additional info that was readily accessible. Even if it takes a bit of effort (say reading a manual for an hour and "playing" with it a bit) I think you can do much better with another alternative… JMO, YMMV…
