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Bart Adkins

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OK...I'm no tekkie, and I'm in my thirties, so pardon my ignorance. Is there a difference between an Ipod and an MP3 player, or is IPod just the Apple brand name of MP3 players? Thanks in advance to all you smart younger members...and no teasing!:)
 
The Apple Ipod is nothing more than an MP3 player generically speaking. I say that because a few of their newest Ipods models out will play movies and various other videos.



The other great plus to the Ipods is all the various attachments that are built for them. Literally hundreds of items design specifically for Ipods.



But in a nut shell, it is nothing more than a glorified MP3 player.



Side note...

I recently posted some questions here at this site asking for info on Ipods.



Basically, had many good posts. I determined that the Nano and the traditional Ipod style is the way to go as the Mini has issues, (Apple is no longer making this model in fact), and the Shuffle has in some cases a software issue when it comes to transferring the songs to and from it.
 
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I love my MP3 player-I see NO need to store 10,000 songs and spend all that $$-I won't live long enough to listen to ALL of them! 4 hours of music for the gym is enough since I only spend 1.5 hours there. I think Ipod is a well marketed trend.
 
One thing I HATE about iPods is you have to use that sucky iTunes software to put music on it. Buggiest piece of software I've ever used.



iPods WILL NOT work with wma files. It must convert them before the iPod can use them. Buyer Beware!



I prefer my Creative Labs Muvo 256mb player. You just use the Explorer to drag and drop files into it's folder. It will work with any computer without loading any proprietary software.
 
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Sorry ions, didn't know there was an option.



But that's still my point... you have to use some type of software to load music onto a iPod. With the other devices, just the Explorer will work.



That POS iPod Shuffle 1GB of my wife's sometimes will recognize when you plug it in, other times Windows doesn't even act like it exists. I've upgraded to all the newest firmware, and still have intermittent problems. All my other Firewire and USB devices work perfectly, so I know it's not my pc.
 
I have a 5 GB RIO Carbon. I can use Windows Explorer to load my MP3's onto the internal HDD in the Carbon.



I would really like an iPod, but I cant justify spending $300.00 on a glorified Walkman.



iPods have some advantages, like others mentioned above. Things like car interfaces, home stereo interfaces, cigarette lighter adapters, and other really cool things.



If a cell phone could use a micro drive to play MP3's, that would be the shizzat. With my luck, the cell phone would include a camera. That would be a no-no for me.





Tom
 
whats the point of it coming preloaded if you dont like half the crap on it. I know i would be mad if I paid $300 for an IPOD that came preloaded with rap music........;)
 
Creative Zen players.



I have a Zen Micro 5GB.



Waaay better, more features, more advanced than an ipod.



Not as many aftermarket goodies, but you can get around that.



I have an RCA to mini cable coming out of my console, from my head unit, just under the climate controls, and a USB cigarette lighter adapter.



I don't pay for trendy, trendy sucks.
 
Yeah, what's the deal with cell phones having cameras? Their picture quality sucks, any $150 digital camera would blow it away.
 
I had a Gen3 iPod and when I plugged it in with the USB2 cable it would show up as a USB storage drive and I could drag and drop music, pictures, and any files I wanted. With firewire cable, it would only work with iTunes (well, it wouldn't show up as a drive)



On the cameras with phones, I have no complaints with mine. With decent lighting, it takes good pics that I can use in my phone book, as well as take pics of the stupid things people do at parties and then remind them about the next day.
 
Dive: I've read some iPod hacking sites where they show you how to change out the battery in a iPod. It takes some work, but is possible.



Another reason why I prefer my Muvo mp3 player .... uses plain old everyday AAA or NiMh AAA batteries.
 
Darin,



When you read on about that, you'll find that you have to hack two iPods to get one good working model. The batteries are intentionally not available on the open market (check eBay...no new ones there). In addition, the replacement is tenuous at best. Many of the iPods are rendered worthless with the slightest of miscues in the process.



Creative has a great player. So does Dell.
 
Divetrac: Wow, where did you get that from? They sell battery replacements for about $30, complete with the tool needed to take apart your iPod. I can think of 3 or 4 stores I've seen the replacements at around here. FYI, my old 3rd gen iPod is going on 3 years of daily use and still humming along perfectly. Maybe this <a href='http://www.ipodbatteryfaq.com/'>iPod Battery FAQ</a> will help?



Creative & Dell do have ok players, but there are absolutely zero accessories available for them. Ever walk into a Best Buy and look at the add ons you can get for an iPod verses the Zen or DJ? No comparison. Also, I'm not sure, but can you play Audible.com books with them? That was a big decision in going iPod for me.



Explorer better than iTunes for updating a mp3 player? This is a bit like arguing that manual roll down windows & manual locks are vastly superior to power windows & locks.



Sure, there is some simplicity to manually copying songs over, but with the iTunes automatic model it keeps everything up to date without you needing to remember to manually copy over that latest song. It also lets you build "smart lists" which do things like track your most played songs, remembers when you last heard songs and lets you build self updating play lists which keep your music always fresh.



Check out <a href='http://playlistmag.com/help/2005/02/brillplaylist/'>playlistmag.com</a> or <a href='http://www.smartplaylists.com/'>smartplaylists.com</a> for some ideas on just how powerful a feature smart lists are.



I'd have to think REALLY hard before buying a player that wasn't an iPod now days. Trendy or not, they got to the top for a reason. Until Apple screws up that formula, they'll be getting my money.



*edit to fix link*
 
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