I really don’t have a clue about these things so please keep it simple.

I’m thinking of buying a gizmo to store and play music on.

I’d like to be able to download music to it without using a PC.

It may be a communal gadget to be used by the rest of the family, if we could keep our music collections seperate, it would be good.

Any tips? Pros / cons? Need to knows? Reccomendations?

Cheers.

….. anyone?

Hasnt there been something on the net recently about a cheap waterproof sony player (If it is only for music purposes).

Really recommend looking at using a cheap Android smart phone, the market for top end stand alone music players is dying, Apple haven’t updated the iPod since 2012. You could manage you music separately on the device with playlists.

My son has a 32Gb iPod touch 4 gen for sale. Would fit the bill.

I have an Ipod Touch, fantastic device. Use it pretty much as you are suggesting. I principally use it for music but have been taking pics, browsing, playing games, reading books, podcasts etc. Kids love it too, lots of free games. Can’t really fault it. If it was purely for music though I’d maybe think of something else, battery is good/fine but probably needs recharging more than I’d like, its my only niggle though and really only a problem if games are being played.

If you do go down the sensible route and get an iPod then for your music collections you can create playlists for the music you prefer for each member of the family.

Can I download via wifi to an iPod classic or would it need to be a touch to do this?

Classic needs a computer connection to download a Touch can use wifi.

stumpyjon – Member
Really recommend looking at using a cheap Android smart phone, the market for top end stand alone music players is dying, Apple haven’t updated the iPod since 2012. You could manage you music separately on the device with playlists.

Apple haven’t updated the Classic, but that’s 160Gb. It’s still available, though.
The Touch would be your best bet, it can be used for web browsing, and as an ebook reader, pretty much everything an iPhone can do, except make phone calls, and you could even do that with the supplied ‘phones and a Skype app, or FaceTime, although that does require the person at the other end having an Apple device.
You could pick up a second-hand iPhone 4 or 4S, and use that without a SIM; I use my old iP4 as my preferred iPod, despite having a 160Gb Classic. It does have a 3 SIM installed, mainly so that I can download music that I’ve Shazammed from 6Music.
You could do that with the a Touch as well, using the headphone mic to listen to the music being played.
I reckon I spend £10-15/ month just downloading new music directly onto the phone from Shazam.
Works really well.
And you can set up playlists on the fly, too.

Ok, so if I go down the iPod touch route, where is best to source my music from?

Querty, iTunes is the obvious one, as much because it’s so easy to download tracks from, and if you use Shazam, it generally, but not always, gives you a direct link into iTunes to buy the track. The exceptions being tracks that either aren’t released yet, or just aren’t available.
Amazon have a good range of MP3 tracks, which you can download into iTunes, Bandcamp and Soundcloud also frequently have tracks that can be downloaded, either free or paid for. I get mine from all over the place, but iTunes ones are the easiest, others have to be downloaded onto your computer, then dragged into iTunes. Hardly a chore, really.
One thing I’d say, and that is to set your Touch, should you get one, to manually manage music and video; that way you’re always in control of what’s on your device, and you can just drag tracks into the device when you want to.

Anything but an Apple product.

The iPods are a great piece of kit, but you are stuck with using iTunes which is a dreadful bloated shop window masquerading as a music player, and is more expensive than Amazon for buying tunes.

I know people who use it will disagree, but my experience of iTunes with t’wifes and sons iPhones and iPods is enough to make me hunt and kill…

Has the OP considered a tablet, either Apple or Android? Bit more money, but makes navigating stores, either Google/Apples/Amazon etc, a bit easier.

Just seems a lot more flexibility, for not a massive amount more of cash.

I use itunes but still buy a lot of my music through Amazon without hassle.

The iPods are a great piece of kit, but you are stuck with using iTunes which is a dreadful bloated shop window masquerading as a music player, and is more expensive than Amazon for buying tunes.

iTunesi isn’t a music player on iPods, iPhones or iPads it’s a store for buying music from. 😀

Cunningly Apple has a player called a very crafty name. Music.