MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
1 Are they great ?
2 Does it have to use itunes for music - any way of playing pre-ripped MP3s or would I have to redo anything to go on it ? (what about (genuinely) free MP3 content from online ?)
3 How about getting video on there, easy to sort out (ripping from DVD at home - what about you-tube stuff ?
4 Different generations - much in it ?
5 Do they go wrong much ?
6 Good deals anywhere ?
7 (universalnessicity - if I bought in US, would it work OK in UK ?)
8 Is 8Gb too little space ? (how many songs or minutes of video would that equate to - comes back to what format these can be stored in, I suppose)
9 Is there a good alternative (music, vid, wifi, browsing)?
I want one as well so pulls up a chair and waits for the apostles of Apple to impart knowledge.
Love mine, got the 32gb and wouldn't go any smaller tbh. You tube built in from the off. Bought mine stateside, no issues at all. You can rip your CDs into Itunes or copy any existing mp3's into the library - great for quick web browsing on here ... Good for email, keeping my son entertained on holiday with Charlie and lola bought off the iTunes store... Best gadget I've had
Think they have to use iTunes, but no hassle putting existing stuff onto Tunes.
Agree about the 32GB minimum, I think *GB is small for just music, let alone video etc.
Ripping DVDs is a faff as iTunes wont do it, have to use a third party app. (Handbrake) but easy from there
Not much difference between the generations but latest (3rd) seems to be more fussy about charging from 3rd party speakers, chargers etc.
They are great.
Yes you do need iTunes, though any MP3 files can be imported into iTunes.
8Gb is fine for music and apps, but more is needed for movies.
Newer gens. have a built in speaker which is needed for many of the apps.
Doesn't matter where bought, will still work in the uk, though warrenty is not as good unless bought direct from apple.
Video is easy once it's on your computer as an AVI file or similar as there is plenty of software to convert to MP4
Last time I looked Carphone Warehouse had the best deals.
Though the real strength of the touch is web browsing, there is nothing better, except an iPhone maybe.
As above
Plus great holiday gizmo for the wifi and web/mail access
I have 16GB 1st generation which became too small last year
Handbrake for video - modest hassle but not too big a deal
Great toy - I love mine
If the iphone wasnt ££££ Id have that in a shot too but the touch and my phone make a great substitute
One of the best things if you're abroad, is that you can't "accidentally" flip it into "3g data" mode say- you can ONLY use it on Wifi - so it's free on open networks (of which, abroad, I've found many).
Real shame it doesn't have a camera.
1) yes
2) need to use itunes, but no problem importing your own MP3s. The files themselves can stay where they are if you're an OCD type who cares about how things are named. Within itunes and on the device all it goes by are the tags, so those need to be in order.
3) plenty of options for software which converts to the right size/format
4) later ones are faster (for loading apps, and better 3D). Nothing takes much advantage of the speed though.
5) don't seem to, they're nicely made.
6) I think argos have been doing a deal recently but I don't normally keep track. US used to be a lot cheaper, but the £/$ conversion is a lot worse now. If you're flying somewhere then dixons at the airport is usually best.
7) no issues at all. You don't get a wall charger in the box, just a USB cable. All apple stuff that runs on batteries gets a worldwide warranty so no probs there.
8) depends what you keep on there and to what extent you manage it. I have an 8Gb iphone and that's enough. itunes and ipods can do "smart playlists" so it's easy to keep (in my case) a load of top-rated tracks I've not heard for a few months, plus anything I added in the last couple of months (new albums and the like), some audiobooks, couple of videos and some podcasts with plenty of room left.
9) not really!
I used the wifi on mine whilst in Paris to get in touch with Vodafone, because my mobile wouldn't work and let the family know we were all okay. Really handy.
My son has one, looks and works wonderful - but IMO a total waste on money. Buy an iPhone which does the same plus obviously a phone. Otherwise just get a basic iPod.
Yes I don't get it, but then I am over 25.
Buy an iPhone which does the same
Maybe like me who gets a work phone then I have a private phone for outside of work that gets about £15 at the most every two months chucked on it so an iphone will work out as a very expensive music player.
They are great bit's of kit, I have the 32gb lastest one. I don't have that many apps or that much music TBH, but 8BG is way too small IMO
Go for the largest capacity you can afford. Unless you're the sort of sad person who only owns half a dozen free with the Sunday paper cd's, it won't take long to fill up an 8 or 16Gb Touch. I've got a 16Gb 3G iPhone, I have 3.6Gb taken up with apps, and over 1100 tracks ripped at 320kb, so it's practically full. Next upgrade will be a 64Gb model in June, when the top-end Touch will go up to 128Gb. My 80Gb 5G iPod is almost full up too, so I'll be upgrading it's battery and h/drive to 250Gb. I'm constantly buying new music which I rip into iTunes, so space on my portables is always at a premium.
Music from emusic, Amazon, or any other source in MP3 or AAC will go straight into iTunes with no problems.
1 Yeap
2 You can import your pre-ripped MP3s into iTunes, no need to re-rip. Legal or illegal all goes, iTunes does not discriminate 🙂
3 You still use iTunes to import it. You cannot rip commercial DVDs directly through iTunes/Quicktime but there are plenty of utilities that will do just that. Then you add it to your iTunes library and sync it. You can view most but not all you-tube videos (this last part is a side effect of Apple refusing to allow flash on their iPods/iPhones, youtube had to reencode their videos to play on iPods)
4 You are better off with the newest one as they are not all that expensive - I don't think. You can get a 32GB one for £200. Better processor, battery life are the most notable differences.
5 Buy it from JohnLewis, two years warranty so nothing to go wrong. They will price match if you show them proof.
6 Argos, Amazon have them for a little bit cheaper but generally latest iPods are not heavily discounted - Apple has tight grips on the pricing.
7 Yeap it will go everywhere.
8 For the 50-60£ extra I'd most definitely go for 32GB. You could keep around 2000 songs in there but that means no space for videos or applications. Even if you keep only 600-700 songs you can only have a few hours worth of video - especially if you want to keep video in TV resolutions.
9 Not to my knowledge 🙂
Having said all that I bought a Touch thinking that for internet/email/chatting I would be able to find a wifi spot easily. Well I was soooo wrong. I could easily get BT but their wifi plans are expensive. So I ended up with an iPhone cause I have internet everywhere.
You don't need iTunes for the ipod or the iphone.
Use sharepod - much better.
Don't confuse iTunes with the store - iTunes is simply the software that plays the music. You don't need to buy tracks via the store to play them on iTunes. I have some rather hookey music and it all plays.
thanks y'aw
trying not to let my daughter buy one - you're not helping much 😉
Sorry to hijack your thread, But if I plugged one into a B&W zeppelin mini could I then use the wifi to play radio through the system, as you can't use the headphone as antenna.
I bought the 64Gb one late last year, apart from the music, videos, and podcasts, I use mine to watch TV (TVCatchUp) and listen to radio (FStream), both via Wi-Fi.
[url= http://www.johnlewis.com/Electricals/iPods+and+MP3+Players/iPods+and+MP3+Players/Apple+iPods/1379/ProductCategory.aspx ]John Lewis [/url]diong them a bit cheaper.
[i]You don't need iTunes for the ipod or the iphone.
Use sharepod - much better. [/i]
Much better...How?
I continue to be amazed that people find the itunes interface so difficult to live with. I must be in an alternate universe where my itunes just does what it's supposed to do, downloads and manages music and video...Even my 8 yr old daughter manages her own music, and videos she makes on her nano without any input from me...
😕
I get on fine with the 8gB but then I don't have a huge amount of music (Level 42's back catalogue isn't as big as I'd like) and I only have 1-2 films on it at any one time.
Much better...How?
For a start you can transfer music back from your ipod to your computer, and you can also use sharepod from the device itself.
Just brought an 8gb which to be honest is plenty big enough for me as I tend to listen to the same music and have no intention of watching movies on it just my old 2gb nano just a bit to small. Impressed so far, links up with my WiFi no problems, music transfer fine once I turned it to manual syncing (Doh).
Got a 16GB one and love it. I haven't got that much music (about 6GB) but the more you use it, the more you start sticking videos, apps, games, podcasts etc etc on.
I ran out of room a while ago (never came close with my old iPod classic).
I'm ponderin' about one of these. Everyone keeps saying to get the 32GB one, but at over half the cost again of the 8GB one (£134 v £206) I'm still undecided...
As I say, familiarise yourself with how [url= http://www.smartplaylists.com/ ]smart playlists[/url] work - with some imagination you can set them up so you have what you want on the device without manually managing it.
I have more music and video in my itunes library than any ipod can hold, but in reality 8Gb is plenty for between syncs, even on a long trip.
really good but set up your playlists well if you go for a smaller capacity one.