I've never owned or used an ipod type device. I want to get my wife an ipod or mp3 player for Christmas, but don't know what to get her. She won't watch video or such on it, and will mostly use it while working out. My students told me to get the Ipod Shuffle, but she might want a screen on it to choose her songs. Also, my students told me that you could only use a certain format file for ipod...something about itunes. Can someone explain these things to me. Which is the most user friendly? Thanks in advance.
Itunes is very user friendly. Get the new Ipod nano(it can play video as a bonus) and depending on the amount of songs you have get your memory adjusted. 4 GB will hold 750 REAL(not the estimated 2 minutes songs they tell you) songs while an 8 GB will hold about 1500 real songs. MAKE SURE YOU BUY IT FROM COSTCO. Costco will return anything no questions asked from within 3 months and i usually just go and exchange ipods every 2-3 months and get a newer model. The 4 Gb one i mentioned is 140 and the 8GB is 190. Thread closed.
If she wants a screen on it then definitely go with the new nano. The 4gb one will be more than enough if she is going to be working out with it. If the screen wasn't a factor the shuffle is awesome for working out, it's lightweight and very easy to use. As far as using it and putting songs on it, she wont' have a problem. it's very easy to do. You basically drag and drop songs into Itunes then from there you can sync it with your ipod.
The shuffle is a great work out player. I have a nano too but prefer the shuffle for working out. It's so lightweight and has the built in clip. I don't miss the screen at all when working out.
You don't only have ONE CHOICE OF FORMAT to import your songs, and iTunes is a program you can use to transfer your SONGS, but not the only one. I use iTunes, and couldn't tell you about the others, but with iTunes you can import the music in WAV, AIFF, AAC, Apple Lossless, and MP3. I would highly encourage encoding your imported music in MP3 format, just in case you ever want to transfer it out of your PC or iPod to another PC (it is your music, after all). One thing you can try later is to encode the same album in all these formats, and see which one sounds better, takes the least amount of space on your hard drive, etc. In the case of the model of the MP3 player, she'd be better off with a screen if she wants to see the titles of the songs, etc. Nowadays, most of these programs that import music from CDs will allow you to see the cover of the CD on your MP3 player or PC after you import them. I'd say get something with a screen, but don't know what your budget is, so you can choose from 4Gb or 8Gb nanos.
Thanks guys. I just picked up a 4 gig Ipod Nano at Best Buy. With the $15.00 gift card, I got the 2 year warranty, so if she busts it, she gets a new one.
