Colonel Panic wrote:I bought ERawk an iPod for Christmas., I seriously considered getting her an Archos, but decided to get the iPod because she's used to using mine, and also because she already uses iTunes for her music.

Umm... I think you just gave away the whole surprise.

We exchanged gifts before she left for NYC.

But anyway, I'm not saying iPods are garbage. I just don't like iTunes and I think there are other mp3 players out there which are as good or better for the price.

I bought a 60 GB video iPod in March 2006. It broke after nearly a year of use, and I had to get a new one. That one broke about 2 months later. I got a new one, and that one broke in the last couple of weeks.

I had an iPod mini back in like 2004 or 2005 or so, and that broke too.

So this whole idea that iPods always work and have this tremendous track record of reliability? That's not my experience with them. I'll probably stick with iPod simply because I have different accessories for my iPod (a nice iPod boombox, different cases/covers, etc.) and I'd like to get some use out of those. If not for that, I'd probably go with a different product. I don't exactly have my ear to the ground on this stuff, but CNET seems to think that a lot of the other brands have products that are as good as, if not superior to, an iPod.

I don't mind iTunes though. It works out fine for my purposes, and I rarely find myself at the iStore with a wrong click. I like that album-sorting thing too, where now you can scroll through your music like it's a record collection, with the cover art on display.

Regarding the Kodak software, I find that shit is pretty useful for photo editing/cropping/file size reduction.

Hhhmmm...let see...
I gave CREATIVE Neeon 512MB to my nephews & nieces.

Here, the distributors just want to clear the stocks, so they are selling for this X'mas period about USD15 each.

http://asia.creative.com/products/produ ... 4327&nav=1

To me, no need to cram so many songs...100 songs or so would be enough.

My nephews & nieces love them so very much !

They could create album/playlist folders, repeat the songs, play the songs at random...& change the folders every week.

They can also record songs DIRECTLY from their CD player, no need to go through a PC.

This player also comes with a pre-set 4 EQ (equalizer) settings.

They could also listen to the FM radio.

They could also charge the player through an external adapter.

For the X'mas period, 10 skins are given for free !! We can also choose the skins :

http://asia.creative.com/products/produ ... duct=12982

I guess if you are an adult, you better get 5GB or 6GB...here it's selling for about USD80 !

http://asia.creative.com/products/produ ... duct=12214

The new Sony NWZ-A818 looks pretty natty, and more importantly, is supposed to sound better than an iPod. I might be interested in one in the new year, a colleague at work has one and I've been quite taken with what I've seen. I had a 20Gb iPod that has just given up the ghost after 18 months of more or less sterling service - as is often the case it was the disc that failed under a fairly brutal daily regime so I'd like to give flash memory a try. With rotation, 8Gb should be enough to see me through the commute and working day and, crucially for me, this model has finally seen them ditch the apalling Sonic Stage interface, ATRAC and DRM hokum, it's just drag and drop.

I've used an Archos XS202 (20gb) for years and it's still going strong. Sounds great with decent earphones.

Cheap and cheerful.

The Sony Chris linked to looks pretty great value too, particularly if it plays actual MP3s.

Bless you, helpful members of the EA forum.

Rick Reuben wrote:None of the iPods come with FM receivers, AFAIK.

Oh Bob, that's just what the global elites want you to think.

Rick Reuben wrote: I don't know of an 'ipod' ( generic term ) that has AM.

Does anyone know why this is? I've looked and can't find one either.

AlBStern wrote:

Rick Reuben wrote: I don't know of an 'ipod' ( generic term ) that has AM.

Does anyone know why this is? I've looked and can't find one either.

This thread on CNetmight enlighten.

And by "enlighten" I mean "lead to a more mind-cluttered state of not knowing the answer".

P.S. FUCK iPods. Get a Creative. The Colonel is right. This application calls for a chunk of flash RAM on a USB stick with a battery and a tiny amp/DAC that the OS sees as a drive.

This application does not call for iNonsense. Drag and drop your files onto/off the thing and get on with life.

-r