MP-3 Player, Ipod?

mrearlygold · November 26, 2006 3:21AM

Which is which? The Wife and I just retured from Sears where we bought me a new treadmill and I want to buy something that I can put in the little shelf on the treadmill that will play music. Is it MP-3's that you can record the songs that appeal to you? The saleperson at Sears told me I can download music online. From where? And what's a good MP-3 or Ipod to buy and how much memory do you all suggest?

Jeesh I feel like I'm living in the dark ages sometimes

Thank you in advance for the help!

MadMarty · November 26, 2006 3:22AM

SilverEagles92 · November 26, 2006 3:23AM

An iPod is a brand of MP3 player. The MP3's are the downloaded files that play on the player. You can select songs from Napster, iTunes, from CD's, etc.

dbldie55 · November 26, 2006 3:24AM

Hard to see how this is not off topic.

An Ipod plays MP3's (which is a format for digital music). There are many others. You can download music to your itunes setup on your computer and have it load it onto your ipod. You can also rip CD's to mp3 format and load those onto your ipod to play. The more memory you have the more songs you can store. How much depends on your music tastes.

mrearlygold · November 26, 2006 3:29AM

Are there any songs about coins?

Zoins · November 26, 2006 3:32AM

Apple makes an Video iPod that can store images. You can load many high resolution images of coins on to your Video iPod to show people at coin conventions and club meetings

joeyuk · November 26, 2006 3:34AM

Video I-POD can also store your favorite pics.

bhartman35 · November 26, 2006 3:35AM

<< Which is which? The Wife and I just retured from Sears where we bought me a new treadmill and I want to buy something that I can put in the little shelf on the treadmill that will play music. Is it MP-3's that you can record the songs that appeal to you? The saleperson at Sears told me I can download music online. From where? And what's a good MP-3 or Ipod to buy and how much memory do you all suggest?

Jeesh I feel like I'm living in the dark ages sometimes

Thank you in advance for the help! >>

To keep this on topic, let's assume for the moment that you're going to buy this with money you received from a coin sale.

An iPod is a model name of MP3 player made by Apple. They range in size from (IIRC) 512MB to 80GB. Some of them play video, others not. A lot depends upon whether or not you intend to play video and how much music you want to have. Assume about 1MB per minute, 3MB for a typical 3 minute song. That works out to about 170 songs for 512MB, or 26,666 songs for 80GB (assuming all you store is music, and no, I'm not kidding).

You're not limited to an iPod. There are MP3 players made by companies such as Creative (the Zen), Archos (e.g., the XS202, which I have), and iRiver, SanDisk, and others. The iRiver, Creative, and Archos MP3 lines all have players that can also record (e.g., they have a mic or a line-in). The iPods currently can't record. The only option (to my knowledge) with the iPod is to rip your music directly (through iTunes, or any other software that can rip music from a CD). "Ripping" is the term for converting a CD into music files you can put on your device.

The price ranges for devices are all over the place, depending on how much music you want to have. They range from ~ $50 to ~ $700 (for the ones that hold 100GB and also do video).

Hope that helps!

joeyuk · November 26, 2006 3:41AM

I download free music at limewire.

p8nt · November 26, 2006 3:48AM

<< Apple makes an Video iPod that can store images. >>

Any of the new iPods store images, not just the video. I have images on my Nano.

Newb · November 26, 2006 4:30AM

Good gracious, get this back on topic or they'll shut it all down

goose3 · November 26, 2006 4:38AM

i have the 30GB iPOD and love it.

I just downloaded the OSU v. Michigan game on it.

Coxe · November 26, 2006 4:40AM

mp3 is a compressed audio file format like jpeg is a cimpressed image format for coin photos. There, it is back on topic.

mrearlygold · November 26, 2006 4:56AM

<< i have the 30GB iPOD and love it.

I just downloaded the OSU v. Michigan game on it.

>>

Don't they have a coin toss

mrearlygold · November 26, 2006 5:23AM

I just went to Ipod and it's an Apple item? Will it work with my windows machine?

If my question is a dumb one, please pardon me

Zoins · November 26, 2006 5:30AM

The iPod will run on Windows and on MacOS, however it does have a proprietary side to it. It links an iPod to an iTunes install. If you ever lose your iTunes install, you won't be able to reconnect your iPod to a new iTunes install without some low level programming. The good thing about the iPod is that it has the most accessories because it's the most popular. The bad thing is the proprietary nature of the file formats. Make sure you always back up your iTunes files. Another way to get around this is to use Rockbox for your iPod OS.

goose3 · November 26, 2006 5:30AM

Pardon you!

yes, works fine.

ROBERTB · November 26, 2006 5:33AM

<< I just went to Ipod and it's an Apple item? Will it work with my windows machine?

If my question is a dumb one, please pardon me

>>

Yes, it will work fine. Software comes with the ipod that can be used with the PC, or you can download it from apple for your pc. The ipod uses a standard USB connection. You can buy music from the itunes store online, usually .99c per song or 9.99-12.99 per album. Totally compatible, but if you really want to be a smarty like me ditch the pc and get a mac!!

Burks · November 26, 2006 5:37AM

<< if you really want to be a smarty like me ditch the pc and get a mac!! >>

I wouldn't go that far!!!

ROBERTB · November 26, 2006 5:45AM

<< 

<< if you really want to be a smarty like me ditch the pc and get a mac!! >>

I wouldn't go that far!!! >>

DONNYJF · November 26, 2006 5:45AM

I know it's off topic.....
BUT, I'm buying the NEW MICROSOFT ZUNE 30GB MP-3 Player.... it seems to have more going for it that the i Pod.... Many more features and a little bit larger screen... Priced at $249...............

Just type Zune in a search engine and check it out

Zoins · November 26, 2006 6:22AM

<< I know it's off topic.....
BUT, I'm buying the NEW MICROSOFT ZUNE 30GB MP-3 Player.... it seems to have more going for it that the i Pod.... Many more features and a little bit larger screen... Priced at $249...............

Just type Zune in a search engine and check it out >>

The Zune has gotten good reviews but my understanding is that it won't take MP3s like the iPod will. Lots of people have the vast majority of their music in MP3s. Having all your music in proprietary formats may be a nightmare later down the road, e.g. if your hard drive crashes.

mrearlygold · November 26, 2006 6:33AM

<< I know it's off topic.....
>>

Not at all considering the unit's being investigated by a coin dealer who is using profits from a coin sale, and will eventually store some coin related pics and maybe even a Hawaii Five-O episode involving the 1913 Nickel!

bhartman35 · November 26, 2006 6:41AM

<< The Zune has gotten good reviews but my understanding is that it won't take MP3s like the iPod will. Lots of people have the vast majority of their music in MP3s. Having all your music in proprietary formats may be a nightmare later down the road, e.g. if your hard drive crashes. >>

Actually, the Zune has gotten panned by some in the tech press, and partially for what you allude to here: proprietary file formats. The Zune won't let you use the PlaysForSure file format that a lot of non-iPod users use to buy their music from vendors like Real, Napster, BuyMusic.com, and Walmart. And some of the features are just cheesy (like the ability to beam music to another Zune user (which can only be listened to for 3 days). The Zune has it's good points, but I won't be lining up to buy one. Microsoft made some pretty ridiculous business decisions with it.

dtkk49a · November 26, 2006 7:08AM

There are lots of MP3 players out there. The IPOD is the most pupular, BUT just like all the other apple stuff, when you copy a MP3 to the IPOD it changes it from a MP3 fileto a proprietary apple file format and there's really no way to copy it from the IPOD back to a PC as a MP3 File.

tcmitssr · November 26, 2006 7:17AM

IMHO, the industry standard is the IPOD. Yes, it is different than the other mp3 players, however, if you buy one, you will have the market leader for the next 3 to 5 years minimum. That's about the shelf life for the hardware before you will be itchng for an upgrade. The I-Tunes software is very easy to use and has the best selection. It's the only Apple product I own and I can't see going with another player, other than another IPOD when it comes time to upgrade.

Zoins · November 26, 2006 7:29AM

<< There are lots of MP3 players out there. The IPOD is the most pupular, BUT just like all the other apple stuff, when you copy a MP3 to the IPOD it changes it from a MP3 fileto a proprietary apple file format and there's really no way to copy it from the IPOD back to a PC as a MP3 File. >>

Loading your iPod with Rockbox open source firmware will solve this problem and let your iPod run ogg vorbis open source file format. I have an iPod and can't see going with anything else because (a) they have the most accessories (b) the clickwheel rocks, and (c) Rockbox firmware to let you escape proprietary software and flie formats. I haven't used Rockbox yet but it's on the list to try out. I also love my external speaker setup, it's designed only the iPod family but works very well.

bhartman35 · November 26, 2006 7:51AM

<< 

<< There are lots of MP3 players out there. The IPOD is the most pupular, BUT just like all the other apple stuff, when you copy a MP3 to the IPOD it changes it from a MP3 fileto a proprietary apple file format and there's really no way to copy it from the IPOD back to a PC as a MP3 File. >>

Loading your iPod with Rockbox open source firmware will solve this problem and let your iPod run ogg vorbis open source file format. I have an iPod and can't see going with anything else because (a) they have the most accessories (b) the clickwheel rocks, and (c) Rockbox firmware to let you escape proprietary software and flie formats. I haven't used Rockbox yet but it's on the list to try out. I also love my external speaker setup, it's designed only the iPod family but works very well. >>

One cautionary note with the Rockbox firmware: While you can (as far as I know) boot into either the RockBox or iPod firmware, the RockBox firmware itself won't let you play protected files, so if you've purchased music from an online store, you need to be in the iPod's own native firmware for that.

MP-3 Player, Ipod?

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