Mini ipod.

[James]

Hello all, and please pay attention at the back.

I'm thinking of buying my sister a mini ipod for Chrimbo, and as my brother is Stateside at the moment, I was thinking he could pick one up cheaper over there.

My question is, does it have any regional differences that I should worry about or will it work just the same here? I imagine there will be an issue with power supply, but anyone know anymore?

[Queen Firey-Bou]

mmm yeah i'm just sortof thinking of maybe considering the jump to mp3 player rather than carrying around CD's & scratching them & the whole jumpy scratchy thing...

how cheap is the cheapest, if you don't have broadband & mega ram, is it still work while ? i'm assuming you can still keep stuff on CD's & whack a large selection onto player via PC ? do you need wierd soft ware or does that all come with the player ?
do they work with old Ops systems like 98 ?
should i just stay in the dark ages & spend money on motorbikes instead ?

[Richmond Clements]

A mate of mine bought himself an ipod in the states a while ago, and as far as I know, he works it quite happily ovwr here.
I'll ask him when I see him tomorrow, if you haven't recieved a definitive answer by then.

[Slippery PD]

you can download software, in fact ITunes is free.  I copy all my new albums onto my hardrive using music-match and can listen to them on MP3.  Its rather nifty.  I dont currently have a MP3 player though....  so that not a huge help to James.  But useful to Bou...

Slips

[Queen Firey-Bou]

mmm i just think a small device stuck in a pocket & an ear peice could be a solution to my daily irritation levels.

[James]

Nice work, kids. Rac, lemme know what he says.

Cheers

[LARF]

James - no difference mate apart from the wrong plug socket lead for the charger, Go to http://apple.com/ipod

[Eck]

Be prepared for disappointing battery life. I bought myself an ipod mini a couple of months back, and while it is great (nearly 500 songs just now and rising), you're gonna spend alot of your time charging it up. It charges up to 80% capacity in an hour, so for people on the go it's pretty good, but it takes another 3 hours to charge the other 20% (dunno how that works, exactly).

Quality is good, it's easy to use, and everything comes in the box (itunes, incase you don't already have it, all the wires and stuff, etc).

The most annoying thing however, is that the usually useful click-wheel does NOT work if you have gloves on. Sure you can press the buttons underneath, but you can't scroll. Very annoying when you consider the weather heading our way.

But overall, I am very happy with my purchase. I would recommend it to anyone, although I'm sure there are better alternatives out there (certainly in the battery life department).

[LARF]

I'm sure there are better alternatives out there"

Sure there are, the bigger iPod... friend of mine swears by his and app. the way it operates is better than the mini.

[NecroClown]

The best alternative to iPod's are the players made by iRiver, better battery life and generally more versatile.

[Devons Daddy]

the creative techonogly MP3 player has a four gig larger memory,has an fm tuner and works as a voice recorder. comes in 10 differnt colours.

about to get a massive marketing blitz.
i think its cheaper as well. worth checking out the reviews on that one.

but its not an IPOD at the end of the day. so cool factor is a bit lower.
worth considering.

as for the charger be careful there, you will need a convertor unit to charge it up.got my son a GBA in the states in the summer, much cheaper with bundled goodies. but can only charge it with the convertor, which i had anyway. but worth noting.

[LARF]

I remember asking my grandparents for a Millenium Falcon for christmas, you know the Palitoy action figures one.

I got one but it was the Millenium Falcon model kit, nearly the same but not quite, and I was thoroughly pissed off - spoilt brat I know.

So if someone asks for an iPod for christmas, don'y buy inferior versions like iRiver and suchlike. The battery might last longer, the quality and handling may be far superior - but it's not an iPod and some teenagers would not be seen dead with anything less.

Be warned!

[Max Kon]

One of the iRiver players has a 40 gig hard drive. Who has that much music?

[Devons Daddy]

sony maybe ?
anyone else no hope.

[IndigoPrime]

I have about 60Gb of music taken from my original CDs...

As for iPod, it's more than just a "coolness" factor?it's way more _usable_ than the competition, and, for me, that's what makes it worth the extra.

As for the mini, depending on the state you purchase it in, you'll save between 25 and 35 quid at the current exchange rate, but have to hope customs don't see it on the way back in. In the UK, the things are very rare, but yesterday, Jigsaw24.com had about 40 silver ones.