a can of coke zero mysteriously ruined my iPod a few weeks ago, and thanks to my purchasing of best buy's 'product replacement plan' i have been granted a $327 gift card to get a new one. i am trying to figure out if i should shell out the extra $ to get the 60. all the local stores are sold out of them, so i've just spent the past few days going back and forth about what i should do.

*note: i shall not be influenced by you and your opinions, though you're welcome to weigh in. in fact, i know which one i should get. i am just bored.

30GB is huge. Unless your music collection is already pushing 25GB, I wouldn't spend the extra money.

Are you looking at a 60GB model that displays photos and videos? If so and you're a digital photographer, you might consider the 60GB as a way to store your photos. Otherwise, 30GB should be plenty.

I know, you already know what you're going to do, but...

Yes, 30 GB is huge, but that is by today's standards. I assume you will try to keep this one as long as possible, right? Who would've guessed five years ago when I bought my first iMac that it's whopping 13GB HD would be laughable today, and most computers come stock with 160GB HD's? The thing about this new iPod is that it can store video files, which run substantially larger than mp3 files. So, you can have 5,000 songs on 25Gb of your iPod, and then have a pretty good selection of movies that you've ripped on there too. Not to mention all the pictures you can handle. And, by expanding now when it's cheap, you'll ensure that you won't outgrow your iPod any sooner than you need to.

You should absolutely spend the $100 and double the HD size of your iPod. No questions asked.

On a related note, anybody want to try to get a free iPod video? I'm giving it a go right now, and so far it's working out for me. I should have one (for free) by mid-January. CLICK HERE to sign up. **This really works**

(Edited by plong at 3:37 pm on Dec. 1, 2005)

From what I can tell, Apple doesn't offer feature-length movies for iPod, just TV shows and shorts. Seems like a huge market to me. Do you think they're waiting to unveil that later, or are they just too big to be feasible? I would think that if they offer 40 minute TV shows, then 2 hour films are right around the corner.

On a related note, how hard is it to rip movies and upload them onto an iPod?

Full length movies are here now, just not on the iTunes store.
You can rip your own dvds to the ipod right now...
first, rip the dvd like you would if you were going to copy it, then, in the newest Quicktime Pro update, (7.03, $30), there is an export option that is Movie to iPod. ta-da. you can make your own movies in iMovie or whatever and then export it to the iPod. So, the sky's the limit. And it will only advance further, possibly very soon. Spend the extra money on a larger hard drive!

This new iPod is awesome.

Being able to watch TV anywhere will be my downfall. May I never upgrade past my U2 iPod...I may never do any work ever again if I upgrade.

I thought the 30GB would be enough until I read plong's post. I'd probably go with 60GB.

I just found a great link for ripping DVDs.

And here it is.

(Edited by carligula at 5:45 pm on Dec. 1, 2005)

my 20 gig is full and has been full for months. i hate deleteing old stuff to put new things on, so my vote is for 60 gig.

When I bought my MP3 player, I did some research and found that the Creative Zen Touch 20 GB Mp3 player was cheaper than an Apple Ipod 20 GB by about $100. It worked fine for me until it was stolen.

I was researching getting an Ipod but then a few anti-apple friends gave me a huge guilt trip about the virtual monopolization of MP3 players and how many people don't realize that Apple Ipods are not the only brand out there. Apple has done a remarkable job of marketing their product and making the Ipod a household name, like Kleenex or Coca Cola.

I'm wondering if anyone has any other brands or has researched other brands of mp3 players? I know I've heard good reviews of the IRiver Brand, I was happy with Creative... anyone???

Ipods will probably always be in the forefront of this technology and the Ipod really financially saved Apple as a company... But I would also like to not just hop on the band wagon with my next purchase and try to be a consciencious consumer.

(Edited by GrungeSlobTearPants at 11:38 am on Dec. 2, 2005)

I get by with a Rio Cali w/ only 128MB (that's right MEGAbytes) internal and 512MB external. So, you could say I have a 0.75GB. The software is a bit clunky, the buttons are sorta cheap, the screen is small, the headphone connection is sorta loose (but that may due be the replacement headphones that Keith bought me after his cat ate my old ones), and the battery life is only a few hours if I listen to songs from the external card.

I agree that it's a bit ridiculous how ignorant the public is about other MP3 players, but I also have to admit that the design of the iPod (the wheel, slim design, quality screen, etc) is pretty amazing. Seeing that I use mine about an average of an hour a week, I haven't been super-motivated to get on the bandwagon.

With the abilty of video now, however, I'm definitely intrigued...

There are lots of other brands out there, and they do a decent job of advertising. However, Apple's strong point has always been design. It's important with a computer, but it's absolutely critical with a hand-held device like an MP3 player. With the iPod, they really perfected the MP3 player. Its design is so good that they've left the competition in the dust. I'm not an Apple guy, but I have to give them credit for doing an amazing job with the iPod.

TF is old skool. I bought a PJB-100 in 1999. It was the first hard-disk based MP3 player on the market. Mine came with a 4GB disk, but a few years ago I upgraded it to 6GB. It's not as slick or as small as the current generation of MP3 players, but it's a solidly built piece of equipment that's served me well for six years now.

I'm not sure if the chicken or the egg came first, but I'm thinking with apple it's all interconnected. Better Marketing leads to greater profit, greater profit leads to better research and development. IPod and ITunes will probably always be an industry leader in the MP3 world.

Another reason I chose Creative is that the software worked with older Windows based operating systems. I'm too cheap and lazy to upgrade my computer from Windows 98, and I didn't want the hassel of either buying a new computer or backing up all of my info from my hard drives to install windows xp.

If I'm remembering correctly, Apple's software for Ipod isn't compatible with older operating systems.

Yeah, I need a new computer too.

Well there's your problem right there.

My Dell DJ died due to a bad hard drive. I didn't want to blow $300 on another piece of crap so I did a TON of research. I ended up getting the sony HD5, and I absolutely love it! 20 gigs, replacable battery, and 40 hour battery life. According to CNET, it's the best pure mp3player on the market so I got it.

my dell DJ has served me well for over a year now. they also recently released a 30 gig version.

If you have the 1st generation get ready... Those HD's are notorious for going out just over a year into use. The newer ones are suppossed to be better, but I'm done with Dell. I can't understand their customer service and I shouldn't have to call it as much as I did.