Apple iPod

I'm looking at the 20GB Apple iPod for my grandson. Since he is only
11, I'm a little concerned that the HDD may not stand up to the
treatment that a flash memory model would. Apart from capacity, what
are the advantages of a HDD, and how reliable are they?

 

Why not buy either a X Drive Pro or Cinema Disk?

Does same things as Ipod, and more....around half the price or even
less....just doesn't look as "cute" as Ipod.

Check out www.powerinnumbers.com.au

They sell both.

 

So long as he doesn't drop it/throw it, it should be right. I'd
recommend you get him a better case than the standard ipod case. I
bought a Marware SportSuit for my Ipod. It's lined with rubber on the
outside.

You should be more worried about him taking it to school and having it
stolen. A Discman that plays MP3's would be far cheaper and would cause
less walletache if it was stolen or broken.

 

Firstly ipod are big & bulky and heavy too. Also, cost of replacement
battery is @ least a hundred bucks and Apple are being sued for
telling/lying 2 customer that the battry last longer than 12 months when on
average is less than 9months.

Since its for a 11 yrs kid, get him a 64 - 128Mb USB flash/MP3 player such
as Targa MP3 player TMU-401, ie because unlike some brand name Mp3 player,
Targa player can read & played already created/converted mp3 song while some
required u 2 use their conversion software else it will not work.

Cheers

PS: Still going strong despite droped on concrete floor a few time and it
use 1 x AAA battery.

 

Thanks for the reply, but my grandson is into music big time (he is a
member of the Boys Choir of Vienna Woods in Austria) and I wanted to
send him something that would be reliable and readily
repaired/serviced in Europe if necessary. He already has a "Future
Media" 384MB MP3 player, but it does not have the options of an iPod.
The battery cost is significant, but doesn't pahse me if the iPod is
as good as some people seem to think. But my main question has not
really been answered. How robust is the hard disk drive?

 

I also love my music, and have had an iPod for about 18 months now.

Up until about 6 months ago I would format and change the songs once or
twice a week, now I will read/write to it maybe once a month. I have had no
dilemmas thus far, and I would have put it under a fairly decent workload.

I use it in conjunction with the FM radio tuner in my personal car and at
work. I use and charge it almost every day and still get about 7 hours out
of the battery after 18 months with the FM transmitter attached. Not too
bad. You can buy car chargers and external battery holders if needed.

Personally, I dislike the layout of controls. It can make it very difficult
to select songs... defiantly very 'Mac'. But to answer your question, I
believe the disk drives are indeed robust.

Jabba

 

....snip...

Many thanks. That's pretty much what I was hoping to hear.

 

Hi Richard,

The hard drives are the type used in laptops, so they are designed with the
portable environment in mind. However no hard drive will stand up to the
abuse of someone who constantly drops the unit and treats it with
disrespect.

If he is mature enough to look after something I would consider a delicate
device he should have no problems although I would take one of the other
posters advice and get a more forgiving carry case than the Ipod standard.

Mike