Need Help, Education & Advice

[MikeBjerum]

I'm am so out of touch that out kids try to deny my existence.  I am so out of touch with modern electronics my boss is ready to slap me upside the head with the blackberry he got us all for work and I can answer and call out with, but that's about it ...

With a few long trips coming up I'm thinking of changing my style of enjoying my own voice in my empty head and getting an mp3 player so I can listen to pod casts on the road.  However, I know nothing about them, and after our experience last fall of buying our first tv in nearly 30 years I do not want to ask one more pimply faced kindergartner for advice on electronics.

HELP!!!

Of course I'm asking this just before I leave for a busy weekend, so a lot of stuff may not get read until late Sunday night.

[Pathfinder]

I'm am so out of touch that out kids try to deny my existence.  I am so out of touch with modern electronics my boss is ready to slap me upside the head with the blackberry he got us all for work and I can answer and call out with, but that's about it ...

With a few long trips coming up I'm thinking of changing my style of enjoying my own voice in my empty head and getting an mp3 player so I can listen to pod casts on the road.  However, I know nothing about them, and after our experience last fall of buying our first tv in nearly 30 years I do not want to ask one more pimply faced kindergartner for advice on electronics.

HELP!!!

Of course I'm asking this just before I leave for a busy weekend, so a lot of stuff may not get read until late Sunday night.

iPod.

I've had one for a few years, and it goes everywhere with me. I got the original 60G video one, and I have yet to fill it even half way - including videos and almost 800 podcasts, plus a few thousand songs.

And it doubles as a disk drive if you want it too.

Get a pimply faced 8th grader (kindergartners don't have pimples) to explain that last comment to you . . .   

[philw]

YAY  something I know a lot about


I would have to say iPod


especially  iPod Touch as you can also load video,   get some very cool extra add on's apps  via the App Store

if you want to go all out get the iPhone    ( wait though   new model being  might be announced soon  


the interface is very simple to use
my self I have the iPhone 3G  and find it soo easy to use,


if it is just for Podcasts,  and Music,  then look at the iPod Nano,   as it has a screen to work out what you are listing too and will do exactly what you want.

[Timothy]

I'm no help Mike.....I'm sitting here looking at a calculator that I've had since 1985!  Don't get me wrong, I could figure it out but, I don't want too!      Somewhere I still have a slide rule as well!

[Hazcat]

Don't ask me.  I had a 'wing' that would do anything, music, vids, voice recognition, internet, etc.   I gave it to my Son and got a simple flip phone!

The only thing I can say about ipod I learned from my son.  He doesn't like them because it limits the type of music files you can download and play.

[Sponsor]

[JSC3ATLCSO]

YAY  something I know a lot about


I would have to say iPod


especially  iPod Touch as you can also load video,   get some very cool extra add on's apps  via the App Store

if you want to go all out get the iPhone    ( wait though   new model being  might be announced soon  


the interface is very simple to use
my self I have the iPhone 3G  and find it soo easy to use,


if it is just for Podcasts,  and Music,  then look at the iPod Nano,   as it has a screen to work out what you are listing too and will do exactly what you want.

Well Phil is the def EXPERT in this area.. Speaking from a point of view that is familiar to the Non-tech.. Not I, I might add.. I would probably go with something a little less overwhelming than a iTouch or iPhone since you already have a Blackberry.  

I personally have the 32g iTouch and I love it but I'm a bit of a TechGeek.  I had a SanDisk Sansa View as my first high end MP3 player and it was alright but when the touches came out I upgraded to Apple and won't look back.  The apple products are so much more stable than anything else that I have found but then again.  I have limited experience with the Microsoft Zune and some of the other mp3 players out there.

So IMO I would look at a iPod Classic as so called reasons being they are simple to use plays music and after some experience will do video.  (Not as nice as the iTouch but it is SIMPLE TO USE)  After you get use to the Classic later on down the road maybe a Touch or Phone.

If you need any Blackberry tips I have one of those as well too.. Mine is the Nextel Version (as soon as Sprint/Nextel has an iPhone I will have one of those)

GOOD LUCK and Stay Simple

[JSC3ATLCSO]

Don't ask me.  I had a 'wing' that would do anything, music, vids, voice recognition, internet, etc.   I gave it to my Son and got a simple flip phone!

The only thing I can say about ipod I learned from my son.  He doesn't like them because it limits the type of music files you can download and play.

HAZ is right on the files.. Most of the time iTunes will convert the music for you to AAC format.  I don't have much of a problem with music though.  All of mine is boughten either by me or I have the CD in hand and rip it to the computer.  So normally not a problem. (Problems are with the "Pirated" music. Since I had a Fire Department computer stayed away from that) 

As for listening to Pod casts though.  Apple is the way to go since they have the corner on i"Pod"casts.  My parents have a Sansa View and dad is always calling me and asking me questions on how to get the NPR "Car Talk" Podcast into WMA

[philw]

The only thing I can say about ipod I learned from my son.  He doesn't like them because it limits the type of music files you can download and play.

not any more

firstly    if bringing in files ( this has always been the case)  you can change the settings for importing from the default setting AAC  to MP3 or lossless

yes they don't take WMA  files  however they are easy to convert  and on winblows iTunes it can convert them for you.


now with the itunes store they have changed it  with new deals done with record companies

all the music on  iTunes  are all free of burn limits and digital rights management (DRM). So the music you buy will play on iPod, Apple TV, all Mac and Windows computers, and many other digital music players. 

[long762range]

I don't buy Apple products.  I use an MP3.  Down load my favorite CDs to my  computer then from the computer to the MP3 player.  I don't have to screw with Itune.  Don't have to pay again for what I already own.  If I like a musician I buy his CD.  Rotate the list whenever I get tired of what is there.  My little MP3 holds dozens of albums and I do not have to deal with the money grubbing jackasses at Apple.

[JSC3ATLCSO]

I don't buy Apple products.  I use an MP3.  Down load my favorite CDs to my  computer then from the computer to the MP3 player.  I don't have to screw with Itune.  Don't have to pay again for what I already own.  If I like a musician I buy his CD.  Rotate the list whenever I get tired of what is there.  My little MP3 holds dozens of albums and I do not have to deal with the money grubbing jackasses at Apple.

I use windows and iTunes.. You can still buy the cd from the store and bring it into iTunes.. I just found that with my sansa and I had a rio mp3 player that it would double the music all of the time during the sync.  I fought it figured it out and it kept reverting back to the old settings.  You don't have to buy the music from iTunes but I mostly buy from itunes now just cause of the convience of it.  You can burn still burn a cd from itunes with the purchased music.