Help, technology challenged

[Mike Daleo]

I am looking at ipods and those type of gadgets for mt traveling. Buck had a Nano that he brought to Florida and he had a hold em game loaded on it along with his music.

What is different about this from the ipods?-

http://www.officedepot.com/a/p...ideo/

[Fish-N-Fool]

IMO most mp3 players have similar features...the biggest difference is what service you have to use to download music/videos or by what type of connection to your computer is required (firewire, USB) etc. My advice is to check out what online services may be required for a given mp3 player and make your decision from there

[Mike Daleo]

Thanks Greg, I guess Itunes would be reaerved for apple customers only? That would make sense.

[Fish-N-Fool]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mikedaleo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Thanks Greg, I guess Itunes would be reaerved for apple customers only? That would make sense.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I believe that is the case....and the last I read, songs were .99 cents each from iTunes....other services, like Rhapsody have a monthly subscription service that is pretty much unlimited number of songs for @ $14.00 per month.

[BeeNix]

And mp3Rocket is $19.99 once, unlimited downloads (tunes, vids, movies, etc.) with 12 million songs in their library Very user friendly site

[Mike Daleo]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by KyLegndHamr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">And mp3Rocket is $19.99 once, unlimited downloads (tunes, vids, movies, etc.) with 12 million songs in their library Very user friendly site
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Wow, really? That would encourage me to save a little money on the mp3 player itself. There is no way I would ever be able to fill 4 GB anyway. Now I wonder if this thing will play a poker game or anything like that?

[Joe Skeeter]

My daughter gets alot of music off of "Limewire" for free.

[JJohnSind]

Just get an iPhone and call it good! You can even get on the internet and post on this forum more often or keep up with email in real time.

I rarely buy itunes music or use any other service (I'd rather buy the full CD's and rip them into mp3's). The others like Yahoo Music and probably Rhapsody will not work with any ipod (I really liked using Yahoo Music with a Zen Micro, but, in the end, I liked the Apple products better and had to scap using Yahoo). Limewire has issues, I'd refrain from using that. Don't forget, you can convert any of your music from CD's to mp3's for free.

If not the iPhone, I'd consider the iPod touch. It can go on the internet too but only through a WiFi hotspot. The iPhone uses either a WiFi connnection or the cell connection. Both have great video. Did I say it was a phone too?

If your curious to see ALL that it can do, go to Apple's website and watch the demo videos. You will want that phone! Takes care of your iPod needs too.

[countryboyky]

Limewire works with ipod. Both my kids dl all their music for free and then put it on the ipod. They got the ipod gift cards with their ipods and once that was done, they have never used anything but limewire the free version and gotten all the music they could ever want

[JJohnSind]

The issues I was refering to with Limewire is that it was illegal to download content you don't have rights to, I think that site is constantly in battles with placed trying to shut it down. The site is also known for harboring lots of viruses. I noticed that a lot of computer tech people alwyas asks if you have Limewire installed before they start troubleshooting.

I don't know if all this is just rumors, but I just choose to stay away.

[Sticks11]

I've had a couple of MP3 players in the past and now I have an IPOD Nano just a 2G but that is all I need. Basically use mine to work out with. But the IPOD blows the others out of the water I believe. Downloads, shit just working the thing. The touch pad on the front is super easy to control and search for songs and such. Some of the others I've had just didn't stack up and seemed to not be as user friendly. Those were cheaper units I got to try and save $40 bucks or so. I would spend a little more and get an IPOD. There is a reason their so popular.

[BradJFD]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Sticks11 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I've had a couple of MP3 players in the past and now I have an IPOD Nano just a 2G but that is all I need. Basically use mine to work out with. But the IPOD blows the others out of the water I believe. Downloads, shit just working the thing. The touch pad on the front is super easy to control and search for songs and such. Some of the others I've had just didn't stack up and seemed to not be as user friendly. Those were cheaper units I got to try and save $40 bucks or so. I would spend a little more and get an IPOD. There is a reason their so popular. </TD></TR></TABLE>

what he said I fish with mine ask Fraley and it is super easy to use

[Passion 4 Bassin]

Mike, why not watch movies while your flying? Here is a review on an 80 Gig Ipod that you can watch movies on. I have a friend who has one of these for him and one for his wife and they love them!

This site is a great site to find reviews etc., on all electronic devices.

http://reviews.cnet.com/mp3-pl....html

As far as getting an iphone for this purpose unless you just want an iphone (and I don't know anyone who has one that is in love with it although I am certain some people are, I just don't know any) there are several phones that you can download tunes on and almost all of them would be way less $ than the iphone and probably a much better phone, although the iphone is very cool in lots of other ways.

[JJohnSind]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Passion 4 Bassin &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
As far as getting an iphone for this purpose unless you just want an iphone (and I don't know anyone who has one that is in love with it although I am certain some people are, I just don't know any) there are several phones that you can download tunes on and almost all of them would be way less $ than the iphone and probably a much better phone, although the iphone is very cool in lots of other ways. </TD></TR></TABLE>

There are people that have these that DON"T like them? That surprises me, I think this might be the funnest, most practical gadget I have ever bought and I have never looked back on the price. If I were travelling, I would ABSOLUTELY want to have one.

I can watch movies, TV shows, YouTube videos, music videos, pictures. It has capabilities to download directly from iTunes so you don't have to hook it up to a computer; there are also lots of TV shows that can be downloaded from iTunes for free. Listen to music, follow stock quotes, check weather, find a restaurant when out of town and instantly get directions on a map as well as have access to any websites or phone numbers; just touching the displayed website or phone number takes you there by bringing up the website or dialing the number. If I'm lost, the iPhone can show you on a map where you are like GPS, only using cell phone tower triangulation to pinpoint where you are (ingeniuos!). It can creat a map to show you how to get to something you just looked up. Need to buy something while out of town? Search on its mapping icon and it will put up all your options on the map, how to get there, call there, or go to its website.

It syncs with Outlook or has its own calendar feature, pushes email real time so you get your Yahoo, AOL, MSN or Gmail type email instantly. I never use camera phones but the one time I did, it produced an impressive 4 X 6 print that captured a nice bass that a friend's 5 year old caught while with me. Read emailed Word docs, pdf files, or EXCEL files (can't edit them though). Editing could come in the future as this phone is also updateable through iTunes., reducing the chances of obsolecence.

Visual voicemail so you can see your list of voicemails then point and listen directly to any one you want without going through the entire list. Very easy and intuitive text messaging (I still can't do this realistically on my other phones though I know teenagers are good at it). Conference call up to 5 people, very intuitively. Browse the internet in full web sceen shots than can be resized with a pinch of your fingers. Log on to BBC and shoot the shit. Customize your home screen (iPhone's home screen to have icons that represent direct links to your favorite webpages and webapps). Yes it has your typical calculator (much easier to use than any cell phone I previously owned), clock and notepad; also bluetooth capable. Uses high speed Wifi where available, cell connection when not so you always have internet.

Believe it or not, it has the battery power to do all this pretty much all day (internet browsing is the battery hog, but you can literally gets hours and hours - try that with a laptop). Oh, did I mention it was a phone too?

I know, I know, I'm a sucker for gadgets; but this really has been a helpful tool for me too. I know there are cell phones that can do a lot of the above things, but none can do it as intuitively as the iPhone. I was up and running, capable of doing everything above within minutes without ever reading a manual. I still haven't been able to successfully send an email on any of my other phones or browse the internet (free of course). If you can get over the price (and its a lot more economical now than it was when I got mine), the monthly fees are not that much different than regular cell service (I believe same monthly cost plus $20 a month for unlimted internet access).

The iPod Touch does most of the above without the cell phone or camera phone - my recommendation, if you don't want to switch to AT&T (the only drawback in my eyes, but AT&T hasn't been that bad this time around for me).

[Mike Daleo]

I guess I hesitate to spend alot of money because our ompany is buying the Regional Managers i-phones sometime this year. I just don't know when. I have played around with my boss's i-phone and I love some of the features. The camera is no crapper, the email function and features are awesome. I like the way you can access files quickly. I am afraid it will be hard to learn how to use though

[JJohnSind]

I'd wait, it'll be worth it.

[JJohnSind]

Off topic, but Passion 4 Bassin, could you hop on over to the Ranger board and share your professional insight on loghome's topic on boat insurance? Thanks.

[Passion 4 Bassin]

Ok John, prove to me that you don't own stock in Apple/iphones! I have never used one but have examined them rather closely and they do some really cool stuff! I love the UI and it is just very cool. However, I do know several people that have them and they HATE the phone. One of these people is VP of a technology company and a former Microsoft code writer and project manager whose opinion I really respect. Again, I am talking about the phone portion of the iphone not the other cool stuff, although my friend likes Window Mobile much better than whatever the iphone has. I currently use Windows Mobile 6.0 on my phone and I still like Palm OS better but you are very limited as to what you can buy that has it.

I have owned a BUNCH of Treo's and the phones on those were horrible. I now have a Samsung I760 and I would rate it a very good phone and the rest of the package is excellent. My email works flawlessly, I wirelessly update my Outlook, the camera does a good job either in video or camera mode and you can watch movies, TV, listen to tunes etc. on it as well as surf the internet.

However, if Verizon had one and I was satisfied that the phone was good enough I would have one cause I am a gadget guy as well!

[JJohnSind]

I wish I had Apple stock - it did very well last year! I was never an Apple fan until using the iPhone (I have had a couple of iPods but those didn't make an impression on me). I like the Apple interface so much that I am considering going Mac for my next laptop, and I have been a PC user for 20years!

The smartphone (w/Windows Mobil) was actually what I was planning on getting when the iPhone came out. I hated AT&T service when I had that years ago so it was a hard decision to drop Verizon. I got sucked in to the mutimedia video capabilities.

The one thing smartphones can do that the iPhone can't is edit Word and Excel files. The thing that the iPhone does better is in the multimedia. I've been enjoying the mutimedia aspect so I'm one of the ones that have been happy.

I think your friends may be right, as a phone probably not the best in sound volume and reception (the volume restriction may be purposeful as Apple achieved incredible battery life for a cell phone). But it has so far worked for me everywhere that my other phones have before (I just notice slightly less reception bars than before, but not enough to affect service). AT&T service has been good for me so far.

I'm sure there'll be lots of copies coming out soon.

[Passion 4 Bassin]

John it sounds like you have a good one! I think my friends is one of the first ones and I believe they have added some enhancements, extra memory etc., so maybe the phone is ok now. I do love the way they look!!