I'm intrigued and feeling electronically inadequate... who has one? ... what do you love about it? Why should I get one? C'mon I feel the urge, and need help mentally justifying the little piece of equipment.

maddy,

Our children have iPods, and like them. They say that one of the things they enjoy is that they are in control of how they listen to their music.

After they import the tracks off of their CDs into iTunes (which is the music organizer program on their desktop computer [Wintel or Mac]) they reorganize the tracks any way they want into playlists. For example, they create their own “best of” by artist, genre, or mood. A playlist is like a virtual CD, and can be as long or as short as you wish.

So if you copy 25, 50, or 75 CDs into iTunes you can mix the order of your playlists to your tastes. If your tastes change, you can create new playlists which reflect how you want to listen to your music today.

Once you have prepared the playlists, you copy the playlist from iTunes on your computer to the iPod, and that is how the music is ordered. Of course, you can always jump from track to track within the playlist on the iPod.

Apple maintains a digital music and audiobook store where you can purchase music by the song, but my children don’t use it as you need a credit card.

My son also takes the time to annotate the tracks in iTunes, because that is included in the download from iTunes. There is also a calendar, but the children have never used it.

I don’t know much about the iPod shuffle.

Hope this helps!

I just got an iPOD Shuffle (512MB one) for my birthday. So far I like it. Very simple to use, and most importantly very light. Goes along nicely when I am exersizing (sp?). I also like the idea of no moving parts on it. The only down side I can see is that it appears to be disposable once the battery dies (i.e. once the rechargeable can not hold a charge).

I am not sure how much I like being forced to use the Apple iTUNES software either. I just do not like the interface. I would much prefer a drag and drop from just the Windows explorer. As I do not download music (all my .mp3 files are from my personal CD collection) it would just be easier. Plus I do not like the look and feel of the iTUNES application.

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-Toast-
"It takes a lot of brains to enjoy satire, humor and wit - but none to be offended by them." -- Johnny Hart ("BC", cartoonist, 2000)
"Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog: Nobody really enjoys it and the frog generally dies as a result." -- E. B. White

I haven't played with iPod yet, and am waiting to hear the negatives.

I have had for about 18 months a 128mb mp3 player which loaded straight out

of Windows.

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Calm, quiet, smooth, devastating

i don't know anyhting about them but i had to add this co-inky-dink... i just had a similar thought no more than an hour before you did. we were at a huge local mall, hundreds of stores, the busiest one i saw by far-- busier even than the cafes and restaurants--was the mac store.

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Trees give peace to the souls of men * Nora Waln

The forest would be very quiet if no other birds sang than those who sing the best * Henry van Dyke

some fairly sordid tales, rambles, and anecdotes
Hypothetically Speaking * Something More * Cammy Interrupted * An Experimental Vacation * Masked * so..damn..hot * Thank You * My toy, his idea * no.19 Maple Lane * I Have A Surprise For You * Yesterday * In a Quiet Kitchen * help me decide * untitled prose * more untitled prose

A note of trivia...

A rough version of one of the Lord of the Rings movies was transferred via iPod (a 40 Gig model I believe) from where the broadband conection from New Zealand ended in London to where Peter Jackson was working on the musical score. The studio where he was working didn't have a broadband connection available so they got it as close as possible and downloaded it to the iPod to cover the last few miles.

I want one bad.

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Put me on wheels and I'll turn tricks.

Clever? Nah, I ran out of that years ago. But if you find this, let me know, k?
"The road goes ever on..." ~ Tolkien

In memory of my friend skip...
Go then, there are other worlds than these

That is true Aqua, I just like the idea of not having to plug in another module on top of the IPod. It was a hard decision to choose between the two.

Yeah... it's a definite convenience to not have to carry around a seperate piece for other functions. You'll end up with a backup just for all your mp3 player accessories.

__________________
Put me on wheels and I'll turn tricks.

Clever? Nah, I ran out of that years ago. But if you find this, let me know, k?
"The road goes ever on..." ~ Tolkien

In memory of my friend skip...
Go then, there are other worlds than these

Can either gadget or both download to a Mac?

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The practice of putting women on pedestals began to die out when it was discovered that they could give orders better from there.~ Betty Grable

If I wanted your opinion, I'd remove the duct tape and ask you for it.~ Me
<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>
One man's dream is another man's nightmare~~~~> §¤ Lilith ¤§
~>My Scribbles<~
==>Gone Shopping<== ~Just a Quickie~ *~A Celebration Vacation~* ~Surprises~ Sleeping With the Window Open
What Did You Do Today? Self Defense Class ~Short Sweet Snippets~ § Summer Spin § Story Challenge Submission Pajamas

Not sure on the Zen. The iPod can, although if you want the ability to download to both a PC and a Mac you might be disappointed.

__________________
Put me on wheels and I'll turn tricks.

Clever? Nah, I ran out of that years ago. But if you find this, let me know, k?
"The road goes ever on..." ~ Tolkien

In memory of my friend skip...
Go then, there are other worlds than these

Does the iPod support the USB vib option that one can now get for there phone and personal computer? Humming to the beat in more then one way.