Buying an ipod

jaws2

Hi folks,

Wondering if anyone could give me advice on buying an ipod. Noticed that they’re much cheaper in the US but then of course you can’t ship to Ireland if you buy off the US Apple site. Anyone know of any good US sites where I could buy an ipod and then get it shipped to Ireland. Had a look on eBay but to be honest I don’t really trust a lot of those auction sellers. Or am I better off just spending the extra €70 and buying from the Irish Apple site?

colmranger

I have a good as new one on adverts.ie.

Hardly used and its €99 lower than price on Apple site.

http://www.adverts.ie/showproduct.php?product=22801&cat=50

peveril13

why be a sheep and buy an ipod? there so many better things out there.
cowon I audio for one are just brilliant. best things on the market
any creative is better than ipod.
if U cant think for urself U get an ipod those who can make their own decision buy something good.

SoBe

peveril13 wrote:

why be a sheep and buy an ipod? there so many better things out there.
cowon I audio for one are just brilliant. best things on the market
any creative is better than ipod.
if U cant think for urself U get an ipod those who can make their own decision buy something good.

well if the ipods are so bad why are there so many of them sold?i have one and never had an issue with it.i guess it makes me a sheep hu?

the op asked about buying one here or the states,not what should they should get.

op keep an eye on the apple refurb store,some great deals on there most times.

its like someone on the windows forum asking where to buy vista and all the linux posters coming in and saying blah blah blah.

it seems a common occurance that when someone posts about buying one there are always the replys that x,y or z are better you should buy them.

horses for courses etc.

/rant over

Makaveli

peveril13 wrote:

why be a sheep and buy an ipod? there so many better things out there.
cowon I audio for one are just brilliant. best things on the market
any creative is better than ipod.
if U cant think for urself U get an ipod those who can make their own decision buy something good.

So ironically you are trying to tell the op what to do. Wouldn't that still make him a sheep if he followed that advice blindly? It's an iPod thread not a what mp3 player thread.

jaws2

Cheers for the advice people. I’m not actually buying it for myself, it’s for the missus. If I was buying an MP3 player myself I wouldn’t get an ipod because as peveril said I think there are better products out there but the missus has her heart set on an ipod so what am I to do.

Don’t think she’d need an 80GB colmranger, I’ll probably just go with the 30GB.

art

Keep an eye on pixmania.com. It's not especially cheap there at the moment but I've twice discovered them selling iPods at around 50 euros less than the normal price: just for a real short time. A friend got a real bargain on a nano that way.

PS: Not sure why some people feel the need to post the kind of nonsense we got from peveril13 above (eg ...any creative is better...). A fear of being considered more cool than nerd or something? Will never understand why someone would avoid a good product just because of the label name.

dulpit

art wrote:

Will never understand why someone would avoid a good product just because of the label name.

You see the cool thing if you're technologically minded is to avoid the big companies, because they're ****e... Don't buy an iPod, they're crap. Don't use Windows, it's rubbish.. etc. I keep on hearing this from loads of "experts" but to be honest the reasons they give don't mean a thing for regualr Joe Bloggs who just wants an mp3 player to listen to music...


Edit: This was my 300th post. Pretty sure that my 200th was here too... Weird...

Creamy Goodness

people who spout out "ohh x is crap or y is rubbish" are good.

maybe the person doesn't know that's there's any choice, they are just trying to inform people of choice but often go overboard.

sozbox

dulpit wrote:

You see the cool thing if you're technologically minded is to avoid the big companies, because they're ****e... Don't buy an iPod, they're crap. Don't use Windows, it's rubbish.. etc. I keep on hearing this from loads of "experts" but to be honest the reasons they give don't mean a thing for regualr Joe Bloggs who just wants an mp3 player to listen to music...


Edit: This was my 300th post. Pretty sure that my 200th was here too... Weird...

I love when people do this.
They bash iPods while at the same time bashing Windows and recommending Mac OS X, both made by Apple. They base their opinions on marketshare numbers not realising the dominance of Windows came about in a completely different manner to that of the iPod.

I own a Mac and an iPod but both were chosen not on the opinions of fan boys but because I thought they best suited my needs in each case.

Makaveli

dulpit wrote:

You see the cool thing if you're technologically minded is to avoid the big companies, because they're ****e... Don't buy an iPod, they're crap. Don't use Windows, it's rubbish.. etc. I keep on hearing this from loads of "experts" but to be honest the reasons they give don't mean a thing for regualr Joe Bloggs who just wants an mp3 player to listen to music...

It's not the "cool thing" to avoid big companies, it's doing a bit of research and asking around to find what suits you best. Most people will blindly pick an iPod not even realising there are alternatives.

People say the iPod is crap, from my experience with them they are. I haven't tried a Nano or any of the current generation but from what I have used the battery life is awful, their life expectancy is far too short and they rely on iTunes unless you go digging for an alternative. Not only that they restrict what you can do, you can't take music back off the iPod without hassle. The iPod's best feature is it's UI but for me that's not enough to justify buying one.

There are better mp3 players on the market.

Jason1984 wrote:

I love when people do this.
They bash iPods while at the same time bashing Windows and recommending Mac OS X, both made by Apple. They base their opinions on marketshare numbers not realising the dominance of Windows came about in a completely different manner to that of the iPod.

People don't just criticise iPods because Apple make them. People don't just criticise Windows because Microsoft makes it. I've also rarely seen OS X recommended as an alternative to Windows. How do you know they base their opinion on marketshare?

art

Makaveli wrote:

It's not the "cool thing" to avoid big companies, it's doing a bit of research and asking around to find what suits you best. Most people will blindly pick an iPod not even realising there are alternatives.

People say the iPod is crap, from my experience with them they are. I haven't tried a Nano or any of the current generation but from what I have used the battery life is awful, their life expectancy is far too short and they rely on iTunes unless you go digging for an alternative. ...
There are better mp3 players on the market.

See? You are an example. It's ridiculous what you are saying but typical of comments on iPods that doesn't seem to be made on any other product: You've no experience of the iPods that are on the current market yet you continue on regardless to claim that there are better ones on the market currently ..? How would you know?

Would you do this with anything else? Tell people not to buy Microsoft Vista because the last version of Windows you used didn't have features that the current Apple Operating System has? Would that be a good piece of advice?

The current iPods have excellent battery life by the way, better than many of the competitor products.

sam34

hi, heading to the states soon. if i buy an ipod there will it work over here?

darrenw5094

Work surely......i am just back from the States and you can buy Ipods from a vending machine.....yes, that is a vending machine.......in the Airport for $250. That's about €185 or so....

The new Microsoft Zune Mp3 player is out over there.....same effort and price, but the colour screen is twice as big as the iPods screen.

sam34

thanks for that darren

Makaveli

art wrote:

See? You are an example. It's ridiculous what you are saying but typical of comments on iPods that doesn't seem to be made on any other product: You've no experience of the iPods that are on the current market yet you continue on regardless to claim that there are better ones on the market currently ..? How would you know?

Did it ever occur to you that prior experience with a product counts for a lot? Would I buy something knowing that the product in the past has been flawed and just not value for money? No. So would I recommend a product that I know in the past has not been up to par? No. Would I recommend a product that is currently on the market that I know works well, has no glaring bugs or faults and can do everything the alternatives can do? Why, that would be a yes.

I may not know what the current iPods are like first hand, but I know what most of the competeing DAPs on the market are like. From that I think my opinion is just as informed.

art wrote:

Would you do this with anything else? Tell people not to buy Microsoft Vista because the last version of Windows you used didn't have features that the current Apple Operating System has? Would that be a good piece of advice?

I'd tell people not to use Vista just yet because it lacks support for most of the stuff XP has and at this point in time it's probably not worth a switch. I'd never recommend OS X because I've never used it and never intend to use it.

art wrote:

The current iPods have excellent battery life by the way, better than many of the competitor products.

That may be so, they're still overpriced imo, rely on iTunes and are too restrictive when it comes to getting your music off. Oh hey, look at that. They were the reasons I gave for not liking the older generations, they're still relevant to this gen. Wow, guess my other post can still be brushed off without it holding any weight.

philologos

I bought a brand new apple ipod 80GB for 250 off ebay, and it was sealed and everything. 409 in HMV in town, well worth the risk.
and for those with issues with ITunes you can use songbird with windows, or as I use amarok with Linux. I've never installed ITunes on any of my computers.

art

Makaveli, you obviously are just another "anything but iPods" type, I don't understand your motivation but, in the end, it doesn't really matter I suppose. I do think it is unfair to have people with no experience of iPods come on here and read some of your very misleading comments for fear that they might actually think you are trying to be helpful and not just deceptive. But then again if they do pick up an iPod, the build quality, small form factor, ease of navigation, ease of use, simple synchronisation and excellent battery life will probably speak for themselves.

Or they might pick up one of the excellent Samsung players out there at the moment, for example - to be honest, I'm not an iPod evangelist, I just hate seeing people on forums state misleading information as though it were fact.

Makaveli

I do have experience with iPods. I am not anything but iPods, if they ever release one that ticks all the boxes of what I want from a DAP then I'll consider one until then I wont.

There is nothing misleading in my posts. I have qualified everything I said. You are just another "Apple fanboy" whether you want to try and hide that with your last paragraph or not. There is nothing unhelpful at all in my posts nor am I being deceptve.

You on the other hand have done nothing but bemoan anyone that has a bad thing to say about iPods. Jesus, they couldn't possibly have a valid reason for disliking them.

Myksyk

just bought 2 80 gig ipods in the US ... €270 compared to €399 here. Well pleased!

art

Makaveli wrote:

I do have experience with iPods. I am not anything but iPods, if they ever release one that ticks all the boxes of what I want from a DAP then I'll consider one until then I wont.

There is nothing misleading in my posts. I have qualified everything I said. You are just another "Apple fanboy" whether you want to try and hide that with your last paragraph or not. There is nothing unhelpful at all in my posts nor am I being deceptve.

You on the other hand have done nothing but bemoan anyone that has a bad thing to say about iPods. Jesus, they couldn't possibly have a valid reason for disliking them.

You have, by your own admission, no knowledge of the iPods that are currently on the market yet you feel emboldened to tell people they are not as good as other items on the market - that is misleading people. In fact, you went right out and called them "crap", which is ridiculous, they are far from crap, they may not be to everyone's taste but they are not "crap". This is what annoys me - I don't have to be an iPod evangelist, or "fanboy" as you claim, to see someone misleading people and get annoyed about it. You've said "battery life is awful" - it isn't. It's one of the best available in fact. You've said using iTunes is restrictive... how? Most players use bundled software exclusively and those that don't usually cannot handle DRM. In fact, use of iTunes for the most part is a benefit, especially if you have more than one iPod. And so on.

iPods are very very good digital music players - as most all independent reviewers agree. They may not be much on the video front, and they may be too ubiquitous for some people's taste, but to call them "crap" is boorish at best.

BostonB

Theres no perfect MP3 player, here's always a compromise somewhere and are good and bad features of all MP3 players. Not everyone wants or needs every feature.

The newer models are generally (bit not always) improved over previous versions. So you shouldn't assume they are the same as earlier versions. Proprietary software (like iTunes) has advantages and disadvantages.

The OP has said why it has to be an iPod, there no need to continue with debate about the alternatives IMO.

fbradyirl

Getting back to the original point of this post...

Jaws you can buy discounted iPods (& Macs etc) from here. Keep an eye out for new items added every wednesday. These are under full warranty, in box etc...

http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObjects/irlstore.woa/wo/StoreReentry.wo?family=Certified

I've also bought 2 iPods (under warranty in box) as presents from here:

http://myworld.ebay.ie/lightning

mawk

if your up for the hassle you could buy one cheap off craigslist (www.craigslist.com) kinda lile adverts on a bigger scale. anyways I did that when i was there, got it $100! but the battery was a little shagged so i brought it into an apple store and paid the 60 bucks for a battery replacement which means they take a brand new one out of its box and hand it to you..

so i got a brand new 30gig iPod for 160 dollars. 125euro ish.

bit of hassle but waay cheaper.

BUT!!

it did last all off a week and a half before the hdd failed and had to be replaced, this time for free. then the 2nd replacement died soon after. after the 4th ipod died unexpectedly i got sick of them and now have a shiny white paper weight.

and having owned ipods, pqi's, rio's, creatives, and even the tank-commodore... I would heartily not reccomend the ipod. i say buy some **** cheap 2gig flash player in argos or somewhere. cheap, reliable and mass storag-able. also noone will mug you for it.

(i think my 64meg alba one was my favourite.. odd no?)

Makaveli

art wrote:

You have, by your own admission, no knowledge of the iPods that are currently on the market yet you feel emboldened to tell people they are not as good as other items on the market - that is misleading people. In fact, you went right out and called them "crap", which is ridiculous, they are far from crap, they may not be to everyone's taste but they are not "crap". This is what annoys me - I don't have to be an iPod evangelist, or "fanboy" as you claim, to see someone misleading people and get annoyed about it. You've said "battery life is awful" - it isn't. It's one of the best available in fact. You've said using iTunes is restrictive... how? Most players use bundled software exclusively and those that don't usually cannot handle DRM. In fact, use of iTunes for the most part is a benefit, especially if you have more than one iPod. And so on.

iPods are very very good digital music players - as most all independent reviewers agree. They may not be much on the video front, and they may be too ubiquitous for some people's taste, but to call them "crap" is boorish at best.

I called the iPods I had used crap. If you actually read the post I never said the current gen are crap. If you actually read the other posts my main problems with the iPod still hold true. Every single point you make is based against something I never said. I never criticised the current gen, I spoke about previous experience. You can't seem to realise that though. I say there are better players on the market because they are not affected by the shortcomings I see the iPod has. Granted that's down to preference but it's not misleading.

How is iTunes restrictive? Does it let you take the music back off the iPod? If you synch with an iTunes library that isn't the same as on the iPod you lose the music from the player that's not on iTunes. Do any other players on the market do that?

BostonB

Makaveli wrote:

...How is iTunes restrictive? Does it let you take the music back off the iPod? If you synch with an iTunes library that isn't the same as on the iPod you lose the music from the player that's not on iTunes. Do any other players on the market do that?

AFAIK if you turn off sync and manually put your tracks on the iPod it doesn't delete music on that's only on the player. In the iTunes/iPod synergy the music should have come from a PC to the iPod so there should be no need to copy music back to the PC unless you are using not as intended. If that's what you want to do, you can get software to do that. If you want to move tracks between computers you can use it disk mode like a HD. iTunes or an iPod doesn't record either for a line in etc. But that not its intended use either.

Players with strong DRM generally have similar limitations no?

sozbox

If your computer HD died and the only backup of your music was your iPod then it would be painful if you couldn't copy songs back to your computer.
There are plenty of little apps out there to do this though, I use iPod Rip.

BostonB

Bit silly not to backup your PC. That's not iTunes fault.

art

Makaveli wrote:

I called the iPods I had used crap. If you actually read the post I never said the current gen are crap. If you actually read the other posts my main problems with the iPod still hold true. Every single point you make is based against something I never said. I never criticised the current gen, I spoke about previous experience. You can't seem to realise that though. I say there are better players on the market because they are not affected by the shortcomings I see the iPod has. Granted that's down to preference but it's not misleading.

And ... if you read my own posts ... I never accused you of saying current iPods are crap... in fact, the whole point of my posts was based on the fact that, by your own admission you know nothing of the current iPods. Or, likely, iTunes for that matter, which whilst still a DRM based piece of software has introduced more flexibility recently in how it handles purchased songs and song transfers.

Anyhow, that's a separate issue to iPods themselves which can be used, as mentioned before in disk mode or with alternative software anyway. But to try highlight my issues with your take on the iPods themselves, take this quote:

Makaveli wrote:

the battery life is awful,"

And this later quote...

Makaveli wrote:

"my main problems with the iPod still hold true"

Even though I mentioned before that

art wrote:

"The current iPods have excellent battery life"

that issues you raised concerning old iPods do not necessarily still hold true.

You can't seriously compare the old iPods you've experience with against other players that are new and say that the new players are better - of course they are. As are the new iPods better than the old ones. Your position is just silly to be honest and does sound like someone trying to force an anti-iPod argument out of nothing.

torrid

Does anyone else have details of ebay sellers they bought an ipod from that they found to be reliable? The one listed a few post back does not currently have anything for sale.

fbradyirl

torrid wrote:

Does anyone else have details of ebay sellers they bought an ipod from that they found to be reliable? The one listed a few post back does not currently have anything for sale.

Sorry the store URL has changed since I used it.

http://stores.ebay.com/Lightningstore

I bought 2 iPods from here and both unopened.

torrid

Thanks for that fbradyirl - buying from here would result in a well worthwhile saving.

spj

fbradyirl wrote:

Sorry the store URL has changed since I used it.

http://stores.ebay.com/Lightningstore

I bought 2 iPods from here and both unopened.

Am I right in saying that this seller ships from the US? If so, did you run into any customs and/or import duty problems?

Macspower

Art there is no need to be so agressive in your defence of i-pods...... As a like for like comparison I spent this evening in the company of a 5th gen i-pod video model. I swapped my Zen Vision for it for 3 hours and had a real good listen through my own headphones.

Opinions.... battery life didn't seem to be a problem....well not expected to be in 3 hours anyway.

Easy of use was ok. I got the hang of it and was easy enough to navigate menus etc...

It is slimmer than my ZEN.

2 big let downs for me.... one was the pic quality.... noticably faded by comparison with the Zen.

Initally the sound quality seemed to be pretty good but when put under pressure the bass was becoming boomy and the highs sharp and penetrating but in fairness to it this was a higher levels than I like to listen to anyway.... At normal levels everything seemed fine......that was until I got my own one back and noticed the immediate difference in sound quality... there was no comparison....

My friend an i-pod nut on about his 5th version gave it to me to convince me that it was the best ever.......now he wants to swap with me ....lol some chance......

to the original poster... my wife also has an i-pod.... she wanted nothing else and wouldn't accept a "copy" I refused to buy it for her and she went and got it herself.... she loves it and thinks it great and it does everything she wants it to do...

I think whats being said here is to consider the alternatives.... but if you go with an i-pod even with it's shortcomings without hearing an alternative she'll probably be quite happy with it......

Mac

Macspower

rabbitinlights

http://www.onedaymobile.ie/

They normally have great prices for Ipods.

S.

fbradyirl

spj wrote:

Am I right in saying that this seller ships from the US? If so, did you run into any customs and/or import duty problems?

I had no problems with customs (about 1 year ago) when I got mine. That store posts via Fedex also ask him to mark the box as a gift.

Blaster99

Unless she needs the 30GB, I would get her a Nano. It's an amazing piece of kit. It's so light you can barely feel it and 8GB isn't bad. My wife had a Creative brick and I decided to put her out of that misery and got her a Nano instead. I haven't seen the Creative since.

SoBe

fbradyirl wrote:

I had no problems with customs (about 1 year ago) when I got mine. That store posts via Fedex also ask him to mark the box as a gift.

marking it as a gift will make no difference.trust me i get a lot of stuff sent from the states and some get through some dont.i have paid vat duty etc on stuff marked as a gift many times.

you could be lucky you could be unlucky

BostonB

Blaster99 wrote:

Unless she needs the 30GB, I would get her a Nano. It's an amazing piece of kit. It's so light you can barely feel it and 8GB isn't bad. My wife had a Creative brick and I decided to put her out of that misery and got her a Nano instead. I haven't seen the Creative since.

Needs a decent case though which bulks it up.