iPod nano vs. classic

[brewer12345]

My 3 YO ipod died recently. I am not impressed with the longevity of Apple's products, but I like having one enough to pony up again. Is the Ipod Nano worth looking at, or should I just buy the base Ipod Classic? Not sure if the flash memory the nano uses is good or bad.

 

[saluki9]

It depends on how much music you need to keep on you. If it isn't 80 gigs worth, then go for the Nano.

I've never liked the idea of walking around with a spinning drive no matter how well they insulate it. In addition, the HD kills the battery life. Go for the nano.

 

[pksublime]

the flash they are using is quality stuff so the nano might be a good idea
remember though how flash memory works, it only will write a few thousand times but read near indefinitely. that means that if you change your music you are carrying a lot the hard drive may be better, but if you're a load and listen guy then you probably should consider the nano.

 

[Sarah in SC]

When DHs Nano died a few months ago, I got him a refurb classic 20 gb from Eritech for $85. It works great, he didn't care about video, and wasn't a huge investment. When my older 20gb eventually dies, I'll replace it from them as well. No early adopters here!

I worried a bit about what the condition of it might be, but it didn't have a scratch and worked perfectly. The one I got him is the classic, the model just before mine, which has the photo feature. I think mine is 3 years old, maybe 4 now.

The Nano that died on DH, interestingly, is the second one he had, the first died under warranty new from Apple. Either he is really hard on them, or the Nano sucks (can't remember if his was before/after the flash change). I haven't decided.

 

[brewer12345]

Thanks Sarah. Looks like they have a refurb version of teh model I had for $85. I might try that.

 

[Keyboard Ninja]

Sometimes it might be cheaper to go with one of those Ipod repairmen on Ebay.

 

[Marquette]

for what it's worth, we own a Samsung Sansa, 1st gen iPod, and iPod nano (got that one for free!). We like the Sansa the most.... the 1st gen died but a new battery cured it.

 

[RonBoyd]

My grandson asked me, a couple of years ago,for a MP3 player. We ended up with a Sansa e200 series -- primarily because it was Flash Memory with no moving parts. I liked it so well that I bought myself one (the 8GB e280). I have been more than happy with it.

The Official Sansa Site (Click on the "which Sansa is right for me" link)

I read a review somewhere the other day that said the Sansa Fuze was very comparable to the Nano -- at a much lower price.

 

[JB]

no iphone for you? I seriously considered it until I learned that you have to get an expensive data plan from ATT. I also promised never to use ATT again after they screwed me.

I like the flash based players because I don't carry much music around w/ me, they are smaller, more reliable, and battery lasts longer.

I have the Creative Zen 1GB for 3+ years. I like that it uses a AAA battery so I can use my own charger.

GF has 30GB ipod. UI is better, better interface to PC through iTunes. Battery died after a few years and was a challenge to replace.

 

[M Paquette]

the flash they are using is quality stuff so the nano might be a good idea
remember though how flash memory works, it only will write a few thousand times but read near indefinitely. that means that if you change your music you are carrying a lot the hard drive may be better, but if you're a load and listen guy then you probably should consider the nano.

Flash memory has improved quite a bit. Between the design of the memory and wear management logic built into the devices, you can expect to get 250,000 write cycles out of the chips. In an iPod Nano, that would be many, many years of daily use.

Unless you need the disk capacity of the 'Classic' iPods, I'd get the Nano. It's pretty rugged, with the lack of moving parts making it ideal for wear while exercising. (It also works pretty well for wearing while napping.)

Here's my unbiased retired Apple employee overview of the models:
iPod Shuffle - cheap, no display, OK for workout music or a simple audiobook player.
iPod Nano - good basic player, also can show photos, teeny videos, and plays games from the iTunes Store
iPod Touch - iPhone without the phone; Great for photos, videos, pocket Internet access (web, e-mail) over WiFi; Will run iPhone App Store stuff wit a software update coming in July.
iPod Classic - Hard-disk drive iPod; Good sized screen with humongous storage capacity. Put your 10,000 CD collection in your pocket...

 

[ERD50]

the flash they are using is quality stuff so the nano might be a good idea
remember though how flash memory works, it only will write a few thousand times but read near indefinitely. that means that if you change your music you are carrying a lot the hard drive may be better, but if you're a load and listen guy then you probably should consider the nano.

Actually, that 'few thousand times' is more like 100,000 times. Plus, most software uses some 'wear leveling' techniques - they keep moving the area they write to, rather than always erasing/writing to the same address space.

Also, I tried a non-iPod model (the Zen Stone), to replace my old shuffle (intermittently would not identify itself on USB). It was allright. People seem to like the Sansa models. But I must say, the iPod integrates with iTunes so much nicer. I never realized that I was even relying on those features until they were not there anymore (remembers where you were in a track, knows how many times you played something, etc).

I'm using one of my kids old nanos now (they got a new one with their computer for college). I like it - we've got hardshell cases for them (contour iSee), so they seem pretty rugged with that.

-ERD50

 

[Marquette]

Oh, I should mention, in addition to the Sansa, we have a subscription to Rhapsody... which allows us to transfer any songs we want to the Sansa without actually buying them (Rhapsody is a monthly plan to stream music to your computer).

 

[ERD50]

Oh, I should mention, in addition to the Sansa, we have a subscription to Rhapsody... which allows us to transfer any songs we want to the Sansa without actually buying them (Rhapsody is a monthly plan to stream music to your computer).

Does that mean that you pay ~ $150/year to 'not buy them'? And they get turned off if you cancel the monthly subscription?

That's what I understand, but I never looked into them very closely.

-ERD50

 

[Bestwifeever]

On a side note: I bought a little Sansa a few years ago to download digital audiobooks on. Unfortunately the download is one huge file and it was very hard to find your place if you hit the wrong button and went back to the beginning (okay, I admit I accidentally did this all the time). Does anyone know if there are audiobooks or players that download in several files/chapters?

 

[Marquette]

Does that mean that you pay ~ $150/year to 'not buy them'? And they get turned off if you cancel the monthly subscription?

That's what I understand, but I never looked into them very closely.

-ERD50

You'd pay $150 a year. We don't, no.

For me, at our price, it easily beats my threshold for buying downloads on itunes or buying new CDs or XM, etc.

 

[pksublime]

yes...
"few thousand times" === 100k<>250k times
i just don't normally like to use numbers since there is so much variance and i don't know who apple is sourcing from at current for the nanos

 

[Reelax]

On a side note: I bought a little Sansa a few years ago to download digital audiobooks on. Unfortunately the download is one huge file and it was very hard to find your place if you hit the wrong button and went back to the beginning (okay, I admit I accidentally did this all the time). Does anyone know if there are audiobooks or players that download in several files/chapters?

Audible.com has their books separated by chapters (Lines on the view screen). I have a classic ipod to listen. I have a tendency to fall asleep while listening to a book a night. When that happens I rewind to a place where I think I fell asleep, what I can remember, or I go to the last chapter I can remember. Works for me.