Am I the only one who feels like none of the ipods fit my needs?

[mpb2000]

My first ipod was Gen. 1. I finally upgraded to the 60 GB 5th gen when video was announced. At the time, that was as close to perfect as I could get. Here's my thing: I use my ipod mostly for music except for videos on trips. An episode of Family Guy or Chappelle's Show or some home video clips, etc. I have about 20 GB of video, but I would be willing to give the majority of that up if I could find the right player. I would just keep 5 GB or so of video, just my favorite stuff, since I only use that when I'm traveling, which isn't often. As far as music goes, I want everything with me, and I have a library of about 18 GB of music. Granted, I could probably trim that down a good amount by getting rid of stuff I don't listen to anymore, say to 12 GB. So, at a minimum I'm looking at around 17 GB of space.

I would love to be able to go with the new nano, but 16 GB just isn't enough. Even if I squeezed my library down to fit, I would have zero room for expansion. The larger screen on the new nano would suffice for my minimal video watching. If they had a 32 GB nano, that might be the answer.

The 32 GB ipod touch would seem to be the perfect solution. I could trim the fat off of my current library and still leave myself plenty of room to grow, and I would get a nice big screen for video. But I just can't see paying $400 for all of the extra features I wouldn't use. All of the wi-fi applications, games, itunes store, email, etc are things I have no interest in whatsoever. When I look at the home screen of the ipod touch, there are only two (maybe 3) buttons I would ever use: music, video, and maybe photos. If there was some version of the touch that still had all of the great usability (ie the touch screen and associated functions) but without all of the things that are making it more like the iphone, that would be what I would go for. Then it would just be a 32 GB flash drive with a nice big touch screen: perfect.

Then it would just be a matter of deciding if I wanted the compactness of the nano or the big screen of the touch.

The only other option is the classic, but 120 GB is completely overkill, and it's the same as the 5 gen I have right now, so there's no point in considering that.

Anyone else feel this way? Anyone have any bright ideas about how to solve my dilemma?

 

[studogvetmed]

I guess I don't see a real dilemma. From your description what you have meets your needs perfectly at the moment, so there is no need for you to upgrade.

There are a couple of mild tweaks to the classic software that are updated beyond the old 60GB software and at $249, you get an extra 60GB to "grow into" for the same price as what you paid for your 60GB previously.

But as I said, I don't see what your dilemma is. Based on your criteria the 60GB fits your needs, but perhaps your dilemma is actually just "upgraditis"

 

[mpb2000]

Upgraditis is probably the best explanation It would just be nice to have something the same size but with a huge screen and slick interface (touch) or something much smaller (nano). Unfortunately, neither of those is really available at this point. I'm sure the nano will increase in flash memory eventually, as will the touch, driving down the price, so I'm just stuck waiting.

Also, it would be nice to unload my current ipod on ebay since it works just fine right now, but since it has a hard drive, it's just a ticking time bomb. If there was a suitable replacement, selling it now would be ideal, as looking at recent auctions, I could still get a good chunk of change for it. If I wait for it to die, it's worth nothing. Oh well.

 

[ascian]

I also don't see a real problem for you, but I will go ahead and agree with your topic.

In the interest of brevity, I need a ton of storage, I hate the click wheel, and I'm too active for a hard-drive based player.

Can one listen to 80+ gigs of music at once? Of course not, but I want my entire music library available to me for my style of listening. End of story. I love the wifi and the look of some of the available apps on the touch, but at the end of the day I'm still compromising on space without even considering video and apps, and with wifi use, the battery doesn't last a day, it's why I returned mine last year. Although, I'm sure that is more feasible this time around. What's not feasible, and I know from experience, is trying to whittle down my mp3 collection and then add new assorted content without sacrificing something important to me.

The real issue for me is flash memory. I could make do with a player small in size, or something like the touch, but at the end of the day, what I need (and I imagine most people fall into this category) just isn't practical from a cost standpoint and I understand that (and I imagine most people don't fall into this category).

Plus iTunes sucks balls.

 

[kornchild2002]

Well, I don't see a problem for you either. The iPod touch might be overkill but it has everything that you want and then some. The iPod touch is really the best video capable iPod there is as the larger screen makes viewing videos easy on the eyes. You say that you will not use the wi-fi internet browsing, games, or anything like that now but you never know. Free wi-fi hot spots are popping up all over the place and you can never truly turn down a feature until you try it first.

The iPod classic would be overkill in terms of storage space but it is a more suitable video iPod than your current 5G model. The iPod classic (I guess it would be the 1.5G iPod classic) has a brighter screen, larger capacity for more videos, and it gets about 6 hours of video playback time on the battery. That is much better than the battery playback time of your current 5G which is 3-3.5 hours.

I understand what you are saying about the cost of the 32GB iPod touch though so maybe the 120GB iPod classic is your best bet. In fact, you could probably purchase a 160GB iPod classic for the same price (new) from other websites wanting to unload them. I know that 160GB would be way too much storage for you but if you could find one for $250, it would definitely be worth the purchase. Right now Amazon.com has them for $300 (down from $350) and I know that they will soon decrease them to a new lower price.

Either way, the $250 price point of the 120GB iPod classic sounds right for you along with the drastic increase of battery playback time for videos and the increased brightness. Sure, you won't fill the 120GB capacity for a long time but that is alright. What do you want Apple to do? Release a 60GB iPod classic? No way. You could also find some 80GB iPod classic models (same specs as the 120GB iPod classic except for the capacity) for $200.

 

[mpb2000]

I don't really have a problem with my current ipod. Its primary use is in the car, and it still holds a charge just fine. I have a car charger anyway, so battery life really isn't an issue. I know the newer classic models are brighter, but I'm ok with the one I have as far as that goes. If I'm watching videos in the car on a trip I always have it charging with my car charger, so no problem there either. The very few new features of the classic wouldn't justify me replacing this ipod with just a classic, unless I was just afraid of my hard drive dying. My 1G still works just fine, so I'm hoping the 5G will keep on ticking.

I just wish there was a way to get some of the new features/size of the new nano/touch, but there's just not a good solution for me right now I guess. Like I said, what I need is a step up from the 16 GB nano or the 32 GB touch without having to pay for all the features I don't need. (Like you said, I'm sure I would use them, but I don't NEED them, so there's no use in spending the extra money.)

 

[kornchild2002]

Well, technically speaking, you don't NEED an iPod or a car. You could take the bus and just sit there not having to worry about music and videos. You wanted a car so you have one and you wanted an iPod so you purchased one. So you can either sit there with what you have, upgrade to the iPod classic, upgrade to the 4G iPod nano (would it really be that hard to shave off 7GB of songs from your library? You do realize that a playlist of 2600 songs takes up about 12GB and represents 7.5 days of pure audio listening?), wait for a higher capacity Nano, or spend the big bucks and step up to a 32GB iPod touch.

I still don't see your dilemma if you still like your 5G iPod so much. Why not just keep using that and be done? You could always wait a year to see if Apple releases a 32GB iPod nano. Then again, your audio collection could grow to 30GB in size my then and you could be asking for a 64GB iPod nano which won't happen for at least 2-3 years.

 

[question729]

The way I see it, I paid the same price for my 5G 30GB in November '05 that the 32GB Touch is going for today. I don't see myself paying for features I'm not going to use, but extra features I may or may not use in the future. Plus I get an additional 2GB and a hard volume switch!

 

[Garrovick]

My iPod 5.5 works pretty good, considering the limitations Apple put on it.

The only thing I'm a little interested in is the iTouch because of wifi. But finding out how the wifi actually works in the real world is an almost impossible task. The closest Apple Stores being over 130 miles away in two directions and over two hundred in a third. Guess a State Capitol wasn't good enough for the Apple guys.

I'll most likely go with a Sprint product and plan, because there is a dealer just down the road.

 

[studogvetmed]

The way I see it, I paid the same price for my 5G 30GB in November '05 that the 32GB Touch is going for today. I don't see myself paying for features I'm not going to use, but extra features I may or may not use in the future. Plus I get an additional 2GB and a hard volume switch!

I feel your pain. I paid $499 for the 30GB 3G iPod back in may 2003. Who's the real sucker here?

 

[Mr. E.]

If the cost is too much, that's one thing, but it doesn't really make sense to say that the iPod Touch doesn't fit your needs because it does too much. No one will force you to use the WiFi connection, check your mail, import your calendar, etc. It's all optional.

You can, if you choose, look at it as features you are paying for but not using, but that's your choice. My car can go 90 mph, but the speed limit is never more than 65 mph where I drive. The extra speed is there if I need/want it, the car doesn't come without it, and, really, if they custom-made my car to limit it to only the features I knew I would use, it would probably cost more for not being able to mass produce it.

If it's any consolation, the higher price tag associated with the touch is very likely mostly the very technology you want: the big screen and the flash memory. Flash memory, especially in higher capacities, seems to fetch a premium price. The applications are almost all ported directly from the iPhone, and, since the iPhone came first, the costs associated with them were/are most likely shouldered more by iPhone users than iPod Touch users.

If your complaint is that you don't have the toys you want at a price you can afford, I'm right there with you. If your complaint is that you don't want to check your e-mail on your iPod ... don't check your e-mail on your iPod.