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Riverbird

macrumors member
Original poster
May 11, 2009
36
0
Okay, I am getting an iPod because I got a Macintosh in February and my old MP3 player doesn't work with it. I am constantly amazed at how much more simple and easy Macintosh is to use. My parents have the first Macintosh and an Apple II and they both still work like new!

Anyway, I am thinking about getting an iPod Classic or possibly a iPod nano, I am not 100% sure yet. I guess I will wait to pick when I can see both of them in person at the Apple Store.

I have some questions about the iPod Classic here. I hear a bunch of scary rumors like, hard drives are not reliable or they crash easy if you do simple things like walk with it or move it just a little bit well it is playing. Is any of this true? How durable are they? My MP3 player I have right now is a Sansa e something and it has 4GB of flash memory (not big enough anymore, it was when I first got it, I wondered how I would ever use all of it!) and I have never dropped it so I don't think I will be dropping my iPod Classic.

So, if I get an iPod Classic, how do I take care of it so it lasts long? Can I at least walk with it or rock back and forth in a rocking chair while I listen to music? Also, does anyone know if the screens are glass? I noticed on the Apple site it included Arsenic free glass in the list of environmentally friendly things in the iPod Classic page.

And how durable are the iPod nano's? They look small and skinny and someone else says the iPod Classic FEELS more sturdy but I was just wondering. If I got a nano I would get a Purple 16 GB and hope I wouldn't fill it up too fast.

Anyway, its late so I might have rambled on a bit, sorry about that.

Any help is really appreciated ^^
 
The one thing that got me sold on Apple products and specifically iPods is seeing a friend of mine's. One day we were coming back from the gym and he set his iPod on a second floor railing outside of his room. He turned to unlock the door and bumped it. That iPod fell about 20 feet down and skidded across the concrete sidewalk. We both thought there was no way it would work after that. But sure enough, he picked it up and it started right up. We were both amazed!

I have a 30gb iPod Video which also has an internal hard drive in it. I did notice that it would freeze up here and there when I would run. It was not a slight jog though. I was running pretty hard and fast. It really takes a lot to get it to do that though. There is a hold button on the top that should keep it from doing that though. Unless you are doing something intense with it you will not have a problem.
 
It's not that the classic's hard drive is unreliable it's that it's LESS reliable than the no-moving-parts awesomeness of the shuffle/nano/touch.

I wouldn't take it jogging all the time but it's fine for general day to day stuff.
 
I have a 4 year old iPod mini with a hard drive in it which is still fine and it's been used at the gym, travelled the world a bit, dropped, opened up for battery replacement and um, been danced with quite a lot :eek:

I've got a 3 year old iPod video (just like a classic) which has gone through pretty much the same. I drop things A LOT, the classic's most traumatic moment was probably when it flew out of my pocket when I was running for the bus and after bouncing a few times skidded along the pavement for about 3 metres. It looks like crap but the HD still works.

I'd recommend the nano if you think it'll be ok for space. The all round aluminium casings holds up better than the shiny back on the classic, the flash memory means you won't have to worry about the HD, they're great for exercising 'cause they're so small and they look seriously nice (I also like the purple one :)) I think the battery's the best on the nanos too
 
Thank you for the replies. I am a little bit worried about the space I guess because I would like to put some movies and music videos on my iPod just for fun. I got up to 8 GB of music pretty fast and I am worried I might fill it up awful fast. It does look nice though.

I guess I would pick either one. I think I want to wait to make my final choice after I hold both of them and see how they feel. The thing I do like about the classic is the screen and how much space there is on it for the price. I just hope they made the screen glass by now. If it is still plastic I will probably go for the nano just because of that really.

I had another question.. but I can't remember it right now ><

EDIT.

I remembered my question. I heard some iPods have better sound quality then others. It doesn't really matter to me but, which one has the best sound? iPod Classic or iPod nano?
 
I'm pretty sure all the sound quality's the same for iPods. Just depends on the bitrate/quality of your music files.
 
I just use the normal 128 bit rate. Is it true that if say a album I am listening to is 54 MB that the hard drive will spin a few times and store the whole album in the 64 MB of RAM and not have to spin again until I go to a new album?

I am curious about this. Thanks ^^
 
I don't mean to be pushy. But could anyone answer the ram question? I'm really curious about it! Thanks! ^^
 
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