ipod info needed

I'm thinking for buying an ipod, the regular 20 gb or maybe 30gb model.

My concern is shock protection. I have dropped my current mp3 player several times, but it has rubber corners on the case. The ipod seems to have no such external protection, and I can't find info on any internal protection.

Input?

Also, how long does it take it to reach full charge from the regular ac wall charger?

All hard drive based MP3 players are quite capable of being damaged by dropping due to the hard drive. If that is a concern for you, you will want to buy a padded case.

iPod has 32 meg of ram inside, so the hard drive only spins up to fill the memory then spins down, so most of the time the drive isn't running. Hard drives are much more resistant to shock when not spinning so most of the time while you're listening it's pretty safe.

Since the case is in only 2 pieces and not compromised by a big battery door it's really quite strong and resistant to shock as well.

Course, the plastic and metal of the back aren't really scratch resistant. You'll want to keep it in a good case. If you're doing something that makes you more apt to drop it, do some surfing there are many great cases. Some neoprene and other shock resistant ones are available. There are lots to choose from.

EDIT: oh forgot about charging. i've never actually timed it but it charges the same way that they charge powerbook batteries. The first 80% or so gets charged pretty quickly then it seems to charge up to the limit more slowly to take better care of the battery. So it seems that you can get it mostly charged in a hurry, about an hour or so, and then a few more hours till it is done topping off.

Well, I have an archos 20gb mp3 player. It has internal ram also, but only enogh for about 2 minutes of playing. It will spin up the drive halfway through a song (no, it doesn't pause or anything).

Battery life is like 5-6 hours if you are the kind of person who likes to skip around a lot.

I have dropped it about 10 times, from heights of 2-3 feet to 6 feet once or twice. I have a bad spot on the drive, but scandisk can't find it.

It's bigger than the ipod, but you can swap out the 4 aa batteries in about 30 seconds..... no waiting for anything to charge.

Have you considered the creative Zen line of MP3 players? They are just as good and cost less.
Unless you want to make a fashion statement with your IPOD, I think the creative players are worth looking into.

get a zen or at least listen to both zen sounds better ipod is sleaker and coooler and has nicer gui. but i love the sound of the zen

I have a Dell DJ, which is a rebadged Creative Zen with a slightly different formfactor. No regrets, and the sound quality is good, but it doesn't look as cool as an ipod (was a heck of a lot cheaper though).

I've never dropped it, and carry it in a padded case. Hard drive damage is a VERY common problem with these players-- the hard drive does NOT need to be spinning for it to happen!

Hard drives give you a lot of capacity for cheap, but they simply are not as rugged as flash memory.

I wish these things had an external speaker.

The sound quality of these things is all pretty similar. most of them I think use the same class of dsp chips to do the decoding, if not the same ones. the differences are in the details of interface and design. With a standard encoding method, either AAC or mp3 you get 20+ minutes into the memory at a time. It only takes maybe 30 seconds or less to load this all up into memory. If you're listening to something like an audio book that is encoded at an even lower bit rate it might not spin up but once ever 45 minutes to load the next chunk. course, if you skip around you shorten that by a significant margin and use up the battery faster /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

There are some really nice addons you can get for the thing. if you need just a tiny speaker you can get something like iTalk that gives you both a mic for recording and a little tinny sounding speaker. there are also bigger things that you can slip the iPod into with really nice little speakers in them. Check out the other stuff that Griffin makes for it. I have an iTrip to broadcast to the car radio and it really works nice, uses power from the iPod so requires no further batteries and you can tune it to any station. Very nice /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I have a 40GB 4G (newest aside from the iPod Picture). It lives in my Fatboy in its original "Don't steal music" plastic and a Subway plastic bag. I have some scratch-protector stickers, but I haven't gotten around to affixing them, and I'm waiting for the exo3 thin rubber case to be in stock.

There are bungee cords specifically designed to be clipped to a belt loop and save a falling iPod from hitting the ground. I saw someone drop his unprotected iPod from about waist-level to the subway car floor; I think he was in the process of putting it away, not listening to it.

If you are likely to drop it, buy some sort of case, preferably a hard-shell. Even if its internals aren't damaged, its appearance will take a real beating. ipodlounge has quite a few reviews on iPod accessories.

Are you planning to buy a 3G or a 4G? The 4G has much better battery life and will charge from USB, but the 40GB in particular is plagued by the "audio defect". Mine has it in full force, but I trim it out with a Radio Shack $7 volume control. I typically charge from USB, and a hour brings it from under 50% to full according to the battery meter.

Thought I would show you my iPod setup. A 3rd Generation, with 15GB. Personally, I love it. Can get very loud, looks sleek and runs fast. I have been very unimpressed with the battery on it and its meter. Its very unaccurate, and runs down very slowly compared to where the battery level really is at. I can live with that though, and I heard they fixed it in the 4th generation. I have put a iSkin on mine as well. Its very well made, looks nice and glows. Good screen protector on it, and belt clip. I got mine on Newegg for around $20. Here are some pictures




If you would like anymore information, or other pictures, ask away!
Cameron

[ QUOTE ]
turbodog said:........My concern is shock protection. I have dropped my current mp3 player several times, but it has rubber corners on the case.......

[/ QUOTE ]If you're concerned about shock protection, get the iSkin, as recommended by bobisculous, above. I've had one on mine from day 1, have dropped it several times ( once onto concrete from about 4ft high w/o any damage ) and can say that the iSkin provides an added side effect of offering your iPod some fairly significant shock protection in addition to good looks.

Feel free to compare mp3 players before you buy though........it'll probably just solidify your resolve to get an iPod - they're still that far ahead of the pack even after all of these years. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Edit: I almost forgot the link.... https://www.iskin.com/https://www.iskin.com/[/i]

I second that I have the 30gig model and have used it almost every day for a year and a half and it still works great. Haven,t dropped it but also use it on my motorcycle to listen to mp3's with no problem.

Yup, too bad in the store you can't load all your music on them, then you would see a big part of the reason the iPod is so popular. It's all about the (scroll) wheel baby! The Dells roller wheel is akin to scrolling through a HUGE Excel document with only your scroll wheel mouse, and the Zen isn't bad, but just the same it's slide, pick up your finger and put it at the top of the touch pad, slide, pick up finger, slide, etc. With the iPod it's just circle circle circle circle, and of course the firmware and touch-pad work together so a slow-circle moves you with 1-item accuracy, and a very fast circle can jump you from the top to the bottom of the list in no time flat. It's very intuitive, and hard to explain, because they've put enough thought into it that you don't have to.

I just got an iTrip today (From another CPFer actually) and it seems to work great so far! If accessories are your thing than the iPod is your thing, there are more accessories designed *just* for it than any other player I do believe.

Those who state that an iPod is just a fashon statement over any other MP3 player obviously don't own one /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif


About hard drive damage, I hear a lot of people say it's a problem, and it does happen to people (Google it up) but (Other than accounts read on the internet) I have not run across anybody personally who has had hard drive damage with their iPod. Yeah flash based memory is more rugged, but these microdrives are built pretty solid -- all things considered.

I'd rather carry a player with "B+" (At *worst*) shock protection over buying one with "A+" shock protection that never got carried due to the bulk. All the protection in the world is of no use if you don't use the thing.