Never got into the IPod thing, never bought one, probably never will.....If I need 500 songs to listen to, I'll just dwelve into my LP collection at home. To each their own I say.....But its not for me..... :)

Perfectlap,

I had a similar experience - in March of this year, barely 1 month out of warranty, my 40GB iPod died of a hard drive failure. The geebs at the local Apple store wouldn't repair or replace it and added insult to injury by offering me a 15% "recycling" discount on a new iPod. Yeah, right.

I have an iPod Nano as well (a holiday gift last year) and I expect it to be dead in January regardless of how much I use it. >:-|

Good luck finding a new MP3 player. I will be interested to find out what you buy because I'll probably need a new one before too long.

I own a IPOD video 30gb for about 2 years with NO PROBLEMS.

I have my entire CD collection on the IPOD, which is hooked up to my Bose home stereo unit.

Very very convenient.

The collection is also on my PC, which I can play while working.

Good stuff.

Tmm986,

I think I found it:

100 plus hours on a single charge,
FM radio
in 500, 1 gb, 2gb
way less than a crap-pod
comes ready with podcasting software
(good for listening to in the car)

http://reviews.cnet.com/MobiBlu_B153_2GB_black/4505-6490_7-31870947.html

I'm curious about the complaints about battery life. Not once in the years I've owned an iPod (going back to the original 5GB) have I ever come close to running out of battery power in daily usage. When will you ever listen for 100 hours straight?

I typically spend between 3 hours a day listening to the crap-pods.
Rarely did I make it a full two days on one charge. And that's shutting off
all the audio features.
Believe me Apple spend thousands of dollars trying to figure out how to
mirror 100 hour duration. The more advanced the crap-pods become the more
power they seem to need. I'm sure they've cracked open once of these 150 hour mobiblu's and are examining it right now as we speak!

Apple admitted they had battery problems with Ipods.
I would like to get a different MP3 player but I'm stock with my Ipod because of Itunes. I have over 2500 songs on my Itunes and you cannot transfer it from Ipod to another MP3 player.

Yes, I'm addicted to Itunes.

those bastards are sneaky.
My PC crashed and wiped out my Itunes. Most of the songs were from CD's so I didn't freak out. I'm wondering what would have happened if they were in fact all I-tunes. Could I ask for them back or would I have to repurchase?

p.s.
The 150 hour mobiblu would also be cool for the Boxster because it could be used for long trips without needing its own power source. I already have the cigarette lighter dedicated to the V1 (hardwiring produced alternator whine) and my Sirius unit. One of my frequent passengers HAS to hear a certain mp3 playlist or else she gets mad. :p

I have my Itunes backed up on an external hard drive.

Also, I have all my songs on the IPOD. So, if my PC buys it, I have two sources to go to.

Having said that, I believe ITUNES has enough info stored to allow you to download all of your purchased tunes again.

Never tried it though.

Love the ITUNES store.

All I gotta say is: "Steve Jobs". :)

the only thing worse than Microsoft taking over the MP3 market from Apple is.....uh...

The Treo 650 was the answer to my MP3 needs (along with need for cell phone, contact list, scheduler, etc.)
http://www.interstar.ua/mobile/img/p...o_650_main.jpg

A while ago I read ad in Craigslist - buy Ipod with 4000+ songs for less < $500.
:cheers:

You have obviously never been in a room full of German engineers!

It requires a little effort and more storage, but it can be done. I burn the music from itunes into CDA format then re-rip it into a "non-itunes" mp3 so I can use it on my older Rio. Ikeep it abound because it is more durable and expendible than my IPOD.

I have used a Rio Carbon almost daily for over 4 years and it's flawless. Having only 512 MB memory has never seemed to be a disadvantage. It is lightweight, has long batterylife and since it's a sold state memory device, it has no moving parts.

I've had several other larger players that use notebook hard drives that, although they are great for large storage, the inability to take shocks, imho, make them prone to failure. Also? They have a rudimentary OS which can and does crash, making them unbootable!

But...but... STEVE JOBS!!!!

update: I bought a nano for the misses. First time Ipod owner, didn't want her to feel like I was giving her superior quality, less fashionable item. I opted for the two year Best Buy warranty for $20. No need to go through Apple, Best Buy will give me a new one on the spot if there is a problem.

Good idea. I bought mine through Costco, which will take it back for free. Never had to though.