looking for opinions on Ipods?

to those who own ipods, i've read some reviews that the battery life isn't that good...

thoughts on this?

That's the reason I went mini disc - 40 hours on two AA batteries (non rechargeable)
On rechargeables I get about 24 hours.

I have a Creative Zen Micro -- roughly the same as an iPod, but WAY better in my opinion. It also has radio. And it hold more than the iPod mini. And the pink is brighter than iPod pink!

http://www.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=213&subcategory=214&product=10795

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

they do PURPLE!!!!!!!!!!!

I like the Zen Neeon it's rainbow!!!

Although I am an ipod owner and fan I will admit that the Creative Labs players are just as good. 

Did you know they sell them on eBay?  http://search.stores.ebay.com/search/search.dll?query=zen+micro+5+gb&sid=50461703&store=Creative+Labs+Factory+Store&colorid=6&fp=0&st=1&fsoo=2&fsop=3&submit=Search
(Sorry just had to promote a customer of mine.)

The only drawback is they only ship within North America.

So once you get one that is 5GB can you upgrade by adding more GB to it or do you chuck the whole thing and have to get another pod/creative with with a higher one

iPod's battery is part of the unit... it's rechargable... the 20 GB one is supposed to last 15 hours fully charged... minis up to 18 hours... guess it depends how much scrolling you do.  now does it eventually lose juice the more often you use it and charge it... well i guess it's probably like a cell phone. you can charge it via your computer, wall socket or car adapter.

honestly, I didn't do research on it and I've only had it for 3 weeks. i was buying a laptop and they threw in the mini free and i just upgraded to the 20 for about $100 more.  

my younger sibs have told me people are getting jumped for their mp3s these days... hmm, was that the same with walkmans back in the day?

yeah, i think you upgrade by buying a whole new one... my sis is jealous mine is in color

My battery lasts a long time.  Never had a problem yet, and I've had it since last December.

Haven't had any issues with the battery, myself. Most of the time I use it, it's connected to something anyway -- I don't really use it with the headphones, it's more of an around the house thing for me.

mine has crap battery life

i charged it full on monday night

it had 4 hours of play time yesterday, 2 hours today.....and i'm looking down at my battery indicator and it's showing 1/4 full  

this is from apple

Rechargeable batteries have a limited number of charge cycles and may eventually need to be replaced. Battery life and the number of charge cycles vary by use and settings. See www.apple.com/batteries for more information.

oh and i think there is a way to calibrate it when you first get it to extent the battery life... charge it full them let it die before charging it again.

sounds like you can buy a new battery when it loses life.

I'm thinking very seriously of getting one, but I only want to do it if I can get the top of the line one. I'm a total music head and have nearly 1,000 CDs - I only want one if I can get the better part of my collection on it. We've got a Sony MP3 that I bought when I got my Sony laptop 'cause I like the compatability, but it only holds 3 albums which is fine for dh, but not for me. 

My biggest concern would be battery life too. I would take it to work and back and since dh currently works a night shift, it's likely that he would as well - that's a lot of play.... But it sounds like mobile rechargers - treating it right when you first get it means it'll last longer (i.e. charging it fully and letting it die fully) and then it'll just slowly get weaker until it needs replacing. I wonder how much the replacement batteries are though....

£79.95 for a new battery - just checked the Apple UK store. 

£79.95 for a new battery - just checked the Apple UK store. 

set of Lithium AA non-rechargeables (so far 5 months of use/storage) for my mini disc - about £10....regular AA's - about £3.49 (40 hours)

Love my mini disc! 

I'd like to have a mini disc for recording concerts - a friend of mine does great bootlegs with his. But I want an Ipod to avoid having to carry discs around. I want something that fits in my handbag and doesn't have anything to fumble with.... I actually LOVE my MP3 player - it just doesn't hold enough music....

My husband gave me an iPod mini as a gift, and I really like it.  The batteries in the newer iPods are better than some of the older models, so some of those articles you read may have been from the first generation or two.  If you're trying to decide between a mini and a regular iPod, I highly recommend going with the larger one.  My mini is supposed to hold 4gb, but really will only take about 3.6gb of music.  I guess that about half a gig is dedicated to its OS.