iPods: Touch vs. Classic

[DarthGreg]

I'm getting one for Christmas, and having trouble deciding which to ask for. What I need it for is primarily listening to music, but I'm also interested in the video-playing aspect of it. My main concerns are,

Does the video playback suck on the Classic screen? How much better is it on the Touch screen?

Does the Touch support S-Video out like 5th/6th gen. Classics do? Is the quality of video encoded for iPod video good enough to even bother with this?

Is the Touch UI fast to use? Or is it cumbersome in exchange for its sexiness?

Is the Touch Wi-Fi a compelling option outside of major cities? Does the UI make it a pain in the dick to use?

I think for the purpose of comparison, the Touch is just an iPhone without the phone, e-mail, and a few other features. Also interested in any non-Apple MP3 player recommendations.

Thanks!

[decap]

i don't mean to derail the thread or any of that, but, Zune ftw.

edit: didnt see the other mp3 recommendations, i highly recommend the Zune obviously, it's got a bigger screen than iPod and it's nav is easy and its sexy :]

[crosby]

the only thing that decides for me is space

16 gigs vs 160 gigs

[matt-]

Originally Posted by crosby

the only thing that decides for me is space

16 gigs vs 160 gigs

Definitely. Touch is a neat concept and all but it is seriously hindered by it's low space.

[DisgruntledGoat]

Seriously, How often do you listen to 160 gigs worth of music? My music folder on my computer vastly exceeds the capacity of my nano, but its easy enough to delete stuff I don't listen to and upload the new stuff I do listen to.

I don't see why capacity beyond a few gigs even matters unless it comes down to transferring large amounts of music or having several movies on it.

[dook]

^ i tried telling them that in the thread a couple weeks ago but nobody cared. apparently half the cats has about 10 times the amount of music i do and wants to be able to put it all on their mp3 player at once.

i've played with the touch and found the UI very responsive and slick. if you're after the space, or just don't think the style is worth the money, then ipod classic or nano.

[drone]

go with the touch or nano. if you drop/shock any of the ipods that do not use flash memory, they are more prone to damage because of the moving parts of the hard drive. so if you are doing some sort of activity where you're gonna fall (snowboarding, for example), you're gonna want to have flash memory.

[dys]

Space can be an issue when it's the main source of your music in a car. Most stereos are coming with the AUX jack for you to plug in an mp3 player. Rather then carrying around my book of 50 cd's (so that i can listen to whatever i'm in the mood to listen to) an mp3 player makes it less cumbersome and easier to change music.

[Ricky`]

Go with the 160, all the touch is just an iPhone without the phone, heh.
I think its a complete waste of money, thats why I would go with the Classic.

[sc`]

160 gigs is overdoing it. 16 gigs is underdoing it. I'd buy the classic but get the 80gig version.

[the scrill]

just get the 80 gig. i did.

[decap]

30 gig zune. no need for 160 fucking gigs of music, how annoying to sort through.

[natedizzle]

i will never buy an expensive phone or mp3 player ever again, within two weeks my blackberry and ipod video (both recently purchased) were stolen. the ipod out of my car the phone when i went bowling with some friends, that put me back something like 500 total and i felt like such an ass as that was money i was saving for my italy trip

[dirby]

Originally Posted by decap

30 gig zune. no need for 160 fucking gigs of music, how annoying to sort through.

yup, I bought mine off woot.com for dirt cheap a few weeks ago.

Once I got used to the software (which sucks at first, then you realize it ISN'T iTunes) it is awesome, the built in equalizer is cool.

Bigger screen than iPod, better sound quality (this has been proven time and time again), wireless sync (although can only be set up with one wireless network) and sweet looking interface.

I was an iPod (not Apple) fanboy until I picked up my Zune cheap. I have used both and can hands down say that I prefer the Zune and I only have the 30gig, I can't imagine how sweet the 80gig is.

[crosby]

couple of reasons for 160 gig ipod

1) i dont keep music on my computer... i plug in my ipod and play through itunes
2) i hook up my ipod to stereos while at the beach/bbq/pic nics/power hour
3) i also use my ipod as a portable harddrive when reformatting friends computers
4) its only $100 dollars more for dbl the space
5) I do have a huge music collection
6) I have an ocd with ipods... I cant only have 1 song... i need the entire cd dunno why
7) podcasts i like to save them
8) i also like to dual boot and play flac files
9a) watching movies
9b) its very easy to load an entire season of family guy and then run on a treadmill... the time flies by
10) why would you buy something that you could also get as a phone.



doesn't the main screen look empty?

[gzt]

You can stream movies and music via wifi on the touch and iphone. It's cumbersome right now but things are looking up. I am currently working on an ipod personal server. Basically, all you have to do is make your own webserver and go to the file. The file must be in an ipod format. So theoretically, the iphone and touch have more capacity than any other ipod available.

[DarthGreg]

Leaning towards the Classic at the moment, I don't see myself using the more PDA-ish Touch features, since I live in the middle of fucking nowhere and only have Wi-Fi at home, where I have plenty of computers to use. The idea of fitting my entire 120+GB music collection on my iPod also is intensely attractive, after getting by with a 15GB 3rd gen. iPod for years. On the video issue, I've far more interest in using my iPod as a portable VCR than in watching stuff directly on the device, and it seems like Touch battery life is pretty awful when using the feature.

I might add that some of the posts here have piqued my interest in the Zune, need to do a little more research there.

[Gr8Shot]

ive had my music collection for over 10 years now and im still only up to 20gb's.

thats weeks worth of music i dont think ill ever need to replace my 30gb video ipod.

[DarthGreg]

Not gonna lie, Zune 80 looks pretty amazing.

[Ricky`]

Originally Posted by decap

30 gig zune. no need for 160 fucking gigs of music, how annoying to sort through.

Thats why there is a search feature.
I am always getting more music that I want to add to my iPod, but its annoying how I have to remove stuff I don't listen to as much anymore to replace it with the newer stuff I am listening to, I could easily fill up 160GB.

Then again, its pretty nice how if you ever need to back stuff up. You have plenty of room.

[mst3kld]

you can get a 30gig gen1 zune for $90
or just get hte 80gig zune for under $250 and you can surf the web and such
no DRM on the zune too

[Mexi]

Originally Posted by the scrill

just get the 80 gig. i did.

Yeah, it's not 16gb vs 160, look at it as 16 vs 80 if you want an ipod. unless you need 160gb music on an mp3 player at once for some reason, it's a bit absurd. but there's a decent chance 16gb (less than that) might not be enough, especially when you're talking about video too.

[DarthGreg]

I went with the 80GB Classic, if budget were less of a concern I would have definitely gone for the 160; in addition to the capacity increase it also has longer battery life. I'm sure there are many of you that can't understand why anyone would ever need to carry around more than 80GB of music/video at once, but I can.

At one point I was settled on the new Zune, but I ended up changing my mind for the iPod's EQ (new Zune doesn't have one) and service plan. I lose out on a larger screen and some PDA-like functions that I won't get much use out of anyway.

[crosby]

critics:

should have shelled out an extra $100 for dbl the size

take the ipods battery life with a grain of salt

i wish the eq wasn't a deciding factor for you

[Mexi]

edit

[Anonym]

The Equalizer on the iPod is near useless. Any song that has been tagged with an equalizer setting in iTunes will already have that setting activated on an iPod. It's a good thing, too, because the equalizer settings are a chore to activate via the iPod menu. I have it set to Off at pretty much all times, as it usually makes the music sound worse when it's activated.

Let me know if you like the interface on the iPod 80GB. I have the 5.0 generation iPod, and I think the new interface looks pretty horrible, at least from what I've seen on the pictures and videos on the Web.

[DarthGreg]

I don't use iTunes, it's bulky and slow. Besides which the EQ was not the deciding factor, the service plan was. Sorry guess I'm not cool enough for a Zune.

[dirby]

Originally Posted by DarthGreg

I don't use iTunes, it's bulky and slow. Besides which the EQ was not the deciding factor, the service plan was. Sorry guess I'm not cool enough for a Zune.

Lol, don't make this an ipod vs zune thread. I think everyone was just giving their opinion on the respective mp3 players, which is what you asked for

[sparkz]

iphone > *

[kuku]

iphone is pretty amazing..
so is voyager
so is itouch mp3

so is shuffle

everything els sux


oh and that phone where u can watch tv on is pretty amazing aswell...


ive own[ed] all...

never had the zune but ive heard alot of good about it...ive heard.