iPod 80 gig

[makpjazz57]

Are there any "deals" available when purchasing an 80GB iPOD? I might be getting a work bonus in February and if so, I'd love to replace my 20GB which died about 2 months ago. I saw the 80GB on sale through Circuit City on line for $332. Any suggestions as to where to research for best pricing?

Thanks in advance,

Marla

[Ron S]

Are there any "deals" available when purchasing an 80GB iPOD? I might be getting a work bonus in February and if so, I'd love to replace my 20GB which died about 2 months ago. I saw the 80GB on sale through Circuit City on line for $332. Any suggestions as to where to research for best pricing?

Thanks in advance,

Marla

I'd do a Froogle search.

My favorite online shopping site is pricegrabber.com. Once you find the product you're looking for, you can enter your zip code and list the various prices in ascending order of total shipped price. Also, you can see how each merchant is rated/reviewed by consumers--VERY important.

EDIT: Here's the black, and here's the white.

Edited January 17, 2007 by Ron S

[makpjazz57]

Thanks Rostasi and Ron S. I'll do a search now just to get an idea what's in store for me and then the official "purchase search."

Marla

[makpjazz57]

I'm enjoying the search already through Froogle and pricegrabber.com, but was very surprised to see very low merchant ratings from Circuit City (on line) and amazon.com!!! I've only purchased CDs and some small items through amazon and have always rec'd excellent service. We have a Circuit City in the 'hood, so I don't have to order on line.

Marla

[Ron S]

I'm enjoying the search already through Froogle and pricegrabber.com, but was very surprised to see very low merchant ratings from Circuit City (on line) and amazon.com!!! I've only purchased CDs and some small items through amazon and have always rec'd excellent service. We have a Circuit City in the 'hood, so I don't have to order on line.

Marla

You have to take some of those ratings with a grain or two of salt, but at least they're better than nothing. Be sure to read the individual consumer reviews, also, to get a flavor of the feedback. I've also always had great experience with Amazon's customer service (not only the US Amazon but also UK and France).

[Stefan Wood]

Here, go to this site. This is in my opinion the best source for deals on ipods or anything else Mac related:

Deal mac

Edited January 17, 2007 by Stefan Wood

[Sundog]

Are there any "deals" available when purchasing an 80GB iPOD? I might be getting a work bonus in February and if so, I'd love to replace my 20GB which died about 2 months ago. I saw the 80GB on sale through Circuit City on line for $332. Any suggestions as to where to research for best pricing?

Thanks in advance,

Marla

$332 is pretty good for brand new. For a significantly better price I suspect you have to go the refurbished route. FYI- I bought an 80G at XMAS (as a gift, unfortunately not for me) at BestBuy for $349 and immediately got a 40$ gift card. Not a bad deal at all.

[makpjazz57]

Thanks Stefan and Tom. I'll check all of these suggestions. I think the bottom line is to check and check and check again right at the time I'm ready to buy - one store is going to have a better deal than all the others! What is interesting to me is that you can now get an 80GB iPOD for approx $330 and when I bought my click wheel 20GB iPOD about 3 years ago, it was $299. So, definitely a better bang for the buck on the newer iPODs (more GBs and video)!

Marla

[Aftab]

Marla-

Once you get your iPod, I would suggest you get a case for it - the screens of the iPods scratch easily. If I may suggest - get a Contour Showcase - I've had one for 2 years and my iPod still looks brand new - the case is a little beat up, but better that than the iPod. Check out www.contourcase.com - I am not affiliated with the company, I just think they make a great product.

[makpjazz57]

Thanks, Aftab. I will buy one based on your recommendation. Two questions, if you don't mind:

1) I see where the body of the iPOD is protected - what exactly is protecting the screen?

2) Have you watched any videos on your iPOD and if so, what did you think of the audio/video quality.

I have a decent collection of jazz videos and I'm also debating the purchase of an ARCHOS MP3 video player - I think you can get them up to 120 GB and then I could really take my videos with me!

Thank you,

Marla

[Aftab]

1) I see where the body of the iPOD is protected - what exactly is protecting the screen?

The whole body and screen are protected by a layer of plastic - the sides have a silicone-rubber type material. The plastic keeps your iPod from getting scratches while the silicone provides some shock absorbtion in case of drops. I've dropped mine a few times while in the case and have had no problems. The case will not fit in a dock, but all switches and ports are accesible through the case.

I did hours of research when I first bought my case 2 years ago, and have since researched again for a case for my new iPod, and the conclusion was the same. The deciding factors were - all-around protection (except for click wheel and ports), oversized cut-outs for larger headphone jacks and docking accessories, ease of iPod removal (for docking purposes, like iHome alarm clock, Apple dock, etc), and workmanship/design.

Here's a picture of the case opened up - you can see it's design a little better.

2) Have you watched any videos on your iPOD and if so, what did you think of the audio/video quality.

I have not - I just got a video iPod and have not had time to play with it. I have checked out a few of my friends' iPods and the video looks sweet, and the screen is nice and bright. A/V quality all depends on how it is compressed. The video available on iTunes looks great, as does some my friend has made.

For all the iPod info you'll ever need, go to iLounge.com - the best iPod website I have found.

Hope that helps.

Edited January 19, 2007 by Aftab

[Soulstation1]

fwiw

the new roxio 9 has software for dowloading to your i-pod

i don't own and i-pod

[Hardbopjazz]

2) Have you watched any videos on your iPOD and if so, what did you think of the audio/video quality.

I have a decent collection of jazz videos and I'm also debating the purchase of an ARCHOS MP3 video player - I think you can get them up to 120 GB and then I could really take my videos with me!

Thank you,

Marla

On the note of videos, how do you get them on your iPod? What format do the videos need to be in to up-load them? As Marla said, I too have a ton of videos I would like to put on my iPod.

Edited January 22, 2007 by Hardbopjazz

[Aftab]

Go to iLounge and poke around a bit - they have a lot of info and tutorials about getting video to your iPod.

[Noj]

I just bought an 80gb video iPod over the weekend. 5590 songs on it so far, yeeehaw!

My biggest beef is that it comes with a USB cable instead of Firewire. WTF? That's a downgrade.

I gave my Mom my old 20gb unit, loaded with 1050 songs which I know she enjoys. She's stoked!

[Sundog]

I just bought an 80gb video iPod over the weekend. 5590 songs on it so far, yeeehaw!

My biggest beef is that it comes with a USB cable instead of Firewire. WTF? That's a downgrade.

I gave my Mom my old 20gb unit, loaded with 1050 songs which I know she enjoys. She's stoked!

I broke down this weekend as well and bought the 80gb video model. Loaded 22gb worth of music on it yesterday.

[makpjazz57]

Finally purchased my 80GB a few days ago and I'm very happy. Found free software that easily converts my PAL and/or NTSC files to a video file viewable on the iPOD. I know some folks might complain about the small screen. However, the picture is so clear and the sound so good - well, I'm happy. I did look at some available-for-purchase video screens for iPODs and Sonic Impact's Video-55 screen seems to get higher marks than the Zeon Portable DVD player with iPOD capabilities. I think they both cost around the $200 mark, though I saw the Zeon on sale for $149.99.

Marla