Just got an iPod!

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

ipodlounge.com
In the download section
I havent used it but it looks kinda cool...

[angel]

hey ya know a while back there was this thing.. oh what was it called? oh now I remember a CD player! you people are so impracticle

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

Glad the CD player is going the way of the dodo actually, given the relative fragility of DVDs, I liked Cassettes, and 8 track were kind of cool.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

pfft. If you're talking many years, yes, I think we'll stop using CDs at some point.
However, it does not appear to me that CDs are currently being phased out of use. There are MANY more CD owners/buyers than legit music downloaders.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

Im talking 5-10 years or so for most people.

for me CD's have gone the way of the Dodo, I can now easily carry around thousands of songs with premixed playlists, or on the fly playlists, or listen to my whole music collection randomly. The only thing I need my CD's for is a double back up. So now I can safely put them on a shelf in the back of my closet.

Which is a good thing because you dont learn hard lessons about bad CD environment untill you've been at sea in a Noreaster with you cd collecting rolling around inside your bunk or locker with the rest of you belongings.

[Gemm: Rock & Roll Star; Born to Rock]

And what about DVDs? Those are becoming the new "CD." They can hold more data.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

they're becoming more used for computers, but bands don't record music on DVDs. whether it's DVD or CD though, people will always want a "hard copy" of their music. Call it luddite or stubbornness, but just like you can store libraries in hard drives in a single room, people still want that hard copy, they're going to want it for their music. CDs will not disappear unless so many people have something like an iPod or an mp3 player that have interchangeable memory sticks (between brands, etc) with a standard music format. THe key here is "so many people." You have to have a lot of people with these players. Bigger portions of the population than have CD players, or at least a  comparable portion.

That is not going to happen in 5-10 years. I don't see how that will happen. Remember, CDs have been around for 20 years, but you can still buy new tapes. I don't believe we're seeing the end of the CD so soon.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

Lets agree to disagree then....

[Gemm: Rock & Roll Star; Born to Rock]

ok, to bring back an old topic I actually have a fairly relavent question to post here. My family is looking for a mp3 player to get my mom for her birthday. I keep telling my dad 'get an iPod' and I'm not sure if he's still trying to sway away from it. I'm going to give him $100 towards a mini one and take him to get it. Now, I would just like some reinforcement on if this is a good descision. Also, what kind of extras come with the thing? Will a docking bay be extra?

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

The mini comes Itunes software, with a firewire cable, a usb 2 cable headphones and and a power plug... you dont need a dock with the mini and if you want the arm band or remote those are seperate too. Mine has proved to be pretty shock resistant 2 drops onto concrete floor did nothing. I installed mine on PC first and had no problems copying music on and off using Itunes, but other software works well with the mini.

The biggest hurdle is getting her music collection copied, CDs take about 4 minutes to rip so you guys could secretly rip all of the stuff she owns.

If you get an Ipod Mini I also suggest getting an Itunes gift certificate for her as well.

[Gemm: Rock & Roll Star; Born to Rock]

We went with a 15 GB iPod. Since it's larger (by 11 GBs) and only $50 more than a mini. Plus the thing came with a bunch of stuff. It's in a cube-like box right now. So I think I'll just save my next 2 paychecks and get myself one too.

[McDingus]

I know a guy from a different forum who works for Apple, and he told me there is no real reason to NOT get an iPod instead of an iPod Mini.  The Mini's memory is sturdier (in the case of, say, dropping it onto a concrete floor), so the full-size iPod might not survive one/two drops (I don't know), and it is more likely to skip than a Mini, but when I buy one (yes, I said "when", not "if"), I'll get the 15 GB iPod.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

Your right, no reason to not get an Ipod over a mini except maybe cost... which can be a big factor.
for the casual music listener the 4 gb mini is about the right size... now if your mom is a rabid music fan with thousands of songs then she should probebly get a full size Ipod.

The mini is also noticibly smaller and lighter so if your mom uses it to exercise then its a better choice as well.
My wife has a 20 gb Ipod and loves it too, so its take your pick really.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

Nice to meet you btw McDingus. Welcome to our humble, madhouse. Glad you kept reading.

[McDingus]

Why thanks, Dr. Jeffe!  I've actually had this site bookmarked for quite a while, but it took me a while to figure out that the forum might be a good thing, too.