I have the shuffle and I love it. I don't think it even weighs an ounce. It's the 1 GB size which holds about 240 songs. It is the least expensive in the $100 - $150 price range. It's made cleaning the house an almost pleasant chore. I can crank my ipod and go to work and the kids can still hear their shows. I guess the only downside is when I really get into it and sing loud and off key. They also don't like it when they think I'm ignoring them but I really just can't hear them because I have my ear buds in.

I would love to have just a mini ipod. The thing with the shuffle is that you can't choose which song to listen to or have different playlists, they're all just heaped on there and you either listen to them in order or put them on shuffle. But say you're going to the gym you can't just listen to your faster paced songs unless you are going to upload new songs before you go which probably wouldnt' be that hard but it's not something that I do.

You can just skip past the ones you don't want to hear but I think it would be awesome to be able to have different playlists for different moods etc.

Definately a worthwhile Christmas gift. I hope you've been good.

Look at your entire CD collection... for some people it's immense. Now, imagine some of the largest collections you've ever seen, and then picture all of that fitting into a palm-sized device. You can take all of your music with you anywhere you go. Get a FM broadcast piece for $30 and you can even listen to it in your car. Look at the iPod as the next step in the evolution of portable music.

Portable Radio --> Walkman --> Discman --> iPod (MP3 player)

The iPod gives you excellent sound quality, lots of storage space, and a sexy package. Face it, iPods look better than any other portable out there, they just look GOOD.

And, if you travel a lot, now you can watch videos (TV shows, movies etc) on it.

I have a 40GB previous generation iPod (no color screen) and I love it. It has my entire music collection on it and I take it everywhere with me. Very useful when I'm sitting in a server lab testing equipment and need some music to fill the silence. Plus, the iPod is essentially a hard drive, so I've used it as a portable backup device in the past too.

Meh, I bought my husband a $30-40 mp3 player that holds 80 hours of songs and is about the size of a box of tic tacs. He's happy with it. It came with an arm band, and he puts it on when he's washing the car or doing housework...and he sometimes sneaks it to work with him.

It doesn't have all the features an iPod does, but there's no way we'd pay $300 for something he's just going to listen to music on.

Zoomba:

Portable Radio --> Walkman --> Discman --> iPod

Awesome. I get really excited about this part.

TXW:

there's no way we'd pay $300 for something he's just going to listen to music on.

I think that's my biggest challenge, trying to justify paying that kind of money for a sound system.

Loca:

Definately a worthwhile Christmas gift.

Definitely a cool toy. The only difference between men and boys, right?

Spend too much for something with pain inducing earbuds; because it's pretty?
And remember the very limited battery life, Recall anyone.
If their pricing was more realistic I would consider one but not at this time thanks.
(You can't take it to work anyway D!)

I love mine. And I was not on the iPod bandwagon until I got one (as a christmas gift from my boss last year). It's the 20 GB old version (no video screen), but it is perfect. I have a hook up for my car that cost me $25, and I can listen to endless music (commercial free) on all my drives.

I think that Zoomba summed it up nicely--but I would also add that the benefit of an iPod (or similar device) over a cd is that it doesn't scratch, and therefore you don't lose your music.

Personally, I'm all for them and would recommend that EVERYONE get one!

My son has the nano. it holds 500 songs and looks like a thick 1/2 credit card. he loves it. And it was only $200. But now I see they make a video version for $300

pain inducing earbuds

I would use headphones. Buds don't work for me. Bought a CD player with buds, never felt right. Bought headphones.

I am also thinking about getting an ipod.

IG

Noticed the NEX has the ipod nano for $169 during "Black Friday"...not bad. Still not buying one, though. Hehe.

I have been intertested in an iPod for sometime, but the cost has kept me away. Not just the cost of the iPod itself, but all the other cool stuff that I would HAVE to have if I got an iPOD. My wife and I bought a MP3 player from Creative called Muvo. It's 1.5 gigs and has playlists and stuff. It cost about $120. We have really enjoyed it in all our traveling in Europe, it has definately been worth the price we paid.