Help! 14 year old dd wants an IPod for Christmas!!

[Midlodemocrat]

[pk_du]

1. Sounds like a 14 year old is going to be disappointed ! n/t

[haydukelives]

2. Why dont you get a job n/t

[benburch]

3. And this is a problem why?

Money? There are less expensive MP-3 players that might be a substitute. You can get a 64MB player for $40, and perhaps even less if you shop.

[Midlodemocrat]

6. It is a problem

because I have no idea what to look for in an IPod. Money is not the issue, but I don't understand any of this MP3 technology, so I am not sure what's a good deal or not.

[leftynyc]

10. Go to the Apple website

www.apple.com.

I just bought my nephew the mini-ipod for his Bar Mitzvah. Didn't matter where you look - $249 everywhere. Just make sure his computer has the memory for it and the right connections. Needs USB or firewire port.

[Midlodemocrat]

12. I think that is the cheapest one.

...but is it a good buy? I don't want to get her something that will fall apart in a year, not at that price anyway.

[BigMcLargehuge]

19. that won't happen with an apple product

AND, for a little extra cash you can buy into the applecare program for iPods that covers the machine for 3 years following the initial standard 1 year warranty.

The only thing you should have to worry about is which one to buy. if money is no object then consider the photo iPod, that way your daughter can tote around her music and any pictures she likes to display to friends on the little color screen.

If it's just music (or she has no interest in pictures) then I'd recommend one of the non mini iPods as their capacity is so much greater. I think the breakdown is 5 gigs for 250 bucks and 20 gigs for 300 or something. Depending on what music she has the 20 gig is probably going to offer much more bang for the buck as it can store 4 times as much as the mini for only fifty bucks extra.

[Midlodemocrat]

20. I appreciate your feedback.

We don't have any Apple products here, so I an unfamiliar with their reliability. I know she is going to want to tote it everywhere, so I am looking for something durable.

[LoZoccolo]

24. I ditto BigMcLargehuge's suggestion.

The 20GB iPod is the way to go - 5 times as much space for $50 more, plus you don't have to pick the color! I've got one myself and I could store a LOT on it, but I burned through 4GB pretty quickly. This 20GB one...I've got it maybe 60% full.

[benburch]

25. Ah! OK.

Well, all iPods are very similar. There are two basic sorts, the iPod, and the iPod Mini, so it is important to ask which one is wanted.

Generally, the higher the capacity the better as far as a teenager is concerned, but if you can find a deal on an older 15 GB iPod, that really is more music than anybody can reasonably listen to, and songs can be moved back and forth from the computer to get more variety than that.

You can find a 40 GB iPod for $349 (after rebate) from http://service.bfast.com/bfast/click?bfmid=37919189&siteid=41169145&bfpage=1669928 which is a very good price for one of these.

[Midlodemocrat]

27. Great advice, thanks.

[Skittles]

36. get him a gift certificate and let him pick his own

I've given up trying to guess what people want

[newyorican]

4. Don't ask me for help...

My daughter asked for one, but she tossed in all of her confirmation money to sweeten the deal. She now has her 40GB I-Pod. :shrug:

[Midlodemocrat]

7. How did you decide which one to buy?

...that is the problem I am having. I don't know anything about MP3 technology.

[Florida_Geek]

5. iPods are great

3 generation iPod owner.

[the Princess]

8. Tell him or her to get a job

It's good to work for what you want instead of getting everything handed to you.

[Midlodemocrat]

9. Too young. Does babysit for spending money however.

...she is asking for this for Christmas.

[gollygee]

11. The mini iPods are less expensive and come in pretty colors

They don't hold as much but would hopefully keep a 14-year-old happy.

If money is no object, the new 4th generations iPods just came out. $300 for 20 gb, $400 for 40 gb.

Mini iPods are $250 and they don't hold nearly as much music so you might just want to go for the 20 gb one. I have a 3rd generation 20 gb one and I am unable to fill it up.

[Midlodemocrat]

13. I am guessing gb stands for

...amount of songs? in like computer bytes? Is that right?

[gollygee]

16. gigabytes.

20 gb holds 5,000 songs more or less
40 bg obviously holds 10,000

[Aiptasia]

14. buy an I-river instead

half the price of an i-pod and twice the capacity. Hooks up to your PC with a usb cable (1.1 or 2.0 usb) and plays all popular song file formats.

I love my i-river.

[Midlodemocrat]

15. Who makes it?

[Aiptasia]

26. http://www.iriveramerica.com/

[chenGOD]

37. iRiver is a Korean company. n/t

[Renew Deal]

22. But it's not nearly as cool

looking. She wants to be a trend setter. The i-river would be a disappointment.

[Midlodemocrat]

23. Good to know. Thanks.

[Aiptasia]

28. that's a matter of opinion

maybe now is the time to teach her not to be a sheep and follow along with the masses.

Plus my i-river looks much cooler than any i-pod IMHO.

But, teens will be teens, and god forbid she gets something other than specifically what she requests. Her whole teen universe could collapse.

[Midlodemocrat]

29. Let's not go down that path

...she is not the type to collapse if she doesn't get what she wants. She isn't that materialistic, simply loves music.

[Aiptasia]

33. you're right

I was venting a little in that last post. Whenever I visit my sister's family, I wind up being the referee for whatever teen crisis is in full swing at the moment. I have three teenage nieces, each a year apart, all materialistic and shallowly self-centered like their parents.

I love them, but sometimes I can't stand them. And yes, they voted for Bush and Ahnold.

[Midlodemocrat]

35. All is forgiven

...I think it is really easy to mis-interpret posts via email. At the risk of sounding like a braggart, my 14yo spent all last week dealing with much littler cousins and loving it. She watched them, played with them, bathed them, helped feed them and still cried when we left. Of course, when we got home at midnight, she had to get right on the computer to check away messages, so 'sigh' not much has changed. I would like to get her this for Christmas because it is the only thing she has asked for, but I must confess, it is very confusing to me.

[Aiptasia]

38. they're basically

the sony walkmen of the new millenium. A little hard-drive you can hook up to your computer and fill with music.

I'm glad she has a good head/heart. My nieces fight over every little thing and their parents cave in to every arguement eventually just to get them to shut up. There's no boundaries, no punishment they can't weasel out of, and no end to the drama.

When I suggested that the family should help out at a soup kitchen last year as a christmas activity, you could have heard a pin drop. It was like I just dropped my pants and farted. Christmas to them is all about the sheer accumulation of clothes, makeup, trendy gadgets and whatever the latest fad du jour is.

My oldest niece, Chelsea, was handed a new camaro on a golden platter for her 17th birthday and immediately totalled it four days later. I don't think i'll ever let my sister's husband live that one down.

This year i'm giving them gift certificates or cash money and avoiding the malls.

[AlCzervik]

39. I dont how old your other niece is but my daughter is a girlscout

i'm her troop leader. she's 10 and our troop spends a lot of time trying to do community projects, cleaning up a park, donating clothes and food and the like and it's been really good for the whole troop. I'm not saying ther're all angels but helping others has done them all a world of good. even the parents take an active part in charity drives.

[Midlodemocrat]

40. Well, take heart, this too shall pass.

They will grow up to be wonderful productive members of society. I think it is often just the predatory environment of the school that they attend that makes them bitchy. My daughter has her moments, believe you me, but all in all, I think she is pretty sensible. She is not getting a brand new car on her 17th birthday, that is for sure. It scares the hell out of me. She can drive the van. That should be interesting.

[Kilkenny5]

45. The problem with the iRiver one is

you can't find as many accessories for it as with the iPod. That's why I decided on an iPod.

I bought mine at Best Buy for $220. It was a floor model (20GB). They sold out of the other ones.

It stores 5,000 songs. Mine has close to 1,300.

I knew someone who bought his 10-year-old son an iPod. The conditions were he couldn't take it outside of the house and was put on a budget on how many songs he could download from iTunes.

He also had to give up a month's allowance in order to get it.

[Guaranteed]

17. DD as in developmentally disabled?

Fraid they're going to break it?

[Midlodemocrat]

18. As in dear daughter. Where have you been?

[Renew Deal]

21. lol

:spank:

[illflem]

30. I've tried I-river and Dell DJ

iPod is by far the best. The 20GB is the best choice.
Might want to find out what she will be doing with it though. I bought a 20GB for my daughter and she ended up buying a mini in addition, said the 20GB was too heavy and bounced around when jogging and exercising. The 20GB now lives in her car.

[Midlodemocrat]

31. Great advice, thanks! and now I am out of the 700 club to boot!!!!

[AlCzervik]

32. I have ipod mini and i love it

it's easy use and apple has a good warranty. You may want to get her the regular ipod, it has more storage space. I'll not bash other mp3 players because i dont know have any experience with them.

[bif]

34. I went halves with my daughter and bought the 40 gig iPod

It's really easy to use and you can't have too much storage space. Although 40 gigs is absolutely huge. My daughter has been loading it up for a couple weeks and has only used up 4 or 5 gigs so far. Get the biggest one you can afford.

[LifeDuringWartime]

42. i would need

a 70 gb ipod for all of my music... too bad they dont make them ;)

i could probably up that to 120 or 130 if i ripped all of my parents' cds and records. mmmm

[Abelman]

41. Dude

I want an iPod for Christmas. Doesn't mean I'll get one.

[name not needed]

43. Stay away from Archos products

My Archos 20 gig was a piece of shit. When it came, it was assembled the wrong way. Either it was a refurbished one, or it was put together in the dark. And the dinky plastic screws holding the front plate on were completely stripped, so fixing it was out of the question without having to buy Billy Mays' Super Terrific Stripped Screwdriver, Magic Cleaner and Pancake Maker. It worked fine. For the first 3 weeks. And then the battery decided it was time to stop holding a charge. Then came 8 months of complete shit from this thing. Get the iPod.

[fleabert]

44. you must have gotten a lemon, my DH

loves his, it did have a prob when he first got it, something with the battery, but they replaced it for free and overnighted it. He now wants the new Archos that just came out. (bigger screen, color, more memory, etc)

I personally think it's a waste of money, but that's just me. I don't have any use for a MP3 player.