IPod Buying Guide

Ipods have quickly become "the" mp3 player for people around the world. There are tons of different ipod designs to choose from. How do you know which ipod is right for you and your music collection? Here is a run down of all of the different types of ipods out on the market today.

Ipod Shuffle

The Ipod shuffle is perfect for people who don't want to carry around their entire music collection with then, but want something light and easy for working out and going out on the two. The ipod shuffle is about the size of a pack of gum, and comes with a lanyard so you can wear it around your neck and go hands free. The shuffle comes in two sizes 512mb and 1g, the 512mb ipods shuffle will hold 120 songs and the 1gb model will hold around 240.

One downside of the shuffle is that it doesn't have a display so you cannot easily navigate through your play list and decide what songs you want to listen to. The shuffle does allow you to play through a certain list on your computer in order, so if you want to build a workout mix complete with warm up and cool down you can do it and play through the list continuously on the shuffle.

If you want to mix it up you can turn the shuffle to shuffle mode and have your ipod pick out a play list and song order for you from the songs you have uploaded to your ipod.

Ipod Nano

If you want to keep it small, but also want to see your play list then an iPod Nano may be the right ipod for you. iPod Nanos are slightly larger in size than the shuffle but have their own color display where you can easily navigate through songs and play lists as well as view your pictures. Ipod nanos come in 1gb, 2 GB and 4gb sizes. The 1gb model will hold the same as a 1gb shuffle (240 songs) the 4gb version however will hold close to 1000. A new feature of the Nano is their integration with Nike. You can now use you Nano like a pedometer and track your workout as well as listen to some great tunes while you run.

IPod

For the ultimate iPod experience then you should purchase a traditional Ipod. Available in 30gb and 60gb sizes, the Ipod will hold 15,000 or 30,000 songs respectively. If you don't have enough songs to fill your iPod why not download some videos instead? Ipods now all support video, so you can download your favorite television show or music video and take it with you on the road. The battery on the Ipod will last up to 20 hours before giving out making it a great music and video player for long trips.