Any ideas, guys!?? TIA

YaYa, my brother just sent me an iPod shuffle, it's tiny and it'll hold about 250 songs. It's about the size of a book of matches. And yes, the sound quality is outstanding. I only wish iPod earbuds came in different sizes, these are too big for my little earholes. lol I had to buy different ones and I don't like how they cancel out all room noise at the same time, I couldn't hear the kettle boiling or the phone ringing and that was with no song playing, just having them in my ears turned off!

Anyway, I think all the iPods are supposed to be wonderful. Just go to the store and browse them, they're pretty straight forward, I think.

My brother got a new iPod Touch, his is fancy and gets internet and everything, it does a lot more than music.

Thanks, Flamey. What you have sounds more like what he'd want. No fancy bells and whistles, just good music. (With a good beat and easy to dance to! LOL) Are you old enough to remember American Bandstand?

Why, yes I am, thanks very much, it has a good beat and I can('t) dance to it! lol

OK, I googled "how to pick an iPod?" and it came up with a lot that I haven't read yet. There's the iPod Nano, Shuffle, Touch, iPhone and Classic. If Twinkie just wants simple music with no video screen, like mine, I think a new Shuffle is about $49, and that comes with the docking station and earbuds. Might be less with after Christmas sales, I don't know.

You can add songs from CD's or your computer or buy them from iTunes. Let me know what you get!

Santa gave me an iPod for Christmas (4GB, hot pink). Now I need to find a 7 year old to show me how to use it! LOL

Like Flamey said, the shuffle is the tiny one. It's a little harder to find accessories for it. I have the Nano, which is larger, but still pretty small. I also have a docking station with an alarm clock and speakers so that I can listen to the music, audio books, etc at home without the ear buds. Very easy to use.

for the most part apple has agreements w/ authorized sellers & apple sets the pricing. i did see only a hand full of ads this season where an ipod was no more than $5 cheaper but a few did skip around the set pricing by including an itunes cards for $10-15.

dh & i have a couple of large capacity MP3 players, none apple (dh is anti-apple) that were far cheaper than ipods BUT i still want an ipod even thou i know full well they have far less storage capacity that cheaper brands. i'm a sucker for advertising i guess lol. if you are a sound fanatic, i am, do upgrade the earbuds to either Bose or Shure both are $99 and are a bargain for the sound quality. i have shure and they fit my tiny elf ears perfectly.

my other reason for not yet having an ipod is we download music, some not suppossed to be free, and you absolutely can not run that thru itunes. i have also had problems running copied CD's that were bought, thru itunes, i loaded a friends ipod w/ music. if you are not set on an ipod the zune is a great deal. few christmases ago DH got me a 1G creative MP3 player from buy.com for $10! i was disappointed it wasn't an ipod but it was only $10 LOL and since it's cheap i don't worry about how i treat it! ~ liz

My kids don't like the shuffle, they like the nano. Before you choose which ipod you want, check the way the music is accessed. Perhaps the newer ipod shuffles have changed, but the old ones only played music in random order (hence the name "shuffle").

My kids have ipods that will allow you to set up playlists and select which playlist you want to run. If I was getting an ipod, that's the way I'd go. I wouldn't want random order, I'd want a "Christmas Music" playlist, a "clean the house music" playlist, a "mellow mood" music playlist.

I wouldn't want any fancy features, no internet access, no bells and whistles, but I would like a playlist feature. But a random order may be just fine for your husband. I think the ipod shuffles are cheaper than the others.

The kids got Ipod touches this year....they are cool and you don't have to use the headphones all the time now.....they have the older ones also think they need to give me the old one so I can use it!! Stacy

Grandson has the ipod touch and he loves it.

The Shuffle is the smallest, but you can't do playlists on it because there is no way to see the lists. You just make the list on iTunes & put it on the Shuffle & it plays them. I have a Nano. It is still very small, but it stores a lot more than the shuffle & you can put multiple song lists on it (like a separate list of jazz, country, etc). You can also choose to just listen to a certain album or to all songs by a particular artist. It is also large enough to store digital books so you can listen to them. I like being able to select whatever music I'm in the mood for. The Nano is a lot more flexible than the Shuffle. I have an older Shuffle & use it when I'm working out or riding my bike. The iPod Touch would be good if you wanted something more like a PDA. You can use it as an Ipod as well as put other applications like to-do lists, etc. on it. It is much larger & heavier than the others, except for the iPhone. If you just want to listen to music, the iPod Touch may not be the best one for you. It does have a larger screen for viewing video if you're interested in that. The iPhone does everything the iPod Touch does as well as function as a phone. DH has one through his company & it is neat, but the monthly plan is about $75.

The big question is: Exactly what do you want to do with it? Do you want something just for music or are you interested in the other functions as well?

A few years ago DS#1 bought a Shuffle for himself, b/c they are affordable even for a 12 y/o. ;o) But, there is no screen, so it's hard to "manage" your songs. So when he got bored with that, he wanted a Nano, with the small screen and the ability to manage his play lists. Also, he can pop that into a speaker system made for it and play it outloud, no headphones. He can watch movies on it, too. He gave the Shuffle to his younger brother.

Ever since we gave him the Nano last Christmas, I wanted one for myself. They are fun! So for months I've been dropping big hints to DH, reminding him I still wanted one for Christmas. So, yesterday he did better and gave me the ipod Touch. WhooHoo! Wow, is it fun! I can connect to any wireless internet with that and download the music, movies and games directly, without my computer. Or with my computer, if I want. It is everything except a phone. I can email from it, get weather, directions (it is NOT a GPS, though, it's just directions). Or, I can download Tetris, then stay up all night playing it. So, if you were at my house, you could now try out all three. ;o) DH is quite proud of himself b/c I LOVE this "toy" he gave me for Christmas. I'm like a kid!

Called my mom yesterday, she gave my dad an Ipod Touch for Christmas, too! So he can watch movies on it while they are on the road. DS#1 tells me you cannot upload a DVD to it, you must go online to itunes and download/buy a movie. She chose the Touch b/c it's got a bigger screen for "their old eyes" to see. She didn't think Dad would use the Nano b/c he wouldn't be able to see the screen. But she asked to talk to DS#1 to answer some questions about how to use it. Truth be told, though, my mom is pretty tech savvy for a grandma. ;o)

Oh, and I had to get my 15 y/o to stop playing Wii long enough yesterday to give me a tutorial on the IPod. Even though I am still having fun saying to him, "Wow, mine is better than yours." That is the first time I can say that about any technology "toy."

A person could look at the Shuffle and think "That's OK, that'll do what I want" and you'd be happy with your music. But once you see the others, I think you'd see the advantages (and, OK, the fun factor) of having more features.

The best place to see them all is at apple dot com. I have bought AT LEAST 10 or more REFURBISHED Ipods directly from the Apple website. They are much cheaper than you can buy at retail AND they carry the same warranty. The oldest is about 5 years old now, and still going strong. I have purchased 3 iTouch at $179, at LEAST 4 Nanos at $79, and 2 or 3 of the Shuffles at $39. I own and use the Shuffle, the Video Ipod and the iTouch and the rest were gifts for my g'kids over the past few years. I would NOT get the Shuffle for anyone who can read. (My youngest g'child got one at age 4) You like to be able to see the titles of the songs.

i got my kids the new 8 gb ipod nanos' and they are much smaller than the previous ipod nanos. I watched all year for the best deals, and they were on ebay which a seller had many for buy it now at $134.00 with no tax and free shipping, and at best buy with a $20.00 gift card..That comes around every so often at least online, and they have free shipping as well. An even better deal is the ipod touch 8 gb which best buy just had for $230.00 which is the regular price but you got a $50.00 gift card and a free $4.99 game to download onto it as well. Taking into consideration the gift cards, this only came to around $50.00 more than the nano, and you get so much more with the touch way bigger screen, wireless internet for free, you can buy and download music etc right on the machine...don't need to go online.. I almost ordered it for myself now wished i would have..