Having already caused a serious stir in the MP3 player market, Apple's iPod is bound to be a Christmas best seller this year. If you're not familar with iPod's, don't know what iPod's actually are or are justing looking for better guidance on which iPod is best for you, then you've come to the right place: Shopman's iPod guide!
Apple's iPod is currently available in three distinct flavours. The iPod, the iPod Nano and the iPod shuffle. There are a number of other discontinued variants and models, such as the iPod mini, which we will also cover here.
1. Apple iPod
Originally launched in 2001, Apple's flagship iPod has gone from strength to strength. Current versions feature a colour screen, touch sensitive click wheel navigation and the option of either 20GB (5000 Songs) or a massive 60GB (15000 Songs).
Offering upto 15 hours of continuous music from a single charge, and support by a wide range of third party iPod accessories, the iPod is Apple's daddy of all iPods.
Creative Zen Touch - 20GB - £169.99
The Creatine Zen Touch is a true iPod competitior. It offers 20GB of music storage, an innovative touchpad control system, USB 2.0 interface and support for a wide range of music formats.
Creative Zen Sleek - 20GB - £199.99
Another 20GB Mp3 player from Creative, but with the emphasis on sleekness. WMA, MP3 and WAV support, Vertical touchpad with LED backlight control, FM tuner with direct recordingm USB 2 connectivity and much much more.
Toshiba Gigabeat F20 - 20GB - £199.99
A very worthy challenger to the iPod throne from digital storage experts Toshiba. The Toshiba Gigabeat F20 MP3 player features a 5.6cm LCD colour screen,
Photo viewer,
16 hour lithium ion battery, Plus Touch sensitive control, equalizer and supports MP3, WMA & WAV music formats.
Sony NW-A3000 20GB - £199.99
A new mp3 player from the original inventors of the Walkman, Sony. The NW-A3000 offers 20GB capacity in a futuristic translucent case with a luminescent Organic EL display with a 3 button operation system. A smaller 6GB model is also available (Sony NW A1000 6GB)
Entempo Rubato - 20GB - £139.99
A 20GB MP3 player that offers great value for money. With features such as FM tuner, Voice recording and ShoX Hard Drive Protection System. The Rubato 20GB has a unique play list creation system built in called "Music Magic" .
2. Apple iPod Nano
The iPod Nano is truly a great fusion of style, technology and engineering. Described by the advertising campaign as impossibly small, the iPod Nano is just that.
Available in 2GB (500 Songs) and the more popular 4GB (1000 Songs) the iPod Nano is possibly Apple's most desirable iPod to date.
MPIO HD200 5GB - £139.00
The MPIO HD200 contains a very generous 5GB hard drive, a built in FM radio, 6 line icon driven screen and a menu navigation scroll wheel for a very tidy price.
Creative Zen Micro 5GB - £149.99
The Zen Micro will store up to 2,500 songs in WMA or 1,250 in MP3 on its 5GB hard disk, and its easy-to-remove rechargeable battery delivers up to 12 hours of high-quality digital audio. Built in FM Tuner adds additional value.
Archos Gmini XS100 3GB - £149.99
The Archos Gmini XS 100 is a 3GB hard-drive based music player which offers a great storage capacity allowing you to load up to 1,500 songs. The Gmini XS 100 is available in 4 trendy colors: volcanic black, techno blue, funky pink and ice grey.
MPEYE - HTS200 5GB - £159.99
The MPEYE HTS-200 5GB is possibly the world’s smallest hard drive digital audio player, a miniscule 70 X 43 X 18mm. It's feature packed with colour screen, FM tuner, direct MP3 encoding, voice recording, USB 2.0 and more.
3. Apple iPod Shuffle
The iPod shuffle is the smallest of all of Apple's iPods both in terms of physical size and music capacity. Overshadowed by the recently released iPod Nano, the iPod Shuffle's place may well be questioned in coming months.
Available in 512MB (120 songs) and 1GB (240 Songs) variations, the iPod Shuffle is an attractively small MP3 player, but with the lack of any visual screen or menu's music selection can sometimes prove somewhat frustrating.
Creative Zen Nano Plus - £99.00
Not to be confused with Apple's Nano, the Creative Zen Nano Plus is a capable 1GB MP3 player with FM Tuner, Voice Recorder, LCD Screen, 18 hours battery life and a Choice of 10 Colours.
Sony Bean NW E207 1GB - £99.99
Designed in the style of a jelly bean, Sony's Bean MP3 player incorporates 1GB capacity, built in USB socket, fast battery charging and a massive 50 hours continuous playback.
Safecom SMFD 1GB - £79.00
At only 85mm long and 31mm wide, the Safecom SMFD is a tiny player. Featuring 1GB song capacity, built in FM Tuner, Voice Recorder, LCD Screen and joystick control, the Safecom SMFD 1GB is excellent value for money.
Samsung YP U1Z 1GB - £89.00
With looks not a million miles away from the iPod shuffle, direct comparision are bound to happen. The Samsung unit offers1GB Internal Memory, but adds a 4 line back lit white lcd display to the mix giving it an obvious advantage. With voice recorder and multiple music format support, the Samsung unit is definetly worth a look!
Related Links To purchase any of the MP3 Players listed above, simply click on the relevant image or link. Alternatively, click one of the links below: Apple Store - Apple's own webstore. Advanced MP3 Players - A wide selection of MP3 players at great prices.
Second Hand and Used Ipods
Online auction sites such as Ebay, are awash with second hand iPods as people strive to keep up with the latest generations of MP3 players. If colour screens and the ability to display photo's etc aren't at the top of your feature list for an MP3 player, check out the links below:
1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Generation iPods
Earlier generation iPods lack the latest gimmicks such as colour screen and click wheel navigation but the basic functionality (music playing!) is all there.
iPod's come in 20GB, 40GB and 60GB variants.
Search 'em out at Ebay.
iPod Mini
The iPod Mini was Apple's first attempt to shrink an iPod whilst maintaining decent sizes of music storage. It offered coloured cases, click wheel, lcd screen and 4 GB storage. It has recently been phased out due to the newer and smaller iPod Nano.
Again, a quick search on Ebay or similar auction sites will pull up numerous results.