Quote[/b] (Matt the Shrimp @ Sep. 16 2004,12:25)]One advantage of getting your iPod in the US is that you can get iTrip, which you can't buy in the UK as a result of radio broadcasting laws.
Basically, the iTrip is a tiny FM broadcast transmitter which sits on top of your iPod. I get in my car (or anyone's car), find a blank frequency (not easy in London, although 104.2 FM seems to be working for me at the mo) and then tune my iPod + iTrip to 104.2 FM. Then... hey presto, my iPod broacasts through my car radio.
So, for example, I was on a stag night last weekend, and for part of the evening we were in a Limo. We wanted a bit of a late 80s / early 90s retro play-list for the limo, all the songs we loved at school/uni (M/A/R/R/S, KLF, Shamen, Snap, KWS, Opus III, Stereo MCs etc.).
Rather than cart arse-loads of CDs around, I simply downloaded / ripped songs off my CDs, put them all on the iPod, and then sat by the radio... and there we had the play-list, all on my iPod, and broadcasting through the radio.
Basically, it's the mutt's nuts.
To answer your questions:
*I decided to go for 20GB, which means proper big iPod, not iPod mini. Whilst I'm sure you can fill it with songs, 20GB = 5,000 tracks. I'm sure I'll never have
that many songs on it at any one time!
*I got mine in the US. iPod plus iTrip came out at about £250, IIRC... not a massive saving over UK prices, except of course you can't get the iTrip in the UK.
*If you get the 20GB model, the docking station comes free. It's worth it - makes connecting to your computer a lot easier.
*Battery life... not great when using iTrip, a couple of hours tops. Better when just using headphones.
*I've yet to find a CD that my iTunes (on the computer) wouldn't rip. As for downloading tracks... other than the fact that Kazaa Lite ++ seems to have plenty of bogus tracks on there, I've not had any trouble.
*Perhaps. But I can't think of one. It looks fantastic, and as is always the way with Apple... it's so user-friendly, it's almost intuitive. Sometimes I buy technology because I'm seduced by it, but then end up under-using it (my Mini-Disc player is a classic example of that). There are no such problems with my iPod...
But if you can, get iTrip... I think it revolutionises the iPod. It turns a posh walkman into a totally user-friendly walking library of your entire CD collection, and allows you to play it through any FM radio you can find. And that, quite simply, rocks!
Matt
