It appears I am going to need to acquire some new gadgets in the next several months.
An MP3 player. I admit it, I am an embarrassingly late adopter to the whole MP3 thing. I've not really had the need to rip any music before now though. I either have my laptop with me, on which I could play my CDs, or I can play them on the CD player I got for my car. That pretty much has satisfied my music-playing needs up till now. There are a couple of downsides to this arrangement, however: one, I have to shlep around all my CDs around with me, with occasionally unfortunate results, and two, that the laptop isn't a really portable electronic device. I can listen to music while I'm sitting down, but not while I'm walking around.
And that's what I really want to do. Not listen to music while walking, but listen to it while running. As I've mentioned before, I hate running. But I discovered last summer that I was able to get through it when I replayed a Huey Lewis and the News concert from the night before in my head. I'm beginning to drool over future triathlon opportunities and think I need to get off my butt and start training. I suspect that's much more likely to happen if I have an MP3 player to keep me company.
But what to get? I did a little research and it appears I'll need to get a flash MP3 player. Downside: they're smaller in storage volume and proportionately more expensive. Upside: they are also smaller in terms of dimension, and they're solid state so they can endure jostling.
Yet beyond that, I'm not sure how to make a good decision. I figured I should get one with at least a gig of memory so that I can put on most(?) of my collection. But then what? I'm intrigued by the ones that allow for easy ripping of input, since I've got a ton of records and tapes I've never gotten around to ripping, but that might be a gratuitous feature. And other than that, what should I look for? What brands? What models? So far, these look intriguing: Creative Lab's Zen Nano Plus, or the iRiver iFP-799. What mostly attracts me about the latter is the really cool waterproof case you can get for it. Not only could I run with my MP3 player, but I could also SWIM!
Are there other brands/models I should be looking at?
A PDA. I have a Palm Vx from 1999 that I'm quite satisfied with, except for the fact that it's no longer working reliably. It's not a huge problem right now because I have my laptop with me all the time, so I just use the computer version of the software to keep organized. But it would be nice to not have to shlep my laptop everywhere, and I think this aspiration might require getting a new PDA.
Again, what to get? I'm pretty happy with Palm and not keen to give Microsoft more business, but I'm not sure I'm satisfied with the feature bundles on Palms. Then again, I'm not sure which features I want. To replace the functionality of my Vx wouldn't require very much money and I could get a nice, tiny device. But maybe it would be good to add some features, especially if it meant that I could stop shlepping my laptop everywhere. Lots of people at Bucerius, for instance, used to take all their notes with keyboard attachments connected to their PDAs. Since my laptop is getting old and I might not want to replace it until I get an income again, it might be worth offloading some of its functionality to another, cheaper device I could carry around instead of it.
If I do that, though, then I need to confront the feature-set question. Since I have a T-Mobile wireless subscription it might be nice to have one that could handle wireless internet connectivity, especially if I could run Skype on it. Then I could save my cell minutes. However, the Palm devices don't (last time I checked) seem to be able to accept a microphone input. Perhaps when I'm ready to buy that will have changed, but it currently changes the what-to-purchase equation.
The other possibility is to get some sort of PDA/cell phone combination. There is some appeal in getting a cellphone compatible with world-wide networks that I could just swap out sim cards for. Right now I have an American cell phone and a German cell phone, and I think everything is sim-locked so that I can't swap sim cards in and out. It might be nice to have only one device that not only works everywhere but that I can put a German card inside when I'm in Germany, a French card in when I'm in France, etc. Under the current set-up if I go to France I'll have to either get a new phone that can handle a French carrier, or pay an arm and a leg to O2 for out-of-Germany roaming.
Anyway, the cell phone telephony is also a gadgetery problem to solve, and perhaps when I solve the PDA one.
A Digital Camera. I've been a hold-out mostly because I like the tangibility of picture prints. But I'm getting tired of film, and now that it's not too hard to get hard copies of pictures, maybe it's time to make the switch. Given the way I take pictures, I think it would be good for me to be able to be less uptight about worrying about which ones to snap, since it would be costless to keep snapping and so I could end up with some better ones.
The problem with my gadget wishlist is that it's an expensive list to satisfy. I suppose the digital camera is lowest on the list because it's the least-needed. I'm not that avid a photographer, and my current camera is still ok. I think the PDA will need to be acquired in the somewhat near future, but I can probably wait a few months until I'm done with school before dealing with it. The MP3 player, though, I think I'll want to add to my life sooner though. I need to start running…
Comments (8)
Here are my personal solutions to the dilemmae:
MP3 Player: I bought a 1GB iPod Shuffle - aside from the fact that I don't know what tracks are playing (and I don't usually have the need to know what's playing on my Shuffle RIGHT THAT SECOND), and the flat power switch (on a good day, I can get it to turn on easily), I have no complaints. Now, I don't usually like recommending the most popular solution, but if you do most of your music purchasing by CD, then you won't have any crazy DRM problems (well, unless some company decides to put a rootkit on your CD). I've got a Windows box, and iTunes works fine, as far as I can tell.
And with all the iPod accesories out there, someone must have come up with a waterproofing solution...
BTW, 36 albums, 1.75GB, just in case you're counting.
Thought about "upgrading" to the nano. But I actually like not having a display that breaks.
PDA: Well, you're on your own. The PDA is pretty much dead in Japan, mostly because of the great cellphone market. I mean, is there anything you need a PDA for that a decent cell phone just won't do?
Digital camera: I have my cell phone doing this. Although it's not the best quality stuff, I figured if I really want a long-lasting shot, I'd use a film camera. But if you're into downloading stuff to the computer and then organizing them, etc, then probably a real camera is the way to go.
There's got to be a PDA-Cellphone-with-camera-MP3 player out there somewhere... I know there are PDA Cellphones, and there are cells that play MP3s...
Posted by Koichi | February 5, 2006 12:52 AM
Posted on February 5, 2006 00:52
Yeah, I thought about complete convergence, but I'm not sure that even if such a device is out there it's ready for prime time. Usually there's a trade-off in something. I'd suspect it might be the photography. I'd like a camera with decent optics and a zoom, but I'm not sure the camera phones really can provide that.
But hmm... it sounds like an MP3 player with just 1 GB may be kind of small... I don't have a TON of music, but probably more than that (I probably have more than 1 GB of HLN music!)
I wonder if any of these things are expandable?
BTW, what's up with the Nano? Is it an option to consider? I'm not keen to buy the Apple product but I suppose I should consider it for comparison.
Posted by Cathy | February 5, 2006 5:05 AM
Posted on February 5, 2006 05:05
Most cellphone cameras probably don't have optical zoom, so if you want real camera quality, get a real camera :) The resolution on these things is getting pretty good, though.
That's the thing with 1GB - it isn't a ton of music. However, considering that the battery life with the shuffle is more or less the same as the playing time, if you don't mind swapping out the music every so often, the battery gets charged through the USB port anyway...
The nano is worth considering - it's either 2 or 4 GB, so for something so tiny, it's got decent capacity. I don't know if there's a solid-state option out there with more capacity. But it might be awkward to run with (not that I've tried - I suppose it really isn't all that heavy). And if it doesn't scratch, it has a good display. On the other hand, if you're shelling out $249 for a 4GB nano, you might as well spend another $50 for a 30GB iPod (and then, it's another $100 for 60GB...)
As far as I know, none of these things are expandable or upgradable.
Posted by Koichi | February 5, 2006 6:27 PM
Posted on February 5, 2006 18:27
I recommend the Ipod - pick your flavor. I don't think the shuffle is a great product - cheap, but no display and little capacity.
The hard drive based ipods are just fine for running, the bouncing will not damage the ipod or make it skip or anything. There are now several years of data and there are no reports of premature ipod death due to running related bouncing. The ipod also has the advantage of a huge number of accessories for running (belt clips, armbands... etc). I have no idea about a waterproof case for any of them. I suspect that swimming with any of these would be difficult even if a waterproof case exists - you would have to tie down the headphone cords so they don't pull, have earbuds that don't feel or sound freaky in the water and such. As the owner of lots of gadgets in various generations, I still think the ipod is the best mp3 player for most people.
Posted by Jon | February 7, 2006 12:06 PM
Posted on February 7, 2006 12:06
I've heard bad things about the iPod. Like that they only seem to be able to last a year, running or no running. They're also fairly large, I don't like the interface (I don't get why Apple is always lauded for its interfaces; I routinely find everything Apple designs impossible for me to figure out and/or inconvenient), and I don't feel like validating the Apple/iTunes solution for DRM'd music.
But if I'm really not dependent on a flash player, I can look at other models.
In other news, I took at look at the Treo 650. I like it, except for a few show-stoppers: no integrated WiFi, no audio input jack, and a price point that makes it an unrealistic choice to replace the other devices.
Posted by Cathy | February 7, 2006 2:17 PM
Posted on February 7, 2006 14:17
If you can afford the service cost, a blackberry beats the pants off of any PDA by my book. And I think that you can get a discount on service costs if you work through your cell service provider.
Posted by Mark | February 8, 2006 11:25 AM
Posted on February 8, 2006 11:25
So have you fulfilled any of these wishes yet? I'll throw in a few cents and say that, while Apple products rock generally, I agree w/not really wanting to support their juggernaut in the DRM'd music space. Just about any non-iPod mp3 player will give you more features and flexibility for the price. Ease of use may be a different story, but if you hate Apple interfaces then that's not a problem for you.
PDA: I recently got a Palm z22 and love it for its small size, low price, and simplicity. No keyboard, no wifi, no nothing really except your basic PDA features, which is great for me. I do feel the strong pull of the Treo, though, and will consider it more seriously if/when Palm introduces a 700 that runs Palm OS rather than Windows mobile.
Camera: Super big props for the Canon Powershot S400 Digital Elph. It's been replaced by the S450 and/or S500, but they are both very similar and so likely to produce the same excellent pics from a small form factor. The software is good and the interface for the camera is simple to figure out.
Whatever you end(ed) up with, Gadgets = Good!
Posted by ambimb | February 19, 2006 9:06 PM
Posted on February 19, 2006 21:06
> Whatever you end(ed) up with, Gadgets = Good!
Thanks :-) I'm probably going to go out and get the Creative Zen Nano Plus 1 GB today. (Er, I actually got it on Friday but the cheapest I could find was black and I really want a blue one, so I'm going to go to Circuit City and have them meet the price. I'm not normally this vain, but if I'm going to drop this kind of money ($130) I want as much snazziness as possible...)
In a sense it may be a bit expensive for what I'll get. It will not hold my music collection and I think I will still need to end up with a jukebox at some point. But it will tide me over until then, and solve the running thing nicely.
I've heard good things about the Elph. My purchase is far enough off, though, that there's no sense in worrying about model #s. And I do still dream of Treos... If they can manage to integrate WiFi I WILL get one.
Given that I was considering replacing my laptop this summer I can justify dropping some money on gadgets if they allow me not to do that. A jukebox and an Treo would suffice, but I've got to have the wireless.
Posted by Cathy | February 20, 2006 5:19 AM
Posted on February 20, 2006 05:19