Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

I'm the first to admit I am usually way behind the curve when it comes to new technology.

2010 is around the corner and I have been given a bit of loot for Christmas and have some left from my birthday, I thought I would buy an MP3/4.

Having looked around it's a mine field, I was thinking of buying an iPod Classic 160GB and a Bose portable sounddock.

Anyone got any better suggestions based on experiences?

TBH and IMHO, I can't fault your choice.

Like you, I'm a bit stale on tech, but I have an 80Gb iPod and it suits me. I only use it for music, and can fit my entire CD collection and more.
Dock? Well is there anyone better than Bose? Maybe Bang & Olufsen - do they do iPod?

I'm sure someone with acres more knowledge than I will be along - it won't take much.

We have this

http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/display.a ... terid=2473

Dave,

Is that the "Zeppelin" that the Gadget Show chose as the best in one of their tests?

They sure did

Sean, worth a look in Richer Sounds as the do a Cambridge Audio docking unit which looked pretty good. Personally I don't do iPod sticking with conventional other ones, but I know I'm in a minority of one by doing that.

Hi Sean,
I personally didn't go for an iPod, as you get better value for money from other makes.
To give you an example, for 40 quid I bought my kids a 16GB Creative Zen last year that also plays movies. At the time there was no iPod that could match this spec for the money.

At the time I got my info from http://www.anythingbutipod.com/ - biased against iPods as you can tell, but worth having a look, good reviews.

An iPod Classic 160GB is about £180 - right? A Cowon S9 is about £140 and according to the tests wins hands down in terms of sound quality etc.
On the other hand, an iPod is a design classic, and there are lots of accessories for it - so I can understand why people go for it.

I would suggest that you have a good look at sites like the one I mentioned above and see if it helps you narrow your choice.

just me that still has vinyl then????

Don't need to know what you wear at the weekends Gordon

Make that a minority of 2

I'm afraid I've drunk the Apple kool-aid so will only recommend some kind of iPod having bought 6 or 7 over the years. Elegantly designed and excellent sound quality, and an unrivalled 'ecosystem' of accessory support.

Don't forget what Apple spotted ages ago - you're not buying into an mp3 player by itself but crucially the software that hosts it on your computer. iTunes (runs on Windows as well as Mac) is free and with usual Apple elegance makes it easy to transfer exactly the content you want including podcasts, movies, photos with just a few clicks. Also as easy to organise your music into playlists and of course it makes getting stuff from iTunes store - free stuff like BBC podcasts as well as paid for - laughably simple.

I'm sure there are cheaper and better-featured devices, but in the same way as the computer world used to revolve around Windows, the iPod has become so dominant that it's got the best support from car audio manufacturers in terms of being able to connect your iPod to your car system and view/control music from the head unit.

Think about how much music/video/photo space you need. If your space needs are relatively modest then you could get an iPod Touch with smaller capacity than the iPod Classic you're considering, which is a fabulous device for viewing photos and films (I happily watch films on my iPhone on a plane in preference to the usual crappy picture and sound of the airline's system) and gives you access to free or modestly priced applications to do just about anything. My iPhone has the 'Porsche Archive' app on it with full details of every model, and you can buy 'Dynolicious' which is a wire-free data logger for your car which records 0-60, 1/4 mile times, g-forces, estimated power output and presents all this in beautiful graphs and instrument displays. Just pop the iPod Touch into a cupholder!

To be impartial the Dynolicious app is also available on Blackberry, but you get the picture that an iPod opens up a lot of possibilities.

As far as a dock goes again it's down to your needs. Do you want something portable so you can listen anywhere in house without carrying anything too bulky, or do you just want to connect to your hi-fi? I'm sure the Bose is a fine portable device. I bought my wife one of those JBL doughnut-shaped things and was surprised at how good the sound quality is, especially bass.

Don't know if you've ever visited an Apple Store but if not you can spend all day in one playing with different iPods, headphones and sound docks and no-one will bother you. If you do need help you'll get excellent information and demonstrations (the staff are not on commission).

End of Apple ad!

I sell MP3 players as part of my job, so should know the answer to this but am I right in saying you can still only use itunes on ipods?
It was the case, but I think they may have overcome this major hurdle now?

Also ...itunes might be easy to use, but it does not beat windows for ease of music file management which non ipods use.

I know the Bose Dock and Zepplin are really good docks. I would have the Zep all day long.

My advice is if you are not desparate to wait as long as possible as there are some really nice mp3 players coming to the market next year. Q2 onwards.

Another consideration is the number of HIFI with built in docks (or ability to attach ipods) is growing and again some really fantastic models out and coming.

Also headphones you get with ipods are poor quality but maybe not an issue to you.

I suspect the iPod naysayers cannot be convinced, and also that some people will always avoid products which have come to dominate their markets (tbh that's partly reason I've used nothing but Macs since 1990).

But it's undeniable that massive companies have tried and failed miserably to dent iPod/iTunes. There is a simple reason why Microsoft's Zune flopped, why the same fate befell Sony's mp3 Walkman, and why Nokia's music sales channel did not set the mobile market alight. No doubt in the future someone will have built a better mousetrap than Apple's, but not yet.

Sean

Easy answer here. Just go out and buy the iPod Touch and the Bose dock. They are brilliant looking and sound the business. Q.E.D mate!

Cheers
Chris

My Hifi is still topped out by a record deck but I worked at B&W while they developed the Zeppelin (took them a while to finish it and there's a smaller version available now).

I still find mp3 and 4 compressed and lacking in finesse when played in a big room. And I'm surprised how many people are willing to forego quality for convenience. Be a while before I convert to a little box of tricks.