Personal Media Player?

[Denmo]

I'm just getting into the whole "music listening" craze. Things like pandora.com, last.fm, iTunes' Genius, are opening up a new world of music for me. Up until this point I've only ever needed the MP3s on my computer and my walkman phone with 2gig storage.

The phone is about to die, I'm pretty sure. I have to nearly shout into it for people to hear me. I'm on my family's AT&T plan and I'm going to ask for a new one. If I get an iPhone I'll likely have to start paying for my own plan, along with the phone itself. It'd be easier to grab a "personal media player", ipod or zune or sansa or what have you. I just don't know what I want.

iPod Touch's app library would sound better if I didn't have to pay for each one. Also, the idea of having to reinstall iTunes and possibly buy music sends shudders down my spine. Are there any killer apps that just make the iPod Touch an absolute GODSEND? Do you have an iPod Touch? Are you happy with it? What do you use it for? How's the battery life, and what happens when the battery fails?

Zune HD? I understand it doesn't have the apps that Apple has, but reviews say it's otherwise better overall. Do you have one and is it worth the money spent? How's the battery life, and what happens when the battery fails? Is it really necessary to go HD if you don't plan on putting movies on it?

Are there any other unheard-of's that blow either of these out of the water when it comes to playing/downloading/streaming music? Should I just stick with my phone and be el cheapo?

QUESTIONS. QUESTIONS THAT NEED ANSWERING.

[John Mora]

Re: Personal Media Player?

iPod Touch is great if the limitation of wi-fi doesn't kill it for you. There are tons of really great apps for free (such as Pandora) and it can be an iTunes remote if you want it to be. And if you're really adamant on getting all your music for free through file-sharing, iTunes doesn't require you to buy it from their store to add it to the library.

If you like bells and whistles, an iPod Touch is gonna be your best buy.

[Toaster]

Re: Personal Media Player?

Jesus Christ, I read that entire post thinking that was Adrian because of your Avatar.

[Denmo]

Re: Personal Media Player?

Mine is clearly different from hers!

Where I live currently, Wifi is pretty generous. It's also not hard to pull up to a McDonalds or some other hot spot if I'm traveling. And it's not like I'd be fooling around with these apps at work. So iPhone is not necessary by any means.

[IamPinhead]

Re: Personal Media Player?

Apple products will generally have a lot more support and crap for them than other comparable products (i.e. Zune HD). If you're just looking for a 'personal media player' and not a phone, I would go for a Zune. Big screen, very durable (mine's been immersed in water, dropped on concrete God only knows how many times) and there are plenty of user-made games/applications.

[Alex]

Re: Personal Media Player?

My iPod Touch was the greatest thing in the world before I got an iPhone.

A lot of applications are free.

The applications that aren't free are 99 cents to five dollars and are usually worth it.

Nobody is forcing you to buy music through iTunes.

The iTunes application is necessary to transfer music. Could be a thinner app, and can confuse people that don't realize how to change settings, but I am a big fan.

I used my iPod Touch to listen to music, browse the internet, watch videos, chat on AIM. I didn't play any games because most of them are not fun. I have a NDS for games.

Killer Apps include everything that comes standard (Safari, Calender, Maps, Mail, YouTube, iPod) and Last.fm, Pandora, several internetradiostationplayers(Wonder Radio $5 can play any streaming feed), AIM, Facebook. All of these are free besides Wonder Radio. I also have an app that connects to my local transit database for live-satellite bus/train tracking, but

99% of iPod Touch/iPhone applications are useless. I don't use many, but those I do I use very often.

I'm leaving out all of the GPS/Camera apps, as the iPod Touch can't utilize those.

I recommend the iPod Touch very much.