First iPod I've Owned and Love It.
594007
Unfreakin' believable on how much you can put on this puppy.  Have all my CDs on it, and still have 50+ gig left. :-000  Next to go on it are my audio books.  The sound quality, even with the earbuds is pretty cool.

Bought the gizmo to listen to it via the car's tape deck, sound quality isn't outstanding, but it's great to have all the music in one spot.  Also bought the car recharger as well.  Also have the Logic3 speaker-charger-sync device.  Works like a charm.

Right now, I get NPR's Science Friday podcast.  Great to listen whenever.  As far as the videos go, for such a dinky screen, it's not bad at all.  I'm using it more for sound

As other reviewers have said, you do need to buy a screen protector, but that's true with any handheld device.  And as far as durability, any honest idiot knows you gotta be careful with any kind of handheld!!!
4895082
I bought this ipod a week ago, and have used it every moment after that, and it's great. I started off putting on my 2pac collection and the sound quality is great, just not on the ipod headphones. Yes, you may have heard it before, they are crappy quality and they hurt your ears. I am currently using them though, and in a few days my sony headphones will arrive. Well back to the actual ipod, the picture feature is good, I can view all my pics but of course its small so I guess for pics get a bigger screen player. The shuffle feature is great and is practically stutter free. I don't know if its me or what but seems as if my ipod screen is crooked, but I don't really care I guess but this and the phones bring it down a star. The click wheel took me a day or two to get used to but now its comfortable. The playlist feature is kind of tricky though. Overall, I'd recommend this, it's a great piece of electronics.
2764339
I've had an iRiver MP3 player for a year or so now, and it's really great for listening to the radio.  It's small and lightweight, but it has very little storage space and the shape is clunky.  I set my sights on this super sexy iPod and didn't stop until I finally had one in my hands.  I am so in love with this thing I can hardly stand it.

It's got LOTS of pros, and a couple minor cons, which I will outline below.  It's still an absolutely unbeatable value for the amazing technology you're getting, so don't let a few petty cons dissaude you from owning THE coolest thing on the planet right now for any music lover.

The iPod is a little more weighty than I expected, but it's not unmanageable.  The arm band is fantastic and it doesn't budge even at the gym.  I love the slim design; the weight would only be an issue if it were bulky.

The ear buds that come with it look cheap, but the sound quality is amazing.  It sounds 10 times better if you use the little black foam cushions that slip over the buds.

The click wheel is incredibly convenient, however it can be a little overly touchy at times, which will make you frustrated with your own fingers.  A lot of this has to do with being so excited when you first get it that you get beside yourself and have to force yourself to slow down.  ;)  I love the shuffle function, which virtually eliminates the need to touch it at all.  I use mine mostly at the gym, so this is fantastic for me.

It charges quickly and holds a charge for a very long time.  I love that it allows you to stop and turn it off in the middle of a song if need be, and when you power it back on it will continue right where you left off!

I am a big fan of iTunes, simply because it is terribly fast and convenient - IF you are buying the songs from the iTunes site.  However, I have found that converting my CD's and MP3's into the iTunes library for upload takes a fairly annoying chunck of time.  It's the biggest pain in the rear end of all the cons, without a doubt.  Of course, once the songs are converted, you don't have to worry with them again.  It's very fast and easy to create custom playlists for upload.

The only other problem I have noticed is that on some uploads it will switch around CD song titles (all on the same artist, it just mixes up the titles).  I have no clue why this happens, as they show up perfectly in my iTunes library and there was no interruption during the uploads.  It's really no big deal to me, but is worth mentioning.

All in all, the good far outweighs the bad.  This is the first line of Apple products I have owned (we also have an iPod mini and are about to purchase a shuffle).  I am so impressed with the iPod that our next purchase will likely be a Mini Mac.  Way to go Apple!  You've earned a new fan.
4579715
This is an older model now, but the one I bought used recently still works fine. I was late to the ipod party. I got my first one just a year ago. A 30gb classic from a friend. Instantly loved it as I'm a music nut. However as the enevitable happened I had to start limiting what I added to my itunes as I approached my ipods gig limit. Hence a new ipod. My 30gb ipod became full at around 4200 songs. Now I no longer have to pick and choose my most favorite songs to add, they all go on. I was putting 5 songs from an album, now the whole album goes on. The freedom of having more space is wonderful. I don't understand how people can have only 8gb or 16gb ipods. Without a doubt the most-used feature for me is song shuffle. At work, at home or in the car. I never know what's next, I only know I'm gonna love it, because I put it on there. And no commercials. It bounces from Ryan Adams to Tool to Huey Lewis to Waylon Jennings to Elvis to Ramones. You get the idea. Even with just 4500 songs, I can plug this into my home stereo, start shuffle, and it will play for over TEN DAYS! No repeats. For me this ipod is like a cell phone or microwave. There is NO going back.
2872674
I was hesitant with purchasing a refurbished ipod but am glad that I did. I do have issues with the ipod freezing up for very long periods of time when I let it sit for a day without play which is annoying but I do not know if that is just because it is a refurbished ipod or because it is an older generation ipod. Also there is big lag in the player responding to me pushing any of the buttons. The battery life is great because this lasts me a couple of days of play before needing to be charged. All in all I am happy with the purchase and feel as though it was worth what I paid.
2637120
I got one for Christmas.  I'll admit that I was a bit skeptical, since I had wanted a Nano, but decided to keep it.

I love it... It is ridiculously small and holds a ton of music.  I have been using it for running on rocky, hilly off-street running, and the music does not bounce like it did on my last MP3 player.  Even the earbuds work better for running.  Can't wait for some more accessories to come out - I think this might be the only drawback over an iPod, but I would almost recommend it over the Apple version due to the controls.
593216
I love this iPod. I had a 3rd generation nano for 8 years and decided to upgrade finally to a new one that is bluetooth compatible with my car stereo. The only downside is the battery life is less-than-great. I used it for 2 days, maybe 7 hours total and it died. So the 30-hour play time is a farse. However to all you idiots who keep claiming that the headphone jack doesn't go in all the way.. remember, this is an apple device. They're not supid, they wouldn't make this model like that.. and it DOES go in all the way, you just have to push it in kind of hard, (I know, I was nervous about it at first too) but my assumption is that the iPod was made this way so people don't rip their headphones out by accident.. especially say while jogging or working out. Just push it in all the way, it will not hurt anything I promise. But anywho, great device. The price tag was a little high for something so simple with very little features, however it was worth it to me as a simple music player with bluetooth is exactly what i was looking for. I'd buy again.
2810360
Several years ago I bought my son an Archos player. Last Christmas I got him a Video iPod. I knew both were too big and bulky for my needs. A few months ago I got an iPod Shuffle and loved it but there were three problems. One, the lack of any display, two, the controls were a bit small for my fingers and three, it can only charge off a USB port. I'm headed to Odessa, Ukraine later this week and won't have access to a computer's USB port so I wanted something that runs off good old-fashioned batteries. So I bought the Sansa m240 from Amazon while they were running the $[...] rebate. [...]
I've read the complaints of some of the reviewers and so let me say upfront that I don't need or ask much from a player. If I can load the songs that I want and then be able to listen to them, in sequence or shuffled, I'm happy. The Sansa lets me do exactly that. I spent last weekend loading my MP3 collection into Windows Media Player 10 on my XP SP2 Home machine and rating the songs to get 1 GB worth of music with 4 stars.

Today I connected my newly arrived Sansa m240, copied my four-star listing to the sync playlist in Windows Media Player and downloaded the music to the Sansa without a hitch. It couldn't be simpler. I set the Sansa playback to shuffle and life is good.

Someone commented on the lack of documentation but the user guide available on the mini-CD or from the Sandisk website seems more than adequate. I've also heard the arm band and case is a bit cheesy. Perhaps, but it does what I want it to do which is hold the Sansa on my arm (the iPod Shuffle lived at cord's length in my pants pocket).

Finally, someone complained about the size. Well I'm not sure if there's anything smaller than the iPod Shuffle and I don't consider the Sansa much bigger. Given the display and the ability to swap out an AAA battery on the road, I'll take the Sansa over the Shuffle anyday.

The Sansa m240 is perfect for my needs, which are to have my music on the road in a light package, be able to see what's playing to appease my occasional curiosity and be able to use easily replaceable batteries. That's why I give it 5 stars.
3941588
it took me a long time to get and ipod nano. and now that i do, i don't ever want to part with it.

It's fantastic. it's so incredibly small, i couldn't believe when i first saw. it fits on my hand, on any pocket, sometimes i even forget it's there.

i was scared of breaking it but it's very resistent and it has impressed me.

i love all the space it offers. i made the transition from a 128mb pendrive to a 2gb ipod.

there's no comparison. at first, i didn't had enough music to fill it so i had to ask friends for music reccomendations. i also used amazon's recomendations system.

i love all it's functions. i can read books or fics or even classwork. i can have all the lyrics to the songs. i can put thousands of photos.  especially icons, who show all their color and majesty on the ipod screen.

i can make a million playlist for all diferent moods and whatever. i can order by album,artist,genre,composer, whatever i want.

if suddenly i want to listen to only a couple of songs, i can make playlists on the go.

i can listen to audiobooks and put them all there. not just a few chapters at a time.

i can listen to my whole library or just one playlist. put it in random or normal.

shuffle all my playlist. or the artist. or the songs.

i can play when i'm bored.

use it as a hard-drive to transport things.

keep my calendar.

there's three things i always need. my cell phone, my camera and my ipod.
3553826
I am picky about both music and gadgets, but this little guy was a great purchase.

OVERVIEW:
After three weeks of owning this device, I highly recommend it.  It's slick, menus and controls make sense, nice sound quality.  I would give it 5 stars if not for the less-than-stellar battery life and dependence on Windows Media Player (nothing against the program, just not as likely to be running my friends' music).

PROS:
1. The menus and operating system are extremely versatile and intuitive.  My friends are quite impressed with the scroll speed and the letter icon telling me where I am in the lists.
2. The player itself is sleek and most notably NOT AN iPOD!
3. No thought of running out of memory (though I haven't stored any video yet)
4. Dedicated buttons on the side make it simple to pause, FF, Rewind, and power down without pulling it out of your pocket.
5. Pauses the track in place automatically when you power down.
6. It feels solid, especially compared to the Zunes and Zens I've played with in stores.
7. Screen color, brightness, and sharpness are EXCELLENT.
7. Did I mention it's not an iPod?  Go ahead, it feels good to snicker at white earbuds.  Get some Shure E4C's in black.

CONS:
1. No, the battery doesn't last forever.  The low battery indicator pops up right before the thing is totally empty.  Developing new habit of charging every two or three days.
2. I haven't found how to edit track names or add cover art to the tracks already on the player.  I have to delete the track and drop in the new information as a new track.
3. I set the screen to shut off after 5 seconds.  Thus, if I pause a track and the screen goes dark I have to remind myself to turn off the unit.
4. Not many accessories available yet.  I haven't even seen the thing sold in any store I've been in.
5. iTunes won't recognize a Gigabeat and Windows Media Player won't recognize an iPod, so sharing music with my friends always involves an extra step or two.
6. This one is picky, but when you are listening to a playlist, like a shuffle of all my tunes or a compilation album, I can only get detailed info like artist and album on the track currently playing.  If I click on the next--or previous--song title to get that info it starts playing the song.
7. I hate the name.  I feel like a 13-year-old girl when I tell anyone what it's called.  I usually just stick with "It's from Toshiba."
3470385
I needed a replacement after going through 2 third gen ipod 20gb and a fourth gen (non color) 20gb it was time for a new mp3 player. I never liked iPods, all the iPods i got were given to me (some broken and had to have parts replaced) and they weren't really durable and had short battery life (even with battery upgrade). I did a lot of researching, looking at Samsung models and Scandisk models and Creative models. Price range was under $200 dollars. Now I remembered this mp3 player when it first came out and the features on it were good to me. And i looked at other samsung mp3 players and this one had the best set of features that i wanted (i could've wanted a recorder and fm receiver but oh well) and it looked decent.

So I get this in the mail (don't order on friday... it takes forever, i missed my chance to get the 90 day warranty, you have to register in 10 days, well i didn't have internet when it came so i couldn't register and didn't know it was 10 days until the next day)

Windows Media Player locked up the first and second time I tried to sync with it. Later realizing I had all these playlists, I cleared them and copied what I wanted. (it automatically syncs all playlist, i think this is a bit inconvient and i had to delete all of my playlist for that reason)

that was my first only issue. I updated the firmware and that really gave the samsung the features i didn't know i wanted. For example, the new firmware you can create your on EQ on the mp3 player, which is convienient and a hassle, like ipod you can create playlist on the go but you can't highlight albums or artist, but single songs at a time. the playlist don't save (at least i haven't figured out how yet).

a cool feature on it is when you click on a song and it has different artists in that album and you go back to the main menu (say to change EQ or something) well when you go back through you can either go through artists and it'll be highlighted or you can go back to the album. ipods it's the same place. it's convieent when you have the same artist and you want to listen to more of it rather then continue in that perticular album.mixtape.

battery life is good, it's only died on me once and i didn't charge it  for 3 days and over used it on a hike so it was understandable it died. i did need to look at the time (didn't have any other means to see time) but all it would say is low battery (no split second main menu) so that kind of sucks.

overall features, compared to a nano, it's good, it's missing stuff like games and calender and what not, i don't think there is an alarm. but it has custom eq and unique go back to song, and has really really good battery life. the headphones that came with it are so much better then ipod nano headphones though i'm buying a pair of dj headphones to hear all the bass.

windows media player sucks, it's very glitchy and really restrictive. i haven't figured out how to delete songs and i mistakenly put two copies of the same album. the file formats is okie, though you have no options on uncompressed files. on top of that for some reason it needs to convert mp3 songs again. i don't know why. m4a doesn't work of course, nor does it convert.

windows media player is probably the bottleneck of this product.

oh you can also run it in UMA (i think that's what it's called) which means u can use it as a flash drive and it shows up as a drive, rather then mp3 player. i haven't copied songs this way, but if i can i'm going to try my mac os on it.

oh it's windows only but if it works on coping songs this way and being able to put it in it's library, we have something that competes ipods.

that's what mp3 player compaines should do. something that works on both mac os and windows.

Product features 4/5
Battery life 10/5 more then 35 hrs on mine
looks 4/5
sound quality 4.5/5
transfer music 2/5
4339592
After more than a year with an Apple iPod, having to deal with the iTunes software was more than I could stand, so I chose this MP3 player among the many models on the market. My very first impression after receiving the player was disappointment. You have to admit, the ergonomics of the iPod can't be beat. I just love the simplistic interface. Selecting songs, changing the volume, etc. are all just super smooth. The Creative Zen has a ton of different buttons that require a little oomph to press, I have to constantly remember which buttons do what (I'm always hitting the rightmost column to change the volume, when it's the center buttons that do that, no wait, maybe it's the other way...)

However, now that I have used the player for a month, I am adapting to its ways and am happy with my purchase. One thing I am impressed with is the sound quality. I would not have expected there to be much difference between this one and the iPod, but the sound quality in the Creative Zen is noticeably better (same earphones). The earphones that come with it COMPLETELY cut off all outside sound, so I've been using the iPod earphones because I like to play at a low volume and still be able to somewhat hear what's going on around me (no surprises!)

Another thing that has helped me to like this player better is that I discovered by accident (hitting the wrong buttons at the wrong time again) is that the play button acts on the current menu selection. So, when I used to want to play a particular artists album, I would have to (starting from the main menu) (a) select "Music", (b) navigate to and click on "Artists", (c) navigate down to the artist I want and click, (d) navigate to the album I want and click, (e) click to start the first song, (f) click on "Play". Finally, geez. A downside of this approach is that I can only play one album at a time. I may have 3 albums for an artist and only one song on each, so this leads to a lot of menu picking. What a pain! Now, when I get to step (c), instead of clicking on the artist name (center button), I just hit the special "Play" button and all of that artists songs starts. Much better! Now all I have to do is remember to hit "Play" and not instinctively the center menu button. Doh!
2482070
The Apple iPod classic 120 GB Silver Generation is my first purchase of an iPod and I have been most satisfied with its operation.  My listening preferences are classical and jazz which are heard via cup-earphones rather than the plug-in-ear type which, as a musician, I avoid.  This iPod performs very well during my gym workouts and in my car.  The audio is excellent for a machine of this size and the manual is very detailed which I found very helpful as an iPod neophyte user.  I would highly recommend the purchase of this excellent iPod.
3499204
I've had my Sansa for a couple of years and I love it. I can listen to downloaded podcasts, music etc. It's easy to download, I get podcasts on Windows media player easily after downloading through iTunes. The display is easy to read, it's easy to pick out the track or album you want. You can voice record with it and also listen to FM Radio. Very reliable. Uses one AAA battery. Holds tons of songs. I would happily buy another if this one ever fails. Previously had a Rio Pearl (crashed right away). Why buy a hyped up IPod for so much more cost?
908254
I LOVE MY ipod...I am a dance teacher.  I have taught dance to children for 30+ years.  I started using vinyl and 78RPM records; next, I used cassette tapes; then CDs and now EVERYTHING is on my ipod!  IT is amazing that that tiny thing can literally hold thousands of pounds of music; thousands of SONGS!.  It is easy to use (record and play), it has a good camera (still & video) I have used on my students, plus it has a bunch of other neat options, IF I needed them.  I am so glad I bought this ipod.
4746652
I have never bought an iPod or anything from Apple for that matter, and so I was starting out with a clean slate so to speak, when using this product.  Not only were my expectations met, they were surpassed by far!  It only took me a few minutes to get used to the controls and the menus.  The sound quality is great, and so is the storage capacity- only a minimal amount of the 8gb is used up by software.

I want to address the battery issues that people have brought up- there are a few things you can do to make it better!  I have yet to have a problem with my battery, and I am constantly hitting the next key (which lights the backlight up) and playing games while on my breaks at work or watching tv.  At worst I have had it get to being almost red by the end of the day so I charge it before bed.  If you want to improve the life of your battery, charge it fully the first time you open it, then let the battery completely drain before charging it again.  Constantly charging it from half full causes the life to slowly deteriorate.  If you set the backlight to only stay on for 5 seconds (which is enough to read a song title, etc) then you will improve your usage time exponentially.

Overall it is an excellent mp3 player, and the extras you get along with it are great!  I love the games, they're easier to play than mobile phone games.  And the accelerometer feature is fantastic!  I love being able to shake it to go to the next song, as silly as it is.  I haven't tried the video camera very much, but I do love the FM radio, it picks up more stations than my regular radio!

Definitely worth the money, I would really recommend it to anyone!
3179677
Bought this as a gift for my husband who knows LITTLE about technology.  He loves it and I appreciate the ease of set up, handling, updating, etc! This is a great iPod and if I had a reason to get rid of my current one, I would buy another of these in a HEAETBEAT!  Love it!