I need an alternate to the iPod nano

imac davidimac david
Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
Hi all,



I want to buy an MP3 player for my boy, who's 11. As he's 11, that rules out, for me, the iPod nano. I agree it's better than the competition (I own the 3G iPod), looks neat etc, but I don't want to give an 11 year old a music player costing GBP139.



He'll be happy with a 512MB capacity player costing half that. Only thing is, I'm struggling to find confirmation of which MP3 players are compatible with the Mac. On several shopping sites the compatibility isn't mentioned.



So, can anyone recommend a cheapish MP3 player, compatible with the Mac, that I can buy? I'm not bothered by iTunes compatibility as the music which he'll put on for the time being will come from CDs and albums I give him.



Thanks,



David

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 9
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    Um. iPod shuffle?



    You're not giving much of an indication of which features you need.
  • Reply 2 of 9
    imac davidimac david Posts: 286member
    Hi,



    sorry - I should have mentioned that the iPod shuffle is out because of no screen and can't have playlists.



    Alex loves sorting music into particular order (ah, takes me back to the days of making compliation tapes, deciding how each song should flow into the next......happy days), and so for him the iPod shuffle is out.



    So, required features:



    display

    ability to see what song is playing

    robust

    ideally the ability to limit the headphone volume.



    Remember, we're talking about an 11 year old, so he needs to see what song it is - when I say "try this band" he'll probably dislike most of my choices but when he likes one he'll have to see what it is that's playing.



    Cheers,



    David



    PS sorry about posting in the wrong forum - should be in General Discussion
  • Reply 3 of 9
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by iMac David

    display

    ability to see what song is playing

    robust



    Hmm. Sony Walkman Bean? Dell Diddy?



    Quote:

    ideally the ability to limit the headphone volume.



    Kind of a parental control? Sorry, I don't think I've seen any player that does this. Your best bet may be to get earphones that simply have a lot output limit.
  • Reply 4 of 9
    stustanleystustanley Posts: 236member
    why not give him your 3G iPod, then you could buy yourself a nice new 30gb/60gb one.



    stu
  • Reply 5 of 9
    cosmonutcosmonut Posts: 4,872member
    Let's not separate the cart from the horse. iTunes can import CDs. It can set up songs in specific order in a playlist, which the shuffle CAN play in order. You can see the names of songs when you play them.



    Granted, it's not the ideal solution, but the shuffle will work quite well. Yeah, so he won't be able to identify a specific song when it plays, but you guys could do that in iTunes.



    Give it a shot. I think the shuffle will work out all right for you.
  • Reply 6 of 9
    imac davidimac david Posts: 286member
    A HD based player to an 11 year old?! I don't think so.....anyway, my 15GB is more than sufficient, and the battery is still playing for close to 4 hours.



    Dell Diddy - only for a PC.

    Sony Bean - sony's website doesn't say whether it is compatible with a Mac, but being Sony I would doubt it.



    Surely somebody out there has a cheap and cheerful MP3 player that is Mac compatible?



    On my list of wants, i should have added the ability to act as a flash drive would be nice - not that he has many files to transfer.



    Cheers,



    David
  • Reply 7 of 9
    icfireballicfireball Posts: 2,594member
    MPIO / Digital Way has many, and they even come with a iTunes plug-in to load em in iTunes. But I got to say, giving your son the 3G iPod and buying a new one for yourself would actualy be a great idea. When you drop an iPod with a hard drive, in general its not really the hard drive thats at the most risk, unless there is a very high impact or on a hard suface...its the screen. Just get your son a case for the iPod, and tell him to keep it on the case at all times when using it, and it will be fine. If he drops and breaks it, thats a lesson learned, and there is not much of a big loss...you got your new iPod and he will get another MP3 player eventualy.



    Edit: To clarify, they are both Mac/PC compatible
  • Reply 8 of 9
    aslan^aslan^ Posts: 599member
    iRiver has software for Mac and they make a bunch of different flash based mp3 players.



    Some of them look pretty sturdy too.
  • Reply 9 of 9
    magicfingersmagicfingers Posts: 703member
    my son had a 1st gen 5gb iPod when he was 9. we still have it and it works great. at 13 he now has a nano and loves it. My daughter has a shuffle and loves it. iHave a 3rd gen 15gb that needs a new battery, but still is in great shape. iNever thought twice about giving my son his ipods. But each to his own iGuess.

    Dont worry, Randy
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