Would Like to Get an IPod but I Need Some Help

Question

Hey-
I tried an iPod (2 that is) when the first ones came out, and I broke them from installing the software when it was already installed. (at least that is what I was told). But it said to begin by installing the provided software.) I still see how far they have come so I am here wanting any advice on what is available and what some iPod- experts would recommend for someone who has a hard time with technology stuff like this. (Plus the good am/FM radios to use while exercising are getting to be nearly nonexistent.)
I have done some serious reading up on them and have looked up some of the iPod Manuals that people write to help the less "commonsense" people like myself.
I am really interested in the iPod classic since it seems to have the least of what I really do not want like videos (which it might have) more basic controls are a plus, and the ability to set it up so I can upload the music in iTunes.
I hope somebody or several people have some recommendations, things to help me that I would not think of, if the earplugs are not the best for exercising, do you know of a brand that is?
Any pointers learned from experience and places to go to help me understand what it is when I actually do get one, etc.
I really appreciate any help in this broad area, even if you think my post is lame So, in advance--THANKS!

Answer 1

HI! Just read your post and the reply by roaminggnome and I would say he gives you all the information you need to know except for what color you like.
I likely know less than you even do regarding the iPod but, that said, I have owned four of them. However, all bought within the last 18 months. So, I do not know of what it used to be like before then. All I can say is that I am a PC guy so Apple stuff didn't really catch my attention until I started listening the Rush Limbaugh to get the news about politics that the press seems to think is too much for us or something. I didn't really have three hours a day during the time he is on so I then heard about "podcasts." I found that I could listen to him anytime I wanted to if I just downloaded the podcasts he had of his show each day. So, I backed into the iPod or MP3 player rather than looked for one because they were a new item. I am now 59 years old and have been using computers since 1965 and I got out of the "Its new so I have to own the best and the latest" thing in my 40's. Now, having grown up, I buy what I really want because it will actually improve my life somehow, rather than just to show off.
The point being that I had become somewhat "hardware illiterate" but when my son came home from doing 5 years in the Army - doing war stuff, and we got to know each other again, I realized that my son had become me when I was his age. He had +it all+ five times over. (The pay is much better than when I was in!) He had iPods, iPhones, etc. all over the place but, like I said, until I needed something to listen to Rush, I didn't even ask about it.
So, when I finally got one, I really knew nothing! I had to read the directions (I am a CPA so I know how to do that.) to find out what to do. I think I remember that things had to be done in a certain order so read the directions. Sorry if what I am remembering is the directions to something else. But I found that reading the directions sure saves me a lot of work anyway - especially in the computer software area. I found the directions easy and had no problems whatsoever. In that way, roaminggnome is quite correct. It is so automatic that even a cave man could do it. Seriously. Learning iTunes seems harder to me than the iPod thing, however. Reading some of the iPod stuff on the net (a book is not included except for setting it up but running it requires going online.) is quite worth it when trying to use it the way you like.
The iTunes Store is where I get the free podcasts and found that lots of shows have them - especially political venues. However, you can buy almost anything you want to listen to from their store. It was a fabulously ingenious thing to create because it all works so well together (great marketing idea) (Store, Podcasts, and iPod) and they make money almost every step of the way. Its like an addiction after a while anyway. I need another song, I need another song, I'd do anything to get a podcast of the guy I just heard on the radio! And like that.
It all works quite easily and is about as hard as turning on your computer and plugging your iPod into the special cord they provide with it - which is always plugged into a USB Port on my computer. Plugging it in starts up iTunes and, depending on how you set it up in iTunes, it begins to upload to your device automatically (My son bought me the classic for Christmas last year and I always use that one now,) So, all you have to do each day, once it is set up, is to plug it in and walk away. It will load up your choices and charge the battery after that. Of course, you already know all that don't you?
I use my iPod when I work out. I do that twice a day for about a total of three hours at least five times a week. I am in remission from a terminal disease so I want to be in the best shape possible for when I end up with cancer to try and make it through the treatments. Being 59 and seeing how the government is going to trash our health care just so he can cover millions of illegals and after reading the entire House bills with addendums, I know that my chances of getting a liver now is absolutely nil. There is no use keeping an old guy alive who can add nothing to the greater good, right? At least that is what Robert Reich (A Clinton appointee) who advises Obama said. "If you are in your 80's, we aren't going to waste medicine on you just so you can last a few more months. We're going to let you die." I appreciate honesty even when it doesn't go my way. At least I know what I am up against now. But the reality is, in a socialist environment, I will be a liability - a toxic asset and will be thrown out like yesterday's news. The country I once put my life on the line for - voluntarily - thinks of me as a problem now. The greatness of the individual and the American dream had died now and after being able to experience actual freedom in the 50's and 60's, having it taken away from me has left me so I do not really care about dieing anymore. I would rather die free than live in chains. If China wants to, they will literally own us if they do now cut Obama's nightmare borrowing and spending off quick. (Did you know that Obama is counting a raise as a new saved or created job?) Who the **** let him get away with such a phony number without learning to quantify how he gets to these numbers anyway? Talk about pulling numbers out of thin air!) The press would have NO idea how he gets these numbers, they just print it. We now have an affirmative action president who is too big to fail. And kids are now forced to learn Obama praise songs in schools. They can't read or write but they can chant Obama rap in over 20 different schools (See breitbarttv.com for proof. They did the exposes on the Acorn criminal business - of which have been incorporated under 300 different business names but are all Acorn and SEIU and share the same offices many times. This is a nightmare akin to the way Hitler took control of the citizens. He started by owning their bodies because of "health care." Once they own your health - they own you!) It lead to him declaring Jews unfit to live and that is the excuse he used for euthenasia of the old, sick, and Jew alike. He wanted to create the perfect German. That is what can happen if you sell out your personal freedoms for a thing you may hardly need for most of your life - health care. You can pay for your own before you are 50 for the most part and get catastrophic insurance for those kinds of sicknesses, like mine, that most people never even get until their 80's, if at all, and be far ahead financially. Getting old is not a sickness. It is a wearing out. Are old people worthless because they finally wore out living life and paying taxes in American now? Sick! But instead of free insurance, like these young kids foolishly think they are going to get will cost anyone who has a job, it costs actual money and they will be forced to buy this crappy insurance since all private insurances will go broke trying to compete with an entire government that does not have to make a profit because they can tax us for all the money they need (Once unconstitutional and some of this still is.)
Anyway, now that I learned from roaminggnome about the disk drive being located in my iPod rather than just a flash drive, I will start to use my old 2 gig one for working out. Mine is the 120 gig size and I hardly use any of it except for a few TV shows I missed (Yes it has a screen) and music and podcasts to listen to while I work out. I use about 3 or 3.5 gigs of the 120 possible.
One thing that roaminggnoe said about the earlier ones is that my 2 gig says it can allow me to use the drive as another one on my computer or something like that. So that puzzles me.
I have to mention about the ear buds though. The ones that come with it do not have a better sound than ones you can buy. However the ones that come with it are best for working out if you use the bud type rather than the earphone type I see some using at the club, The ones that come with it allow air to get into your ear which keeps the buds dry from sweat. The ear buds that you can buy that have better sound allow your ear canal to fill up with sweat so listening to music or whatever is like listening to it under water! No kidding! I had to take them out while one the orbital machine and try and dry my ears out while jumping up and down on that machine without falling off. The Apple buds stay dry and you can still hear others around you that might be trying to get your attention there.
Anyway, sorry I wasted so much of your time. I just wanted to assure you that even one so uninformed as I could use the new iPods, right out of the box I think it is great and I am glad I now know how to use it. I just wish I could learn how to download the podcasts in the order done on the air of shows longer than one hour. Each podcast is one hour and they always download in the wrong order - completely backwards from how they played the show. I also wish I could have it automatically play them in order instead of having to stop and select each one each hour. The music shuffles, why not the podcasts? I do find that a bit strange. Oh well, you've likely already made the purchase so you can just delete this rather than to waste your time reading it.
Have a great day! (Don't you just hate hearing that? Especially in stores where you know they don't mean a word of it.) I have been kidding you about making this so long. I did most of it for a lark (talk about too much time on one's hands huh?)but I did mean to let you know about my using the iPod with no problems. roaminggnome said everything I did in a few sentences. Good writing.