ipods - questions and where to buy cheap

I thought I'd ask here...just because you guys are pretty cool.

I've had a 4gig nano for about a year and love it!! Just recently, I've done a lot of work with it and updating our collection yadda yadd yadda. I've run outta room on my 4 gig and looking for more space!!

The used nano classic's (6gig or higher) are just as expensive as the 80gig ipods. So - I'm assuming I'm much better off getting an 80gig and having lots of space to grow into. Is there any issues with using this in the car or even while exercising? I know it has a hard drive in it - do you have to be extra careful with the unit (compared to the nano without a hard drive)?

I'm not educated on my ipodese (names) of each unit.
I have a nano classic (older generation).
What's the difference between the ipod video and ipod classic? Are they both from the same generation? Or is the ipod classic the 'older' (original) ipod?

Where do you recommend looking for and buying cheap & used ipods?
I've seen them on ebay and I've seen them at Circuit city, Amazon, and the Apple store (refurbished)...... Anyone have a refurbished unit - any problems with them? Any other places to look?

And last but not least..... My husband doesn't have an ipod. He uses Windows Media player for his playlists on his computer. He can't play the itunes m4a format. This is the format that itunes puts the songs in when you rip'em off CD's. I should've researched a bit - but haven't.
Should I be able to convert all these m4a's to MP3's somehow?

And..... Is anyone NOT using itunes? Is anyone using Windows Media player to sync to your ipod?

Sorry for the long winded post....
Thanks for the input!

 

I have a 30 gig 5th gen video, it holds more than I ever could use, in videos, pictures, songs and files. I would not recommend buying anything over 30-40 gig just because you think you might need to "grow into" the space. You will not need that much space. 80% of people i bet would never fill a 80gb over 1/4 full. I use itunes to sync my ipod but I have never bought a song of of itunes. I use limewire to download songs.

 

Ok...a used 30gig will get the price down a bit as well. I have no idea what sizes they even come in. My husband was the one who mentioned the 80gig.

I was originally looking at used nano's (classic) in the 8gig variety because it'd fit my armband. But after looking at prices - a used 8gig nano costs about the same as a 80gig ipod. I know I would eventually fill up the 8 gig.

I use itunes store to search and get info about songs I might not know the title or artist for. Then -I'll get the stuff online.

 

I have a slightly older version of iTunes on my computer but I can rip CD's into mp3 files. Look under Edit...Preferences...Advanced...Importing and/or Burning tab. I use iTunes to rip CDs for use with my mp3 player.

 

My girlfriend and I both bought refurbs from apple. Have had no problems with them so far and both are about 2 years old. Still as with any re-furbed product, you are taking some risk as they only warranty them for about 90 days, if memory serves....

 

I've been bidding on a couple on ebay..but I'll only go so far with the bidding. I've already been outbid already. Been checking craigslist also. I'll find one...just gotta be patient.

I'm not all that *warm and fuzzy* about itunes. I had a situation where some songs disappeared (and I never delete stuff on my own). I've read that this happens from other itunes users. I can't explain it.... neither can they. I've un-installed and re-installed and set everything to 'manual mode' and that seems to be working the best.

Now, I just gotta figure out how to convert the m4a format to Mp3 so my husband can play everything off windows media player.

Never a dull moment! THese ipods are cool as hell though. I love not having to carry cd's in the truck!

 

Im in the same boat i dont want to buy a new ipod because its too expensive, so what i like about my stereo is that i can buy a usb interface and run a portable hard to it and it will cost me $100 for the interface, i have been building up my music on my portable hard drive to get ready for the usb adapter.

 

I missed that the first time around. I changed it to MP3 encoder.

I found out that you can select a group of songs and hit "Convert to MP3" (under Advanced menu). But ...that makes a copy of the song and puts an additional listing within the library.

UGH!
I'm almost temped to stick the CD's back in amd rip e'm all over again!