jeremyvaught

My sister just asked me about iPods, so I gave her an answer, and after I read the email I sent her, I thought, “meh, that’s almost a blog post.” So I’m posting it here, just cuz I can. Her basic question is what is a good choice for her, so this is not an answer for everyone, so look at it as more of a review on how I see things, and let me know if you feel differently.

Well, of course it depends on what you want to spend. If I were to recommend one, I would recommend the Nano. In fact, if I were buying one today, I would get the nano. The 4gb nano looks like it is $105 while the 8gb is $136.. I would get the 8. When I ripped all of my CDs, that came to a total of 5gb. You guys probably have more Phish than just 5 gigs. The best feature of having an mp3 player is it can hold your entire music collection in one place, and also some room for podcasts.

The shuffle is the cheapest, but there is no ability to watch what music you want. With the new nano’s you can watch video, not very important IMHO(I do like having video, I must admit, I watched the first two seasons of LOST, but my sister has a super slow internet connection and video is a non-starter for her for now), but what is important, you can search for your songs, as well as putting your digital pics on there so you can show off your kids and garden wherever you go.

If you want serious space, then go with the larger ipods. I have the 60gb ipod, but I never needed anything near that. I could get by just fine with 8gb I’m pretty sure.

If you don’t need the space, but you want to be REALLY fancy, get an iPod touch. The touch is basically the iPhone with wifi, no phone, and no camera. But it will run any apps and play youtube and all that, and it still has 8gb of space for iPod type activities. This is less useful since you don’t have wifi yourself, but you can use it where you do at the library and such. The 8gb touch is $284. This is cool, but not worth the price. I would entertain the iPhone if I had the money, but I don’t, so I won’t.

I want an iPhone, but I may want a Google Phone even more.

I just read this pretty good roundup of what Google is up to on mashable. I have a Motorola Q from Verizon. I got it because I could get the internet, and my gmail. It is a great phone, I like it. Then I moved back to Ketchikan, Alaska for the summer. Guess what? No Verizon data access up there. Now I have a huge phone with no purpose but to make calls…. how boring is that? Yup, pretty boring.

So recently my aunt and uncle visited up there, she had an iPhone, and it worked in Ketchikan. I was in love. What a sleek machine. Awesome internet capability, in a beautiful package. Not long after that I traveled to Boston for Podcamp, and then to Phoenix for Podcamp. At the Podcamps I learned that indeed, the iPhone is a New Media connection device so far unparalleled. (With the possible exception of the Nokia N95) But the N95 doesn’t have the hype, and frankly, I’ve not seen one in person, so they certainly don’t have the market penetration that the iPhone does.

I say all that to say this. I think I’m going to hold off on the iPhone, and wait and see what Google is going to offer. How long will that take? I have no idea. But the iPhone is surely due for an upgrade after the first of the year… and my Verizon contract will be that much closer to wrapping up. (Right now, if I switch to the iPhone, it will cost me $400 for the phone, and ~$350 to Verizon to cancel my contract. Too rich for my blood at this point in time.

All this is pending of course on someone purchasing an iPhone for me. All bets are off if that were to happen. I’m a cheap date, yeah. :-)

An update? Indeed! I’m sitting here in Starbucks, finally got my blog fixed (minus theme) this morning. I have so much to talk about, most of it legal, so I can’t talk about that :-)

So I’ll just outline what else is new:
I’m in Phoenix for a while, possibly a long long while,
I’m looking for work, telecommuting or in Phoenix area, see this post for my resume,
In a nutshell, I’m looking for Project Management, New Media expert, or PHP development. If you read my resume and see have something where you think I would fit well, let me know, I’m always ready to expand my horizons,
seesmic.com, interesting things going on there,
Just attended Podcamp Boston, and Podcamp Arizona
Attended the first two days of Video on the Net,
Met way too many friends to mention here, but I’m sure they will be mentioned in posts to come,
I need an iPhone, and a mac laptop,
I’m back on Ubuntu on my laptop, windows crashed hard and can’t get to stupid Dell partition to reinstall Windows. Ubuntu is awesome, I love it, just a few applications I can’t replace and need windows for. Can you say “multiple desktops”? mmmmmmmm

I guess I just need to plug in my twitter feed. I keep that more up to date then the blog. I know I’m forgetting things… such is life. Let’s keep in touch :-)