Lunar Adventures: exploring a little bit of everything

Blog post [Displaying post and comments]

An iPod dilemma

The setup: I have a 20gig, 3rd generation iPod. Bought it almost two years ago, and it’s on its last legs. Not much life out of a battery charge, and the screen is dimming. I bought a 2-year replacement warranty from CompUSA, though, and I took the iPod in. They said it qualifies to be replaced for $299.99 of store credit — the cost of a new 20gig iPod.

So I could get that new 20gig, color screen, 4th generation iPod. Or, I could get a brand new, super-spiffy, fresh to the world iPod nano plus $50 of store credit to use on a new case, maybe an AppleCare warranty (not as good as the old CompUSA replacement warranty, though), maybe a game or something.

Keep in mind that I’m a complete and total gadget nerd. I love new gadgets. I love being one of the first people on the block with a new gadget. And the iPod nano is one of the keen new gadgets that turns heads.

That having been said, I’d be losing 16 gigs in storage — from the 20gig iPod to the 4gig nano. On the other hand, my iPod currently only has about 2.5 gigs in use, as I tend to keep my music lists trimmed of any fat (storage is for CDs).

So what do you guys think I should do? I’m in a win-win situation, I really can’t lose here.

Mon September 19th, 2005 8:55 pm

6 comments

  1. Rob Rogers said:
    September 19th, 2005 10:10 pm

    Man, in your shoes, I’d get the nano in a nanosecond. What’s the difference between having 1.5 gigs of space you’re not using and 18.5 gigs of space you’re not using? You’d get the cool gizmo and have $50 left to get something else? Do it! Get the nano and Lost on DVD. Now there’s some entertainment value for you…

    Sounds like you had a heck of a warranty if you can replace the thing for $299. Way to go.

  2. Eric said:
    September 21st, 2005 2:28 pm

    The Nano is for 15 year old boys and girls who would rather have a trendy player than one which is worth the money.

  3. Stephan Segraves said:
    September 21st, 2005 3:09 pm

    Me personally, well I’d go with the bigger 20GB one. For one you don’t necessarily just have to hold music on it, so it’s not wasted space. Yet, I really like the nanos because they are flash based memory and not harddrive based, which is always a plus. I am for the solid state memory…

  4. Andrew said:
    September 22nd, 2005 12:20 pm

    Rob: The warranty I did get lucky on… new AppleCare warranties aren’t nearly as good. I’m leaning toward the nano right now.

    Eric: Harsh words! I like the lightweightedness of it while working out

    Stephan: It’s true, but I have plenty of hard drive space. The digital photo use of the full sized nano is nice, but I always run out of camera battery power well before I run out of memory card space. And flash based is great…

  5. Eric said:
    September 28th, 2005 1:26 pm

    http://www.thestreet.com/yahoo/tech/gamesandgadgets/10244829.html?cmve n=YAHOO&cmcat=FREE&cmite=NA

    Update on Nano’s

  6. Andrew said:
    September 28th, 2005 1:40 pm

    Eric — been watching that closely. Have been a little worried about it, especially since early reports had Apple saying they wouldn’t replace the defective screens. That announcement has eased my fears a bit. But I am annoyed that Steve Jobs would show the nano in his pocket, then Apple claim that it shouldn’t be carried around in a pocket.

Leave a comment