Hi Robin - The quick and dirty answer is that all three (nano, shuffle and iPod) will work just fine. If you have an computer with iTunes, any set of individual or album- grouped tunes can be loaded to the player with no fuss whatever. Once you have the player linked-in via a USB cable your iTunes will recognise it, assign it a name (which you control ie. Robin's iPod) and then it waits for you to load songs to it - which means drag songs to its folder within iTunes. You can update that folder without having the iPod/shuffle/nano attached... change the order of songs, add or subtract songs or albums, etc... and the next time you hook it up to charge it, it will "synchronize" the content on the portable player with your revised song list. As long as you have the music in your Mac, those songs becomes available to your player. I keep a Shuffle, because I loan it to clients so they can hear test mixes and test CD cut list order of albums being built. The Shuffle is fine for me. Loads of room... several hours (although I have the earlier version that's a bit bigger in physical size... which I prefer... I'd rather not lose the thing). There is no difference in fidelity between the different Apple mp3 players. If you don't need the video feature I'd say there is no reason to get the iPod or a video version of the Shuffle - wasted money. If you like lots of variety, an important key point may be to have a display - so you can track where you are (which is not available on some players). So - what might drive your decision about nano, Shuffle and iPod (and which model) are these questions: 1. display or no display? 2. capacity (2 GB, 4 GB, 8 GB or 16 GB of memory translates into numbers of songs/albums without reloading) 3. ability to record (that requires the iPod and associated "apps," and adapters like those from Griffin) As far as the base and speakers I can't see how anyone could make that recommendation to you. I'd say go to a Radio Shack (which sells iPod, nano and Shuffle accessories) and experiment with the sound and size variations... once you've chosen your player. Better bass sound is always achieved by more speaker mass/weight and more speaker volume, so in the end it's up to you about how much of a package you want to add to your basic unit... listening and lifting are your personal criteria. Best regards, Michael Cerulli Billingsley (Maya's acquaintance) Straight Arrow Recordings 802-254-3975/380-6408 The Cotton Mill, Brattleboro Location Recording - CD Mastering - Audio Solutions & FX p.s. I buy inexpensive 2 GB mp3 players ($15-30 at the drugstore) to give to people who can use the gift of music such as folks who are recovering from an illness, which I pre-load with songs that they personally like or which help with whatever's going on. Windows Media Player and iTunes work on PC's, too... and can off-load to any mp3 player, not just those from Apple. On 16 December 09, at 7:55 PM, Robin MacRostie wrote: > ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the > member's area. > ** If you did, we all thank you. > > > HI Techies > > All my portable CD players are died. I need to make the leap into > Ipod. I say ipod, because it seems to be the industry standard and > I'm a mac person. > > I don't plan to put my entire music library on a player. I need > something low cost that will store enough music to drag to a > rehearsal and a reasonably portable and audible speaker system. > > I dont' need to newest, but I dont' want something about to go > obsolete and unsupported. > How much memory is reasonable? > What is the difference between a shuffle, a nano and a touch? > What speaker docks are god and cheap? > > Advice is appreciated - as always > Robin > > Robin MacRostie > Choreo G R A P H I C Design > > where YOU're the show & tell > > 413-549-6403 • 413.461.6655 > choreographicdesign.com > > member: > Greater Amherst BNI > http://www.amherstbni.com > > Amherst Chamber of Commerce > > Hidden Tech http://www.hiddentech.org > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Hidden-discuss mailing list - home page: http://www.hidden-tech.net > Hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net > > You are receiving this because you are on the Hidden-Tech > Discussion list. > If you would like to change your list preferences, Go to the Members > page on the Hidden Tech Web site. > http://www.hidden-tech.net/members -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.hidden-tech.net/pipermail/hidden-discuss/attachments/20091216/432db436/attachment-0001.html