10 year old wants ....for christmas, whats your opinion

[andersonmilltexas]

My son wants a IPOD 4G nano for xmas. (you know, the older one that sells for $139.00)

His main interest is watching videos. They are his collection of kids films.

Could anyone tell me if I will be able to easily take my purchased dvd movies and put then on this device.Will the process be easy for a 10 year old? Some of the films are already transfered (via fab) to my computer.

I have several DVD's that have no copyright protection.

If apple is not the best way to what would you suggest. (remember he is only 10 years old)

This also goes for misic. We want to use our own, nothing purchased from ITUNES.

Many Thanks

[Midzuki]

Will the process be easy for a 10 year old?

(remember he is only 10 years old)

When I was 7 years old, I used to be ironically and derogatorily
called "genius/encyclopaedia/computer" because I did have managed
to become less stupid and less ignorant than all the "adults" around me.

\\\\\\\

[dun4cheap]

You can still find the 30gig zune for $99. I actually just bought 6 4 white and 2 Black, from sears. They matched costcos price and beat it by $20. So out the door it cost me $172 for 2. They have a 3.5" screen, play videos and mp3s, 30gig of storage. My kids, my sisters kids and my good friends kids are all getting one. The ages range from 10-16yo.

[videopoo]

LOL...I'd be willing to bet he's better and faster at doing this kind of stuff than you are....or at least will be once you get him the iPod.

[andersonmilltexas]

To Midzuki. i do not understand your reply. All this stuff about being a child genius. Now that you are an adult does it mean you spend all day long playng video games and trying to find new ways to impress people with your superior intelligence.
I am sure all your customers at mcdonalds are also impressed.
what you need to do is move out of your parents basement,put away the PS3 and re evaluate your life.

If you do not have something constructive to add to a topic, just stay away.

[andersonmilltexas]

Let me be more specific.

Can videos not purchased though some apple affilated site be easily loaded onto a 4gb nano?

Reworded, Does Apple make it difficult to use your own media?

[usually_quiet]

I'd be more worried about a ten-year-old loosing something like that, unless he was an unusually careful child, or having it confiscated at school. Heck, I still loose gloves and umbrellas and I'm almost old enough to have grandchildren.

At only 4 GB, the IPOD certainly doesn't have much room for video. His movies would have to be compressed to a different format (using a computer program) to fit on the IPOD. I think I have seen several threads on that subject at this site. You might want to do a search to see what is involved. Your kid could probably do that himself, once he was shown how, but as I understand it, the process takes hours for each movie.

If a ripped movie is playable on a device in its original format, that would be much easier on everyone. The zune sounds better to me. I'd suggest that you do a little research on the zune.

[Ai Haibara]

Not really, no. There are a number of converters you can use to convert videos to a format the iPod will play, and many of them are freeware. I personally recommend Videora iPod Converter.
Keep in mind, however, that none of the free converters will rip/unprotect a DVD for you, though some will convert from ripped DVD files. And, many of them won't automatically import the videos into iTunes or the iPod for you, but that probably isn't a big deal (all you have to do is open iTunes, with the iPod connected, and drag the video file onto the Library).

(Edit: By "Not really, no." I was referring to the question "Reworded, Does Apple make it difficult to use your own media?". I should've used the quote function. )

[bigjimmpls]

I have had an ipod that finally quit working and I now own a zune 30gb. You can put movies on your ipod. I used DVD fab platinum and it converts them over for you. With an Ipod it is a little easier as the computer sees the ipod as a hard drive and with zune it does not but the process is simple. With an ipod you can just copy the mp4 over. With the zune you have to use there software to convert the mp4 to wmv to play on the zune. A full dvd converted to mp4 is about 500mb so on the ipod you can get about 6 maybe 7 movies on it. I personally would look into the zune also. I really like. I like it better than the ipod and got a 30 gb for $79.00.

Good luck

[andersonmilltexas]

Thank you everyone for your great help.

Where are you buying 30gb zunes for $79.00 I only find them priced at $149.00 and up.

Would these be older models?

Again THX

[MJA]

Thank you everyone for your great help.

Where are you buying 30gb zunes for $79.00 I only find them priced at $149.00 and up.

Would these be older models?

Again THX

Zune 30GB 1st Generation gone.

it was selling for $99 around black friday.




just buy him this gift

http://www.buy.com/prod/Mini-R-C-Helicopter-Performer/q/loc/111/206461221.html

I ordered one 2 days ago didn't get mine yet

[dun4cheap]

I would check your local retailer. Like I said, circuit city near me had three left for $99 each. I just picked my last two up from sears last night.

The Zune can be used just like a hard drive as well. It just requires a simple registry hack.

[andersonmilltexas]

Thank you I will shop around. I think there is a tech difference between the ones advertised at 149.00 and the ones sold for 99.
Maybe a new generatuion with something different

[dun4cheap]

Nope, the only difference is the $99 ones were just the brown ones. Like I said, sears sold me the black and white ones instead anyways.

[andersonmilltexas]

well, I think those offers are all gone

I have been googling for over an hour,checked out all the big players and nothing.

I can get it for $149.00.

If I find it priced lower I will let everyone know.

thx

[dun4cheap]

Do you have a circuit city near you? If so I would actually go in to the store and check.

[lordsmurf]

Easy? No.
An iPod for a little kid? Not smart, easy to break.
What kind of MP3 music does a 10-year-old listen to, anyway?
You'd do his eyesight a favor by just getting a TV in his room, or a portable player in your car.
Kids tend to easily lose or get valuables stolen. Even $10 calculators tend to disappear.

What you want is not necessarily easy, no, and it may end up a list of regrets later on.

Whatever happened to kids wanting action figures, footballs and Teddy bears?
A guarantee you that was on my list to Santa at 10.

[GMaq]

LordSmurf,
Todays 10 is yesteryears 14, I gave my son an iPod shuffle when he was 9, still hasn't lost it (yet).

@andersonmilltexas
Stay away from Zune it's half baked. I am not a particular fan of Apple but they have the iPod/iTunes thing done right. I can name about 5 people I know who didn't want to spend the bucks on an iPod and bought Zen or Sansa units and have been frustrated with the lack of flow from purchasing music, transferring it to the player and player malfunctions. I Give Microsoft their credit where it is due, but the Zune was/is a "quiet" failure, before their larger failure which has been covered in other threads. :P

[andersonmilltexas]

Yes! Giving a $149.00 gift to a 10 year old is questionable. Actually it is not so much the money but responsability. Its not about need but about wants.

Buying the portable dvd for the car seems smart. Its a matter of convincing him.

[DereX888]

If he really wants ipod, why not buy him an ipod that let him use his brain too, fiddle with it, and use for more things than watching videos and listening to music in few formats only?

Yes Im talking about PocketPC

[classfour]

Ipod would be a nice gift. I gave my son a JVC MC200 last year and he's thoroughly enjoyed it.