by Bob Johnson

Created on: April 05, 2009   Last Updated: April 06, 2009

It's the never ending techie debate, which is better for the common person, an ipod, or an MP3 player? These are my views. If you are looking for a smaller cheaper music player that just plays music, go for the MP3 player every time. MP3s not only give you more bang for your buck, but most also come with a two year warranty because of their bad reputation of breaking. Before you buy always make sure somewhere on the box it says at least one year extended warranty, or this may be a brand that cheaps out on everything looking for a large profit margin. Although the ipod brand components normally are more high quality than an average MP3 players, the warranty takes care of that problem, and there is little or no difference in software. If you've ever seen the most basic ipod (shuffle) it has an on/off switch, a volume up and volume down button, and a forward/backward button. Lastly, an MP3 player can use any host it wants, which means you can get cheaper music. Ipods can be tricky because the Apple company wants you to buy from iTunes, its music supplier because they can make a steady flow of profit from this as well as the sale. Since they can make an ipod specialized for iTunes software, they can also charge a higher price, not because their music is different from any other suppliers, but because they know that the common person wont know how to switch suppliers. remember when it comes to music players, free and legal can never be used in the same sentence!

If you are looking for a more complex machine though, and you are very tech savvy, then an ipod may be better for you. The Apple company always adds extra features so they can market their brand as better than others, and to improve the company name. As you add more memory to the ipod, the better it compares to MP3 player prices. If you are looking for more functionality than memory, I suggest the ipod touch. It can have a keyboard, and has all the bells and whistles, including wifi, flash player, and internal speakers, without being bulky. If you need more memory, the new ipod classic may have more memory than your computer! The latest and greatest model has a whopping 160 gigabytes, or enough memory for about 50,000 songs! Although it holds more data intensive files than songs too, including computer back up, video, applications and others. This ipod isn't as elaborately programmed as the touch, but does include a wifi card for easy purchases on the go (from the iTunes store of course!).

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