by Merle Wigeson

Created on: August 21, 2009

Let us say that the single feature that makes the i-pod more desirable than other mp3 players is being able to select all the songs from a particular artist rather than having to go in and out of albums - does this not depend on how you have loaded and classified your music? I have used the Zen 80GB (Creativ) most extensively - mainly because I did my homework and worked out that it was the best value for money available at the time. When I load music, including i-tunes (expensive nasty things!) the backup is on my computer. I can organise the tracks in any way I want prior to doing a backup onto the unit, and it will then find my music by artist, album, mood, date etc.

A little pre- organisation goes a long way.

What I think most people forget when they look at which unit to buy is the value of the warranty. Most units will carry a one year "standard" warranty, and you have the opportunity of buying an "upgrade" to three years either from the manufacturer or the retailer.

The question is whether they will honour their warranty.

As others have correctly stated, the i-pod, especially the i-pod touch, is a fragile item. It is not likely to survive a fall from a height, unlike the Zen, which has bounced quite happily a number of times now with no visible ill effect. Don't think that you won't drop your precious new item - you will. And you are most likely to drop it when you have just taken it out of it's really expensive custom-designed shock-proof, ultra-cushioned case.

My son, who was seduced by the Apple hype, recently had a nasty experience with his i-pod touch. The sound was distorted when playing through the audio jack. This is a problem he has had before, and which was solved not by cleaning the jack or repairing the unit, but by replacing the unit. Yes, you had better have your tunes backed up if your trendy i-pod ever malfunctions, because Apple don't bother repairing them - they simply replace them. I have queried this as far up the ladder as I could get, and that is the environmentally conscious solution used by one of the electronics producers with the greatest market share - they replace the unit. I guess it's cheaper than paying technicians to repair them.

What you have to understand is that the potential cost of the replacement is built in to the original cost of your unit. That is why i-pods, and more particularly the i-pod touch range, are so relatively expensive. You are paying for your original

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