I want to get my son an MP4 player for Chrimbo as I know nothing about them can some kind person point me in the right direction.

iPOD

First, best. . . . . . .and most expensive!

Caber

i dont like ipods myself. Two reasons, one being the user interface on the nano isnt perfect IMHO, and i dont like the apple software (itunes) you have to use.

Aside from that they are compact and stylish, and sound quality seems good. My main problem is with itunes though, cant stand it. Reason? My music is in a folder on my desktop called music. I dont like the way the the ipod tries to organise it into its own little library, and id prefer a more conventional windows type of program.

iPods suck for various reasons....

Well i think mobile video player are pointless. DONT buy an ipod.
EVER everyone i knwo who has one has either had it break in one way or another or it wipe it self at will

As for mp3/4 player in general... real in to them i dont recommend buying any with a hard drive in. I have a friends in bits on my desk trying to find a replacement hard drive for it. hard drives were not designed to work while being moved .

IF he wants a mobile video player i think the Ipod Nano does it get an 8GB one that should be more than enough. 10 movies easy at VHS quality or about 50 on a screen that size.

Its flash memoy based (the only way to go) but the screen have a habit of breaking

The zunes are a piece of poo by the look of things.

Depends on your soni guess

If hesnot worried about haveing a snazy gadget have a look here

www.eclipse-computers.com

They have some nice cheap ones... what about a PSP?

John

Cheers for the info. He is doing Screen Studies at Swabsea Uni. I guess storing films could be of use to him.......Not that I would know what he gets up to......and probably don't want to know.

unless its a supprise then talk 2 him. if he wants to store movies and move them about u can get extrnal HDDs MUCH cheaper and with much more storage. if hes doing media he will be transfering all data as MPEG files so there will be no compression and so the stroage capacity is more important than watching them on the go.

Im surehe woudl apreciate it but its more of a gimick than a tool

Why not a decent mp3 player and a nice 100GB External drive. he will get more use ofut of both and will be more use.

depends what kinfd of budget ur workign to as well. if uce got 400+ to spend a laptop woudl be better for amedia student. if its closer to 200 the ide say mp3 and seperate drive if its for his course

I can echo the comments on I pods my younger daughters packed up at 15 months with a software fault apple wanted £165 to repair it which was almost as much as a new one.
Interestingly the software fault seems to be a well known fault but I pod denies responsibility. Note knackered ones appear to sell for about £45 on ebay.

On the other hand my eldest daughter who hard on her things has a zen and has had no prolems

i have my friends Creative Zen in bits on my desk trying to find a new HDD for it cheap on ebay.

If your daughters is broke ide find one with a knackered HDD on ebay and stick her HDD in that one. then flog the other one on ebay as faulty and u shodul have a newrly free fix

The software shoudl be on a firmware chip .... i think so its the board thats knackered not the HDD

John

thanks Jon but she has bought a sony walkman mp3 now and solf the knackered one

LOL Well i just gave my self an idea so im surfing ebay to see if i can pick up the bits 2 make a working ipod n sell it on. if i make 50% profit for an hours work then it may not be a bad idea