I would just like to give packard bell a slating for there, what can only be described pleasantly as crap mp3. The packard bell audio dream is a audio nightmare STAY AWAY. Has anybody got one which works??? mine keeps breaking

No, but I used to sell Packard Bell computers about 10 years ago, and they were total pants - there was a website at the time called Packard Hell, all about people's nightmares with their Packard Bell kit. My advice is, scrap it and buy something else!

iPod mini is available for £139 in most places.

The only bad thing I can think about them is that the battery is enclosed in the case making their lifetime finite. Apart from that they look good, sound ok (good for mp3/4), have nice features, works with Itunes and hold 4 GB (data and music).

Originally posted by punk
iPod mini is available for £139 in most places.

The only bad thing I can think about them is that the battery is enclosed in the case making their lifetime finite. Apart from that they look good, sound ok (good for mp3/4), have nice features, works with Itunes and hold 4 GB (data and music).

I have a iPod mini its great. The retail is £139 I got mine for £125.10 as I get a discount in DSG stores.

The 6Gb is £169.

You can get a 1Gb iPod shuffle for £99 thsi sis the size of a stick of chewing gum

My Packard Bell works fine.....but then again I did used to be a PB engineer...

I have Ipod mini as well, it rocks my world! day in day out :thumbsup: oh and its drop dead gorgeous!

Get an ipod i went all over europe with mine and it really did me justice.

Originally posted by jubby
I have a iPod mini its great. The retail is £139 I got mine for £125.10 as I get a discount in DSG stores.

The 6Gb is £169.

You can get a 1Gb iPod shuffle for £99 thsi sis the size of a stick of chewing gum

you must chew massive sticks of gum.

It's more like the size of a plastic cigarette lighter although 150% of the height.

Originally posted by Dj_Shadowman
My Packard Bell works fine.....but then again I did used to be a PB engineer...

Packard Bell engineer.....isn't that an oxymoron ? :D

I have a Packard Bell system and it has not let me down yet over 2 years now-- its my little pride and joy.

You just have to be gentle with them I reckon and keep its innards nice and clean now and again.

Added some extra memory and threw a few more bits and bobs in there and its working better than ever.

MP3= Ipod
Just do it!

after talking all your valuble advice i gt an iRiver, apperntly the Ipod mini battery life is terrible. Cheers anyway

apperntly the Ipod mini battery life is terrible

8 hours (minimum) is terrible?

You can also charge them at any usb port, a power socket (with adapter) or from AA batteries (again.. with adapter).

I think 8 hours is plenty. Its considerably more than you used to get from cd walkmans.

Originally posted by Cyclone
you must chew massive sticks of gum.

It's more like the size of a plastic cigarette lighter although 150% of the height.

Ipod shuffles are the size of extra chewing gum. Ive got the 512mb version (£69) and its a cheaper way to have the effiency of a standard ipod. They work really well, and have a decent amount of battery life - alot more than my excisting cd walkman, which only lasts 2 hours, despite the fact its only 2 years old, and was quite expensive at the time (about £50).

I did think about getting an ipod mini but decide to get the ipod shuffle as i wouldnt need to carry up to 5000 songs around with me, plus it was more expensive.

If you could afford it a standard ipod is the best mp3 player around - my mate has one.

8 Hr battery life IS plenty but... according to a friend his battery life s-l-o-w-l-y went downhill to about 2 hrs at max charge- if the mini has AA or AAA batterys ( i dunno) that put me off aswell i prefer Li-Ion.

It is lithium ion (Li-Ion). All lithium ion batteries have exactly the same "problem" regardless of manufacturer.

As I said in the post above, the only bad thing about iPods is that the battery is enclosed in the case making it difficult to replace the battery. But in all honesty by the time the battery runs out (in any mp3 player) it will probably be nearly as cheap to buy a new one as it will to just buy a battery.

For your reading pleasure: http://ipodbatteryfaq.com/

"Q: I heard that the iPod's battery only lasts 18 months, and then you have to buy a new iPod! Is that true?

A1: NO! The vast, vast majority of even the earliest iPods, now over two years old, continue to function just fine. Some iPods, however, have had issues with batteries. Lithium ion batteries are only good for 300 to 500 charge/discharge cycles (more). For this reason, certain customers' usage patterns may cause the batteries to degrade, or fail, sooner than others."