Mp3 recommendations for son

[a-10tankkiller]

My youngest wants a Mp3, or I-Pod for his birthday. He will be 10. I have a hard time seeing what the extra value for an I-Pod, or Zune for that matter, is over other options, and would love some education on the matter. I did read some of the info. on Amazon, but it didn't really answer my questions as to why I would want to pay more for the I-pod or Zune players. From what I could see some of the "generic" name players at least have expandable memory which I didn't see for the I-Pod or Zune. Any thoughts and recommendations appreciated.
Thank you

[Cubsfan]

1) Go play with them at the store. I used to think the same thing until I got my first iPod. The interface is polished, versus the crappy interface with a lot of the other brands.

2) Software. I like iTunes. A lot of people hate it. Personal preference I suppose.

3) Other. If you're looking at an iPod touch, then there's the whole world of applications and web browsing.

Personally, at this point in time I wouldn't buy anything other than an iPod. But, obviously a lot of people do. To me, Apple just has the whole thing very polished. I think the Zune isn't quite there, but is getting closer.

[Cheesypuff]

In my opinion, ipods are overrated. Personally, I went with a creative vision M back in the day, and i still use it this day. solid machine.

Also, creative has good navigation for music. I wouldn't trade my creative for anything! For a 10 year old tho, image plays a big role among the friends, so i wouldn't go all out and get the big 40 gig ipod, I'd get a ipod nano or something like that. I'd look into getting a sansa, those are pretty solid players i hear.

[Jcranmer]

1) Go play with them at the store. I used to think the same thing until I got my first iPod. The interface is polished, versus the crappy interface with a lot of the other brands.

2) Software. I like iTunes. A lot of people hate it. Personal preference I suppose.

3) Other. If you're looking at an iPod touch, then there's the whole world of applications and web browsing.

Personally, at this point in time I wouldn't buy anything other than an iPod. But, obviously a lot of people do. To me, Apple just has the whole thing very polished. I think the Zune isn't quite there, but is getting closer.

I agree with everything said here. I never understood what all the fuss was about, until I actually bought one. Now it's all I used. I have a 30gb video and my wife has an Iphone.

On the other hand, you didn't mention how old your son was. I can totally understand buying a younger kid a lower cost player.

DOH! Missed the part where you said he was 10. For a 10 y/o an ipod might be a bit much.

[LPMiller]

for a 10 year old, an ipod nano is just fine. I'd avoid any harddrive based ones like the higher end ipods or the zunes, because it will get dropped.

Otherwise, any of the cheaper creatives or samsungs or irivers are fine, but they will have interface limitations you don't have on zunes or pods. They do all work with say, Windows Media player.

[ray]

For a 10 year old, I would definitely avoid hard drive based players as LPMiller described.

For $30-$50 you can get a 1GB or 2GB Sansa Clip which is a great mp3 player. I have four of them.

For a bit more money you can shoot for an iPod Nano or some of the iRiver players.

From a software standpoint, I'm a supporter of mp3 players that act as hard drives when they're connected to the computer, so I don't need additional software to copy music over to the player.
This is one of the main reasons I will never buy an iPod...because I would need iTunes as well.

[Jeffbx]

iTunes is a pain in the ass, but I do prefer the ipods' interface & durability. I got my daughter a nano when she was 10 & it works great for her. Plus even though I'm not a huge fan of itunes, it IS easy to manage multiple devices (I have 2 other iPods as well).

However, if you have any question at all about how he's going to take care of it, maybe start with a $15 Sansa or something similar, so it won't be as painful as if he leaves his $150 nano in his pocket when his jeans go through the wash...

[a-10tankkiller]

Thanks for the ideas. The hard drive option is probably out as he is a constant motion guy and running into everything, so I imagine the hard drive would suffer.

[nate el bueno]

I'd vote for Sandisk. I love Creative's audio quality, but I've had 2 fail on me. The Sandisk with the 2.4 inch screen (the view, I believe) is really durable. It's got a metal back. One of my buddies threw his against the wall just to demonstrate it.

[chrissy]

How about a V touch? My ex is buying them for the kids' birthdays.

It gets pretty decent reviews at buy.com and amazon.

[attgig]

btw, i hate itunes, and never use itunes to sync my ipod. i use winamp to update my music on my ipod, and ONLY use itunes to sync podcasts to my ipod.

[xcheckr]

i have used the Creative Labs Zens, they have been great and inexpensive. Think i paid around $30 for the ones i bought for the kids.