after months and months of longing... im finally gonna pull a bit of cash outta the savings and plomping it on an iPod. if anything, ill sell it once i get bored and recover some money

anyways, the going price seems to be ~250$ for a 10GB 2nd gen on ebay and 10GB 3rd gen on Amazon (50$ GC off retail)

my question is, is it possible for me to try out the 2nd gen ipod anywhere? I know that best buy cleared out their last 2G when the newer ones were released earlier this year... so i think it might be impossible to find them in stores

secondly, anybody have a direct comparison in terms of size for the 2 ipods? a user on here has a lot of photos of his 2 ipods, but they were 30gb versions. ive played a 15gb 3rd gen and it was nice, but i dont know how much larger the 2nd gen are.

if you have pics of the 2, please post them. thanks

HI,

I have a few pics on my site comparing the 1st gen 5GB, 20GB and 2nd gen 15GB.

http://www.stanc.net/ipod2/

Ah, those were the same pics that convinced me a week after the thing came out to buy it....*memories*

I've had very little experience with the 2nd gen ones, but if the prices are similar, or even if the 3rd gen is a little more, I'd definitely go for the 3rd generation, especially if you hope to get any of your money back if you sell it. You'll soon find some of the little features like the "On the go" playlists really quite useful and they make the iPod a lot more useful. Good luck, at least you've made the right decision so far by choosing an iPod !

I recently saw a second generation Ipod in the Apple area of CompUSA. The Ipod is encased in a display stand, so you can't hold it, but you can test out the sound quality and other features.

If you're in Europe - don't get one unless it's direct from the States because of the volume cap..

I think the battery life in the Series 2 machines is slightly better.

I think you're right Peddler, I forgot about that, the gen 2's have about 2 hours more battery power because they have bigger batteries, maybe something to keep in mind, but I use my gen 3 for about 8 hours a day with no problem's yet.

I owned a 2nd-generation iPod (20GB) for about 7 months, and I've had a 3rd-generation version (30GB) for about two months now.

v3 seems *much* smaller. Partly because it is actually smaller, but also because the rounded edges just make it appear to be smaller than it really is. In terms of size and shape, v3 iPods are much better. In addition, the overall look/style of the v3 iPods is better. v3 has a much better hold button. v3 has much better software -- the extra features are very nice. And although people complain about the dock connector, I love it -- the Dock itself is awesome for listening via line-out, and it's so much more convenient to just drop the iPod into the Dock to sync, charge, etc.


On the other hand, in some respects I really miss the v2 iPod. The battery life was significantly better -- I frequently run the battery down on my v3. Plus, as my previous posts on this topic attest, I had never heard any distortion when using the EQ on several different v3 iPods; however, my own does indeed distort when I use the EQ, even at very low levels.

Finally, the buttons on the v3 iPods are a step back in my opinion. The mechanical buttons on the v2 iPods were more intuitive in their location (around the scroll wheel). Plus the v3 buttons are WAY too sensitive -- accidentally brushing against one activates it. Combine the two, and you frequently find yourself accidentally skipping tracks or stopping the music when you were really just trying to find a button.

Overall I really like the v3 -- it's clearly an "improved" product. However, I miss the longer battery life, and I wish the buttons weren't so sensitive. I keep hoping that the latter will be fixed in the next firmware upgrade.

I don't use the EQ on my iPod, so I can't really comment on that, but I hear you on the button sensitivity. It was really driving my dad crazy, and it's a tad annoying that you have to look at the screen to do just about anything that involves the scroll wheel because there's no tactile feedback. For example, it isn't exactly safe to change the rating on a song while driving because there's no easy way of turning the scroll wheel "just one click". But I guess I've gotten used to it. Also, I keep it on hold a lot and just use the buttons on the remote, which helps a lot of the time. But in the end, I love my v3 iPod, you just can't beat it.

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At the Expo in NYC in July, some guy was showing a prototype of a very cool iPod "sheath" -- it was made of this very thin, brushed-leather-like microfiber that slides over the iPod. It protects the iPod from scratches without increasing its size, gives you good grip (unlike the cheesy clear vinyl cases), and, best of all, "deadens" the buttons slightly. You could actually feel around for the right button without activating it. As soon as they're available, I'm buying one.


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You can at least turn on the click sound; but then again, why are you trying to rate songs while driving?!

Thanks for reminding me about that clicking thing, I turned it off soon after I got my iPod and forgot it was there. I have over 10,000 mp3s and use a lot of smart playlists, so I try to rate every song after I hear it, so you can be happy that you may have saved my life now .

That case you mentioned sounds pretty cool. I actually really like the case that the iPod comes with. You can't operate it while it's in the case without the remote, but big deal, it protects the iPod very well, and and hardly adds anything to the beautiful size of the iPod itself. And it's easy to get in and out, so I can check the time or change the song or something while I'm riding my bike.

Get neither, at least for now.

Wait for the competitors to come. Their main goal is to kill the iPod, and hopefully they'll be successful.

Why hopefully? There's are very good reasons it controls more than 25% of the MP3 market. Granted, I can't wait until all the competition forces them to add an LCD remote and improve the battery life, but why wait, there are plenty of great MP3 players on the market right now, and there will always be better ones, it's not worth your time trying to wait for the next best thing when what's out right now will satisfy your needs.

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Troll?

The thing is, why haven't they added new software features into gen 2 iPods? I don't believe it's a matter of CPU power (don't they both have those dual 32-bit RISC ARMs?) so it can't be even moderately difficult. I thought they're just delaying the release but the 1.3 firmware came out for gen 2 and it doesn't contain anything useful. I must admit I expected more from Apple and this certainly dispelled my initial feeling that they are a different kind of company.

Anyhow when I first heard of gen 3, my feelings were similar to MacDEF's. I like size, shape, weight and dock but not the shorter battery life and unintuitive and overly sensitive buttons and their layout. For me personally though, those negatives outweigh the positives (not to mention that new firmware was also getting a lot of complaints, machines freezing up, popping sounds, I think that has been improved since). So I am not even tempted when I see them in store now.