Being the music lover that I am, I like to have music with me wherever I go. I was so thankful when mp3 players came on the scene; finally an easy way to have all the songs you love in one place. The three mp3 players I have dealt with are the Apple Ipod Mini, the Apple Ipod Shuffle and the Phillips Go Gear Aria. I will tell you my experiences with each one.
The first mp3 player I bought was the Apple Ipod Mini. I bought this in the beginning of 2008 and at first I was in love. I was thrilled at being able to put all of my songs I had on Cd’s onto this little device without having to change out Cd’s. Also I loved the fact that I could put the player on shuffle and it would randomly pick songs over and over for me to listen to. This was particularly convenient when listening to music in my cubicle at work. I will also say that the earphones that come with Ipods are absolutely fantastic. They have the best sound quality of any earphones I have ever used and believe me when I say I have used many different ones.
There were definitely some positive attributes for the Ipod Mini. First of all, it has room for about 1,500 songs, which is more than enough room for most people. Also it was easy to navigate screens, pick songs, change the volume, etc. Also you can make different play lists to put on it if you like. You can either charge it up on a computer or with an adapter plugged in to the wall. So far so good.
However, the day came when things were not so great. The battery started losing some of its power. While it still worked fine, it wouldn’t hold a charge as well as it used to. Then again most electronics are the same way over time. Well I made do with that until one day my Ipod got stuck at the end of a song and wouldn’t do anything else. This was around the spring of 2009. I couldn’t figure out what was going on and eventually I got a screen that said to go to the Apple web page for support. I thought it would be an easy problem to fix but it wasn’t. My mom also had an Ipod Mini that before hadn’t caused any problems but when I tried to sync hers to my play list it started giving the same errors. To make a very long story very short I went around and around trying everything I could to fix both and nothing worked.
Now don’t go thinking awful thoughts about the Apple Ipods because the Shuffle is a different story. My dad has one of these but since he isn’t crazy about operating electronics I set his up and everything with Itunes. This one was purchased not long after mine in 2008 and it has worked beautifully. We have had no problems with this one at all. The battery holds its charge very well, it syncs up just fine to the computer and it is very easy to use. I think the main difference between this and the Mini is that the Mini was one of the first Ipods and also wasn’t compatible with the newer upgrades of Itunes after a while. The only thing with me is that the Shuffle doesn’t hold as many songs as I would like. Also there is no screen for you to scroll to a particular song, artist or play list; you just have to click the forward button. But if you are looking for something that holds around 250 songs, I highly recommend the Ipod Shuffle.
After my issues with the Minis, I decided to get a different brand of mp3 player for myself. I decided to get the Phillips Go Gear Aria. I really like this one and I haven’t had any problems with it. It’s very easy to use and easy to set up. For this mp3 player you use Rhapsody which is very user friendly. The battery on this player holds a charge very well and this one is also very easy to navigate through. I have had this player since June of 2009 so it has only been a few months, but I’m pleased with this one so far. It also has a color screen, and it also has the option to shuffle the songs or to choose a particular song or artist.
The bottom line with mp3 players is to find one that suits your needs the best. Both the Apple Ipod Shuffle and the Phillips Go Gear Aria are great choices, but the features are different so look carefully at the product information before making your choice.
