here’s a stupid question:
how can I tell what generation my ipod is? I bought it in late May and paid $399.00 for a 20GB. This would lead me to belive that it’s a 3rd generation iPod b/c the 4th gen. 20GB cost $299, but I don’t know for sure.
Thanks.
That said, my iPod is without question, the coolest thing I have ever purchased. I’m being serious. I can not reccomend them highly enough. Another 20 - 40GB would be nice, but beyond its capacity I have no complaints.
Unless you ordered it from Apple in the last 10 days or so, it can’t be a 4th gen. Unless the seller had a ton of old stock, I’d assume it’s a 3rd gen.
As to the Apple Lossless format, it’s also called AAC and was developed by Dolby Laboratories. AFAIK, it’s a variant of their AC3 digital audio format for movies, which is better known simply as “Dolby Digital” on the marquee. I believe its filetype (extension) is .mp4 It is a smaller file size than MP3.
No go on Ogg, just yet. You’d need to use something like LAME to transcode your Ogg files to MP3 files, or burn them to a standard audio CD and have iTunes rip them in as MP3.
Likewise, if you need change AAC files purchased on iTunes to MP3 - transcode with LAME or burn to CD and rip as MP3. I have to do this little routine as my (and most others) media player connected to the stereo system doesn’t handle AAC.
Do the controls consist of four small circular touch-sensitive buttons over a touch-sensitive wheel? Then it’s 3rd gen.
Also, the dock connector (at the bottom of the iPod) wasn’t introduced until the 3rd gen, IIRC.
And there are the adamant minority like myself who say there’s plenty out there that’s at least as good for most people’s needs, and cheaper. I love my Creative Zen 20GB far more than the opportunities I’ve had to mess with friends’ iPods. It does everything I need it to no worse than an iPod would, I really prefer its brushed silver casing to Apple’s white-face, chrome-back appearance, and the buttons on the sides, though small, are easy for me to work with (and are actual buttons, instead of just sensors under the faceplate). And, most importantly to me when I bought it early last summer, $100 cheaper than the comparable storage-sized iPod is a really significant saving. I see most people with iPods who have no need for its more obscure (though useful) features. Ogg Vorbis or AAC, not too many people worry about. They rip mp3s to their iPods. Integration to a computer program like iTunes with the smart playlists? They just play whole albums, or “all tracks” playlists. Bigger flash buffer than my Zen? Blank looks.
As far as “The Thing To Have,” it’s not convincing. Saving 25% looked a lot better to me. My recommendation to the OP: look around, research. There’s more out there than just iPod, and for your needs, the chance is pretty good that you can find something that will do just as good a job as an iPod for less money. If it’s the iPod you choose, do so for good reasons. I really hope “iPod” does not become synonymous with “hard drive mp3 player,” especially when there are good players by Creative, Dell, iRiver, Rio, and others.
Sorry - I forgot I’d posted to this thread, so I haven’t checked back in a while.
Anyway, I have an Archos Multimedia Jukebox. Last time I checked their site (archos.com, IIRC), it looked like they had stopped producing that model, but were now selling a much more powerful version - it had a much larger screen, an 80 gig hard drive, and would function as a digital video recorder, among other things. Unfortunatley, the price was something like $800, so it’s not much of a replacement for my model, which I found for about $300.
But poke around the site if you’re interested. They may be selling another model that I didn’t see when I was there. I didn’t look that closely.
The 4th gen iPods are $100 cheaper than their 3rd gen counterparts. So much for that argument. 
I just found out as I was adding some songs I ripped using MusicMatch that iTunes will ask to convert WMA files to MP3s which is really nice feature that must be new with one of the updates.
Not at all. Largest 4th Gen iPod, 40GB: $400
the 40GB Zen Xtra: $270.
4th Gen iPod, 20GB: $300
30GB Zen Xtra (don’t make a 20GB): $240
Philips Jukebox (which has a rather nice look): $230
Rio Karma 20GB: $250
Dell DJ 20GB: $280
The argument still stands up quite well. Yes, iPods are now cheaper than previous iPods, but the competition isn’t sitting on their hands either.