Thinking of picking one up for my wife, but she would be using it alot at the gym and for long training runs. Seeing that it uses an internal hard drive, is that an acceptable long term use of the Ipod, or would I be asking for trouble?
Thanks for your help.
I don’t jog with mine but I walk briskly on a treadmill for 30 minutes a day minimum, with the iPod since I bought it in January. The iPod has frozen on me periodically but AFAIK it’s unrelated to the movement. It’s frozen while I’ve been sitting still too. I’ve also dropped it several times and it still works.
There’s a 20 minute buffer protection on the iPod. I take my 40gb to the gym with me and sometimes run with it in hand and it’s been fine. I also tend to just listen to one “album” at a time so it’s not taxing the hard drive for each song. My advice would be to keep the amount of shock to a minimum (don’t attach the iPod to your foot, etc 
)
Also check out Ipodlounge.com’s thread about jogging although I’m not sure if you have to sign up to see this info or not.
Buy the iPod if it’s got the features that you want. It will not only survive a jogging regimen, but perform admirably well in that relatively rough environment (unless your wife attaches it to her foot, as stpauler points out ).
I’ve been jogging with mine for well over a year now, with no ill effects, and I don’t recall it ever skipping on me. Go for it!
By the way, audiobooks make a nice occasional change from music while jogging. Audible.com is great with the iPod!
I don’t own an iPod myself (though I am considering it as a gift soon), but all the owners I’ve heard from have no problems using it while jogging, skiing, or bicycling.
I have a Nomad Zen, not an iPod, but it very specifically states in the instructions that jogging with it will significantly shorten the life time. Since both are just hard drives with audio connectors, I’d expect the same to hold true for the iPod. Hard drives spinning at thousands of rpm don’t do well being rhythmically jarred.
It’s probably fine on bikes, stair masters, etc.
I actually just returned my Nomad Zen Jukebox 20GB and bought a 40GB iPod. I found the Nomad a bit bulky and the dial on the side to choose songs to be very fragile. Not that I broke mine but I’m oafish so I didn’t want to take chances. I do miss the ability that the Zen had to queue a song to play next while playing another, if the iPod has that, I haven’t found it yet. Also, the Zen’s battery life was much longer than the iPods. I also have to give it up to iPod for its CD ripping software, Musicmatch, that comes with it. The prog that came with the Zen seemed to rip at about 2x (I could be wrong and/or YMMV but that’s what I got) whereas the Musicmatch software rips between 0.8x to 10x. I’m not sure why the fluctuation but for the most part it runs around 8x. ITunes is also a much easier program to manoeuver. (I’m rambling about the differences, sorry)
Anyways, I did find the official Apple iPod FAQ:
Just to clarify, I was only talking about possible damage/wear to the drive itself, not if/how well it would work while jogging. Also, I don’t actually know that jogging would damage it – that disclaimer may be total bs, designed only to cover themselves.
As for the iPod vs. the Zen, from all accounts the iPod is the better choice (especially the software – Creative’s software for the Zen sort of sucks). But I wanted 20 gigs and the Zen was $200 cheaper than the iPod, so that made the decision easy.
What you need is a Smart Playlist. Here’s one I use:
This creates a playlist with 25 comedy-related tracks at any time. When the first track finishes, it’s removed from the list, and another track – one that I haven’t heard in a day or more – pops in to the end.
It’s trivially easy to create one that perpetually selects the songs you want to hear. You can then sync your iPod to use that playlist, and it’ll keep the tracks queued up for you.
Thanks everyone- I have been following this thread closing and did read the 5 page thread that is linked. The thread was very interesting- looks like some people had no problems and some people could never get it to work well while jogging.
Hmm.
I’ve heard the rechargable battery only lasts 12 months, and cannot be replaced. This isn’t true is it?
Before you ask, no, I don’t have a cite.
Should have Googled first. Here’s a thread on another board that addresses the battery issue.
Thanks Revtim- good information.