Please help advise on i-pod/MP3 for 9yr old

[shouldbeironing]

Hi - my son has asked for an i-pod for his birthday. Most of his friends seem to have got one for their birthday/Xmas in the last 6 months.

Anyway, I do not know how they work or anything as we dont have much technology in our house! I am looking for advice from people who already have them for whether I should get the i-pod brand itself or some other cheaper type of MP3 player. Also there are so many i-pods about classic, nano etc, what does your 9/10 year old need/use? Do they use it for the music or other features? Do they really get a lot of use from it? I dont want to spend a fortune and the ones that are not called i-pod seem cheaper but if it is worth it, he could use grandparent contributions from both sides and we could probably afford one.

Finally, how does it work - how do you get the music onto the i-pod? And what sort of music would a 9 year old boy listen to? I am not up with the music scene and would like to know what typical 9 or 10 year olds are listening to these days? I dont want him listening to unsuitable stuff. At the moment he doesnt listen to anything at all!!

If you can answer any of the above questions that would really help. Thanks.

We got dd a Sony Walkman mp3 for around £50. Much better value than iPods imo. I'd also invest in a speaker docking station for around £30 otherwise he'll have to listen with just earphones which isn't good for the ears! The docking station should also charge the mp3 rather than it having to be charged through the pc (most mp3s come with usb charger rather than plug socket one).

Music will be downloaded from your pc. So you can either buy cds, copy them to the computer, then copy from computer to mp3. Or you can buy downloads from tesco, amazon, iplayer etc (you will need to install the shop's download software but quite easy).

If he has no music I'd recommend getting the latest Now album. (Now 76?).

If you go for an iPod, go for a Nano. They come in 8GB or 16GB. The 8GB would be more than enough for a 9 year old (holds about 2000 songs). Also comes in pretty cool colours. The new ones also have a camera built in, but it's not anything particuarly outstanding compared to digital cameras.

Official page - Apple

iPods need iTunes on the computer, which you download free. It's actually a reasonably good music programme to use on the computer anyway, as you can play songs off it and make playlists of your favourite music. You can also download podcasts (sort of like mini radio programmes that have been pre-recorded, popular ones include the Chris Moyles ones from Radio 1, but come on literally any topic).

When you plug the iPod into the computer (using the cable that comes with the iPod), it 'synchronises' (puts all the music from the iTunes library onto the iPod, including any playlists you've made) and charges it at the same time.

There are plenty of cheaper options out there, some brilliant, some crap not so brilliant. I don't know much about them and each one is different in terms of software for the computer and putting music onto them. It depends how much you think he'll use it, how much he'll look after it (don't want to fork out for an iPod if he's likely to lose it/drop it in his cereal/accidentally ride his bike over it) and how important it is to him.

It's definitely worth popping into somewhere like Curry's or PC World and asking them to advise you (though be wary of them pushing you towards a more expensive one). They'll be able to tell you about the different types and what each one does/needs.

HTH!

Thank you both for the replies - both very useful and I will be looking into the docking station and the nano and the Now Album. I guess I will venture into PC World.

Can I ask anyone who has an i-pod/MP3-owning 9 year old boy how much they love their i-pod and how much they use it so I can decide how likely it is to be worth investing in something other than a cheapo basic one.

Also does anyone have anymore suggestions for music that kids that age like?

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DS2 has had an ipod for a couple of years now - he would have got it when he was 9. He watches films/episodes of Star Wars Clone Wars on it (even though it only has a tiny screen he likes it in the car) and listens to audio books rather than music. DD got one for her 7th birthday, it's really interesting that she uses it only for music - Pink, Britney Spears etc. I do tend to get DH or DS1 to do the "techie" part of downloading stuff though