IPod Nano Vs MP4 player ... does it matter?

[MrsSnape]

My sister (14) has asked for an Ipod nano for christmas. Apparantly all the kids are getting them this year.

So my mum asked me how much they are. I said "cheapest is about £100".

So she goes into the city centre, goes into currys and asks for an ipod 'nino'. The bloke obviously spots someone who doesn't know what she's looking for and gives her a normal MP4 player. He tells her its what all the kids are getting and its cheap at £60. My mum says "Oh, that is cheap for an ipod, I'll buy it" and he obviously doesn't put her right and lets her buy it.

So she's had it hidden away for a few weeks, all the time telling me she managed to find a "Nino" for £60. I couldn't believe she'd gotten it so cheap and suspected she'd bought the wrong thing... needless to say, she showed me it today and it's nothing like an ipod nano but it is still a decent mp4 player.

What to do? sis is expecting a nano, is it important or will she be happy with this?

DD3 16 would be happy with MP4 player. She knows we would not be able to afford an ipod.
But if your sister thinks that your mum will get her and ipod nano then she might be disapointed with a MP4 player.

TBH, and speaking as a bit of a Mac freak, an iPod is not just about what it does, it's the fact that it's an iPod cos it's a fashion statement as much as anything. I think she might be a bit disappointed it's not one, but you know her better than us.

That's what I was thinking ballsinthesky, I suppose it's a bit like asking for a pair of Levi jeans and being bought George at Asda...I feel sorry for my mum though because she really thought she'd grabbed a bragain. I'm quite annoyed at currys really, they could have been more honest with her.

Ipods are generally very good and can usually store more music than MP4 players...it depends whether fashion and what things look like really matters to your sister. If what shes really bothered about is that it does the job then no it doesn't matter. You should check the gb of the mp4 your mum got though...it may be a lot less than the nano and therefore your sister won't be able to store as much music on it!

Just adding this to this thread too, in case you didn't see it...

There is a difference in that if she has had ipod's before or runs iTunes on her computer unless she has thought about how she loaded all her music on to it the music on her computer won't be compatible with an mp4 player.

iTunes automatically saves music to .aac (I think) files - which are incompatible with everything except apple products.

SO, if you know she has previously had an ipod (of any kind) or that she happens to store her music on her comp with iTunes (if she has an apple she almost definitely will and a lot of other people do as well) tell your mum she's made a mistake and to take it back.

If this is the first portable music player she'll be having, and she hasn't already got all her music set up on her computer with iTunes then the mp4 player will do the job fine. Although be less cool.

Hope this helps.