Best iPod for UMich?

[DMD-2-B]

Hey U-Mich students,

I'll be joining you this fall, and I was hoping to solicit your feedback on the various iPods I am deciding between.

I am choosing between the 8, 16, 32 or 80 gig versions. All but the latter are iPod Touch, which has the added feature of wi-fi. The latter is the classic iPod.

What are your thoughts/experiences?

Thanks!

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[dmonee6]

ok, well i'm not a U-Mich student and i'm not quite sure why you're asking only them, lol... but you gotta go with the Touch. I have a 16 gig and its amazing. Go with the 32 gb Touch... its the newest, holds a good amount, and does the most.

 

[Brownstain]

Real U of M student here with the DL on the Itunes thing. I would recommend NOT wasting the money on a new Ipod if you are buying it JUST for the itunes program, it's a giant crock of self promotion by the school. It's really not that good of a system and it has no video recording of the lecture, so it can be pretty hard to follow lecture slides you missed etc. The system doesn't even properly record half of the time and as far as needing a touch for wireless, well the building barely even has wireless. Much unlike what the school makes you think, there only certain places that have wireless in the school and it wont work unless you have it registered by the tech gurus in the basement. I also believe the only way to speed up the files is to use quicktime or other programs on a computer, which you will most likely want to do if listening to a lecture over again.
If you just want to get a new mp3 player by all means splurge on the touch or even better and Iphone!

 

[DMD-2-B]

Real U of M student here with the DL on the Itunes thing. I would recommend NOT wasting the money on a new Ipod if you are buying it JUST for the itunes program, it's a giant crock of self promotion by the school. It's really not that good of a system and it has no video recording of the lecture, so it can be pretty hard to follow lecture slides you missed etc. The system doesn't even properly record half of the time and as far as needing a touch for wireless, well the building barely even has wireless. Much unlike what the school makes you think, there only certain places that have wireless in the school and it wont work unless you have it registered by the tech gurus in the basement. I also believe the only way to speed up the files is to use quicktime or other programs on a computer, which you will most likely want to do if listening to a lecture over again.
If you just want to get a new mp3 player by all means splurge on the touch or even better and Iphone!

So what you're saying is that the podcasts are not streaming video veiwable on the iPod?

 

[DMD-2-B]

ok, well i'm not a U-Mich student and i'm not quite sure why you're asking only them, lol... but you gotta go with the Touch. I have a 16 gig and its amazing. Go with the 32 gb Touch... its the newest, holds a good amount, and does the most.

Hey dmonee, I am just trying to ascertain which is the best for playing back lectures through the podcast system used at U of M.

 

[Brownstain]

Yeah, they are not streaming video. They are recorded and then are uploaded for you to download at your own discretion. The problem is the files often don't properly upload or even record for that matter and there is no video period. It's just audio so following along blindly with an instructor's 100 slide presentation is a pain. The best way to use the system is to use a computer because that way you can play at 1.5x speed for example. which ipods are incapable of doing. So I guess I'm saying if you just wanted an Ipod for listening to lectures you are better off investing that money in a computer, or better yet putting the $350 on black at the roulette table, then you could buy two and have some fun at the same time. Remember that any mp3 player can play an mp3 file too, so you don't have to buy an Ipod brand product either, it's all a bunch of promotional apple stuff.

Trust me, you'll barely use the service and when you really need to review something, you're better off asking a friend for their notes or the instructor for an explanation. Listening to 50 minute long lectures at normal speed is complete waste of your time in the action packed first two years or dental school. It's all a bunch of BS the school uses as a promotion/research deal with apple. The med school here has video assistants who stream video, record, and scribe. That would be a great service, but we don't have that because of the whole apple thing.

 

[Epik]

Ipods suck. Go with Sansa or any of the other better products that don't force you to use iTunes, has FM radio, better sound quality, and still costs less.

 

[DMD-2-B]

Yeah, they are not streaming video. They are recorded and then are uploaded for you to download at your own discretion. The problem is the files often don't properly upload or even record for that matter and there is no video period. It's just audio so following along blindly with an instructor's 100 slide presentation is a pain. The best way to use the system is to use a computer because that way you can play at 1.5x speed for example. which ipods are incapable of doing. So I guess I'm saying if you just wanted an Ipod for listening to lectures you are better off investing that money in a computer, or better yet putting the $350 on black at the roulette table, then you could buy two and have some fun at the same time. Remember that any mp3 player can play an mp3 file too, so you don't have to buy an Ipod brand product either, it's all a bunch of promotional apple stuff.

Trust me, you'll barely use the service and when you really need to review something, you're better off asking a friend for their notes or the instructor for an explanation. Listening to 50 minute long lectures at normal speed is complete waste of your time in the action packed first two years or dental school. It's all a bunch of BS the school uses as a promotion/research deal with apple. The med school here has video assistants who stream video, record, and scribe. That would be a great service, but we don't have that because of the whole apple thing.

thanks for the disillusionment Brownstain.

That streaming video service offered to the med students sounds great!!! Hmmm... I wonder if there's a way that we can get video too....

 

[DMD-2-B]

Ipods suck. Go with Sansa or any of the other better products that don't force you to use iTunes, has FM radio, better sound quality, and still costs less.

Well I wouldnt quite say that iPods suck, but definately I love my little Creative Zen!!!

 

[muz]

i never used my ipod to podcast, i did use my comp to hear the lectures faster speed,

however i know many many people that used their ipods to listen to the lectures
the wifi power in the school is pretty weak

but overall im happy with the computer situation at michigan (esp the computers in the clinic0