i'm looking at a 30gb video. i wanna use it when i run,in the car , etc. i know it's hd based which isn't great if u're movin around alot but for the price of a decent sized flash player i can get the 30gb ipod. anybody use their video for working out ? any problems??

8/26/2006 2:49:33 AM

I wouldn't do it, especially when running. While lifting it should be OK.

The new SanDisk flash based player has 8 GB and runs for $250.

8/26/2006 2:51:57 AM

i use my 30GB video for running and in my car and I've never had a problem. You can always get the extended warranty from best buy or wherever you get it, so that that if it does crap out on you they will fix it for free

8/26/2006 8:08:04 AM

running with any HDD based mp3 player is a bad bad idea.

8/26/2006 9:41:20 AM

Apple doesnt support ANY of its hdd based ipods for physical activity.

It's the precise reason the new iPod Nike sport kit ONLY supports the Nano.

If you run with the 30/60gb iPod, it will shit itself quickly. I have a client that went through 6 of them in 3 months, he finally bought a damn Nano.

8/26/2006 10:42:59 AM

Alternatively, instead of buying any ripoff waranties, you could just get yourself a small flash based player specificaly for running. A 512 one shouldn't cost you more than $70 and you can take that running with you.

8/26/2006 11:25:19 AM

Quote :

"A 512 one shouldn't cost you more than $70 $30"

8/26/2006 11:58:09 AM

Quote :

"i use my 30GB video for running and in my car and I've never had a problem."

Same here. I'm training for a marathon and run about 30 miles a week. I got one of those Denison kits to integrate the iPod into my car stereo, so it is constantly in my car playing (about 1 hour round trip commute per working day... longer depending on where else I go). That's at least 10 hours per week of active use for the past 9 months or so without any problems. I've even dropped it a couple times while I was running without any problems.

The thing to remember is even though it is hard drive based it has 32MB solid-state memory cache, and buffers music in memory and then the hard drive stops spinning (you will notice some delay at points as it caches more songs into memory and can hear the hard drive spinning up and spinning down). This is how it is able to extend it's battery life and keep the HDD based iPod from skipping all the time. Depending on what bitrate your mp3s are created at, lets say 128 kbps for about 3MB per song, you can cache about 10 songs, about 25-30 minutes skip protection before it has to access the hard drive again.

8/29/2006 10:47:27 AM

Consider yourself lucky.

And using your iPod in your car is COMPLETELY different than using it while running. And if you dropped it and it still works, then you must be graced from God.

Absolutely correct about the spin-up, which is why they fail so often (and why Apple doesn't support them) when running

8/29/2006 11:49:39 AM

Seriously. For the 40 bucks of adding applecare to your harddrive based ipod you could just get a 512 mb flash based player just for running that will last 5 times longer than the harddrive based ipods.

Oh yeah, I guess "extended-warranty" would be a good video ipod running accessory...

[Edited on August 29, 2006 at 2:05 PM. Reason : ]

8/29/2006 2:05:23 PM

Quote :

"And using your iPod in your car is COMPLETELY different than using it while running. And if you dropped it and it still works, then you must be graced from God."

True... he asked about the car though. Just saying the denison stuff is good, and I've used it a lot. As for dropping it, yes I dropped it while running, it hit asphault, and it's fine. I could just be a statistical anamoly, but just giving him some feedback.

Actually, the problem I would be more concerned with when it comes to running outside with my iPod is it getting wet when it starts raining. I left the protective film over the screen that it comes packaged with and I have a case for it, but it's not waterproof. I've gotten caught in the rain in a few occasions and I just power the thing off and cross my fingers.

8/29/2006 4:00:47 PM

Ah my bad, I missed that in the original post. Yea they are great for the car, that's where mine see 90% of it's use.

And they actually make waterproof and water resistant cases now for the ipod, although the waterproof ones are a bit on the ridiculous side.

8/29/2006 4:27:06 PM

Yeah, if you want a waterproof Mp3 player iriver has a closeout on this bundle:

https://secure7.nexternal.com/shared/StoreFront/default.asp?CS=iriver&BusType=BtoC&Count1=122570216&Count2=39710640&CategoryID=2&Target=products.asp

alright that link doesn't take you all the way there, it's the ifp 795 bundle with waterproof case and headphones along with some other stuff like a neoprene armband. If you MUST listen to musing while swimming, it's a decent bundle. Not sure if the FM radio will get much under water though.

[Edited on August 29, 2006 at 6:52 PM. Reason : ]

8/29/2006 6:49:52 PM

the reason i said i wanted to be using it in my car was bc i wanted a decent amoutn of storage on the mp3 player. a 512mb holds less than a cd so it's not much use in the car..
i ended up buyin the 6gb sandisk e270 but i'm comtemplating selling it and gettin a refurbished 30gb. still hearing mixed stories about if it's safe to run w. it or not.

8/30/2006 6:35:28 PM

but a 512 still holds ~150 songs, so unless you're running for 10 hours you won't listen to the same song twice

8/30/2006 8:11:00 PM

yeah a 512mb player holds enough songs for a bunch of workouts, but is cheap enough that you don't have to care if you drop it a couple times and break it, or spill something on it, or sweat all over it until everything inside it corodes...

While a video ipod may survive being dropped a couple times, there's no need to put the added stress of running on it. The more a harddrive based device moves around, the shorter (on average) it will last.

8/30/2006 8:58:36 PM