I listen to music a lot at work.  I have an extra long 3.5mm extension cable, this lets me work on both my computer while still listening to music.  I can’t have my iPod, so I got a mp3 CD player.  I also have rechargeable batteries for it.  So basically my cubicle is all setup for nonstop listening to music.  But recently I have noticed that my iPod earbuds have been starting to hurt my ears.  Anyways I would like to know your opinion on some new headphones.  Do you like Over the Ear or On the Ear, and which headphones would you recommend for <$50.

So I have been using my little shuffle for a few months now waiting for today, the day Apple released the new IPods. Let me fist explain what I use my IPod for. I listen to podcasts everyday, some music, movies would only be on watched while waiting in line or something. I don’t think I need to carry my entire library with me, as I can’t have an IPod at work, and most listening I do is of podcasts. You may say, just stick with the shuffle, but I like to see what I am listening to, as well as being able to move about my files efficiently. Could you help me decide.

1. IPod Classic – Comes in 80gb ($249), 160gb ($349). I would be able to carry my entire library with me, but its like an old IPod. Although having 160gb would be nice for just backups and other files.
2. IPod Touch – Comes in 8gb ($299), 16gb ($399). Like an IPhone, but with only Wifi. I would only be able to carry podcast and some song. Probably hackable, but not sure right now.  Also as with the IPhone, its all touch. I don’t know if I like this for use in a car.
3. Iphone – Refurbished 8gb($349) It’s an IPhone, so its got bluetooth, wifi, and even the phone part if I wanted to get data for it. Also Its only $50 more than the 8gb Touch, and I know the IPhone will be hacked up and awesome.
4. Achos5 – Comes in 80gb ($329), 160gb ($379). It has wifi, touch screen, browser plugin, DVR function (I wouldn’t use) and some other stuff. Take a look and see what you think. Also the size on this seem large to me.

I am leaning toward the IPhone, just because it has more goodies for about the same price as the IPod Touch. Although if i remember correct, you need an adapter to use regular headphones on the IPhone. Let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Nathan

At the end of May Apple upgraded iTunes to version 7.2, which included DRM Free music. I was so excited about this that I upgraded right away. The next morning, I found myself yelling at the computer, seems as though Apple made it so that podcasts couldn’t be manually sorted on the 2nd generation Shuffle. Podcasts always move them selves to the top of the shuffle and sort by newest. This problem is irritating, but I figured someone probably already complained and Apple would fix it in the next release. Then a couple weeks ago Apple released a firmware upgrade to the 2nd generation Shuffle. What did that fix? Hell I don’t know, they didn’t release any information about it. The firmware upgrade didn’t fix the podcast problem. Then last week the new version of iTunes I had hoped would fix the manually sorting issues came out. But unfortunately it didn’t fix the problem either. I can now move podcasts around on the shuffle, but the manual sort doesn’t get saved to the shuffle. I have found many others that having the same issues, here are a few links to discussions about this problem.

• Why won’t 2G Shuffle retain manual sort order?
• Can keep everything but podcasts in proper order
• ipod shuffle 2g won’t sync podcasts although music syncs fine
• I can no longer move song around on my shuffle playlist