After extensive research, I am considering of purchasing an iPod,
however, now I am not sure which one to buy:

1. iPod (4G 20GB)
2. iPod Photo (40GB)

I have an XP Home SP2 PC with all my music. I am "willing" to shell
out the extra $200 if it's worth it, but I am not sure if it's worth
the extra $200. I have heard more GOOD things about the 4G 20GB than
the iPod Photo. I hear the Photo is not worth the extra $200. What do
you guys/gals think?

1. Are there any pros/cons on the Photo (other than it's in color)?
2. Are there any pros/cons on the 4G iPod.
3. Can I hook up a 4G ipod to a home theater system?
4. Which one would you purchase?


Thanks,
Jonathan

Been there. Done that.

Go look at the Archo's line if you are looking at a small multimedia player.
Their AV420 (20 gig) has something the multi-media iPods don't: a customer
removable battery! You can get a spare for under $50 and slap it in and
keep going. Costs a bit more than the iPod line but it's features and
quality are hard to beat. I believe their are many online reviews of the
brand at epinions.com and Tom's Hardware.com. It seems to always come out
ahead.

Fwiw, the larger 80 gig Archo's model has a built-in (ugh!) battery, but you
are looking at $750-800 for it.

The Archo's I have (AV420) is "dead-silent" between tracks. Almost amazing
that their is no op-amp noise even though I use many different earphones and
one almost always picks up some op-amp noise or white noise. Not so here.
My only nit-pick is their internal speaker is lousy, but it is very small
(maybe 1/2" diameter?). Works better with Creative Labs TravelSound if you
want some louder sounding speakers.

Never has locked-up or dropped-out and I used it on a motorcycle for
listening to mp3s. It just works! Sound quality is very good; moreso that
my friend's iPod (which he had to send away to get a new $100 battery put
in). It is even better than my iRiver flash player which odes have some
white noise from the amp and audible clicks when working the controls.

It will operate as a small Tivo. It will record and rip in compressed
format from a DVD player as well and playback on your TV through it's
docking station which has ample wires coming from it.

The only bug is that once you load a video, if you off-load it to something
else to play or edit all you will get is sound, no picture (!). It'll show
a nag screen saying "the copyrighted material can only be played on the
device that recorded it" or some such nonsense.

You can find it a CompUSA sitting next ot the iPod multimedia players. Ask
the salesman which he'd prefer and why.

B~