Wednesday, November 3, 2010

iPod Touch - little help anyone...?

First off, this is cycling related.  No, I don't listen/use an iPod when cycling, or even when running.  However, I do arrange sets of music for instructing cycling classes (think Spinning).  My iPod Nano has been dying pretty quick lately.  It started about a month ago, but now after just minutes a full charge goes down to about a 10% of battery life.  I think I got it in '05 or '06 so its getting a bit old.  I've heard that going thru the process of having a new battery installed is not worth the time or money so buying a new one is the easiest and best route to go. That could be just a underlying marketing plan to sell new iPods, but either way...

That said, I want to upgrade to an iPod Touch.  This way I will actually use it for more than just cycling classes.  I plan to record training data on it, but need to find the right applicaton.  You have web access in free wi-fi areas so you can down load music and do other things that a laptop could do.  Anyway, the prices seem a little high right now.  I am looking for feedback from anyone who has a Touch and if they recommend it, as well as a good place to pick one up.  Best Buy comes to mind, but I wouldn't mind finding an iPod bundle or something like that which includes extra's--we are approaching Black Friday.

Littel help anyone...?

2 comments:

Brian said...

Lots of apps out there to explore but I am unsure of any specific to your needs. I would just browse thru the Apple/iTunes store and read up some reviews.

My very first iPod had the same issue after about 4 years, just would not hold a charge any more. But I still love Apple products. If you do go the Touch route, just pay close attention to the storage capacity. Some of those Touch capacities aren't much better than a Nano.

I've come to like quite a few apps on my Droid phone (Evo). But do I really, really need them? No. They are just a 'cool' factor and are the little shiny object that I need at that moment then quickly forgotten about.

If it were me, I'd get a simple Nano for the music. Then get a little notebook for your other needs. I got a nice little notebook at Costco last year for under $300 and it serves as my daily personal laptop. Yeah, small but so much more than a Touch and just as easily portable.

GSoroos said...

I havent found an app that I really like to enter training data into. But I guess it depends what you want to track. For strength training at the gym, I like Fitness Log.

I've been able to access TrainingPeaks-mobile version, and works similar to an app. But I still have to sync up the bike computer thru a computer with a usb port. So no benefit there.

garminConnect isn't modified for mobile, and it uses flash for the charts, so you can't see those.

I haven't tried it, but maybe keeping a log in a GoogleDocs spreadsheet would work.

Really, the Touch ends up being a really cool entertainment gadget. Games, music, videos, facebook, netflix and youtube are mostly what I use mine for. You can surf ebay and the web. The new ones have a camera so blogging from it may be easier. But I find, the places where I may live blog from don't have wi-fi.