[sworthy]

I've actually bought both of these already, believe it or not. I snatched up a 30 GB during the latest dell deal last week, and then just last night ordered a 15 giger along with my sister's purchase of an ibook with the $200 rebate. So, I've spent around $600 on the two. I was originally going to sell the 30 and keep the 15, but now I'm thinking otherwise. Assuming I can get a reasonable $360 for the 15, I could have the 30 for only $240, or the 15 for $140 (assuming the 30 goes for $460). However, I have a few concerns:

1) Is the 30 noticeably bigger than the 15?
2) Can someone expalin its use as a firewire HD? How easy is it to transfer files to other computers, such as my sisters? Or is seen as more of a backup drive?

I should note that I only have around 9 gigs of songs at the moment, but the main selling point of the ipod to me is that I can carry around *all* of my music and I don't want to run out of space in the near future.

[JLFanboy]

1) As you said, it's only noticeably bigger if you have more than 15 gigs of music. If you don't they will seem to be the exact same size because they both fit all of your music. Think about how long it will take you to get another 6 gigs of music, and see if it's worth it to have the 15 gigger for that long. If not, keep the 30.

2) It's a true firewire harddrive. You plug it in, and it shows up on your desktop as a harddrive. You can drag things onto and off of it. It'll work flawlessly between multiple computers. And it plays music. Which means it rawks.

Personally, I'd say keep the 30 gigger. It's pretty future proof, and you have the luxury of keeping much more than music on it. But beyond that it's a matter of your own preference.

[icruise]

I think he was asking if the 30Gb is noticeably bigger in physical size than the 15. Yes it is a bit bigger, but neither one is that big. They are both smaller than all the previous iPods. I'd go for the 30 myself (well, I already did).

[sworthy]

I was actually referring the the physical dimensions of the 'pod.

The 15 gigger is:
5.6 ounces
2.4 x 4.0 x .62 inche

while the 30 gigger is:
6.2 ounces
2.4 x 4.0 x .73 inches

[JLFanboy]

I was actually referring the the physical dimensions of the 'pod.

Yes...well. Indeed you were. Sorry, my bad.

Well, I think that just about fills my "Useless" quota for the day.

[kalonji]

the 30 isnt that much bigger. when you compare it with the slick 10 and 15 models, it does look kinda thick even though it really isn't that significant.

i'd keep the 30 if i were you. i was initially going to buy a 10 gig model but i opted for the 15 because i figured that in the long run i could really use the extra space and it already has come in handy.

i guess what i'm trying to tell you is to think long term! you might have only 5 gigs of music today but who knows! in 2 years it could grow to 25 gigs! you already got a good deal so i'd stick with the 30. my 2 cents

[awcopus]

How's this for a laugh. I've got a 30 GB model, and I've never had more than 5 GB of music on it.

I think there are a lot of people like me who simply never did the math and have discovered that in their eagerness to own Apple's top-o-th'-line iPod they have essentially gotten way more than they need.

I have a big CD collection, but there's the music on the shelf and the music I listen to.

I wonder how many people put everything on their iPod, and never actually end up listening to certain songs.... anyway, Apple's marketing of this thing has been brilliant.

[zigzag]

I'd keep the 30. You're only going to notice the additional thickness/weight in a side-by-side comparison. It will have more resale value.

And yes, it works just like a portable hard drive. When you plug it into your Mac, you just click the "options" button in iTunes and check the "use as hard drive" box. Then it appears on your desktop and you can use it like any other drive.

Just be careful when hooking it up to another Mac - you'll get a dialogue box asking if you want to assign the iPod to that particular Mac. You'll probably want to say "No" - if you say "Yes", it'll erase the music library on the iPod (but it won't erase hard drive files). Whether you say yes or no, repeat the procedure I described above to use it as a hard drive. I just did this last week and it worked great.

[zigzag]

Originally posted by awcopus:
How's this for a laugh. I've got a 30 GB model, and I've never had more than 5 GB of music on it.

I think there are a lot of people like me who simply never did the math and have discovered that in their eagerness to own Apple's top-o-th'-line iPod they have essentially gotten way more than they need.

I have a big CD collection, but there's the music on the shelf and the music I listen to.

I wonder how many people put everything on their iPod, and never actually end up listening to certain songs.... anyway, Apple's marketing of this thing has been brilliant.

You're right - nobody really needs 30 GB for music. The 10 GB holds a ton of music and you can just rotate playlists in and out of it. On the other hand, I've presently got over 40 GB in my iTunes library, so it's nice to be able to dump half of it onto my iPod and still have the other 10 GB available as a portable hard drive. But do I really need 30 GB for music? Hell no.

[icruise]

Well, there is a difference between "need" and "want" certainly, but I use every GB of my 30GB iPod, and still want more. Someone made a point about only listening to certain songs in his collection. Actually the iPod is a great way to widen your musical tastes/listening habits, and to break out of your musical rut. I too found that I would often end up listening to the same stuff if I just picked from a list, but if I set it up for random play of songs I had never played in iTunes, I was able to listen to all sorts of great stuff that I had forgotten about. It's fantastic to be able to shuffle through 7000+ tracks (or by genre or whatever). I would explore the "smart playlists" you can make, and use the iPod as a chance to really take advantage of your music collection.

[::maroma::]

Originally posted by Icruise:
Well, there is a difference between "need" and "want" certainly, but I use every GB of my 30GB iPod, and still want more. Someone made a point about only listening to certain songs in his collection. Actually the iPod is a great way to widen your musical tastes/listening habits, and to break out of your musical rut. I too found that I would often end up listening to the same stuff if I just picked from a list, but if I set it up for random play of songs I had never played in iTunes, I was able to listen to all sorts of great stuff that I had forgotten about. It's fantastic to be able to shuffle through 7000+ tracks (or by genre or whatever). I would explore the "smart playlists" you can make, and use the iPod as a chance to really take advantage of your music collection.

I agree here. I just got my 30GB iPod. I have about 25GB of music in my library, and I've always wanted a portable device that held every piece of music that I owned. I finally got my wish with the 30GB iPod. I think it's great to be able to have your entire music collection on you at all times. Whenever I feel like listening to a certain song or album, I never have to wait until I get to where the CD is. It's always with me now.

There are those of us who get the full use out of the 30GB iPod. It is all about personal preference though. If you don't mind shuffling playlists, or your music collection isn't as hefty, then there's no sense in throwing away money.

[Dan D.]

I also agree that the extra capacity of the 30GB is worthwhile. I've been loading a substantial portion of my collection into the iPod, even stuff I haven't played in years. The upside is that it has encouraged me to go back and listen to older music that I once loved but have largely forgotten. It's been really fun.