1) The first thing you need to know before buying an iPod as a Christmas present is a basic understanding of what you are buying. You don’t need to know all the technical details on what an iPod can do, nor do you need to understand all the details on what formats the iPod can play. For example, if MPEG, XviD, JPEG, MP3, WAV, and other format acronyms make your head hurt, that is OK. You don’t need to know the details to buy an iPod as a Christmas present.
Here is what you really need to understand: There are basically three types of iPods.
A) iPod – A standard iPod can display images (pictures) and play audio (e.g., music, audio books, podcasts) and videos (e.g., movies and TV shows). Podcasts are basically broadcasts in audio or video format. You can also play games with a standard iPod, store files, and store other information such as calendar and contact details.
B) iPod Nano – The iPod Nano will play audio (e.g., music, audio books, podcasts) and display photos. This also has calendar and contact features.
C) iPod Shuffle – This is basically a low cost and low storage MP3 Player (i.e., it plays music and podcasts, but does not display images or play video) and does not display images.
2) The second thing you need to know is what the person you are buying an iPod for plans to do with it. For example, if they only want to listen to music while on the go, then the iPod Shuffle or the iPod Nano will do. However if they want to watch video, then the standard iPod will be the gift for them!
3) The third thing you need to know is your budget. Excluding the iPod Shuffle (which only comes with 1GB of memory), the amount you spend will be based on the storage capacity of either the iPod or iPod Namo. For example the iPod can be purchased with 30GB or 80GB storage capacity. The iPod Nano can be purchased with 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB of storage capacity. The more storage capacity you buy, the higher the cost of the iPod will be.