The ear buds that come with the iPod do not really reduce ambient noise. However, there are aftermarket earphones/headsets that have noise canceling properties. These types of headphones are going to run you some $$$. The "hot" ones are the Beats by Dre. I think the Dre studio headphones are over $300. But if you get them you will look super cool!! lololololol. Note that these headphones are large so this might be an issue if you do not want people (i.e., law enforcement) to see that you are wearing headphones while driving.

If you already have cd's and music stored on your computer you can easily transfer that music to your iPod w/o needing to download from itunes. If you get an ipod you will download itunes software onto your computer and this program will let you manage the media on your computer/ipod. You can take your cds and "import" them into itunes and then manage that music how you see fit on your ipod (order, play lists, etc.)

One consideration when purchasing an ipod is how much music do you have (in terms of gigabytes stored on your computer) - once you know how much music you want to store you can then select a model that has enough space to store your music. Alternatively, you can manually manage the settings on your ipod to only store the music that you select/authorize.

The "classic" model gives you the most storage, video playback and battery life. It is larger so it would not work as well if you want to use it while jogging, cycling, etc. IMO the shuffle and nano are great for "on the go" activities but the classic is the best value and provides all the bells and whistles.
I say go for it! I think you may just fall in love with the ipod technology. I know i did.

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2006 X5 4.8is