MD:

I like the regular iPod, my wife and daughters all use the nano. All work great. I would stay away from the shuffle. A nano would be good for use on your walks as well. Get more than 2 gB.

Navigating the iPod is easy, it is very intuitive.

Agree ear buds don't do anything for background noise. And any headphone is going to attract attention of LEO, large noise-cancelling ones even more so.

Some locations it isn't just the headphones, iPods themselves are illegal for the driver as well (including here in BC). They are covered under the handheld device laws, same as cell phones.

The work you will have is getting your music on to your computer. You will have to rip any CDs that you want to convert to MP3 or similar files. If you have a lot of music to go through, that can be some work. If you do it, read back on earlier posts about the format options. I don't use Apple formats, I use MP3, and I use a high bit rate for improved sound quality.

I put all my music onto the computer using Windows Media Player, then share it with three other computers in the house. We use Media Player for listening as well. Then we also have iTunes, which we only use to synch the iPods. It monitors the MP3 folders, and is up to date on the music we have, but it is just the iPod loading tool for us. Never bought anything over iTunes store. So, I like the iPod, but I keep all the other Apple stuff at bay, just a personal preference.

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2007 X3 3.0si, 6 MT, Premium, White

Retired:
2008 535i, 6 MT, M Sport, Premium, Space Grey
2003 X5 3.0 Steptronic, Premium, Titanium Silver
2002 325xi 5 MT, Steel Grey
2004 Z4 3.0 Premium, Sport, SMG, Maldives Blue