firecat

Lately I sometimes find myself idly shopping for a digital camera, an e-book reader, or a device that will put Google and email access in my pocket. I already have an iPod (the touchless variety) that I like because it's big enough to store my entire music/audiobook library, a cellphone that's nothing special except it has a qwerty keyboard, and a digital camera that I like because it's tiny and don't like because it doesn't have image stabilization.

It occurs to me that if I follow through on this shopping, I have a fundamental choice:

Carry one device that does a mediocre job of most or all of these things and has one battery and power cord and computer cable and takes up one pocket in my backpack.
Carry four or five devices that all do their respective functions very well and all use batteries and power cords and computer cables and backpack pockets.

It also occurs to me that people I know have solved this issue for themselves in various ways. So I'm soliciting anecdata. (Hey, it's cheaper than actually buying anything.)

Do you regularly carry portable device(s) that serve any of these functions? Why did you choose the devices you did? Are you happy with your current solution?

Digital camera
E-book reader
Cell phone
Wireless Internet
PDA
Music player

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

zeborah

I currently have a cell phone which I primarily use as an alarm clock so it lives by my bed, a laptop with wireless internet which I use all the time (and would use as often even without the wireless), a digital camera, and a music player which is a cheap replacement for the iPod that I lost* and so it's hard to use and so I hardly ever use it. The last three of these I carry around in my laptop bag, whose front pocket requires regular cleanouts.

I am thinking of getting a new iPod** and considering whether I want it to also be a video camera and/or to also be an e-book reader and/or to also accept notes or what. The latter: it'd be handy if I could use eg an iTouch instead of carrying the laptop everywhere, but there's weighing up laptop vs iTouch weight and ease of use for reading/writing, and iTouch vs iPod size for when I'm just wanting music. So I'm still dithering.

* Free advice: if you occasionally spend several days/weeks without using your iPod, don't put it in a plastic bag where you also sometimes put fruit and then forget to eat it until it goes rotten and you throw the whole bag out, having forgotten that the iPod was there. --At least I think this is what happened.

** I was waiting for a while in case the old one turned up, but it doesn't seem inclined to.

From:

firecat

and iTouch vs iPod size for when I'm just wanting music

For what it's worth, I've used both a small and a large iPod for audiobooks/music, and I find the large one isn't much more cumbersome than the small one. I finally gave away the small one because I never used it.

if you occasionally spend several days/weeks without using your iPod, don't put it in a plastic bag where you also sometimes put fruit and then forget to eat it until it goes rotten and you throw the whole bag out, having forgotten that the iPod was there

Ack! :-/ Very helpful advice!