The iPod is the most popular digital audio player ever released, and shame on anyone who thinks that the ubiquitous little computer isn’t for everyone; whether you’re a casual music listener or a serious music addict, male or female, young or old, there’s a version of the iPod for every conceivable group of people. Here’s a look at how you can pick out a great iPod for an older music fan that is right beside toilet surrounds.
- Simplicity. First of all, we’ll approach the elephant in the room: older people aren’t known for their immediate acceptance of new technologies, so consider whether the user of the iPod really wants to spend a lot of time figuring out the functions of such a device. Apple makes the iPod extremely easy to use, in any of its capacities, but an iPod Touch, for instance, will be more of a struggle than the iPod Classic, which offers a more simplistic interface since it doesn’t really do much besides play music. The iPod Shuffle is even simpler to use, as it has no screen, but since you don’t have much control over what starts playing it may prove a frustrating device for many older music fans. If the iPod user has less-than-perfect eyesight, you’ll want to go for an iPod Classic rather than a small iPod model such as the nano.
- Size. The size of an older person’s music library will also affect their choice of iPod. While many elderly people are still tech-savvy and have ripped massive collections of music to their computer’s hard drive, the vast majority of older music listeners don’t need more than a few gigabytes of space to keep them satisfied, so if this is the case you can save a bit of money by purchasing one of the smaller capacities of iPod (the iPod Nano, for instance, or an iPod Touch).
- Usage. Ask yourself what the older iPod fan will use the device for. If you simply want something that plays music, the iPod Nano and Classic are ideal choices, but even older people can be suckers for cool gadgets, and in this case, the iPod Touch’s wide array of additional apps, purchased or downloaded for free from the iTunes App store, will satisfy that technology craving. Visit an Apple Store and try out a few models of iPod to avoid getting in over your head, or getting an iPod that does too much compared to what you want to use it for.
