Buying an iPod from America

boris

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I have searched other threads and cannot seem to find an answer to the above. I am heading to Canada at the end of the week and am thinking of buying an iPod Nano around 4Gb.

Is there anything I should be aware of buying from there. Would there be any problems for charging an iPod from the mains here when I get back with it.
 
The charger that you buy over there will probably have a US/Canadian style [broken link removed] unless you can get a travel charger or adaptor. I presume that iPod chargers are normally universal (e.g. 110V-240V compatible). The warranty on a device bought over there may not extend to EU/Ireland.
 
Hi Boris,

I recently did that same thing and bought the OH an 80gb Ipod in Canada. There is no problems with compatability here for it, and I would also presume the same for the Nano. The charging is done off the usb connection to your computer so you don't need to worry about plugs, just don't buy anything with a plug when you're there.
I'm not sure about the warranty.

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Forgot that most or all iPods charge off USB as standard. You can always buy an Irish or universal mains to USB charger from eBay etc. if necessary. [broken link removed] but there are lots of other units and suppliers (i.e. this is not a specific recommendation - just an example).
 
Thanks for that. Have an iPod myself but buying one as a present for someone. Just wanted to be sure.:D
 
The iPod will be fine.

TIP

If you are buying any larger electrical goods you would need to buy a step down transformer and they will work fine here. One of the best purchases I made there was a radio with 6 presets, so no more twiddling with knobs to change channels :)
 
Ipods don't come with chargers anymore as they expect you to use the USB port to charge them. Apple do supply a IRL compatable charger for €30.
 
If you are buying any larger electrical goods you would need to buy a step down transformer and they will work fine here. One of the best purchases I made there was a radio with 6 presets, so no more twiddling with knobs to change channels :)
They may require a stepdown transformer to convert 240V to 110V but some appliances/chargers are universal 110-240V and can be plugged in directly (you may need a US to Irish plug adaptor or to snip the US plug off and wire on an Irish plug instead).
 
Like a laptop for example.

As Clubman said the warranty is the only concern as they are not the most robust of items.
 
I have recently bought a 60GB I-Pod for my daughter in NYC as well as a Canon Digital SLR. We have had no probs. There were considerable savings (today the exchange rate is even better at $1.38 to the Euro!). Some warranties are not international, but, usually it is easy to ship the item back via DHL or UPS to a reputable retailer (the NYC dealer was used to Irish tourists and gave us all contact details to reassure us). Having said that, I did buy an I-Pod shuffle some years ago in Denmark and had it replaced twice under warranty here in Ireland without any problems.
 
I got one on e-bay for 163 euro including postage which has the apple 1 yr warranty. 229 euro in shops here.
 
Just to let you know, regarding the warranty - I bought an iPod in the US a couple of years ago - it died within the 12 month warranty time. I went to the Irish apple site, filled in the serial number for my iPod, they sent me out a box in Ireland, I sent back my iPod and they returned a refurbished one to me. So I would presume that it is still the same - ie no matter where you buy it the warranty will be valid if you have any problems.
 
I bought a mini Ipod in the US 2 yrs ago, never any problems. I bought a device for using it in the car and it also charges it off the car battery. Belkin make it and it was about $70-80 I think, I never charge it from the USB, much handier to charge it while you use it.

Thers one for the nano on the website:

[broken link removed]
 
much handier to charge it while you use it.
This may not extend the battery life to the max. Generally rechargeable batteries benefit from being discharged mostly or fully before being recharged and not being recharges most or all of the time. Also you should be able to get in car transmitter/charger devices for a lot less that $80 for example on eBay.
 
This may not extend the battery life to the max. Generally rechargeable batteries benefit from being discharged mostly or fully before being recharged and not being recharges most or all of the time. Also you should be able to get in car transmitter/charger devices for a lot less that $80 for example on eBay.

Is that not just the older type batteries? I thought modern Li-on batteries didn't have any particular requirments like this, nor do they suffer a deterioration in performance? Or maybe I'm just getting confused :confused:
 
I bought a nano in the US last year. There are no problems with it. (I also treated myself to the Bose soundDock for it.)

Marion
 
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