Can someone steer me back toward the iPad?

[supanorton]

I've been thinking about this for a while.

I've been using iOS devices to make music since 2010. In three years, my 32 gig iPod touch ($299) is pretty much obsolete with the music apps that once worked with it. In even less time and my 64 gig iPad 2 ($699 I think) is getting close to the point where it can't keep up with the updates to iOS and updated versions of all the music apps. I was considering getting a new iPad in about a year but am beginning to think making music on iOS devices doesn't make sense for me financially. I've never made music with a Mac/PC, but my friends seem to be getting much more longevity from them than I'm getting.

I really enjoy making music on my iPhone and iPad. My iPhone plan has upgrades, which makes that device a bit more palatable. The iPad is a different animal, right? I don't want to keep replacing it every two years.

I'd like to hear what other users think about this. Can anyone steer me back toward the iPad?

[Tarekith]

Get on the upgrade train and don't get off, that's how I do it. Buy the most current iPad out, 16GB or 32GB. Then when they announce the new ones, I mean literally, the same day they are announced, post yours on ebay and be sure to use the new Global Ship program. That's the best time to get a high price on selling your iPad. Take the cash you make from selling the iPad, put that towards the new one, repeat.

Doing this on average costs me about $100 a year to stay on the latest and fastest iPad, since I can usually sell the 16GB iPad I was using before for around $400. Hanging on to your iPad for a few years doesn't really save you much money in the long run, because you get next to nothing for the ones that are a few generations old.

So you might not spend $100 a year for 4 years, but at the same time you'll need to spend that $400 later when you upgrade in 4 years. And in the mean time you end up struggling on hardware that is old compared to the newer ones. I look at it almost like leasing in a way, for $100 a year I always have the fastest iPad for making music, that's well worth it for me. And no extended warranty needed, since I'll sell it right around the time the normal warranty expires.

This used to work on the iPhone too, but lately ATT is stricter about their 2 year contracts.

[Strizbiz]

If you want to use the latest apps and have them run smoothly you're going to have to update your ipad, simply because developers creating the new apps make them with newer hardware in mind, that's just how it is. I'm not trying to steer you away from iPads because it's just nothing like being able to "touch" your apps. At the same time Macs (and PCs) have a lot more processor muscle , you're not stuck with having 16, 32, 64 or 128 gigs because you can install either. Bigger hard drive or use an external to store files and there's a lot more music software, but the downside is that the software is more expensive than IOS apps.
Personally if you can swing it I'd recompense an Ipad AND a Mac ( a MacBook ideally ). Using iTunes on a Mac is a great way to back up files from your ipad as well as transferring files to the ipad. Sometimes I use my ipad as just and external synth going into my Mac. It's just a lot of benefits to having both.

[supanorton]

Thank you both for replying and offering me the sort of advice for which I was hoping. $100 a year isn't really too much to invest in something I enjoy as recording my songs. I'll stick with my iPad 2 for a while longer and take the plunge on the next iPad.