iPod Touch 32GB: Keep It or Toss It?

As you may have read, this year we’re offering bewildered gift recipients our sage advice about whether or not they should return the gadgets they received, but may or may not want. We call it keep it or toss it, and we hope you’ll share your device dilemmas with us.

We start with an interesting question from a user named Jeff who just got a 32GB iPod Touch for the holidays and asks:

I already have a 30GB iPod 5g. Do i really need a new one?

A few years ago, most people who got iPods for the holidays were getting their first digital media players. Today, if you find an MP3 player under the tree, it’s probably meant to replace something you already own and you have to think about whether you really want to move all your music to another device if you’re happy with what you have.

Whenever you consider replacing an older gadget that works well, you have to ask: what new features am I getting with my upgrade? In Jeff’s case, he’s not getting a noticeable upgrade in storage capacity (32GB vs the 30GB on his current iPod) and he’s already able to view video and other content from the iTunes store so nothing is new there. He is, however, getting the following:

• A larger screen, for more comfortable video viewing
• The ability to surf the Web over a wi-fi connection
• Games
• Longer battery life than his current iPod
• A brand new battery that has many years of life left in it. All rechargeable batteries start to fade after a while and Apple doesn’t help matters by making iPod batteries difficult to replace. But, Jeff can replace his old iPod’s battery with a $20 kit so he doesn’t need to keep his gift just for the battery.

So we think Jeff needs to ask himself if he’s really going to use the iPod Touch’s Internet access and gaming features. If not, he might want to consider exchanging the 32GB touch for one of the following things:

• A higher-capacity MP3 player, like the 120GB iPod Classic, would help if he’s got more music than his current 30GB player can hold.
• A netbook would give Jeff a much better Web surfing experience than he would get on the iPod touch. These days, Jeff can easily find an Acer Aspire one, an MSI Wind U100, or a Dell Mini 9 for well under the $400 his touch probably cost.
• A Slingcatcher or Slingbox Pro-HD ($299.99) would let him placeshift and watch his favorite TV shows from anywhere in the world.

What do you think? Have we steered Jeff wrong?

And how about you? What gadget gifts might you keep or toss?