Amazon are selling the  Creative Zen 32GB for £149.99. (About €187 delivered here) .It’s not the latest model - but other places have it for as much as £225 (Pixmania UK) . Play.com have it at £149.99 too - but won’t deliver here. Creative themselves have it for €229.99 delivered.

This news is going to mean a lot more bargains for Irish online shoppers.
Amazon-UK have removed almost all restrictions on shipping goods to Ireland (April 2009).
Previously - Irish online shoppers could only get jealous and angry as they bought their books, cds and DVds on Amazon and saw all the other great prices on laptops,  cameras, camcorders , satnav - ie. almost everything else they sell.
Well now - Irish shoppers (ie all  of Western Europe) can get all items delivered to their door by Amazon. This is not an April fools joke - I have tried it and it is true. I ordered an Xbox Console , a Laptop,  a Digital Camera all for delivery to the West of Ireland - and there was no problem getting through checkout. Usually you would be told at checkout that your items could not be delivered to your address. Not any more.

Get on to Amazon UK now to see all those great prices and a great selection too. Go easy on that credit card!!

See Full List of Amazon Shipping Rates Here

The prices shown on the Amazon UK include UK VAT (15%) .
Irish customers - correctly and legally - get charged Irish VAT (21.5%) . So just be aware of that when you notice a difference in the price at checkout.
If you want to work out a final price yourself - just add on 5.65 pence  for every pound or £5.65 on every hundred pounds.

Note: Make sure the item you have selected is being sold by Amazon and not by one of their marketplace sellers. Many of the other sellers don’t deliver to Ireland

NB: Items Still not delivered to Ireland: (updated April 24th 2009)

Televisions and TV equipment
Mobile phones
Medicines, blank CDs and blank DVDs
Light bulbs
Childrens clothes , car seats, safety equipment
Magazine subscriptions and MP3 downloads.
There are also restrictions on weight - any item that is 30 kg or heavier, cannot be delivered outside mainland UK. (Will probably only apply to some fitness equipment or lawnmowers etc)

O2 are offering some good deals this Christmas. On selected phones you get a free €100 voucher or treat card as 02  call it. It can be used at selected places (still to be finalised)  towards things like massages , surf lessons.
The prices on their phones aren’t bad either - For example they have the excellent  Sony Ericsson W910i for €119 on an Upgrade (if you are already a Speakeasy customer on Pay as You go). The same phone is at Carphone Warehouse  for €189 for a Vodafone connection.
The W910i is a music player, camera FM radio and phone. You can do away with the need for a separate MP3 player with this phone. The essential phone functions also impress - great sound quality, reception levels and battery life , and the Sony Ericsson W910i is simple to operate. It is also a quad band so can be used all round the world. You can also get upto €40 Euro free credit with an upgrade.
If you are happy with your phone - O2 have another special Christmas offer - A free SIM that will give you Free Texts to any network (just top up by €20 Euro a month.)  See more at O2

The Apple online shop normally charge €7.90 delivery for orders under €121 Euro - which can be quite a lot if all you want to buy is an Ipod Shuffle or accessories for your Mac. On Monday 8th December there will be Free Delivery on every order at Apple Store Ireland. So get shopping now .

Buy cases for your Ipod, software for your Mac, Headphones , Speakers, Cables - no minimum spend Free Delivery in Ireland for one day only.

Price comparison for Ipod Touch - Online

Apple Ireland has the Ipod Touch at the following prices.

32 GB  €369    free engraving and delivery

16GB  €279 free engraving and delivery included

8GB  €219 Euro - free engraving + free delivery

Buying direct from the Apple web site gives you the security of buying directly from the manufacturer - and hopefully that should reduce any problems regarding faults etc.

You can get an 8GB Ipod Touch for €219.90   Euros at Carphone Warehouse Ireland - Free delivery

Advanced MP3 Players - is a UK site specialising in MP3 players . With the low value of Sterling - the converted Euro price is slightly cheaper than those at Apple - but maybe not a big enough saving to stop you buying direct from Apple where you have he option of free engraving.

8GB  £165.40 + £12.99 delivery = £178.39 or  €212.25 Euro
16Gb  £214.34 GBP plus £12.99 Delivery =  £227.33.  Converts to €270.50 Euro
32 GB   £282.85 plus £12.99 delivery = £295.84 or €352 Euro

Ipod  prices on Amazon UK are the cheapest I found   - 8gb at £155.51  ( about  €185 ) - but Amazon won’t deliver Ipods or other electrical goods to Ireland.

Some sites where you can buy legal music downloads in Ireland.
If you want virus free , quality music to download to your PC and MP3 player we can recommend these sites.

Itunes is the best music download site for Apple Ipod owners - in fact don’t bother going there if your MP3 player is not an Apple Ipod because the tracks are not compatible with other players.

On Itunes - very song is 0.99 Euro cents and Itunes say they have 6 million of them - so you should be able to find something you like! You can also download Podcasts and Audio Books.

Other download sites use Microsoft’s Windows Media Audio (WMA) format, which is more versatile and will play on most players including iPods.

Napster used to be known as an illegal download site - but now they are all above board and you can buy tracks here  for a typical price of 79 pence (about 1 Euro) Napster was one of only 2 Best Buys in the Which guide and they got 4 stars out of five in PC Advisor Magazine. File formats suitable for Apple, Creative Zen, Sony, and all other MP3 players.

Napster have a 7 day free trial - find out more here. It says UK only - but give it a go for free and see.

ou can choose to pay per download or subscribe to unlimited downloads. .The subscription packages on offer are great for those who want unlimited access to a variety of music. There’s also a pay as you go option if you just want to buy certain tracks.

HMV also sell music downloads in WMA format from 69p  (approx 90 cent euro) per track and £6.99 per album. (About €8.75 Euro)  .
HMV Digital  have a good range of music but Be aware - Firefox browser will not currently work with HMV downloads.

Tesco Digital Downloads site has new tracks from 59 pence Sterling (About 75 cents euro). Whole albums can be bought for download for as little as £5.98 - about €7.50 Euro. You need a UK bank credit card to buy songs.  So this site will be more suitable for Northern Ireland residents. (Your address can be an Irish one though). The songs can be played on Apple Ipods and other Mp3 players . Tesco have over 3 million tracks to choose from  - and can be used by Irish residents. File formats are MP3 or WMA. (Apple MAcs cannot be used to download music from Tesco)  MP3 format will work with any player; WMA files will not work with Ipods and some older Mp3 players.

If you were hoping to do some online shopping at Currys and you live in Ireland - then don’t bother.
Currys are another major retailer that currently don’t offer online shopping in Ireland.
If you live in Northern Ireland or elsewhere in the UK -  you can shop online here at Currys UK site. Currys.ie web site is just a list of shop locations. Currys recently took over all the Dixons stores in Ireland - so don’t bother looking for Dixons.ie either - still no online shopping there either.

In ireland - Currys have shops in Dublin Galway Limerick Sligo , Navan,  Letterkenny Dundalk and Cork. Maybe they will allow orders online in Ireland one day?

For online purchases of electricals in Ireland you should try Pixmania . Pixmania  is the biggest  European online electrical store and it is actually part of the same retail group as Currys , Dixons and PC World.
Pixmania Ireland will deliver to Ireland - everything from Digital Cameras to Dysons, from Tvs to Laptops, Toasters to Juicers, MP3 Players to XBox 360. Delivery prices are not over the top either.
If you are in Northern Ireland - use Pixmania UK.

Creative Zen are probably the biggest Mp3 player brand after the Apple Ipod.
Creative Labs have MP3 players to suit all budgets - see below for a selection available from Advanced MP Players in the UK. Delivery to Ireland is £12.99 per order. Delivery in Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK is free on orders over £150 GBP - and from £2.99 for smaller orders.
Advanced MP3 players also stock Ipods and Mp3 players from iRiver, Sony , Samsung and others.

Pixmania Ireland have released new discount codes - they are valid until October 14th 2008.
Get the discount codes for Pixmania here

The discounts range from €7 euro off purchases over €300  up to €70 euro discount on purchases over €2000 euro. They are not massive discounts - but the prices at Pixmania are already cheaper than buying from the major shops in Ireland - so an extra discount is an added bonus. Just enter the codes when you go to checkout to get the money off.