MP3 Players - the ultimate confusion

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Squashua

CAG Veteran
I'm looking to get an MP3 Player (finally!) for the over 10GB of music I own.

Any good recommendations, or otherwise, what I should stay away from?


- I would like expandable memory if possible.
- I am not interested in video playback.

- Long battery life is a plus.
 
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I'm not biased in any way about this because I started out with an apple and have since switched to creative players.

Apple mp3 players work well and they look nice. They are overly expensive for what you get though.

Currently I have a creative zen (4GB I think maybe 2). They are cheap but well made and work very well. They have creative zen's in 8 GB, 16GB and 32 GB I belive. It is a very slim player as well
 
If you are a fan of Ipods there is rumor that a new model and a price slash will be coming out for the ipod nanos as well as the ipod touches within the next couple of weeks or so.
 
The Zen does have expandable memory, which is a big plus, but I am more concerned with sound replay quality and ease-of-use over the ability to play videos.

I will update the OP to reflect this.
 
Get a Cowon D2. Has 52 hours of continuous audio playback, SD card expansion, Radio, Voice recording, Apple/Linux support, and a 2.5" touch screen. For audio formats, it does MP3, WMV, OGG, FLAC, & WAV.

Prices vary between $125-$220 depending on the size of the internal memory.

I can vouch for Cowon, they make some incredible devices. Its just a shame they cant get the advertising that Apple does.
 
[quote name='Shimoto']I recommend the Creative Zen X-fi[/QUOTE]

I've had three MP3 players in my life, one was a flash based RCA number that had 128megs built in, after that I upgraded to a Creative Micro something or another (prior to the photo version). I met a slow death when it fell in a parking lot. After that I got a Creative Zen Vision M 30 gig and I've been rather fond of it since then.

If this one dies in the near future I plan on getting a Creative Zen X-fi. Not sure if I need the wifi enabled one though.

Basically, I've grown to trust the Creative line of MP3 players. My Zen Vision M is not the fanciest compared to a Zune or a Ipod but it damn near plays any type of video I put on it and even after 2 and a half years of owning it the battery still lasts a long time even with watching roughly two hours of video on it during my morning and nighttime subway ride to and from work.

They do tend to be a bit bigger then Ipods though, but in my opinion they are far superior to an Ipod.
 
I've been evaluating and reading reviews and had it down to a toss-up between Creative and Cowon.

I have taken Creative out of the running due to many reviews complaining about their supposedly poor integration of external memory.

I am currently leaning heavily towards the Cowon, and more towards a 4GB iAudio 7 due to the long battery life, sound quality, external memory, and price. Again, I'm not too interested in video playback or wireless, etc.

Does this sound like a good choice? And if so, are there any good deals out there? Best I found so far was at NewEgg. I will probably buy within 24 hours.

EDIT Damn. Just did a second look and realized the iAudio 7 doesn't have an expansion slot. :( Now leaning towards D2, but there was a reason I didn't choose it. Will post if I can easily recall it.

Meanwhile, I found a great website to compare MP3 Players http://www.anythingbutipod.com , but they don't cover iPods, which I think is just kind of stupid; add them to the database if for nothing else than ease of comparison purposes.
 
Apple is gonna release new ipods September 9th and there supposed to be cheaper then last years models.

Ive had two mp3 players from creative and they both were junk. They were fine at first but broke down after only a few months of use.

Sandisk makes some nice mp3 players
 
I would advise an used 4th gen 30gb ipod. Should be able to get them pretty cheap and it's a good player with no video playback. No SD slot, but I'm not sure why you would want one anyway. I have a first gen Zune that i've honestly never even opened. As much as I am loathe to say it, I really like that ipod. I would recommend the ipod classic, but I've heard several bad things about it.
 
I have had a 20GB Rio Karma, a 20GB iPod Photo, and now an 8GB Zune. I think refurbished is the best way to go deal-wise ($99 for the iPod).

The Rio Karma was easiest to use and had simple, basic features. I am a little disappointed in the Zune, but I won it on PepsiStuff so I won't complain.
 
I have a sansa e260 (4GB). The headphone jack was messed up after about a year. Luckily, I contacted customer support and got it exchanged for a brand new one. This new one has been going strong for a year now. The only problem is there are some files that just don't want to be deleted; there is now a junk folder in my playlist that won't play or anything.
 
[quote name='mietha']I would advise an used 4th gen 30gb ipod. Should be able to get them pretty cheap and it's a good player with no video playback. No SD slot, but I'm not sure why you would want one anyway.[/QUOTE]

It makes sense with a 4 - 8 GB player if you don't feel like you have capacity (which you don't).

For a 30 GB player, there is no reason for a SD slot.
 
Right now woot.com has a refurbished 30 gig video ipod (5th gen) for $129.99+$5 s/h

First mp3 player I had was an Iriver H320 and loved that thing, but the data portion of where you stick the usb to get music, movies, and such (could use as a HDD), broke and there was no way of fixing it (support kept having me reset my device, which never fixed it). What ever happened to iriver?

Currently own a 80 gig zune 2 and a 16 gig ipod touch. Both are great, but the touch was pricey. You might want to take in consideration of which program you use to play your music(itunes, zune player, windows media player, winamp, media monkey, etc...), since the zune player pretty much blows imo
 
My vote's in for Zune. I think they're coming out with a 16GB flash player. If you can hold out for that, get that.
 
[quote name='rb89']My vote's in for Zune. I think they're coming out with a 16GB flash player. If you can hold out for that, get that.[/quote]
I 2nd the zune. I've had one for over a year now and love it.
 
expandable memory really shouldnt be a factor as you can get what a few GB? The largest memory are too expensive.
 
i think its really important to mention that with ipods you are essentially required to use their software in order to convert and transfer music from your computer to the player. Its also really important that you understand with ipods they act like 1 way storage. You can add music to it but you cannot remove it. There are ways around this but for all intents and purposes this is how it functions. Further more if you sync the player to a new installation or a different computer it will wipe itself clean of all the music it had on it. With most other MP3 players they simply act like removable storage devices [think flash drive] and are largely drag/drop as far as adding/removing music goes.

In my opinion ipods are hugely over rated.

Sound quality wise Creative devices are rated among the best, but unless you're an audiophile and invest in some incredibly expensive headphones while ONLY playing lossless quality music you probably wont be able to tell a difference. The X-Fi Mp3 player is the newest one out by creative, but its also packing a number of other mostly useless features [wifi IM ability, video playback] that you're paying for if you're only looking for a good mp3 player. Likewise the software for said additional features is still very immature. So definitly look at some of the older creative models and other brands.
 
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[quote name='62t']expandable memory really shouldnt be a factor as you can get what a few GB? The largest memory are too expensive.[/quote]

Ummm... where are you living? A rock?

You can get an 8GB SD card for $30, and by Christmas you most likely will be able to get a 32GB for that price. They drop in price very quickly.
 
[quote name='qwerty1'] You can add music to it (iPod) but you cannot remove it. There are ways around this but for all intents and purposes this is how it functions. Further more if you sync the player to a new installation or a different computer it will wipe itself clean of all the music it had on it.[/quote]

Is this entirely true?

I started with and still use only Creative products (Nomad Jukebox 3, ZV:M 30gb, ZV:M 60gb, & Zen 4gb) so I have only experienced true DRM-free content (and the few DRM-laced WMAs I picked up long ago have been re-recorded into DRM-free MP3s).

If what you say is true about iPod interface (without the use of shady software), it's the worst thing since 8-track as far as flexibility. If I hear correctly, if you keep all your music on your Hard Drive and iPod, and your hard drive crashes, you can't put it back on from your iPod? You just lose everything?

I don't care enough to research, since I will never use Apple anything (except quicktime), but I'd like to know if they're really as strict as it sounds...
 
[quote name='Kerig']Is this entirely true?

I started with and still use only Creative products (Nomad Jukebox 3, ZV:M 30gb, ZV:M 60gb, & Zen 4gb) so I have only experienced true DRM-free content (and the few DRM-laced WMAs I picked up long ago have been re-recorded into DRM-free MP3s).

If what you say is true about iPod interface (without the use of shady software), it's the worst thing since 8-track as far as flexibility. If I hear correctly, if you keep all your music on your Hard Drive and iPod, and your hard drive crashes, you can't put it back on from your iPod? You just lose everything?

I don't care enough to research, since I will never use Apple anything (except quicktime), but I'd like to know if they're really as strict as it sounds...[/QUOTE]

No shit, seriously my wife is wanting an MP3 player and I was leaning Ipod as its so user friendly and she would probably get most enjoyment out of that. If this is true I will not touch one at all, ever, ever.
 
[quote name='Snake2715']No shit, seriously my wife is wanting an MP3 player and I was leaning Ipod as its so user friendly and she would probably get most enjoyment out of that. If this is true I will not touch one at all, ever, ever.[/quote]
Yep, it's true. It's one of the biggest complaints that people have in fact.
 
[quote name='qwerty1']i think its really important to mention that with ipods you are essentially required to use their software in order to convert and transfer music from your computer to the player. Its also really important that you understand with ipods they act like 1 way storage. You can add music to it but you cannot remove it. There are ways around this but for all intents and purposes this is how it functions. Further more if you sync the player to a new installation or a different computer it will wipe itself clean of all the music it had on it. With most other MP3 players they simply act like removable storage devices [think flash drive] and are largely drag/drop as far as adding/removing music goes.
[/quote]

None of this is true. There are plenty of plugins (for programs such as winamp, foobar, etc.) and many 3rd party softwares you can use to add/remove music from your ipod (yamipod, anipod, etc.).

edit: and by remove I mean back it up onto your harddrive
 
[quote name='creeeaature']None of this is true. There are plenty of plugins (for programs such as winamp, foobar, etc.) and many 3rd party softwares you can use to add/remove music from your ipod (yamipod, anipod, etc.).

edit: and by remove I mean back it up onto your harddrive[/quote]
No, what he said is true. Without using 3rd party software, you cannot simply remove music from the iPod. Yes, you can find 3rd party ways of doing it, but without doing that, you're out of luck.
 
[quote name='qwerty1']i think its really important to mention that with ipods you are essentially required to use their software in order to convert and transfer music from your computer to the player. Its also really important that you understand with ipods they act like 1 way storage. You can add music to it but you cannot remove it. There are ways around this but for all intents and purposes this is how it functions. Further more if you sync the player to a new installation or a different computer it will wipe itself clean of all the music it had on it. With most other MP3 players they simply act like removable storage devices [think flash drive] and are largely drag/drop as far as adding/removing music goes.
.[/QUOTE]

1.) No you are not required to use iTunes to covert music. As long as it is in MP3 format.
2.) You do have to use iTunes to transfer but IMO, this is a plus. Drag and Drop is a HUGE pain in the ass and who wants to manage their music that way? (I know some l33ts). I like using playlists and you have the ability to sync with other apps like calendar, contacts, notes, photos. I use my iPod as a PDA. Although all input must be done on the computer.
3.) the post isn't clear. You can remove music (i.e. delete) but you can't transfer music w/o a third party apps. However, these are free and easy to use.
4.) I love the podcast feature in iTunes. No other mp3 players manages podcasts as well. It remembers where you where (no matter where you listen to it). I know this feature isn't important to some but to a person who listens to a lot of 'casts. It is a big deal.
5.) It does wipe clean when you sync but it asks first. You can always say 'No' and pull your music off another way.

I always tell people. If you like iTunes, get an iPod. If not, get something else besides a Zune.
 
i have an 8Gb ipod touch and love it so far....installer and cydia plus the app store just lets you do so much stuff on top of the web browser, integrated email, calendar/scheduling functions and anything else someone can dream up to place in installer/cydia/the app store


the ipod touch DOES require itunes but that is only because you can't enable disk mode on it (there are ways around this)
 
[quote name='creeeaature']None of this is true. There are plenty of plugins (for programs such as winamp, foobar, etc.) and many 3rd party softwares you can use to add/remove music from your ipod (yamipod, anipod, etc.).

edit: and by remove I mean back it up onto your harddrive[/quote]


It is true, though i do sound a bit too harsh and it is a bit of a blanket statement, nothing that i said isnt true to the ipod by design. Thats the way apple intends you to use it.

I guess im just so use to the drag/drop type MP3 players (which do also sync just fine if you have custom playlists) that i dont get why anyone in their right mind would pay a premium price for that. I mean the best reason to buy an ipod is? Because its an ipod and thus a status symbol? Im not that shallow. Granted the designs are indeed great and if you like itunes, thats a huge reason to buy one, but other then that i dont see the appeal. And speaking of design the one glaring thing i do hate is how they are giant finger print/grease/scratch magnets. Especially the touch. Course you can buy a case, but i do have to ask what the hell their design team was thinking. Need more matte finishes.

[quote name='usickenme']I always tell people. If you like iTunes, get an iPod. If not, get something else besides a Zune.[/quote]

I agree with that 100% but i still say that DRM on removing music is retarded. Even if you can bypass it. Be it pirated, burnt, ripped or legitimate purchases straight from the net, they [Apple or M$] shouldnt have a say in what i can and cant do with my music storage.
 
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Get a huge-ass iPod and you're set for life. If you have over 160GB of music with you at all times that might be a little excessive.
 
[quote name='qwerty1']I agree with that 100% but i still say that DRM on removing music is retarded. Even if you can bypass it. Be it pirated, burnt, or legitimate purchases straight from the net, they [Apple or M$] shouldnt have a say in what i can and cant do with my music storage.[/QUOTE]

I agree with your statements on DRM -- that it's pretty much gay -- but don't blame Apple or Microsoft. Blame the record labels and the RIAA. Buy iTunes Plus, Amazon MP3 or Rhapsody MP3. Show your support for DRM free music and the artists that provide their works in such a manner.
 
[quote name='Squashua']Meanwhile, I found a great website to compare MP3 Players http://www.anythingbutipod.com , but they don't cover iPods, which I think is just kind of stupid; add them to the database if for nothing else than ease of comparison purposes.[/quote]
They are in the database. Did you not see "iPod" in the brands list?
 
[quote name='bigdaddy']Has anyone have any experience with the Sandisk MP3 Players?[/quote]

Yes I have. They're just AWFUL. DO NOT BUY ONE! I'm serious. I bought the Sandisk Sansa c250 on 2 fridays ago and I had only had for 2 days and already My Headphones were messed up in one ear and I got a lot of static and in order to get a sort of good signal, I had to keep twisting the heaphone plug around the heaphone jack in the device. It was flat Rediculous. After that I have been through 2 more of them just with in a few weeks. I WOULD NOT rrecommened this product to anyone period.
 
[quote name='Kerig']Is this entirely true?

I started with and still use only Creative products (Nomad Jukebox 3, ZV:M 30gb, ZV:M 60gb, & Zen 4gb) so I have only experienced true DRM-free content (and the few DRM-laced WMAs I picked up long ago have been re-recorded into DRM-free MP3s).

If what you say is true about iPod interface (without the use of shady software), it's the worst thing since 8-track as far as flexibility. If I hear correctly, if you keep all your music on your Hard Drive and iPod, and your hard drive crashes, you can't put it back on from your iPod? You just lose everything?

I don't care enough to research, since I will never use Apple anything (except quicktime), but I'd like to know if they're really as strict as it sounds...[/quote]

It's TRUE alright. If you sync it will erase everything! The Ipod Video 5G 30 GB was my 1st MP3 Player and even music that doesn't come from their itunes store is automatically erased as soon as you sync your ipod through that apple itunes store. I had had 700 song s on my and all of them GONE just like that. It had happened to me a about a dozen times. I even LOST $20 bucks thanks to Apple because the itunes strore earased the music I bought from them and I called Apple customer support and they told me that they weren't responsible for that and was nothing they could do aobut it. They didn't refund me or even give me a itunes gift card. They just said try buying them all over again. So I was done after that with Apple for good.
 
i gone through for Blowout Sale and i bought MP3 accessories at AccStation.com, and i got 50% Discount and 9% Cash Back also by going through Rebation.com.
 
[quote name='DoubleEcksZero']Insignia Pilot is pretty nice for me, built in bluetooth, 8gb integrated, SD card slot, Small. I like it.[/QUOTE]

I'll agree with Ecks here. Insignia is the Best Buy brand, so its not crazy expensive. However, there are pros and cons. No dedicated volume rocker, and a track rating system that is completely useless. You also need to transfer any tracks or movies you want into rhapsody, then put it on the mp3 player. Though, they provide you with a tool that searches your hard drive for all music and movies, and puts it right in your rhapsody library. Also, theres barely any accessories made specifically for it. Just a case, hard and sport varieties. It works with other 3rd party stuff, but thats the only Insignia exclusive accessories, as of a few months ago anyway. Its also not the sexiest or sleekest design around. Also, very important, if you take tracks off of rhapsody, it will transfer the album art, and artist info on the song, which you can browse while listening, which is pretty neat. HOWEVER, understand that it only gives you one free month of rhapsody. If you take tracks from the rhapsody service and put them on your mp3 player, you can only listen to them while subscribed to rhapsody. And when your subscription is nearly up (couple days left) , it will remind you to resubscribe, and any tracks you have gotten off of rhapsody will beep before playing. After your subscription expires, you cannot listen to them. Though, if you get your music from somewhere other than rhapsody, none of that matters. Also, you can just get a free month every month by creating a new account, so its not that big of a deal.

However, so far, for me its been pretty reliable, only froze up like once, and i just had to restart it to fix it. You can add your own playlists, and make playlists on the go. Deleting or adding stuff is no problem. And it has the SD card slot, so you can utilize that too *slot is covered when in case however*. It also comes with a built-in-radio, but depending on where you live, you might only be able to pick up one or two stations. Battery life is pretty decent, and sounds good all the time. Unless you're a complete audiophile, you really can't tell any difference, and it sounds great to me. http://reviews.cnet.com/mp3-players...tooth/4505-6490_7-32717913.html?tag=mncol;lst There's the cnet link review that I used to help purchase it. I got it on sale for $100, which isn't a bad deal for 8g, imho.

Though, if you need 10g+ of music, none of this matters, since it only houses 8g lol
 
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