IPOD / MP3 Player Recommendation?

i took a ton of pictures of when i cracked it opened, btw. i'll post them when i get around to it.
 
I have a Creative Zen Xtra 40gig. I really like it. My requirements for a MP3 player were simple. It had to sound good, have alot of storage, and be reasonably priced. I think the Creative nails all 3. I actually ended up purchasing a refurbished one directly from creative for $159 + shipping. It arrived looking brand new not a mark on it whatsoever. So far it has worked great. I have almost 600 CD's on it with a little space left. Battery life is pretty good too. It does have it's cons though. It's bigger than about any other player on the market, not overly huge just bigger than the other ones. Think of a small walkman tape player but about half as thick. Size isn't and issue for me :) but it could be for other people. Also it doesn't have an FM tuner or voice recorder. I don't care about the FM tuner because there isn't a decent FM station anywhere my house, or anywhere I usually travel. Voice recording would be nice to have though, to record live shows and such if you could manage to sneak this into the venue.

Also with the firmware version I'm using it does require special software. I don't really mind this. The software isn't that great but I don't find it hard to use or anything. There is a firmware upgrade available to make it MTP compatible thus eliminating the need for special software, however it is reported to be very buggy and has actually killed quite a few players according to reports on the forums over at Creative's Website. I have no interest in MTP or "Plays for Sure" so I'm happy with my current firmware.

All in all I really like my player however I don't really use it that much since I got Sirius satellite radio. I like quite a few of the stations on there and it's a great way to get introduced to new music. I usually only use my MP3 player when there is a specific song or CD I want to hear or I am somewhere that my Sirius isn't available to me.

my $.02

Jamie
 
Midget said:
one thing's for sure, ipods are damn fragile.
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any piece of electronics when subjected to water will usually misbehave, this is not limited to ipod.. my ipod has taken a ton of falls and still works flawlessly.
 
I recently picked up an iRiver H340, and I'd highly reccomend it. They've been discontinued, but you should still be able to find one. See this thread for details.

RobbW said:
Can I buy any aftermarket headphones that fit in the ear, or all they all equally poor?
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I use Sony MDR-W08s. They've always been good to me, but I can't say how well they stack up against other headphones. These babies are pretty much all I know. I like 'em because they don't make my ears sweat like the huge foam padded ones. Sound quality is pretty good with decent bass. What I like most is that pretty much no sound leaks at the volumes I listen to. I can listen without annoying those around me.

What's bad about them? Well, they tend to hurt my ears a little if I have them on for extended periods. About the worst thing I can say about them is that earwax will eventually leak through the little pin holes and congeal inside, reducing volume and sound quality. (I had my first set for years before I noticed a change.) Aside from a gradual loss of sound quality, I find this a little gross:barf: You probably wouldn't ever know unless you gutted an old set. Damn sure don't lend the things out!
 
if 1gig is sufficient, i would like to recommend the iriver 799. it has removable battery (r6, or AA if you like). sounds very good (according to alot of people not just me) high outputpower, and you get 40-45h playtime from one battery
 
I don't know if its too late but look at the Creative Zen Vision M.

It is the same size as a 5g video ipod, though slightly thicker and heavier. Audio battery life is the same as ipod...advertised 14 hrs, but it plays wmas. Video life is at least double,4 hours, most people have been getting 5+ hours though I can't imagine sitting at a 2.5 inch screen (which is much better than the 5g ipod) for that long. The clincher here is that it plays xvid, avi, wmv, all of your common video files.
h053ViSiON-f_.jpeg


It is available really only in black (there are 5 other colors including white) right now. List is $330, $30 more than ipod but it includes an ac adapter which you have to buy separately for ipod.

I just ordered one at crutchfield.com, a very reputable shop, and used coupon code PA440 at checkout and it was only $279.99 shipped, no tax to ny but it is on backorder till 2/27. I am willing to wait to save $50.

THis is a chart that "undesign" on dapreview.net typed up
ipodasskicking.jpg


just my 2 cents :)
 
M Wadel said:
if 1gig is sufficient, i would like to recommend the iriver 799. it has removable battery (r6, or AA if you like). sounds very good (according to alot of people not just me) high outputpower, and you get 40-45h playtime from one battery
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I have and love my 899 but there's no way I get THAT much runtime on one cell. I must be using the wrong batteries.
 
the 799 and 899 only difference is that the 899 has rubber where the 799 has plastic parts, i dont know the actual runtime, i get more than a week or so (on rechargable) back and forth on the train/bus 40km, i know different headphones suck out more juice, i use sennheiser hd25. anyway the 40-45 h in the specs are alot more than 10 or 20 that the other players have, and if you only get half you will probably only get half with those too so more is better i guess
 
Anybody have any experience with Dell's version of the Ipod .. or whatever it's called?

I ran into a couple of college students on the plane a month or so ago that thought they were great. No experience here with any of them ... yet.

Razz
 
Razzierb said:
Anybody have any experience with Dell's version of the Ipod .. or whatever it's called?

I ran into a couple of college students on the plane a month or so ago that thought they were great. No experience here with any of them ... yet.

Razz
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A kid down the hall has one. They are pretty decent, sound quality is good, battery life is adequate, but they are major bricks. Dell discontinued their hard drive dj model quite a while back, so the only place you could get one is ebay and there are better options out there...the creative zen touch being one.
 
I was recently looking for an MP3 player, I bought a sony PSP instead. It does MP3, MPEG4 video, games, UMD films, UMD music videos, ATRAC, JPEG. Theres a memory stick slot (I have a 1gb memory stick in there but you can buy 2gb ones) and a removable Lion battery. It also has built in stereo speakers, remote control headphones and a very nice 4 or 5 inch 16 million color screen, way better than any MP3 player. All of this for a similar price to other media players.

On the down side its larger than an IPOD (but still fits in a jacket pocket) and the battery only lasts for 3 - 6 hours (3 hours would be playing games with the sound up and the backlight on full I believe)
 
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