What do you think of this MP3 player?

Starfish

Starfish

Joined
Jun 14, 2001
Messages
1,256
I'm getting ready to buy an MP3 player for my wife's birthday. I've been doing some research, both here and at CNET, and I think that she would do better with a Flash-based MP3 player. This opinion is based on the fact that she will be using it primarily for work, and her work has her moving constantly throughout the day.

With that, I'm leaning heavily toward the COWON JetAudio iAudio U2 (1GB) MP3 player. It got rave reviews from CNET, is small and light (1.2 oz), and lasts for 15-20 hours on a rechargeable battery.

So, what do you think?

Another question: I think that she will prefer to get headphones to replace the earphones that it comes with. Can you make any recommendations for a decent, inexpensive pair that is compatible with the output of this player?

Thanks,

Matthew
 
What about the new Sony MP3 players?

Sony MP3

I'm planning to get THIS ONE . Built in FM Tuner, about 50 hours playback. And it has a super fast charging time. 3 minutes charging gives 3 hours playback.

If you don't need an FM Tuner the small round ones are cool. 70 hours playback on a single AAA battery.
 
That's looks pretty sweet. I'm a little unsure of a couple of things though:

1) I'd read that the big-name companies (e.g., Sony) enforce DRM, which I understand to be a pain.

2) Does the Sony player support WMA format? Most of the music my wife has purchased online comes only in that format...

~ Matthew
 
What a coincidence! I was reading up on the Cowon/Jetaudio U2 last night on C|Net. I'm thinking about getting one myself, along with either a Etymotic or Shure noise-cancelling earphones.
 
From the Sony fine print section:

Supports WMA, WAV Audio Formats5 --- The Network Walkman player plays back ATRAC3®, ATRAC3plus™ format and MP3 files, and supports WMA and WAV.

I'm looking at these myself.

Jack
 
Good info, and interesting links. I really need to breakdown and buy an mp3 player. On long flights I'm bored after my laptop battery dies in 3 hours :(
 
donovan said:
From the Sony fine print section:

Supports WMA, WAV Audio Formats5 --- The Network Walkman player plays back ATRAC3®, ATRAC3plus™ format and MP3 files, and supports WMA and WAV.

I'm looking at these myself.

Jack
Click to expand...

Keep in mind, "supports <xyz>" is Sony-speak for "you must use the Sonic Stage software to convert your <xyz>-files into ATRAC-files first, then you can play back the ATRAC-files". Some are bothered by this a lot, others don´t care; as I only have files that can be played back directly I have never had the need for these conversions, so I cannot tell how cumbersome it is.

I´m using an older NW-E99 ("old", winter 2004 that is :)). That series was now replaced by the new round players, the NW-E10*-series; the only difference seems to be the shape, though. One problem all the Sonys (Sonies? Sony´s? Eh.) have is that transferring songs from the player to a computer is tricky or impossible, depending on the format. For me that was not an issue, and I liked the long battery life and the short start-up time: press the play-button and it plays immediately. Other players sometimes have several seconds delay, which is often not mentioned in specs and website reviews, rather you find out about it in user reviews in various forums.

Kristofer
 
SAK,

Thanks. It is fixed now. :)
 
I went ahead and ordered the iAudio U2. I thought about the Sony, but I noticed it didn't have a display. For a 1 GB player, it seems that a display would be handy.

I also looked at the iRiver. However, I did some searching and could not find anything about whether or not the iRiver supports DRM WMA format (the iAudio U2 does, with a firmware upgrade).

I'll post my thoughts on this player when we get it in and see how easy it is to use...

Matthew
 
My Sony headphones finally fell apart at work, I bought a pair of Koss headphones, and for me, they work great. Got em at Wally World.

I also found a pair of collapsible headphones at WalMart, I forget the brand name, but I keep them with my discman.
 
K.V. Collucci said:
www.iriveramerica.com

This company makes the best MP3 players I have seen to date. I have an H10.
Click to expand...

I agree. I bought my wife the 100 series because it has one of the best tuners available. Sound quality is excellent.

http://www.head-fi.org/ was a great resource when I was searching for her mp3 player.

I originally bought a Sony digital FM radio and returned it because it was 100% garbage. Hands down it was the worst tuner I've ever heard. I'm convinced that the only thing sony makes well is tube televisions.
 
Matthew, please let us know what you think about it when you get it. I'm on the verge of getting one myself, but will wait for your feedback.
 
brewthunda said:
I originally bought a Sony digital FM radio and returned it because it was 100% garbage. Hands down it was the worst tuner I've ever heard. I'm convinced that the only thing sony makes well is tube televisions.
Click to expand...

Funny...I still have a Sony CD player in one of my cars from the 95-96 range and it has the best tuner of any car radio I've used. Its good enough that I've swapped it into three cars over the years. None of the CD players (which are fairly new) in my other cars pick up a radio station as well...

Mark
 
Sonys stuff has gone to hell. I won't buy it any more on principle.
AND they are still pushing proprietary stuff which is a PITA
 
grnamin said:
Matthew, please let us know what you think about it when you get it. I'm on the verge of getting one myself, but will wait for your feedback.
Click to expand...

Update: I received it today, and gave it to my wife tonight for her birthday. First impression is very favorable. I had to update the firmware in order to support DRM WMA files, and found out also that the player does not support m4p (MPEG-4) files encoded by Apple's iTunes store. I found a workaround for that though in the form of other freeware and shareware. Not a big deal though, as most of my wife's music is in WMA format.

I just transferred all of her music files (75 in WMA format), and there's still about 750 MB left on the device. :)

The device seems to be pretty well thought out and well worth the $170 I paid for it. I'll update again in about a week after my wife has had a chance to really use it at work.

~Matthew
 
Thanks very much for the review, Matthew. Looks like I'm getting one. :) BTW, how are the earphones that come with the unit?
 
grnamin said:
Thanks very much for the review, Matthew. Looks like I'm getting one. :) BTW, how are the earphones that come with the unit?
Click to expand...

Hi Greg,

For the few minutes that I had them in my ear, they seemed OK. However, I can only really speak from a comfort standpoint since I am partially hearing-impaired, and therefore am unable to detect any subtle sound quality issues that a true audiophile can find.

I think you'll really like it when you get it; just be sure to upgrade the firmware if you plan on playing DRM-protected media files. DRM WMA files have been relatively painless - you just have to use Windows Media Player to copy to the device. iTunes files on the other hand....you have to unprotect the files and then convert to MP3 format before copying...I imagine that Cowon will have a firmware upgrade before long for m4p format.

Let me know how you like yours!

Matthew
 
Starfish said:
I am partially hearing-impaired, and therefore am unable to detect any subtle sound quality issues that a true audiophile can find.
Click to expand...

That's something we have in common. :) Thanks for the additional info.
 
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