MP3 players

[Anyway]

Don't quote me. Who the hell you think you are.

[Coco]

Don't quote me. Who the hell you think you are.

[Elcura]

And I said I cared about your opinion when..........?

You generally care when you quote and reply to someone. If you didn't care then you wouldn't have replied.

Next.

[Anyway]

And I said I cared about your opinion when..........?

You generally care when you quote and reply to someone. If you didn't care then you wouldn't have replied.

Next.

SHOWS ON MTV!!! Fuck yea, what do I win?

[Coco]

Alright, now that I've gotten some sleep, here is my long-awaited answer. And I know that none of you were actually waiting for it, I just love MP3 players, and love learning about technology in general. Here are some reviews.

http://www.cnet.com

• Creative Zen Vision:M

The good: Available in five colors, the Creative Zen Vision:M has an incredible screen, a simple interface, excellent video battery life, an FM tuner and recorder, and a voice recorder. It features a customizable Shortcut button, and it supports a wide range of online music stores and subscription services, as well as video formats. It has excellent audio and video quality.

The bad: The Creative Zen Vision:M has no iTunes-like video content--yet--or support for Audible content--yet. Some will find the touch-pad controller frustrating. The black model scratches easily. The documentation is skimpy. You must use an adapter for transfers and power, meaning that occasionally you need two cables and the adapter. A dock and an A/V-out cable are not included. Finally, the Zen Vision:M isn't as elegant as an iPod. {<--I lol'd}

The bottom line: The dazzling, DRM-friendly Creative Zen Vision:M gives the iPod a run for the money as the current high-capacity WMA champ.

• Creative Labs Zen Vision

The good: The Creative Zen Sleek is a solid, music-only WMA device with an FM tuner; voice and FM recording; and compatibility with Outlook contacts, calendars, and tasks. Large controls and a sleek body make this solid-sounding device a nice, affordable high-capacity option. It's compatible with Audible, MP3, WMA (DRM 10/subscription), and WAV files.

The bad: The Creative Zen Sleek lacks a color screen for viewing photos or video, and its overall design is uninspiring. In addition, the device has a messy proprietary dock-connector cabling system, and the touch pad may not be the right interface for some users.

The bottom line: The Creative Zen Sleek is a decent WMA alternative for those looking for a music-only high-capacity MP3 player.

• Creative Labs Zen Micro Photo (8GB)

The good: The Creative Zen Micro Photo features a bright, colorful OLED {which is really nice and hard to find these days} that's viewable from any angle, and it's available in a choice of 10 body colors. This MP3 player also includes useful extra features such as a user-replaceable battery, a voice recorder, a photo viewer, an FM tuner, and an onboard calendar and task manager that syncs with Microsoft Outlook. The Zen Micro Photo is also out-of-the-box compatible with Janus (Windows Media DRM 10) and offers excellent sound quality.

The bad: Unfortunately, the Creative Zen Micro Photo doesn't let you listen to music and browse photos simultaneously, and album art is not supported at this time. The touch pad on this device can take some getting used to.

The bottom line: The Creative Zen Micro Photo is an excellent full-featured MP3 player and, for its size, a decent photo viewer; it just doesn't combine the two effectively.

I'm not just going to pick on Creative, so I'll post some reviews for Sony and Philips as well.

• Sony Walkman Bean, 512MB

The good: Excellent FM reception and battery life; retractable USB connector.

The bad: Poorly designed USB cover; awkward controls; tiny screen muddles interface; noticeable hiss during playback; music-store support limited to Sony Connect; slow file transfers.

The bottom line: Sony's half-baked Walkman Bean tries hard to be hip, but bad design elements and hissy audio make it one square audio player.

• Sony Network Walkman

The good: Supercompact and durable design; excellent sound quality; intuitive tactile interface; removable battery; stellar battery life.

The bad: No extra features, such as FM radio or recording; ATRAC3 is the only DRM option; must use SonicStage software for music transfer.

The bottom line: If you want a slick alternative to the iPod and you're into Sony's Connect music store, then the NW-HD5 is a stellar choice.

• Philips GoGear Jukebox

The good: The attractively priced Philips GoGear HDD1630 boasts a sharp, full-color display, and it's loaded with features such as an FM radio and a voice recorder. The included earbuds are surprisingly decent.

The bad: The Philips GoGear HDD1630's glossy, black surface is highly smudge prone, and the touch-sensitive controls are ultrasensitive. The player's processor isn't always up to speed.

The bottom line: The Philips GoGear Jukebox 6GB (HDD1630) will please penny-pinchers and patient power users alike, but if you demand a speedy processor in your MP3 player, look elsewhere.

Ok now for the Apple reviews.

• 60GB Video iPod

The good: Incredibly thin and intuitive design; beautiful LCD; supports photo and video playback; seamless integration with iTunes, which boasts the world's biggest music catalog and a new video store; smooth video; lots of extra features, such as a world clock, a stopwatch, and PIM applications; a galaxy of accessories designed for the iPod; great overall value.

The bad: No extras included, such as a dock, A/V cables, or a power adapter; poor battery life for video; slight delay when playing video; no guarantee that your non-iTunes Music Store video will play on an iPod, even after using converted third-party software.

The bottom line: Get the affordable, sleek, and sexy 5G Apple iPod for its audio virtues. Although video looks great, poor video battery life and a relatively small screen hamper its appeal to video heads.

The 3rd party softwares of course can't be guaranteed, which is why Apple is coming out with a new program which will let you copy a DVD directly to your iTunes program. Also, there are AV cables or docks you can get seperately, which will allow you to plug your iPod into a TV. The iPod doesn't compress the video, so although you have a larger file that takes up more space, you can also plug it into a TV to use it as a DVD player, and have the movie be as high of quality as it would have been off the actual DVD.

• iPod Nano (review is the same for 1, 2, and 4GB models)

The good: The iPod Nano has a gorgeous, superslim design with a bright, photo-friendly screen. It is easy to operate and works seamlessly with iTunes and the iTunes Music Store, which has the world's largest selection of music. It boasts a nimble processor and system performance with no skipping, thanks to flash memory.

The bad: The iPod Nano suffers from unspectacular battery life, and though the device is durable, it scratches easily; blemishes show up more drastically on the black version. The Nano is pricey in terms of gigabytes per dollar, and its 4GB maximum capacity is not a good fit for many power users. The player skips many sought-after extra features such as FM radio and A/V-out, and it doesn't work with Camera Connector. The USB power adapter ($29) is not included.

The bottom line: Thanks to its limited capacity, the gorgeous iPod Nano isn't for everybody, but it sets the standard for MP3 players to come.

Ok, couple of things about the Nano. Yes, the battery life isn't so fantastic, but that's because it's a very small battery to keep the case of the unit small. I still get a good 4 hours consistent playtime out of my 2GB nano. Also, it does scratch very easily, because it's a soft polycarbonate. It's really easy to fix - just go pick up a $5 screen protector for the Playstation Portable, which has a 3-year warantee on it, and covers scratches very nicely, while preventing more scratches. And if you're spending $150-$250 on an MP3 player, you'd want to protect your investment with a nice case anyway. The Nano is expensive dollar-per-gigabyte because it's more expensive to manufacture flash memory than harddrive memory. But before too much longer, probably within the next year or two, we will start seeing holographic memory in MP3 players, and the overall cost will go down in all MP3 players, while the capacities go up dramatically. A disk the size of a business card will be able to hold up to 800GB of holographic data by the year 2008.

Overall, from what I've read online, what I've talked about to the customers in my stores, and what I've seen from the products that I sell, it's impossible to say which MP3 player is better than another. It's really a person-by-person basis. I myself have a 2GB Nano and that is perfect for my needs - whereas a customer of mine has 3 60GB iPods, and all 3 are full with no repeats. I do like Sandisk and Toshiba MP3 players, and probably would have gotten one of those if Apple hadn't come out with the Nano.

Now that you've all read my copy-and-paste reviews, go ahead and flame me for copy-and-pasting, and see if I care. Now if you don't mind, I'm gonna go listen to music on my iPod.

[Elcura]

Ok. Now let's see...

Some will find the touch-pad controller frustrating

Key word here being SOME, I find the controller very easy to use, on the flip side, iPod confused me for a while, and I haven't used one long enough to get used to it.

Finally, the Zen Vision:M isn't as elegant as an iPod

Why does that matter? When a MP3 player spends most of the time in your pocket looks are somewhat a moot factor. Apples main thing is having things look good, that's there catch for people who don't know better.

I do however respect Apple on it's amazing ad-campaign though.

lacks a color screen for viewing photos or video

It's a music player, if it plays music then wtf is there to complain about, fact is you bought it for music, and it plays music, having it play videos is a moot factor in music quality. Besides, the way Apple want you to put on video's is fucking ass-backward, I did it for a friend and it took for-fucking-ever.

No colour screen won't hurt you either.

the touch pad may not be the right interface for some users.

Look at first point I made, just repeating itself.

doesn't let you listen to music and browse photos simultaneously

I'm dumbfounded by this, uhhhh, why would that be a problem?! Who cares about browsing photos while listening to music, if you want to look at photo's go get a device that lets you do so (such as a phone). Photo's is NOT the reason you buy an MP3 player.

But then a problem might arise that you can't talk and look at photo's at the same time how stupid.

The touch pad on this device can take some getting used to.

ORLY NOW?

it just doesn't combine the two effectively.

Moot, it does what it's supposed to do, and it does it damn well.

awkward controls

First point (again)

music-store support limited to Sony Connect

I suppose iTunes is God's gift to MP3 players? Don't make me laugh.

ATRAC3 is the only DRM option

Not sure about this, but I get the impression that DRM sucks from what I've heard.

touch-sensitive controls are ultrasensitive

First point, BUT, if there isn't a sensitivity option then that could be a problem and an annoyance.

isn't always up to speed

Not sure what you mean by this. Does it play music slower then usual or is navigating slower at times?

if you demand a speedy processor in your MP3 player, look elsewhere.

K.

60GB Video iPod

The good: Incredibly thin and intuitive design; beautiful LCD; supports photo and video playback; seamless integration with iTunes, which boasts the world's biggest music catalog and a new video store; smooth video; lots of extra features, such as a world clock, a stopwatch, and PIM applications; a galaxy of accessories designed for the iPod; great overall value.

Which are not only pointless but are a pain to use as well and not worth the effort AT ALL. I won't even step into the realm of evil which is iTunes.

The good: The iPod Nano has a gorgeous, superslim design with a bright, photo-friendly screen. It is easy to operate and works seamlessly with iTunes and the iTunes Music Store, which has the world's largest selection of music. It boasts a nimble processor and system performance with no skipping, thanks to flash memory

Screen is a bit too small for good photo-viewing, view your photo's elsewhere, and it's a pain to get photo's on, I know this.

I agree with that you said about MP3 players being a per person thing.

But fact is the OP already choose his MP3 player on page 4, if you had said anything before that it might've been ok, but now it is too little too late.

[Genosync]

MP3 player.

Buy it, put music on it, listen to your music, be happy.

End of story.

[Coco]

see if I care.

[Genosync]

see if I care.

Stop being a stuck up little brat and stop carrying on a pointless argument and feeling like you have to reply to everyone's response.

You may be 2-whatever, but you're acting like you're a spoiled child.

[Chumbelina]

You know all he wants is a rise out of you, why not try a different tactic... like a COMEBACK!

Complaining and telling a bully to leave you alone shows weakness and only encourages him to continue. Be a woMAN and 1-up him with a sarcastic comment right back. Maybe he'll think twice before he tries to e-pwn you again.

That tactic worked on me, I know not to try to 1-up Hellboy, Xavier, Kuno, Judah etc. Because they will forum-pwn me so fast that I'll get out of my chair and crawl into bed, weeping with my face in a pillow, then eating the Valentine chocolates that my mom gave me til I get fat.

*thinks back to that family guys episode where Brian has to get fixed*
"I looooove chocolate, but I can't eat it because I'll get FAT!!"

Edit: *agrees with Geno's post above*

[Elcura]

see if I care.

You generally care when you quote and reply to someone. If you didn't care then you wouldn't have replied.

Uh-huh, next.

[Kemberly]

That tactic worked on me, I know not to try to 1-up Hellboy, Xavier, Kuno, Judah etc. Because they will forum-pwn me so fast that I'll get out of my chair and crawl into bed, weeping with my face in a pillow, then eating the Valentine chocolates that my mom gave me til I get fat.

*thinks back to that family guys episode where Brian has to get fixed*
"I looooove chocolate, but I can't eat it because I'll get FAT!!" but its soooooo good

lol love that family guy ep

[sephir]

Im currently on my 3rd Ipod :/ the first one fell off a table(like 3 feet off the ground) onto a carpeted floor and broke. the second one got really fucked up someone internally and my comp wouldnt recignize it anymore. But I just went to the apple store at Yorkdale and they replaced it with a brand new one. But my latest one has really pissed me off. when they gave me the last IPOD when I opened the box I found that it had been personalized for some random dude. anyone know Shane Seaton?

But as far as MP3 players go, Sony has a really cool one that was posted a few pages back. It was the purple one and its called the A3000. But if I were you I'd wait 2 months because Sony is releasing a new MP3 player that is going to attempt to take over the "IPOD revolution" and hopefully bring sony back into the MP3 market.