MP3 Players II

[Russta]

Over three years ago now, I made a thread seeking advice on MP3 players as my MiniDisc player simply wasn't cutting it anymore and I wished to invest in one. The replies were great and I took all the information on board and ended up buying a neon purple Sony NWA-6000, which has served me well. However, today, on the way out of work, I dropped in on an extremely hard floor and it appears to have given up the ghost. I could likely send it to Sony and pay to have them repair it but it's old now, I've always hated the software and 6GB of space is simply not enough.

So here I am seeking more advice with three years of technological advances under our belt.

My immediate instinct was to order a Microsoft Zune but they're still not available outside of America. Normally I wouldn't let something like that deter me but when they go as far as to block IP's from their social site, it's probably fair warning. I don't really know how crucial it would be to sign up to that but I'm wary of buying technology without a warranty anyway.

I've never been sure about iPod's. I'd guess they've fixed the durability issues by now? I've never used iTunes though someone I worked with once told me that you can only put music onto your iPod that you've bought off there. Surely that's not true? Would I seriously not be able to drop my entire mp3 collection straight into it?

Finally, are there any dark horses about? I recall being quite intrigued with the Creative Zen back then but decided against it for reasons I don't recall.

Any advice is welcome and doesn't have to be rife with pages of facts, anecdotal experiences are fine. As long as it's got an absolute minimum of 20gb space and allows me to easily put the mp3s that already exist on my computer into it, that's all I'm looking for.

[The Stig]

Can't go wrong with this:

MP3 Players | Creative ZEN | Credit card-sized MP3 & digital media player

32gb available, and SD expansion, if you're paranoid with iPods. Someone at work did tell me yesterday if most of my music is legal, because if not then I'm gonna have a hell of a time getting them on iTunes and in any device (I thought this was never an issue? Oh well..)

EDIT: Sorry, I just saw your comment about the ZEN, didn't see it initially.

No darkhorses in my mind as of yet, but best to keep it simple.

[Astarael]

importing pirated music into itunes is almost as easy as importing music from legit CD's. Had no issues in over 8gb of pirated music.

[lamp]

Personally ive had my Ipod nano for nearly 2 years now, never lets me down, never had any issues importing music from any source.

Id recommend them to anyone, although im sure for everyone who sings the IPODs praises there is someome to tell you why they suck w/e.

[Baelorn]

I have a Zen and I love it. It's worked great for years and you really can't beat the price for the features. Only problem I have is with the playlist creation but there are workarounds for that.

[Gryffes]

Zenzenzenzenzen.

Lets you drag and drop mp3s without having to go through any bullshit.
heaven.

[AzazaelFenrir]

I really enjoy my Zune but part of what makes it so good for me is the Zune Pass. If you can't connect to their website then I could see that a major deterrent.

[Wintermute]

I own the 32Gb Zen and I've had absolutely no problems with it. It's the size of a Credit Card and nice and thin so you won't look like you're smuggling bricks when it's in your pocket.

It doesn't come with a screen protector out the box but the Leather case is brilliant as is the clear case w/ Keyring attachment.

I've not used the SD Card expansion but last I heard it doesn't track/seek smoothly when reading off the SD. I.e. It'll skip to begining/end of track/video.

The software is easy enough to use and the only niggling fact is you need to convert Video to run it off the Zen but the software does that provided you've got the codecs.

Can also just dump the tracks into the Music folder as if it were an external HDD.

What's your budget anyway?

[burrito]

I've found the ipods to not really last with every-day wear and tear. The last two I've pretty much had attatched to my ears no less than 6 hours a day, nearly every day, and they usually die right around when the year warranty expires. Probably would steer clear of ipod if you'll put it to heavy use like I do :/

[Amastacia]

I used to be on the Anything But Apple bandwagon (had a Zen for a good while).

Then I got a deal with employee pricing on an iPod Touch.

Much better build quality and general reliability than my Zen had, only thing I miss is a good equalizer (iPod only has presets, Zen had individual sliders).

The Touch is admittedly retardedly expensive, but I had money to blow at the time, and the combination of good quality/amazing UI/wireless was, and remains, pretty excellent.

Haven't used other iPods much, not sure that they're really any better than something like a Zen, but owning a Zen for a while really took the stars out of my eyes on the little Creative brick. I ran into build quality issues quickly (buttons started misbehaving and such) and the headphone jack died shortly after it came out of warranty and the model was discontinued.

[Askari0]

I've got a Zune and I love it to death, I would never consider switching to anything else other than the Zune HD =P the software is easy and relatively user friendly. No issues with pirated music, almost all of mine is pirated and I've had no problems =P

I don't use the Zune pass, but I know how great a deal it is and I know how much people swear by it. The Zune HD more than likely will open up worldwide, so long as microsoft isn't effing retarded.

Probably the nicest thing about the Zune is the social though, being able to share songs with friends and all that jazz is actually a lot cooler than one would expect.

If you have any Zune specific questions, feel free to PM me and I should be able to answer them.

[Melena]

I have a first gen zine and iPhone. I prefer the zine cause it's durable as fuck but ts just too heavy on my arm at the gym so I use the iPhone at the gym and the brick err zune if I am going to travel.

Change zine to zune. Fucking iPhone auto correct.

[Russta]

Can't go wrong with this:

MP3 Players | Creative ZEN | Credit card-sized MP3 & digital media player

Thanks for the suggestion. That seems pretty damn good though I've honestly never been one for absolutely tiny devices. Still, seems a fine size.

importing pirated music into itunes is almost as easy as importing music from legit CD's. Had no issues in over 8gb of pirated music.

Good to know, thanks.

Id recommend them to anyone, although im sure for everyone who sings the IPODs praises there is someome to tell you why they suck w/e.

You'd be amazed how true that is.

Only problem I have is with the playlist creation but there are workarounds for that.

I assure you it can't be worse than the playlist creation on the MP3 player I'm parting with. I've never really been big on playlists though, prefer to just put an album on, so it's not a huge concern to me.

What's your budget anyway?

Looking to not go any higher than £150/$245 but I will if it's worth it.

I ran into build quality issues quickly (buttons started misbehaving and such) and the headphone jack died shortly after it came out of warranty and the model was discontinued.

That just reminded me why I decided not to get a Creative Zen three years ago; a scary amount of reports that the headphone jack has a short lifespan.

I really enjoy my Zune but part of what makes it so good for me is the Zune Pass. If you can't connect to their website then I could see that a major deterrent.

Probably the nicest thing about the Zune is the social though, being able to share songs with friends and all that jazz is actually a lot cooler than one would expect.

Yeah, this is what I gather from a few things I've read. It's why I can't get one really and I don't wish to wait till autumn for it to be released here.

Thanks for all the replies thus far (and sorry for the obscene quote splitting).

[Ragnell]

PMP(Personal media player) or bust



ARCHOS 5, google it

[Wintermute]

That just reminded me why I decided not to get a Creative Zen three years ago; a scary amount of reports that the headphone jack has a short lifespan.

I had some headphone jack problems with the Zen Micro but that was back in 04/05 and probably had something to do with the way I was winding the cord.

But with the Zen Vision:M (Big Brick) and the current Zen I've not had any problems whatsoever and neither have any of my friends who own Zens.

I use my Zen every time I step out of the house and it's survived more than it should have considering I use it when I skate and spend most my time slamming, really couldn't recommend it more.

[Woozie]

As others have mentioned, there's no problems in getting pirated songs onto ipod. I've never purchased any songs from itunes (or from anywhere else for that matter).

A few months ago, the ipod I've had for four years broke because I dropped it in a puddle of water, so I had to get a new mp3 player.

I was on a budget when I went shopping for an MP3 player a month ago. So I got a cheap 8gb Sony Walkman with FM radio and plays videos for less than 90 dollars. The thing sucked. It has a playlist feature but it's impossible to get it to work. I really need playlists so I took it back.

I then tried a philips gogear (again, 8gb, FM radio, video), and it was also less than 90 dollars. It would have probably worked fine but there was something wrong with my computer and it wouldn't recognize the mp3 player (and I know for sure that my computer was the problem, not the mp3 player). So I returned this as well.

I then went ahead and got a 150 dollar ipod nano. Cost almost twice as much for the exact same features....but at least I can still use itunes. My last ipod lasted four years and didn't go back until I destroyed it myself, so I don't see any reasons I should be concerned about durability. But with that said, I'd rather have the philips gogear because I'm cheap and I hate paying twice as much for the exact same freakin thing.

Seriously, I don't see how so many people are proud of their ipods. I'm ashamed that I spent twice as much as I should have. I feel like the guy who pays full price for a used car and has to lie to pretend he got a good deal so people wont think he's an idiot.

But then again, it doesn't look like you're as cheap as I am, so you have a lot more options.

[Vandole]

i love my ipod. ive had this 80gb classic for a year and have had 0 troubles. only 1 scratch on the screen.
Heavy use on it as well. 2-5 hours a day depending on if im travelling or not, and 1+ hour at night. My ipod has yet to die on me.

[antihero]

I've had a 5th gen ipod since October of 2005, dropped it several times, left it in my car during the winter in <0F temperatures and the summer during >90F temperatures, never had any problems(its scratched to shit, front and back, but screen isn't cracked and is legible, it has been to hell and back). Hell, when I go on trips I keep a backup of FFXI and my /b/ folder on it to use as a HD. Wholeheartedly recommend ipod, not an ipod touch though, those things are garbage

[thestalkmore]

I'm a die-hard Mac hater. That said, I'm on my 3rd ipod. To address things in this thread:

-All of my 40 something gigs on my ipod are pirated. It's all drag and drop. No shortcuts, tweaks, or messing required.
-I listen to my ipod a LOT and have never had durability issues outside of my first one's headphone jack not working after 2 something years of use. I upgraded from my working second one because I wanted more space.
-It's a beautiful device with a beautiful interface.

The only reason I would not buy an ipod (and this is something that can be circumvented if you're into custom firmware like Rockbox) is that it isn't compatible with FLAC and most other lossless formats. I don't know which devices ARE, but somewhere along the line I made the somewhat disappointing decision to stop collecting lossless music because I knew I wouldn't be able to satisfactorily put it on my ipod. You won't be able to tell the difference between lossy and lossless formats with standard headphones setups anyway, so it, for you, is probably a moot point.

[Ragnell]

ARCHOS

http://www.archos.com/img/archos_5/d...os-5-angle.jpg