I just got an unexpected windfall due to making a really stupid mistake on my taxes. I am using the tax money to buy an mp3 player. I was thinking of buying an iPod, then got into a couple of discussions with people.
As I know exactly zero about mp3 players (other than their general concept), any suggestions out there from my readers? iPod or not iPod?
I want two things: A decent amount of storage (I’ll get the 60 gig iPod if I go that way) and the ability to play videos (but not on a one-inch screen, I’ll probably plug it into my widescreen laptop or my TV set). Wait, three things. A decent headset to go with.
Anything else is gravy. Lair Simon suggested a player that comes with a phone. Or a phone that comes with a player. Don’t need it, and really don’t want it to be overly complex.
Suggestions? Comments? Preferences?
Hmm. Me, I’ve been quite satisfied with what Laurence suggested, playing music on my iPaq 6300-series Pocket PC. Cell phone, PDA, I can surf the internet anywhere I can get a signal (in fact, I’m posting this message with it right now), plus my 2 GB SD card holds eight hours worth of songs and two hours worth of video, and is only 65% full.
Beyond that… sorry, got nothing. I haven’t messed with enough players to say.
60GB IPod? Woah. I have 80GB on my computer… You sure you really need that much?
I had a Dell DJ20 (20GB). I’d say it’s a great player, but having to use their software on my computer stunk to high heaven, and wouldn’t recommend it.
If you’re not going to watch the files on the player itself, then you should be able to use pretty much any mp3 player. My friend used to come here, steal Family Guy episodes off my computer onto his mp3, hook it up to his computer, and watch.
The iPod’s best feature is its simplicity – easy to use, easy to find what you want. Dell’s was just as good, in my opinion. I haven’t heard that about a lot of the others, though.
I’ve had a couple of non-iPod players, and I’ve now got a Nano, and I’d lean towards the iPod, especially if you plan to buy DRMd music – I think iTunes/iPod is just a smoother combination than any of the other services.
If video is more important to you, look at the Archos PMPs, though again, you’re going to find a lot more material available already formatted for iPod, and lots of converters that make it pretty easy to get other stuff on there. (I like Videoara, though I use it for web video-to-TiVo conversions.)
It also depends on the kind of music you’d play on it. I own a Dell DJ30, because it plays music in the .WMA format as well as the .MP3 format. I play classical music almost exclusively, and I’ve found the .MP3 format to be more “lossy” than the .WMA format for classical. I can hear the difference; MP3 files just don’t sound as good with some of the quieter, more detailed classical works.
Just one more thing to consider.
I would go with the iPod (iTunes is still the best music sorting and using program), and when you are reading in all your CD’s, convert them not to mp3 but to AAC format at a slightly higher conversion rate (192k is what I use). Sounds superb (none of the artifacts of mp3).
Apple has most of the market because they got it right, and thus far, no one has bested them.
I’m not so sure about watching the videos on anything other than the tiny screen – haven’t tried that yet. But the little screen is actually not bad.
As for headphones, that’s highly personal. If you can use in-the-ear phones, the Shures (E2 thru E5) are superb. If like I you cannot, I recommend the Bose QuietComfort 2’s (not the 3’s, but again, that’s a personal fit issue, they work the same).
Nope, if I listen to classical it will be on the CD player at home.
I’ll listen to my schizophrenic preferences, which are either soft/folk or modern rock, with some heavy metal thrown in. Ooh, and show tunes. I love show tunes. And some country.
Actually, I suspect I’ll be buying a lot of single songs off iTunes that I’ve heard, but don’t much care for the rest of the album.
Mark me down for the iPod. I’ve used other MP3 players, but Apple really does havbe the better product here. The interface is simple and intuitive and I’ve never had file organization issues like I did with some other players.
If you get the black one, though, be sure to buy iSkin or some other protection. Scratches show up easily on it.
What I don’t like about iPod is it’s lock-in to iTunes. As far as I know you need that specific software to update it and you can’t just insert it into any computer which you could with ordinary USB stick MP3 players. Also, hard-disks are more error-prone, so going for a USB model also makes sense when you intend to use it during sports of some kind or happen to drop it.
Personally I’ll stick to my cell phone. I carry it with me anyway and it has a 2 megapixel camera plus MP3 player. Like poster #1, 2GB is sufficient for me, especially considering this way I carry one device instead of three.
We recently replaced an Ipod mini with a Creative Zen Micro. I’m impressed with it. It is tiny, has 8 gigs of storage, a large color screen, and uses the same menu hierarchy as the ipod. It also has additional features that ipods don’t including an FM tuner, and the capability to use it as a portable storage device for computer data. The thing is much more solid than an ipod and we’ve had it for several months, jostling it around, with no problems. Only downside is that it does not work with Itunes. Best part – it was far less expensive than a 4 gig nano.
I’d go with Ipod. I have the 30 video. It rocks. We had a bad experience with the Archos.
Meryl, go with what works. The iPod is head and shoulders above everything else. It works with Windows, it works with the Mac OS. The screen is bright and the sound quality is superb. Add in the numerous gidgets and gazmos that are on the market for it and you’ve got a winner. There are more iPods on the univeristy campus where I work than any other type of player.
There are more IPods, but it doesn’t change the fact that the creative players are better.