20GB or 1GB?

Diarmsquid

I'm thinking of buying an mp3 player, and I want to ask a question here, for mass reply.

Is it worth paying extra for a big 20GB iPod or Zen Creative or should I just get a smaller 512MB or 1GB one?

The way I see it, I use my PC every day so if I want a particular song I could put it on that day. I don't think I need 10,000 songs on my mp3 player.

Plus, the 512MB and 1GB ones are much smaller and easier to carry around.

So is it worth paying for the bigger ones?

Opinions?

melekalikimaka

usually the bigger ones are better quality imo, you pay extra not just for space but in fidelity and build

grimloch

I use my PC every day so yes, I could have gotten along with a smaller player, but as lazy as it sounds, there's no way I'd be arsed fiddling about with it on a daily basis, getting out the wires and all the accompanying hassle.

Plus you sort of have to decide today what you want to listen to tomorrow which I wouldn't like very much at all. I like to have my entire music collection stored nicley in my pocket so I can listen to what I want when I want.

JPA

The price difference between small and large capacity mp3 players makes it hard to justify buying small capacity player.

Bakha

I think it depends on each person. If you are going to use the player for both storing music, dvd files, data, etc it is worth paying a lot more, but if you are to buy an mp3 player that will be used only to listen to music why buy extra space. you don't know 13000 songs, do you?

Diarmsquid wrote:

I'm thinking of buying an mp3 player, and I want to ask a question here, for mass reply.

Is it worth paying extra for a big 20GB iPod or Zen Creative or should I just get a smaller 512MB or 1GB one?

The way I see it, I use my PC every day so if I want a particular song I could put it on that day. I don't think I need 10,000 songs on my mp3 player.

Plus, the 512MB and 1GB ones are much smaller and easier to carry around.

So is it worth paying for the bigger ones?

Opinions?

Makaveli

I'd say there are a lot of people with more than 13,000 songs on their computer. Also, there's no chance you're getting 13,000 tracks on a 20GB player unless they are ripped at a really low bit rate like 64KBps WMA and if you're doing that what's the point?
As JPA said, with large capactiy MP3 players the price they are it's hard to justify buying a small cap one unless you are buying a flash player which is a different case. Flash players have the advantage of no moving parts, so if you plan to use it in the gym or go running with it then that's the way to go. Otherwise I'd go with a large capacity player.

If you have a big collection of music though you will eat up 20GB in no time whatsoever.

Royale with Cheese

Don't know about Ireland but here in Germany the price of all the mp3 players under 1Gb have drastically come down recently. However I would never buy one of these. People who say they can just change music all the time are kidding themselves. Do you know how much effort it is to go and turn the computer on, get out all the wires and transfer files back on forth on a daily basis? No thanks.

secret_squirrel

I have around 25-30Gb of music -a lot of it crappy! I never have more than about 4Gb on my Zen micro. Just change the songs every few months. Thats still enought for 300-400 tracks at a very good bit rate.

I will probably go for a 4Gb flash player next - thats if anyone catches up with apple anytime soon!

I tried 1Gb worth on my phone whilst my Zen was being replaced it was a little too tight tbh only around 5-6 albums worth which is not enough variety.

Sauron

imo, the whole point of an mp3 player is to have a large library of music in a small unit... I don't see the point of getting a 1GB player unless you have very few songs and aren't going to add to your collection...for me players like the iPod shuffle just seem to be utterly pointless.... and the whole process of updating it on a daily basis would just be irritating for me.. you'd have less hassle with a discman..

TempestSabre

melekalikimaka wrote:

usually the bigger ones are better quality imo, you pay extra not just for space but in fidelity and build

Actually you pay only for the space (and the image). A hard disk player is much more delicate than a Flash based player. Build quality varies enormously between MP3 players, usually it depends on the brand. But with all the HDD units you would be crazy to get one without a decent warranty. They break. Its a hard disk in your pocket. What would you expect.

As for fidelity, it all depends on the DAC and the signal path to the earphone or line out. For example of all the iPods the one with the best Sound Quality (fidelity) is the small iPod Shuffle. Though the new 5th gen iPod and Nano come close. However all the previous iPods are not well regarded by audiophiles for the output of their earphone socket. Most audiophiles use the line out on the iPods. (using the earphone) The Creative and Sonys, are consider to have excellent sound. iRivers and Cowon are meant almost as good. However each device has it good AND bad points. Some use tagging, some don't. Do some research on that. Some need driver software, some don't.

Of course it depends on the earphones you use. The best player in the world will sound crap if you have dire earphones. Equally if you are listening to low bitrate, and badly encoded MP3's, or ripped from a bad source, its never going to sound good. Garbage in, garbage out. If you are interested in Sound Quality go over to Head-Fi and read the portable forums.

The real difference between a 1GB player and say a 40GB player is purely in your usage of it. If you aren't near a computer a lot, or change your music a lot, or size and absolute portability aren't issues then a HD makes sense. However if you listen to the same handful of albums, tracks for weeks, want something very small and light, and rugged then a flash based player is for you. Perhaps you jog a lot or something.

I've about 80GB of music and growing. So there isn't a player that will hold all my music. Besides I tend to listen to a favorite album for ages. Rarely changing it. I have a 5GB Zen, a few MD/HiMD and a 1GB Shuffle. I use the shuffle most simply because its the smallest and lightest. Also I can use it as datadrive or charge it with out needing a cable. So even less to carry. I'm nearly always besides a PC, but I don't change the tracks that much. But if I want to it takes about 2 mins.

Lots of people carry around hundreds even thousands of dire quality 64-128kps mp3s on their MP3 players. I like my music too much to do that. I started out using 192kps or higher and am current mainly using 256-320kps for my music.

cormie

If you want it for general use, definitely go supersize, if you want it for jogging/excercise, get a cheap flash based player.

BopNiblets

I have ~2GB Memory Stick in my SE K750i and it's not full of MP3s yet (could fit 100 more if I wanted), and it does me absolutely fine.

secret_squirrel

I think the sweet spot for a portable digital music store is very much a person thing.

some people are very happy to have a few albums in a tiny device or phone that they change regularly. Others want all those obscure tracks they used to listen to when they were at school. Horses for courses really...


I would point out that the Ipod Mini was the best selling Ipod - suggesting a lot of people were happy to compromise space vs smallness

jaqian

If you are happy with a smaller player go for it. Myself I can a small 256Mb Magic Star mp3 player that I use'd to update everyday but things got busier and I didn't get the chance to update as often so the music got boring and stopped listening to it. Then I got my 20Gb Zen Sleek and it doesn't matter when I get to update it as I've 300 albums on it at the mo.

Personnally if you've got the music and you've got the money for for a 20Gb. Anything bigger than that I don't see the point. I'd need a 200Gb mp3 player for all my music and thats not feasible or practical...yet.

bucks73

I use a 1gig iPod shuffle and find it perfect. Im on the PC at home every day anyway so it takes just minutes to update it when I want to. There are no wires involved. Just plug it into USB and select songs/playlist or autofill.

melekalikimaka

TempestSabre wrote:

I've about 80GB of music and growing. So there isn't a player that will hold all my music.

Xclef 500, 100 gig

secret_squirrel

bucks73 wrote:

There are no wires involved. Just plug it into USB

Err isnt a usb cable a wire?

/pedant

Ciaran500

secret_squirrel

DOH.

Hangs head in shame