Which to purchase

dlambirl

I want to indulge in a new MP3 player (not break the bank though) but i dont know what kind to get. I was thinking of the new Apple Ipod Nano but a couple of things are now putting me off after reading a couple of threads, ipod crashing, more expensive than other makes, iTunes hard to use, etc, etc
I was just wondering what other people thought and if anyone had any ideas to what type of MP3 player to buy or if the nano is the best all round.

Cheers guys n gals

masseyno9

Well i was recently in the same situation. Bought a new creative zen 8gb at the weekend and had plenty of problems so far. 1st one froze during firmware update, then froze when loading music, then refused to turn on. Brought it back and got it replaced, now the 2nd one has froze during file transfer. Think i'll go back and look for a refund. Pretty poor show really, on the face of it seemed to be a great little player.

dudara

Bought my SO an iRiver Clix Gen 2 for his bday a few months ago. Absolutely lovely little player. Bought it on eBay - don't know if it's available here

biko

I got one of these and it's a nice one, although headphones broke after two months but I was very rough with them so it could be me. It's only 512 but I change music a lot so that doesn't bother me.

pleasant Co.

Do you have much music? (ie howmany gigabytes do you have?)
What OS does your computer use?
Could you give a ballpark budget?

Most respected DAP brands should not give you anymore/less hassle than each other.

if you are new to the DAP world then I would most certainly advise that you buy from a brick and mortar store and not online (it could save you from a massive headache if you do not like the DAP you buy)

dlambirl

hmmm right..slow down there! I have an mp3 player, its only 512 and i just put music on my windows media player onto it. i need something real simple! i head the ipod and itunes are a nightmare but the best.
I just wanna get a good mp3/mp4 player that can store a good few albums

biko

512MB is aprox 500 mins of music at "normal" compression (128).
That's about 100 songs / 5 CDs.

When you copy songs to the player you connect it to the PC with the cable that comes with it and it shows up in Windows Explorer as an extra hard drive. You simply drag and drop songs into that extra hard drive.
To delete old songs off it, highlight them and delete.

pleasant Co.

dlambirl wrote: »

hmmm right..slow down there! I have an mp3 player, its only 512 and i just put music on my windows media player onto it. i need something real simple! i head the ipod and itunes are a nightmare but the best.
I just wanna get a good mp3/mp4 player that can store a good few albums

Haha, sorry about that..

Ok well since you use windows media player it'd be a good idea to check out either the Creative ZEN or Creative Zen V.

Umm another good option would be a Samsung player... something like the T10... they make very pretty, quality DAPs these days.

I'm only thinking of DAP's which you can buy in store and work with Windows media player but the few i've mentioned are easy to use very good brands.

dlambirl

Thanks,
Was thinking of the new Ipod nano or a creative

pleasant Co.

The new nano is a good option, you'll probably have to re rip your tracks to work with itunes unless they are MP3 files.

Stepherunie

Mactard wrote: »

The new nano is a good option, you'll probably have to re rip your tracks to work with itunes unless they are MP3 files.

If they're .wma files itunes will offer to convert them to mp3 or m4a so no re ripping needed

pleasant Co.

The OP doesn't have a lot of music so re ripping would be a better option, and I'm not one for recommending transcoding <unless you are going from very high bitrates to much lower ones, in that case you are sacrificing quality anyway>

Creamy Goodness

everytime you transcode a file, god kills a kitten.

i like kittens.

art

dlambirl wrote: »

i head the ipod and itunes are a nightmare

They're not

spurious

masseyno9 wrote: »

Well i was recently in the same situation. Bought a new creative zen 8gb at the weekend and had plenty of problems so far. 1st one froze during firmware update, then froze when loading music, then refused to turn on. Brought it back and got it replaced, now the 2nd one has froze during file transfer. Think i'll go back and look for a refund. Pretty poor show really, on the face of it seemed to be a great little player.

That's a pity.
I bought the 16GB version and haven't had any problems at all.
I'm astonished at the picture quality for video playback.

fuse

Have you looked the Sandisk Sansa?
Comes in 2, 4, 6 & 8gb & takes micro sd card also.
Nice little player, I have mine about a year, pretty happy with it.
I loaded it with rockbox (www.rockbox.org), which is an option if you want.

BostonB

dlambirl wrote: »

I want to indulge in a new MP3 player (not break the bank though) but i dont know what kind to get. I was thinking of the new Apple Ipod Nano but a couple of things are now putting me off after reading a couple of threads, ipod crashing, more expensive than other makes, iTunes hard to use, etc, etc
I was just wondering what other people thought and if anyone had any ideas to what type of MP3 player to buy or if the nano is the best all round.

Cheers guys n gals

Its on a par with the other players.

dlambirl

took a look at the new creative zen... i love it, might get it

thanks guys

pleasant Co.

It's a deadly little device, another option to look at is the Sony S610 series or A810 series... they both work with WMP.

masseyno9

yeah. I take back what i said about the zen earlier in the thread. replaced no hassle and i love it! create and save playlists on the player. supports drag and drop (although i've used mediamonkey.) Bright screen, works with my car stereo, cheap chargers and accessories (same usb cable/charger as motorola v3.) Looks class. Got a car charger from ebay this morning, now to get a case for it so my baby doesn't get scratched!!!

also, rumour has it there's a 16gb version out now.

Big Tone

fuse wrote: »

Have you looked the Sandisk Sansa?
Comes in 2, 4, 6 & 8gb & takes micro sd card also.
Nice little player, I have mine about a year, pretty happy with it.
I loaded it with rockbox (www.rockbox.org), which is an option if you want.

Interesting. Will Rockbox load onto say a Creative Zen Vision M 60Gb as I dont see any mention of Creatives on their site...has anyone tried it...I quite like the crossfade feature and could use it now and Zen!

The Novacastrian

Has any of you got first hand experience with the Microsoft Zune, is it any good? I'm looking for a player that will play video, music and radio, so iPod is out. 30GB Zune is 199 in the states.

pleasant Co.

You can get the Zune for $100 less than that in the states too... Amazon for instance are selling it for $89....

It's apparently a really great unit, let down only buy its 12hr battery life, but at $89 (€60) I think that's totally acceptable

See here for that low price I mentioned: http://www.dapreview.net/comment.php?comment.news.4136

EDIT: Actually I'll post to the article as some other low priced sites are mentioned in the comments

Big Tone

Mactard wrote: »

You can get the Zune for $100 less than that in the states too... Amazon for instance are selling it for $89....

It's apparently a really great unit, let down only buy its 12hr battery life, but at $89 (€60) I think that's totally acceptable

See here for that low price I mentioned: http://www.dapreview.net/comment.php?comment.news.4136

EDIT: Actually I'll post to the article as some other low priced sites are mentioned in the comments

Unfort Amazon cannot ship to Ireland due to warranty or supplier issues, I tried (and failed) to buy a iPod Classic 160Gb for €224 (€349 in Ireland)!

pleasant Co.

Oh I know, it's a pity you don't know anyone in the states who could ship it over to ya though.

Big Tone

Interesting link here if anyone is considering a new Zen for xmas

http://epizenter.net/news.php

Big Tone

Mactard wrote: »

Oh I know, it's a pity you don't know anyone in the states who could ship it over to ya though.

One of my sisters lives in Boston and she'll be home for xmas, might use hers as the shipping address. Anyway I'm still undecided about whether I'll plum for the Zen or iPod.

dlambirl

I'm back to square one with deciding whether to get an Ipod, Zen or some other Mp3 player.

Everyone has an Ipod, whats so good about them? I hear alot of bad things about Itunes thats impossible to use, which made me wanna sway towards the Zen, but u feel that its a bit big - i'm probably being stupid.

so now i am thinking about the sony, zen and ipod?

someone please help me!!

BostonB

iTunes is pretty easy IMO. But I used to dislike the way iTunes forced you to do things its way. However I like the way it does handles compilations, albums with multiple artists. So thats a big plus for the iPod now.

Otherwise I think the Sony sounds the best, and is the best made. The Zen feels very plasticky which I don't like, and it doesn't handle compilations very well.

pleasant Co.

itunes is very straight forward, clean cut and traitorous to the inexperienced user, I only say it is traitorous because itunes and apple can "lock" you into their system, I've read many posts on these boards where newbie DAP users get stuck with having their music on their ipod and not being able to get it back off... of course it is very easy to salvage that music, but it could be easier.

My vote on this count goes towards the sony, hands down, we've just finished reviewing it so feel free to check it out: http://www.dapreview.net/p/content/content.php?content.345.1

dlambirl

I am still in a rut. I love the Ipods but i heard that you only get 1.5years outta them, I think the Creative is a bit big and the sony is nice but more expensive then the rest

pleasant Co.

the sony s610 is 129 euro (4gb) / 179 (8gb) in argos just to let you know. I know, i'm pushin it! I just happen to feel that it is better than an ipod nano as I've used them both. In terms of battery life, functionality, music playback, GUI, the S610 is one of the best there is.

At the end of the day though, it's you that will be using the device. I highly recommend trying the ipod nano and s610 out in Curry's or Dixons

dlambirl

Would you recommend the Ipod nano or the Ipod classic?

I dont have that much music at the min, maybe a dozen of albums but i'm currently building a house and installing a music system in it that'll prob run off the mp3 player.

I've gone totally off the creative now... i dont know why? I think its weird that its sideways?!!

pleasant Co.

I'd always pick flash memory (nano) over Hard drive (classic) unless you absolutely need the space advantages offered by a hard drive unit.

An 8gb nano can store like 1500-2000 songs. You might even consider the older nano over the new one if you want to save a bit of cash.

dlambirl

Hi Mactard,

Yeah definitely gonna go for an Ipod after all that!!

Dunno whether to go for the Nano or classic now - I'm a nuisance!!

The only reason i was thinkin of the classic was for the sound system we're installing in the house and over time the both of us will accumulate alot of CD's.....

BUT (:mad:)

the classic is MASSIVE!!

pleasant Co.

ahhh i's not that big really, the nano is just, teeny tiny

Have you tried wither out? I found the nano to be a little bit awkward to opperate myself and i have slender fingers...

dlambirl

No i havent tried any of them out but i dont think i'll have any trouble fingers wise - my fingers are tiny!!

Ah the classic is massive, wouldnt fit into your jeans pocket!!

pleasant Co.

dlambirl wrote: »

No i havent tried any of them out but i dont think i'll have any trouble fingers wise - my fingers are tiny!!

Ah the classic is massive, wouldnt fit into your jeans pocket!!

i wear cords most of the time but yeah, if you think that is big then you should have seen the players that were around even only 2 years ago!

to be honest you'd have to be wearing some pretty tight jeans for the classic not to be able to fit.

I myself would probably go for the nano if I didn't have an ipod touch.

dlambirl

Ah now that would be the number one choice but the funds arent fit to the ipod touch

you'd go for the nano.... why?!!
wouldnt you like the extra storage or is it something to do with the classic's hardware stuff?

pleasant Co.

Well unless I needed the space offered by the classic I would always choose a flash based DAP over a HDD DAP. Flash is overall much much more reliable, hard drives can crash and die / break at seemingly random times, daily use even while walking wears them down, of course this is not always the case, some people can have a HDD DAP last 3 years and not have an issue at all, but the fact is the a hard drive based DAP will not be able to take the same amount of punishment as it's flash based cousin.

dlambirl

Thanks!

I think that solves that!

Now.......which colour :rolleyes: lol

pleasant Co.

dlambirl wrote: »

Thanks!

I think that solves that!

Now.......which colour :rolleyes: lol

Red So shmexy

BostonB

I'd add that since MP3 players get a lot of abuse it may be wise to consider some accidental damage insurance too. If a €100 player gets dropped after a day that tough enough. But if its €200+

dlambirl

eh...........i'll take my chances!!

dlambirl

eh...........i'll take my chances!!

Old_-_School

I'm lookin to get the Samsung YP-T10 in either 2GB or 4GB. Does anyone know any shops in Ireland that might stock it?

pleasant Co.

Do Argos?

Otherwise it'll almost definitely be in currys/dixons at some point

draoicht

Old_-_School wrote: »

I'm lookin to get the Samsung YP-T10 in either 2GB or 4GB. Does anyone know any shops in Ireland that might stock it?

The 4GB is available on the Peats website, http://www.peats.com/cgi-bin/catalog.cgi?view_product=1&id=22932&sid=10&cid=4180&scid=512 ,so I presume they have it in the shop.