whats best for me?

corcaigh07

ok lads, ive a big decision to make on a new mp3 player. My Creative Zen Vision M 30gb(over 2 years old) recently gave up the ghost(screen is fecked, i doubt its worth fixing) heres the criteria:

--the zen did take a few heavy bangs over the years and took them easily. it was however bulky. i need a player that will forgive my butterfingers. will a thinner, newer player take the hits?

--30 gb is pretty big for me but dropping in size probably wouldnt make sense either.

--price im fairly flexible on although i do think the ipod touch are quite pricey.

--transfer of my old stored MP3's to be as easy as possible. are ipods now accepting to MP3 files?

Cheers for any help!!!

J-blk

corcaigh07 wrote: »

--the zen did take a few heavy bangs over the years and took them easily. it was however bulky. i need a player that will forgive my butterfingers. will a thinner, newer player take the hits?

--30 gb is pretty big for me but dropping in size probably wouldnt make sense either.

--price im fairly flexible on although i do think the ipod touch are quite pricey.

Definitely not an iPod Touch - it's all screen... An iPod Classic would be sturdier (and is at 120GB these days) or even a Nano (which now maxes out at 16GB). Cowon players are pretty well built too and most of the current Sony ones look like they could take a beating (and a few people here have recommended them).

corcaigh07 wrote: »

--transfer of my old stored MP3's to be as easy as possible. are ipods now accepting to MP3 files?

iPods have supported MP3 for as long as I remember (always?). You'll only need to convert files that you have in WMA or other formats - my entire library is in MP3 as well.

corcaigh07

cheers bud, i suppose the ipod is the best solution to all my needs. im just a little worried that it wont take the accidental falls as well as the old zen. the smallest ipod seems to be 80gb now, thats huge for me! cowon ive never heard of and most of the sonys are in the <30gb ranges.

corcaigh07

J-blk wrote: »

Definitely not an iPod Touch - it's all screen... An iPod Classic would be sturdier (and is at 120GB these days) or even a Nano (which now maxes out at 16GB). Cowon players are pretty well built too and most of the current Sony ones look like they could take a beating (and a few people here have recommended them).



iPods have supported MP3 for as long as I remember (always?). You'll only need to convert files that you have in WMA or other formats - my entire library is in MP3 as well.

for some reason, i believed they didnt once upon a time. never mind...

hallelujajordan

corcaigh07 wrote: »

for some reason, i believed they didnt once upon a time. never mind...

Certainly going back to 2G ipod 15GB they took MP3 no probs. . .

I think for all round usability and fun factor you will struggle to beat the touch. . the apps are great!

You should definitely go for the touch over the classic if a) HD size isnt a big issue b) Video is important for you and/or c) Internet apps (mail, youtube etc) over WiFi is important. I've had one for over a year now, in a silicone case . . its taken a few knocks with no problems . .

pleasant Co.

The touch _will not_ survive heavy knocks...light falls sure...but the screen is glass and it will shatter if it suffers "a few heavy bangs" like your ZVM had to cope with.

Other alternatives are the Cowon D2 or Creative Zen....or the yet to be release Cowon S9

J-blk

corcaigh07 wrote: »

the smallest ipod seems to be 80gb now

That's the previous gen. Classic so unless you're getting a good deal, I'd avoid the older model since the new 120GB is the exact same size (and price I think - at least the original price of the 80GB). The Classic was available in 80GB (thin) and 160GB (slightly chunkier) but during the last iPod event (September 9th), they killed off both models and replaced them with a 120GB which is the same size as the previous 80GB - this is now the only iPod Classic available.

The Touch is a lovely player (I have an iPhone myself) but like I and Mactard mentioned, it most certainly will not survive a bad fall.

corcaigh07

is 40gb the only difference between the old 80gig and the new 120gig Bar maybe price if theres a good deal?

J-blk

corcaigh07 wrote: »

is 40gb the only difference between the old 80gig and the new 120gig Bar maybe price if theres a good deal?

I think the capacity is indeed the only difference - I don't think the Classic got "Genius" (not that it matters) or any other interface tweaks with the latest refresh, so yeah, if you got a good deal on a 80GB, it might be worth it.

mulletamoeba

the sony nwz-s639f is a savage little thing, 16gb flash memory so no moving parts of a hard disk (which are much more easy to damage in a fall), less battery consumption (40 hours audio), easy to transfer files, small and light and with sound quality to embarrass ipod. 119 pounds GB on play.com, well worth it in my opinion.

http://www.sony.co.uk/product/nws-s-series/nwz-s639f

hallelujajordan

J-blk wrote: »

I don't think the Classic got "Genius" (not that it matters) .

OT I know, but 'Genius' is savage !

J-blk

hallelujajordan wrote: »

OT I know, but 'Genius' is savage !

It's a very mixed bag, depending on how obscure your music is... It's created some completely bonkers playlists from my library but I'm hopeful it'll improve over time (Apple gathers the various data from people using it, to improve the choices it makes)...

corcaigh07

mulletamoeba wrote: »

the sony nwz-s639f is a savage little thing, 16gb flash memory so no moving parts of a hard disk (which are much more easy to damage in a fall), less battery consumption (40 hours audio), easy to transfer files, small and light and with sound quality to embarrass ipod. 119 pounds GB on play.com, well worth it in my opinion.

http://www.sony.co.uk/product/nws-s-series/nwz-s639f

that does look nice but 16 gb is a bit small, my music would take most of that up and its only encoded at 128k, when i get the ipod classic(getting one for christmas) ill probably re-rip all my music to a higher bit rate, maybe even lossless.

sxt

The 16 gig Sony s639f is going for 129 euro in sony shops and peats stores which is a good deal me thinks.

corcaigh07

sxt wrote: »

The 16 gig Sony s639f is going for 129 euro in sony shops and peats stores which is a good deal me thinks.

checked out my old zen and it had only about 11gb of music with the rest being memory intentive videos. thing is, im getting this classic for xmas already so cant exactly change that just hoping now that 128k music sounds as good on the ipod as the zen cause i couldnt be arsed to re-do all my music(though i sensed i will at some stage)

BangBeater

mulletamoeba wrote: »

the sony nwz-s639f is a savage little thing, 16gb flash memory so no moving parts of a hard disk (which are much more easy to damage in a fall), less battery consumption (40 hours audio), easy to transfer files, small and light and with sound quality to embarrass ipod. 119 pounds GB on play.com, well worth it in my opinion.

http://www.sony.co.uk/product/nws-s-series/nwz-s639f

£79 now!

http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/6707793/Sony-NWZ-S639F-16GB-S-Series-Premium-Video-MP3-Player/Product.html#

Think it'll do for the sis' xmas pressie

Gran Hermano

Play.com will not ship electronics to Ireland.