I-pod, I-River or Creative Zen?

oneofakind32 · 06-01-2005 11:34pm #1

Im leaning towards Zen right now. Any thoughts?

Rew · 07-01-2005 11:57am

Dont

I have a Zen, GF has iPod and friend has a IRiver. IRiver is the best all round package for price and function. IPod looks the coolest but is more expensive and needs extras to do anything other then play mp3's. Zen is pretty basic TBH...

Wigertoods · 08-01-2005 1:10am

The zen may be the cheapest but features are thin on the ground.
Ipod seems to have captured the imagination of most.(may be a marketing thing).IMO the Iriver is the real deal.

Video playback,colour screen and firmware upgradable.
Got a friend to pick me up the H320 whilst on a trip to the U.S.cost 299 dollars as opposed to the 379 Euro peats charge.best investment I made last year.Only sorry I didn't go for the 40gb version.

Killaqueen!!! · 09-01-2005 5:33pm

I don't know about the i-rivers (I've heard they're good) but DON'T BUY AN IPOD! I mean look at the price and the battery problems! It's ridiculus people keep buying them! They look cool but, take the mini-iPod; Looks great, nice and small but with that storage and that price? And the battery problems? No way! Thats knocked out of the list in my opinion. I have a Creative Zen Touch 20GB and it works great! Has plaenty of storage, sound quality is great and it's not TOO expensive. I hear the i-rivers are very good though...

*adele* · 09-01-2005 5:36pm

the ipod has really really bad battery ive charged it over night and it wasnt even full >:(

segadreamcast · 09-01-2005 5:37pm

Can open. Worms everywhere.

IPod tbh - you know you want it. Anything else ends up being described to mates as 'like an ipod but...' - and that's where you lose them.

Rew · 09-01-2005 5:43pm

*adele* wrote:

the ipod has really really bad battery ive charged it over night and it wasnt even full >:(

YOUR iPod has a bad battery life, dont generalise. Any iPod iv seen has had far better battery life then any Zen iv seen and Iv seen quite a few and own both.

Drapper · 09-01-2005 5:47pm

Killaqueen!!! wrote:

I don't know about the i-rivers (I've heard they're good) but DON'T BUY AN IPOD! I mean look at the price and the battery problems! It's ridiculus people keep buying them! They look cool but, take the mini-iPod; Looks great, nice and small but with that storage and that price? And the battery problems? No way! Thats knocked out of the list in my opinion. I have a Creative Zen Touch 20GB and it works great! Has plaenty of storage, sound quality is great and it's not TOO expensive. I hear the i-rivers are very good though...

Check this baby out !!! iriver are leading the way by far !!

http://www.iriver.com/html/product/prpv_product.asp?pidx=61

Forget Ipod or Zen

John R · 09-01-2005 5:48pm

NoelRock wrote:

Can open. Worms everywhere.

IPod tbh - you know you want it. Anything else ends up being described to mates as 'like an ipod but...

I believe the word you are looking for is better.

The Free Man · 09-01-2005 9:48pm

definitely iriver!
i got the h120 last monday, its charging for the first time now.
for some reason it has a radio as well, just in case u run out of songs:P
its also got direct mp3 encoding, so u can stick it in your hi-fi and record from it, it saves as mp3!

Nietzschean · 09-01-2005 9:53pm

having had an ipod and zen and used one of the smaller irivers quite a bit i must say ipod easily, its so much better designed n stuff......

D-Generate · 09-01-2005 10:13pm

My brother and myself were only talking about the iRiver Fundementalist Religion a few days ago. They feel the need to spout the Good News™ of the iRiver. There is no one best, it all depends what you are looking for.

iPod
Beautiful design, great interface and c'mon lets be honest it has the "wow" appeal that any other brand will never have. Rumours about battery life have been greatly exagerated. My friends Dad had the first iPod I ever saw, the first generation one and had it imported from America, to this day it still goes good. My brother and my father bought ones two Christmasses ago, the best ones available at the time (10 Gigs) and to this day they still hold a charge. iTunes is also a nice piece of software but there is a variety of other thirdparty software out there thats handy.

Creative Zen
The audiophiles choice for they are regarded by many as having the best quality sound. The designs are not up there with the iPod but if its in your pocket who minds. Replacable battery incase you worry about the iPod's and good customer care. Its also cheaper so if you want good sound or you are on a budget then this is a good choice. I own one myself.

iRivers
With the ability to play Ogg Vorbis files!!!! They are grand, they do the job and they are not too expensive. Its not the prettiest and it does not have the best audio but whatever your wallet can handle may be the case. It does have FM radio and line in which I guess is handy enough.

My next purchase will be for a Smaller HD type, 5 Gigs max. After a while with my 30GB Zen I have decided that I rarely actually listen to much of the stuff. I would prefer a smaller, dinkier one that is easier to carry and its worth the inconvenience of having to change the albums on it every couple of months or so. I also get DJ syndrome on my Zen trying to decide what track to choose which is very frustrating and so I would like less choice.

rubadub · 10-01-2005 9:24am

D-Generate wrote:

iPod-it has the "wow" appeal that any other brand will never have.

as in wow, you actually spent 340 on that thing thats only function is to output mediocre quality sound? There are so many better units out there which cost less, why did you buy it?

it looks nice...

iRivers
They are grand, they do the job and they are not too expensive. Its not the prettiest

I'd rather have the half decent looking 300 dollar whore that fuucks, and sucks all night long, could write an extended version of the karma sutra and keeps going for 16hours with every orifice open for input and output. then you have the pretty 339 whore that gives you a peck on the cheek and then runs out of energy

Zapho · 10-01-2005 9:38am

Rew wrote:

YOUR iPod has a bad battery life, dont generalise. Any iPod iv seen has had far better battery life then any Zen iv seen and Iv seen quite a few and own both.

Haven't seen too many Zens then have you? One of the Zens more appealling features is that its batteries last longer then the ipod. The new Zens battery lasts 24 hours, and the iPod is only 12 hours.
Also I do find the sound quality of the Zen to be much better then the iPod, I don't really care that its bigger then the ipod, you can't have everything huh?
I haven't used an iRiver so I don't know about them. SO personally I think the ipod is too much a fashon then anything else.

cournioni · 10-01-2005 9:45am

I got an iRiver for Xmas. Great, great machine!

Rew · 10-01-2005 10:30am

Zapho wrote:

Haven't seen too many Zens then have you? One of the Zens more appealling features is that its batteries last longer then the ipod. The new Zens battery lasts 24 hours, and the iPod is only 12 hours.
Also I do find the sound quality of the Zen to be much better then the iPod, I don't really care that its bigger then the ipod, you can't have everything huh?
I haven't used an iRiver so I don't know about them. SO personally I think the ipod is too much a fashon then anything else.

I own a Zen as do a few people I know. My Girlfriend owns a 4g iPod and a few people I know have 3g/4g ones. My Zen is the 60gig xtra as opposed to the touch. Battery on it is not as good as the iPods.

iPod is better then any Zen iv seen, sound quality has been analised to death before and the only conclusion iv seen is that they are the same or so close as to make no diferance.

Big advantage the iPod has over my Xtra is physical size. My Zen is the size of an old walkman, the iPod is much neater and more convienet.

The touch looks good but other then seeing one I havent used it. If the battery does last 24h cool, but after owning a Zen Xtra I wouldn't be in a hurry to buy another creative disk based player.

I have used an iRiver and they probably are the best of the bunch as far as function and price go. iPod still looks better but thats down to indvidual taste (or bias as the case may be

)

D-Generate · 10-01-2005 4:02pm

rubadub wrote:

as in wow, you actually spent 340 on that thing thats only function is to output mediocre quality sound? There are so many better units out there which cost less, why did you buy it?

I didn't get an iPod, I have a Zen 30 Gig Xtra. I regret not getting the iPod, mines just Ugly and yes thats a capital U.
Yeah I'm superficial, yeah I will go for the pretty item and so what. Anything above 192 bit encoding is just tough to tell the difference in to the average person and anyway the majority of people use crap 'phones so they won't even hear the difference between 192 and CD-Quality.

RicardoSmith · 10-01-2005 4:08pm

The big plus about the Creative and iRivers for me is that they can record. The iPod can't do this. I prefer the drag and drop on the iRivers and its basically a portable HD reqs no drivers. Which is excellent. But the iPod has playlist and the best interface and external design. The iRivers can't recharge from USB and playback at the same time which is a pity.

Do you all insure your players?

rubadub · 10-01-2005 4:35pm

D-Generate wrote:

I didn't get an iPod, I have a Zen 30 Gig Xtra. I regret not getting the iPod, mines just Ugly and yes thats a capital U.
Yeah I'm superficial, yeah I will go for the pretty item and so what. Anything above 192 bit encoding is just tough to tell the difference in to the average person and anyway the majority of people use crap 'phones so they won't even hear the difference between 192 and CD-Quality.

Fair enough. BTW I didn't mean "you" as in you personally but rather a general remark. I have no problem with people choosing the ipod solely on its looks, I just would hate people to be uninformed about other players and be pissed off afterwards when they discover what they could have got for less money.

One guy I know was well pissed off when he saw the iriver came with remote, and could record and be used as a HD. Another friend of mine thought the iriver looked better than the ipod, he heard all the extra features it had over the ipod but then replied, "yeah it might look better, but the ipod has games on it".

I got a pair of E3C earphones, the difference is amazing. Many would feel bad spending 120 on some earphones, but I listen to it at least 10 times as much as my stereo and would feel bad spending only 120 on a speaker system.

daveirl · 10-01-2005 5:13pm

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rubadub · 10-01-2005 6:00pm

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

As I said in the post before yours, I have no problem with people choosing the ipod solely on its looks.

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

Exactly, they are purely aesthetic whereas the innards of it are not. If somebody said they bought a slower, more expensive, lower capcity hard drive with a lower user life simply because it looked nice then you would see people berate them too. But I say fair enough, if looks are that important to you go for it, I would just like them to know what else is out there.

napalm@night · 10-01-2005 6:04pm

Iriver.

MiCr0 · 10-01-2005 6:24pm

i've nothing against ipods - but i'd get (and will get) an iriver
most people seem to get ipods because they are unaware of anyother option

chances are anyone here is going to make their decision based on more than just what they can buy, right this second, in what ever shop they are in.

having said that - iriver is for people who care more about music that how they look listening to music

MiCr0 runs away

RicardoSmith · 10-01-2005 8:09pm

Each MP3 HD player has its plus and negative points. None of them is perfect and none of them are significantly better than the other. They all have different feature sets. At the moment I'd find the recording of the iRivers and the drag and drop use as a hard disk most useful. So if I was getting one I'd probably buy an iRiver. I also like the fact they have a radio and long battery life. I miss the lack of playlists and the less than slick interface.

At the moment I can't decide between the H320 and the H120.

dudara · 11-01-2005 9:20am

My bf has a 40Gb Zen Touch and I have a 4g 20 Gb iPod, and if it was a competition based on ease of use, interface and looks, the iPod wins hands down. His Zen is bulky and the touch pad, and interface menus are just awkward. There are too many buttons on the side.

The downside to the iPod, as far as I'm concerned, is the awkwardness involved in getting your music off the damn thing. iTunes won't do that for you and it means downloading another program. However, the iPod can be enabled as a HDD and I use mine regularly to back up my work. Very handy.

As to the iRiver, I cannot comment.

orangerooster · 11-01-2005 9:29am

I have an I-River H320 and its certainely the best mp3 player I have come across-the Ipod is atrocious while I find the Zen to be very good but if I were you I'd buy an I-River.

RicardoSmith · 11-01-2005 9:41am

Using the iPod as a HD you need to have iTunes installed don't you?

dudara · 11-01-2005 9:44am

I think so. The downside to the iPod, is that you are tied to iTunes with it.

If you put music on the iPod through Windows Explorer, then the iPod cannot play it. Only music downloaded through iTunes is played. There's a complete schism in the iPod. One, it's an mp3 player, and two, it's a completely separate HDD>

RicardoSmith · 11-01-2005 10:03am

The point of a USB 2.0 HD is that you shouldn't need drivers to mount it.

Zapho · 11-01-2005 10:33am

RicardoSmith wrote:

The point of a USB 2.0 HD is that you shouldn't need drivers to mount it.

Thats the thing. The Zen and the ipod can only be used for file storage, not as a mountable harddrive. It would make things much more awakward if it could be mounted cuz it would need to have a windows file system on it like fat32 or ntfs. With the Zen you can use it through explorer to manage your songs and data files which I find really hand. Its great for backing up your PC when you do a format!

I still think that for value for money, you can't go wrong with the Zen Touch 20gig. Its only €253 (komplett) and it does everything that an mp3 player should do. You may find the touch pad awakward but then again, the first time you use the wheel on the ipod, I bet you found it awakward too!

newgrange · 11-01-2005 10:41am

I've used both a Zen and an Ipod, and now own a Zen Touch 20 GB. The touchpad may be awkward at first (though I didn't find it so), but it is easy to set the sensitivity to what you like yourself.
My only gripe with the Zen would be that the supplied case covers the controls. I've already recommended it to friends.

cormie · 11-01-2005 10:49am

I think the biggest wow effect would come from the iRiver H3XX series. It plays videos, views photos and acts as a host device for USB devices such as the H1XX series, digital cameras and a few more things.

www.misticriver.net is where you want to go for all your info,

Someone encoded the iPod add to play on their H3XX simply to show iPod users their add on his screen;)

I don't have time to get involved in another of these arguments, but iRiver all the way, except for their damn slow firmwave upgrades.

However, I suspect they will speed up, they have Microsoft on their side now so will want to impress them and not let them down.

daveirl · 11-01-2005 12:58pm

This post has been deleted.

RicardoSmith · 11-01-2005 1:59pm

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

Not really, and then you use iTune in the same sentence

Basically if I'm listen to my mp3's and I'm at work or college and want to copy somefiles, backup my work etc across the to iPod, and I don't have rights to install software, I can't do it with an iPod.

dudara · 11-01-2005 2:06pm

On a computer with iTunes, you enable the iPod as a HDD drive. Afterwards it functions as such on any PC. But you do need iTunes to do the original enabling.

I use Ephpod to access the music stored on my iPod

RicardoSmith · 11-01-2005 2:13pm

dudara wrote:

On a computer with iTunes, you enable the iPod as a HDD drive. Afterwards it functions as such on any PC. But you do need iTunes to do the original enabling.

I use Ephpod to access the music stored on my iPod

Ah so you can use it as a MP3 player and a HD at the same time. You don't need to switch between both settings?

dudara · 11-01-2005 2:21pm

Yes, but they're completely separate functions.

You can't access the music downloaded (via iTunes) through Windows explorer. On the other hand, if you store mp3 files on it via WE, the iPod can't play them.

It's two entirely separate functions

optiplexgx270 · 11-01-2005 2:26pm

i got thr iriver h320 and got a demo model delivered... gave out and now i have a new one too which totals 2 of them and i wouldnt give either of them away.

But i must admit the DB scan function on it is a pile of crap (so i have it turned off). Im not willing to wait 120seconds+ for the thing to start up.

Drapper · 11-01-2005 3:08pm

Hummm just bought this online !! its gonna kick the Zen Micro and the ipod minis socks off !!!!

http://www.iriver.com/html/campaign/h10/cah0_index.asp

D

RicardoSmith · 11-01-2005 3:13pm

optiplexgx270 wrote:

i got thr iriver h320 and got a demo model delivered... gave out and now i have a new one too which totals 2 of them and i wouldnt give either of them away.

But i must admit the DB scan function on it is a pile of crap (so i have it turned off). Im not willing to wait 120seconds+ for the thing to start up.

The lack of decent playlists is the iRivers only draw back.

LSLFAN · 11-01-2005 9:21pm

D-Generate wrote:

My next purchase will be for a Smaller HD type, 5 Gigs max. After a while with my 30GB Zen I have decided that I rarely actually listen to much of the stuff. I would prefer a smaller, dinkier one that is easier to carry and its worth the inconvenience of having to change the albums on it every couple of months or so. I also get DJ syndrome on my Zen trying to decide what track to choose which is very frustrating and so I would like less choice.

D-Generate, I recently purchased a Creative Zen Micro 5g having moved from a Sony Net MD. Looked at a lot of players but did not feel that I needed 20g or more for many of the reasons you have stated above. I really wanted something small that I could listen to while travelling to work on the DART. Having loaded up my favourite CDs and various other favourite tracks, I still have 2.5 g left for future use.

Its a fabulous player, looks really cool, has loads of features including a radio and a pulsating blue backlight (looks great in the dark tunnels on the line from Greystones to Bray!!!).

Replaced the supplied earphones with Sennheiser MX550s and am delighted with the sound quality.

Hope this helps in your quest for the ultimate player.

cormie · 11-01-2005 9:28pm

Drapper wrote:

Hummm just bought this online !! its gonna kick the Zen Micro and the ipod minis socks off !!!!

http://www.iriver.com/html/campaign/h10/cah0_index.asp

D

where did you order it from/

Drapper · 11-01-2005 10:14pm

cormie wrote:

where did you order it from/

http://www.advancedmp3players.co.uk/shop/

but they are not out until FEb week1 :-)

D

jimi_t · 11-01-2005 10:28pm

No one has yet mentioned the new(ish) iPod shuffle - It's pretty sweet for a budget mp3 player (E99 for the 512mb). The premise behind it is a bit stupid but it looks good.

http://www.apple.com/uk/ipodshuffle/

Alkers · 11-01-2005 10:37pm

I'd go for a creative personally. Although the Zen and Zen xtra and even Nx xtra were poor - large footprint, heavy and flimsy casing/cover they would still be my choice. I have an older Jukebox 3 which is a beast of a machine but I love it and it has great features. The new touch seems to be a very decent player, a few of my friends have them and they seem fine. One mate has an I-river (40gig with colour screen, line in/out etc.) and the only fault he has, which would be a major one for me, is that he is unable to add items to the "now playing" list. He isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer so maybe this is possible. I also don't like the i-pod for this reason, it is possible but in a very round-about way. The i-pod wrecks my head when going through a big library - when you get to "z"ou can't keep going to get to "a" you have to go all the way back up! That aside they can't be beat for size or weight. Still overall I'd go with Creative.

oneofakind32 · 12-01-2005 7:24pm

A big thing for me Album play. I want to be able to play a whole album as if I were listening to CD without a secounds gap between tracks. I presume all modern MP3 player do this?

MiCr0 · 13-01-2005 9:04am

any thoughts on the h10 from iriver?

Drapper · 13-01-2005 9:38am

MiCr0 wrote:

any thoughts on the h10 from iriver?

Lots of thought !!! Like when is mine going to be delivered and why did I spent €280 on one !!! They are not out until Feb and expected in Ireland 3G in March or April.

Buy it looks fantastic sync with Media player and can be used a mobile hard drive, and encodes mp3 up to 320. Zen only goes up to 192.

I think it will wash the floor of Zen and ipod Mini.

MiCr0 · 13-01-2005 10:43am

where did you get it for 280?
(i like the option of getting it for 210€ via the usa)

lad12 · 13-01-2005 11:09am

The h10 looks class.You can buy them off www.mx2.co.uk and They are cheaper then this site

http://www.advancedmp3players.co.uk/shop/

But could anyone tell me when these new ipod shuffles are going to be out?

cormie · 13-01-2005 11:23am

You wont get it for €210 off the us site. Only if you go to the USA, pick it up and bring it back home. If you get it delivered to Ireland you have delivery on top of that (probably €20) and then you have import tax (21% of 210=€44ish) so that's €274 in total when you can get it for about €270 off www.mx2.co.uk

oneofakind, gapless is on allot of players, not on iRiver yet though.

lad12, I wouldn't bother witht he ipod shuffle. It's just another flash player and I don't know anything about them, but I'm guessing there are plenty out there better. iRiver has one with a built in digital camera and photo viewer

Be aware though, the H10 has some terrible drawbacks, it seems iRiver are getting worse than better!

an example of this is to record with line in, it needs to be in its dock.
I *think* it will only run from Windows XP
No OGG support as of yet.
check here for full list

a few more too. The best place to talk about iRiver is www.misticriver.net loads of folks there who know more than enough. Probably slightly iRiver biassed but they will be honest.

This is getting off topic (these suggestions are too expensive) but I would either go for this or the iRiver H340!

I-pod, I-River or Creative Zen?

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