Zen or H320

grimloch

I'm sure this has probably been done to death but:

I'm thinking of an Mp3 player as an investment and I've decided a 20gb player would be the best. I've narrowed down the spectrum a bit and am stuck between the Iriver H320 and the Creative Zen touch.

Which would you all recommend? This sounds finnicky but its comfiness in the pocket is a factor too. Not a major one but one nonetheless. My main question is with functionality and reliability and so forth.

Thanks in advance.

muckwarrior

The H320 has some cool features over the Zen like colour screen, picture viewer and video playback, but if you just want a pure mp3 player I'd go with the Zen. The H320 is lacking some fundamental music playback features such as otf playlists and gapless playback. The interface isn't particularly good either.
So basically if you think you'll actually use the extra features of the h320 then get it, otherwise stick with the Zen, and save yerself a few bob as well.

Kevin_rc_ie

the zen is significantly cheaper. but as the above poster says, the 340 has some increased functionality. but the playlist thing is bit of a shambles.

grimloch

Kevin_rc_ie wrote:

the zen is significantly cheaper. but as the above poster says, the 340 has some increased functionality. but the playlist thing is bit of a shambles.

I've been hearing about this playlist business. Any chance of going into a bit more detail?

I've heard a fair amount of tales that the Zen's are a bit fragile and prone to breaking. Durability is a must. I know nothing can stand being dropped from a height but you know what I mean.

Crucifix

grimloch wrote:

I've been hearing about this playlist business. Any chance of going into a bit more detail?

I've been wondering about this myself. In fact to start basic, what exactly is an on-the-fly playlist?

Kevin_rc_ie

ok i'll give an explanation a go, hopefully some one will correct me.

unlike other mp3 players, the irivers can't make on the fly playlists. this means you can't just pick 10 tracks and they'll play in that order. if you want playlists, you have to make them with winamp and save them on the iriver.

it does have a shuffle mode, with a few options,but i haven't read about them.

grimloch

Kevin_rc_ie wrote:

unlike other mp3 players, the irivers can't make on the fly playlists. this means you can't just pick 10 tracks and they'll play in that order. if you want playlists, you have to make them with winamp and save them on the iriver.

Ah that wouldn't bother me at all. The music would be on the computer to start with anyway so it might as well be organisesd there.

muckwarrior

grimloch wrote:

I've been hearing about this playlist business. Any chance of going into a bit more detail?

I've heard a fair amount of tales that the Zen's are a bit fragile and prone to breaking. Durability is a must. I know nothing can stand being dropped from a height but you know what I mean.

Basically with the creative you can select certain songs/albums/artists and add them to a kind of 'now playing' playlist. With the iRiver you can only select one song or album to listen to at a time, or shuffle between all the songs on your hard drive. If you want to create a playlist then you need to do it on your computer and transfer it to the iRiver. So in other words you kinda need to know today what you'll be in the mood to listen to tomorrow!

On the durability thing all I can say is that I just dropped my H320 on the pavement a half hour ago and it suffered no ill effects.

grimloch

muckwarrior wrote:

Basically with the creative you can select certain songs/albums/artists and add them to a kind of 'now playing' playlist. With the iRiver you can only select one song or album to listen to at a time, or shuffle between all the songs on your hard drive. If you want to create a playlist then you need to do it on your computer and transfer it to the iRiver. So in other words you kinda need to know today what you'll be in the mood to listen to tomorrow!

On the durability thing all I can say is that I just dropped my H320 on the pavement a half hour ago and it suffered no ill effects.

Ah right, I get what you're saying. A bit of future planning is needed.

Not to be a noob but what happens if I'm listening to say album "X" and the album finishes, does this mean I have to then select another album to play manually?

Kevin_rc_ie

depending on your shuffle status, it will usually go to the next album in alphabetical order.

muckwarrior

grimloch wrote:

Ah right, I get what you're saying. A bit of future planning is needed.

Not to be a noob but what happens if I'm listening to say album "X" and the album finishes, does this mean I have to then select another album to play manually?

No not necessarily. Depending on the play mode it could just move on to the next album on the list or whatever.

grimloch

Kevin_rc_ie wrote:

depending on your shuffle status, it will usually go to the next album in alphabetical order.

muckwarrior wrote:

No not necessarily. Depending on the play mode it could just move on to the next album on the list or whatever.

Ah, that's grand with that then. My next angle. From reading through a few threads vaguely related the Zen's definately came off as not having the greatest build quality.

Kevin_rc_ie

apple have a very good returns policy. more or less, if it breaks, you send it back and they said you back one that works. i'm just hoping nothing goes wrong with my iriver.

muckwarrior

Kevin_rc_ie wrote:

apple have a very good returns policy.

Yeah, I'm sure they'd return your Zen very promptly!

Kevin_rc_ie

woopsy my point was, creative's return policy is crap and apples is good. so if you're worried about yours breaking, get an ipod.

grimloch

I've heard very few people saying they've had their Irivers breaking, as compared to the Zen's, which is tending tl make me lean towards them.

Kevin_rc_ie

i broke my iriver ihp120. or whatever it was called. i dropped it on my kitchen floor (slate tiles) and fooked the hard drive up. brought it back to dixons and got my money back cause they had no more in stock. got the 340 recently. haven't tested it's drop resistance and won't.

PiE

I too dropped my iRiver on the pavement recently and apart from an annoyingly small dent in the upper left corner, it's as good as new. iRiver's return policy is as good as anyone's, they've been known to replace blatantly mistreated units no questions asked.

If you can find a H120 or H140 around (and you don't need colour screen/gimmicky video playback), get that. They have on-the-fly playlists (and a lot more enhancements) now thanks to Rockbox firmware.

Crucifix

If I can throw in my own question; Do the players skip much/easily?

Kevin_rc_ie

no and no in my experience. but they are hard drive based players with small moveable parts. you're not suppsoed to go dirt bike riding with them. you're not really supposed to wobble them at all i don't think. usb mp3 players can be used for that stuff.

Crucifix

Kevin_rc_ie wrote:

no and no in my experience. but they are hard drive based players with small moveable parts. you're not suppsoed to go dirt bike riding with them. you're not really supposed to wobble them at all i don't think. usb mp3 players can be used for that stuff.

I'm really just thinking in terms of walking. My CD player's jog protection is ****ed these days, and it can end up skipping if you walk at a brisk pace. That problem is one of the reasons I'm thinking about getting an MP3 player.

Kevin_rc_ie

then, no, they don't skip at all.

PiE

Crucifix wrote:

I'm really just thinking in terms of walking. My CD player's jog protection is ****ed these days, and it can end up skipping if you walk at a brisk pace. That problem is one of the reasons I'm thinking about getting an MP3 player.

I find with my H140, walking is fine... but if the player is in a 'baggy' pocket where it can bounce around as you walk, you'll sometimes get longer-than-normal pauses between songs. When that happens I just hold onto it for a few seconds as I'm walking to allow the buffer to... er... buffer.

If you want something that's skip-proof take a look at Flash-based players like the Muvo's or (god forbid) even the iPod Shuffle.

Crucifix

PiE wrote:

I find with my H140, walking is fine... but if the player is in a 'baggy' pocket where it can bounce around as you walk, you'll sometimes get longer-than-normal pauses between songs. When that happens I just hold onto it for a few seconds as I'm walking to allow the buffer to... er... buffer.

If you want something that's skip-proof take a look at Flash-based players like the Muvo's or (god forbid) even the iPod Shuffle.

So does it load the song to be played onto a solid state chip, for the buffer?
I don't think I could go for a flash player, the major appeal of MP3 players to me is the amount of music you can fit in.

Kevin_rc_ie

the major appeal of MP3 players to me is the amount of music you can fit in

don't lie. you want an ipod so girls will fancy you.

Crucifix

Kevin_rc_ie wrote:

don't lie. you want an ipod so girls will fancy you.

Bah, you've seen through my facade. So where can I get white earphones cheap?

Kevin_rc_ie

tippex is 3 euro.

PiE

Crucifix wrote:

So does it load the song to be played onto a solid state chip, for the buffer?.

I'm not sure exactly how it works, I only know that if you shake it a 'lil bit it won't bat an eyelid... but if you're continually shaking it (i.e. walking fast/jogging) for a few minutes, the sound will eventually pause to catch up.

Don't worry about it though. It'll only ever happen if you're bounding down the road to catch a bus or something.

Creamy Goodness

Kevin_rc_ie wrote:

tippex is 3 euro.

lol sorry completely off topic but that just made me laugh.

Crucifix

Sorry to the OP for hijacking the thread, but is the Zen drag and drop or do you use software? And if it is software, is it any good?

RicardoSmith

The Zen isn't drag and drop. Only the iRivers and the Cowon players have that.
The iRiver can record through a line in, and has a radio, it also can copy files from your digital camera when it gets full. None of the HD based players seem to be robust. They all seem to break. So you need a good warranty. Basically any player these days seems to be a compromise. The Cowon seem to te the best ones, though they are expensive. The iPods are the worst sounding, (unless you use a line out) but have the best warranty and user interface.

Heres a good threads with info and photos...

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=22
http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=106263

GS404

Kevin_rc_ie wrote:

woopsy my point was, creative's return policy is crap and apples is good. so if you're worried about yours breaking, get an ipod.

Wouldn't say that....works the same way for both companies....just return it and they ship you one that is working, I had a Zen Touch that broke and I had a new one a few days after returning the faulty one to them..

I'd had more "Fun" and no hassel out of my Zen Touch then any other player I'd had. its robust and can take a few drop... I fx. dropped it 3 times from my chest pocket and the darn thing was still working......well managed to go faulty in the end and that was when Creative swapped it...no need to tell em it was dropped...heh

Never had an Iriver so not going to comment on the quality, but all reviews I've read, Creative has always been said to have had the best sound quality of all Mp3 players. So thats why I also went with them when I swapped to the Zen Micro. *Rubs his silver zen micro gently* daddys little baby.....

Addlcove

pervert, no manhandling the cuties!

-
I agree with GS btw, never had a mac product but creatives return policy is straight forward as long as you don't say

"I went running with it" (only goes for hdd players) or "I dropped it"

the "My puppy swallowed my battery lid can I have a new one" works well if you sort of mistreated your battery lid on a player