Mp3 Players

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OK, so I am about to cave in and buy one but am totally confused as to which. I doubt whether I would use video capability now but that said, maybe I will once I get up to speed with the whole concept?

So what's the deal, guys?
 
Don't know much about them myself but my daughter has said that she is thinking of having one for Christmas.

So I would also be grateful for any suggestions, typical of her she would like a pink one......it seems Samsung do a pink one.

I did hear on the news this morning that there is a Microsoft version being launched very soon, 3" screen as opposed to the normal 2 1/2 inch (a half an inch can make a big difference, can't it chaps :shy: ) but a smaller memory than the I-pod.
 
Easy - buy an iPod.

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

Which one is up to you. There's only three main models (the iPod, the iPod nano, and the iPod shuffle), all aimed at specific kinds of buyers. Easiest thing to do is ask yourself how many songs you reckon you'll ever want to have on it, and buy accordingly.
 
I have the new ipod with video and its superb.

Out of all the mp3 players the ipod is tehre to be shot at but still comes out by far the best in surveys
 
It all depends on several factors. How big a HDD it needs, depending on how many songs and or photo's you wish to store on it. How big or small you wish it to be, slimline to fit snuggly into a pocket, or a little more sturdy and easier to use. What type of controls do you prefer? the ipod style wheel, or normal soft press button types. What about software interface for PC connection? You can only have one ipod account on a PC as far as I am aware.

The choices really are endless.

Having had 2 Creative Labs Zen Sleeks which went belly up after 3 months each with different faults, I am now into my 5th month with a Zen Sleek Photo which is priced at about £108 from Argos, is 20mb, which is enough to hold approx 6,000 mp3's, and has good quality sound.

Zen Sleek Photo
 
Not just that, but sound quality has to be a factor. Not all mp3 players are up to scratch by all accounts

Ipod is usually around the tops in any survey judging this factor

But get specialist headphones rather than those supplied
 
Mine is a samsung that cost £30. I can fit 115 songs on it, why bother with the expense of the ipod, there are cheaper options out there
 
Originally posted by ovverbruv@Nov 14 2006, 04:59 PM
Why bother with the expense of the ipod, there are cheaper options out there
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That's a bit like saying "Why buy a Bentley Continental GT Coupé when the price of the Smart Car is so much lower".
 
How long does it take to add tracks to the thingummy?

115 sounds like a lot but it wouldn't take too long to get bored with them. I keep three C90s in my car. They contain something like 70 tracks. Driving for 3hrs+ per day means after a day and a half I'm back to track 1, unless I opt to listen to the radio for part of the journey. Much as I like the songs, I get pretty fed up with them after a while.

Can you replace tracks? If you can, it's back to the question of how long to do so.
 
er not really, its a bit like saying I have a budget to spend on most things and since a Bentley will never be mine for 2 reasons

1 - I could never afford it
2 - I have a penis

there is no point ever considering one. If something cheap will do the job then why buy something more expensive just for the brand.
 
Mine is a samsung that cost £30. I can fit 115 songs on it, why bother with the expense of the ipod, there are cheaper options out there
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1. 26p per song. My ipod (which costs about £250 here) takes 7000 plus video. I have 1300 tracks on it. Thats 19p per track.

2. might suprise you now, but you can soon fill up that space quickly, unless you have a very limited listening range

3. Sound. Mp3's do not have quite the quality of cd's generally speaking (i think its because the files are compressed) so you need to get the best quality option. Ipod always come out tops for that
 
It takes me about 10 minutes to delete all my songs and refill the player, I can then have a random selection rather than having to choose what to listen to, I simply randomise my entire collection and add on the first 115ish songs, I have about 1700 songs on my PC and I get lots of variation, plus £250 is out of my price range
 
ovverbruv - you're comparing apples to oranges. The iPod shuffle is the one that's marketed to your particular needs.
 
Originally posted by ovverbruv@Nov 14 2006, 05:34 PM
If something cheap will do the job then why buy something more expensive just for the brand.
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Pie, chips and a pint will fill you up but there are better ways.

Glad to hear that you have a penis though. If you had a Bentley Continental GT Coupé it would be guaranteed to get a bit more work.
 
Originally posted by Gareth Flynn@Nov 14 2006, 03:08 PM
What about software interface for PC connection?
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This is where the iPod wins hands down for me. IMO, iTunes is one of the best pieces of software ever written.
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:lol: What the hell? I assume you mean in that specific field. ;)

I wouldn't have an iPod, but that's just my opinion (Apple), I'm looking at getting a sony one myself.

www.anythingbutipod.com
 
Apple seem to have an air of invincibility. Often their products fall short in terms of build quality and durability but it is deemed ok because they are "cool".

I remember reading an article theat despite a huge heap of iPods needing to be returned to Apple because of faulty batteries, customer satisfaction in their users was still sky high. You wonder whether this would have been the case with other brands.

Their products are also often seen as nearly disposable, with many iPods usability deteriotating over time, but again this is often overlooked in the frantic rush to upgrade to the latest model.

All of that said, I haven't seen a better looking, heard a better sounding or used a more-friendly MP3 player yet.
 
Had an i-river and Creative Zen M in my time - beats the i-pod for me in the fact that it has a radio.

The Creative Vision M is hte winner for me, I have the 30gig version which would be tough to fill, but there is a 60gig version out there. YOu can - with a bit of work - transfer your dvds onto the Vision M. Great yoke altogether.

For music, and those with a mastercard, www.allofmp3.com is possibly the best value on the net. It legality is being discussed at the highest level, but its more legal than the peer to peer sources out there.
 
I'm with Gareth on this one - it has to be the ipod. You can pick them up for next to nothing now, the ipod shuffle is less than £100. My 30GB video ipod cost me £185 and I swear it was the best £185 I've spent. It stores 7000 songs, the software is superb, the kit itself is superb, sound quality is excellent, the headphones it comes with are more than adequate and it's idiot proof to use.

Going back to the software issue for a minute - I'm on my second Sony Ericsson Walkman phone and the Sony software for transferring songs to equipment is absolutely dire. It was for that reason that I didn't think very long when I was wondering about getting a Sony Walkman instead - everything I heard about it was that the software was near impossible to use effectively and efficiently. The Walkman phones themselves are excellent, as is the MP3 player, but the software isn't. You can get around it with the phones though by transferring the memory card directly into your laptop and cutting and pasting songs/albums from your PC to the memory card. This was the only way I could do it without having an enormous urge to fling the laptop out of the window!

Of course that is another option - if you only want a small number of songs get a phone with an MP3 built in. My Sony Ericsson W810i has a 512MB memory card which enables around 125 songs to be stored on it. It is a decent MP3 as well and incorporates a radio also.
 
Amazing coincidence, I looked in whilst the software for my IPod Nano was downloading. I have just been given it as a present from the wife. I not one who walked around carrying a walkman but over the past year I have gathered together some 53hrs of my favourite songs on my Desktop PC which I listen to regularly.

The idea of being able to play these songs over my car radio on a long journey, and not to have piles of CD's tempting some thieving git, appealed. I reckon I can get perhaps 75 hrs of music in something that has about 20% of the volume of a fag packet and thus will easily slip into my pocket

My son has a Creative Zen Sleek,or more correctly the 2nd of 2 which is currently being replaced by a Zen photo free of charge under warranty. Creative are good value for storing from CDs and from most places on thenet however the software is not good enough to handle files that might have been corrupted. It just freezes,permanently.
 
Originally posted by Shadow Leader@Nov 14 2006, 08:19 PM
Going back to the software issue for a minute - I'm on my second Sony Ericsson Walkman phone and the Sony software for transferring songs to equipment is absolutely dire. It was for that reason that I didn't think very long when I was wondering about getting a Sony Walkman instead - everything I heard about it was that the software was near impossible to use effectively and efficiently. The Walkman phones themselves are excellent, as is the MP3 player, but the software isn't. You can get around it with the phones though by transferring the memory card directly into your laptop and cutting and pasting songs/albums from your PC to the memory card. This was the only way I could do it without having an enormous urge to fling the laptop out of the window!

Of course that is another option - if you only want a small number of songs get a phone with an MP3 built in. My Sony Ericsson W810i has a 512MB memory card which enables around 125 songs to be stored on it. It is a decent MP3 as well and incorporates a radio also.
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I agree, I have a Sony Ericsson W800i, and the software is quite poor for them, though the phone is very good.
 
I bought my wife an iriver, as it has a radio on it and she is addicted to radio 4. It also has lots of space.

I have an ipod nano, which suits me down to the ground as I need a decent amount of songs (115 wouldn't be nearly enough) and I don't want to carry anything close to heavy.

The iriver does not have nearly as good software as the ipod, but I think the sound quality is better (you need to buy good earphones though, as iriver supply shite ones).
 
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