I'm interested in getting an MP3 player. I know, I know, IPOD is what everyone's getting these days. And what is attractive to me about it (and I'm not talking about the look. I really am not at all impressed with Apples minimalist look) is the HD size. Around 60GB. I'm hoping for more an 80-100GB size, though (I have about 30GB of music plus numerous books on mp3, as well as tv shows, etc). I'm sure Apple will oblige here soon, size wise.
But do I have any other options? Are there any that you use and/or recommend?
Just fishing for info. I've googled a bit, but nothing jumped out.
thanks.
Ian
Posted by Stephan (Member # 7549) on :
I would hold off Sony and Microsoft are both coming out with their own versions of the Ipod soon. I would definitely wait and compare.
Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
There's an 80 GB iPod now. I don't know about other MP3 players, but surely there are ones with comparable capacity.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
The larger iPod is already 80GB .
The MS Zune will be 30GB at launch, with no particular talk of a larger model.
I haven't heard anything of particular note about an upcoming Sony offering, do you have a good link, Stephan?
Posted by IanO (Member # 186) on :
I'm not enamored with IPOD because I've heard so many complaints about how slow it is to convert songs into IPOD format. And I've had some use of ITunes and didn't like it (though that's probably lack of familiarity.)
Stephan,
Any idea when these competitors are coming out?
Posted by Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy (Member # 9384) on :
I hear very good things about Creative's MP3 players.
I'm a very satisfied iPod user at the moment, but I will never buy another Apple product again for personal reasons.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
Slow to convert songs to iPod format? If you have mp3s, they're already in the right format.
Yeah, there are some nice creative offerings, too, though I didn't see any on their product page hitting 80GB (30/60 seemed the typical sizes of their high capacity players).
Posted by BaoQingTian (Member # 8775) on :
I really like the sound quality and features on my iRiver. However, I don't think they have the size of HD available that you're looking for. I'd second what Stephan said and wait for the Zume to come out.
Posted by IanO (Member # 186) on :
My friend was talking about WMA files, you know, ripped from a cd, which is what I'd like to do (though I do have a lot of mp3 format stuff.) I know there's a conversion process for video, right?
How is ITunes in terms of ease of use. I actually WMP. Are they much different?
Posted by MyrddinFyre (Member # 2576) on :
iTunes will rip CDs for you, in the right format if that's what you're worried about. And it will automatically convert WMA files when you add them to your iTunes library, takes a few seconds a song. I do have lots of personal problems with the iPod and iTunes, but I have to say, they are easy to use and I'm happy with them.
Posted by IanO (Member # 186) on :
cool. I think I am being talked into an IPOD. In terms of size, I think Fugu is right. Nothing close to 80GB. I like what I am reading at Amazon.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
I like iTunes a lot, but I don't have a good sense of what WMP is like. If you rip directly from CD into iTunes it doesn't take any longer than ripping to WMA, but yes, if they're already ripped to WMA (generally a bad idea unless HD space is a commodity; mp3 is a more common standard) conversion will take some time (and result in quality loss, though if you ripped at a high quality likely not enough to notice). That can all be done in one big batch, though, so not a huge deal.
There're a lot of handy utilities out there to prepare video for the iPod; I'm not sure what iTunes' built in capabilities are because I don't have an iPod. *checks* Yep, there's a menu item to convert video for the iPod, though I doubt it works on WMV files (just convert the WMV to something like avi or mpeg first and it'll handle it fine).
Posted by IanO (Member # 186) on :
Cool. Thanks. Gonna go price 'em
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
quote:Originally posted by fugu13: I like iTunes a lot, but I don't have a good sense of what WMP is like. If you rip directly from CD into iTunes it doesn't take any longer than ripping to WMA, but yes, if they're already ripped to WMA (generally a bad idea unless HD space is a commodity; mp3 is a more common standard) conversion will take some time (and result in quality loss, though if you ripped at a high quality likely not enough to notice). That can all be done in one big batch, though, so not a huge deal.
There're a lot of handy utilities out there to prepare video for the iPod; I'm not sure what iTunes' built in capabilities are because I don't have an iPod. *checks* Yep, there's a menu item to convert video for the iPod, though I doubt it works on WMV files (just convert the WMV to something like avi or mpeg first and it'll handle it fine).
WMP, since version 10, has more or less been an iTunes clone, with crappier functionality (playlists aren't as intuitive, the search function doesn't narrow results as you type, etc.). It does, however, kick the everloving CRAP out of quicktime for video.
Seriously, whoever created Quicktime and the MOV format needs to reengineer the damn things, pronto.
Posted by Stephan (Member # 7549) on :
I don't know any dates yet. I have been seeing a lot of articles in the technology section of reuters.com lately. I'll post in this thread if any come up again.
Posted by Stephan (Member # 7549) on :
Right now I am just using my smartphone, and a 2gig SD card for mp3s. I really can't see myself needing more then 2gig for songs, but thats just me.
I also have a feeling some new technology is right around the corner that will make everyone shelling out money on $200 Ipod's kick themselves.
Posted by Stephan (Member # 7549) on :
Basic article on Ipod rivals. Mentions Microsoft's player to be released by the holidays.
Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
If you're already looking at hard-drive based players then this will probably not be up your alley. But I've had really good experiences with CD based MP3 players. They're cheap (like $100 CDN for a good one) and my car came with one so the media is interchangeable. Also, the battery life tends to be much higher (24 hours+) than HD-based players (about ten hours). The batteries are usually standard AAs so replacements are much cheaper, giving the option of having many spare batteries.
However, it does force you to be disciplined in that you can "only" carry around about 15 (or 12 hours) CDs comfortably.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
quote:Originally posted by Mucus: If you're already looking at hard-drive based players then this will probably not be up your alley. But I've had really good experiences with CD based MP3 players. They're cheap (like $100 CDN for a good one) and my car came with one so the media is interchangeable. Also, the battery life tends to be much higher (24 hours+) than HD-based players (about ten hours). The batteries are usually standard AAs so replacements are much cheaper, giving the option of having many spare batteries.
However, it does force you to be disciplined in that you can "only" carry around about 15 (or 12 hours) CDs comfortably.
Actually HD player average battery life is much the same, and has been for years; only the iPod (amongst major brands) had been maintaining a crappy battery life, and the new 80 gig Video and new line of nanos all have 20+ hour battery life (advertised).
The primary reason I hear for not opting for a CD mp3 player is because they're so much larger than HD players. You can't comfortably carry them in a pocket.
That said, they are worlds cheaper. A decent MP3 CD player is as cheap as $29.99 retail.
Posted by IanO (Member # 186) on :
Yeah, not sure if I could do that. I *like* the idea of carrying everything with me, as well as all the audiobooks (usually unabridged) that I have- not to mention all the video. Be pretty cool, actually. Right now, I have a cheap ($50) mp3 player with 64 MB of mem and a 256MB card. So I have to constantly cycle music on and off it for my daily cycling to work as well as for the gym at lunch. Be nicer to create huge playlists. And when I want to listen to an audiobook I have in mp3 format, I have to start burning cds for my car. Get's old, is tedious, requires buying and lugging around large cd cases.
Prices aren't too bad, though the adapters for the car and arm band are a bit high (just using the online apple store. will actually go out in a little bit to look.)
thanks for all the suggestions.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
quote: Prices aren't too bad, though the adapters for the car and arm band are a bit high (just using the online apple store. will actually go out in a little bit to look.)
For accessories like these, eBay is a great resource.
Posted by Stephan (Member # 7549) on :
quote:Originally posted by erosomniac: That said, they are worlds cheaper. A decent MP3 CD player is as cheap as $29.99 retail.
Another reason I now like waiting to buy technology. I bought one of those when they first cam out back in 98 or 99 for about $150.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
eros: quicktime isn't primarily about movs anymore, now it primarily uses .mp4, which is a very nice format. Quicktime is actually pretty nice, too, its mainly the implementation on windows that sucks (they basically emulate all the OS calls needed).
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
Napster. Sorry, I'm compelled to do that whenever iTunes comes up.
Phillips and Creative make some pretty sweet mp3 players.
Yeah, neither of those are anywhere close to his desired size range.
Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
You have 30GB of music?!? God, I thought I had a lot; I have just shy of 2000 songs and they only total about 8Gb.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
quote:Originally posted by Nighthawk: You have 30GB of music?!? God, I thought I had a lot; I have just shy of 2000 songs and they only total about 8Gb.
Depending on your age range, you're WAY on the low end.
fugu, yeah, I unfortunately can't use a mac, so the Windows implementation of quicktime is all I have to go off of.
It hurts so much.
Posted by Baron Samedi (Member # 9175) on :
I'm another big fan of the mp3-CD player. When I need to go running I've got a 1GB card on my Pocket PC, when I'm home I play all my music off computers connected to my network, and everywhere else I use mp3-CDs. I've got a player in the car and a portable, and I can use them anywhere.
I have a little over 80 GB of music (ripped from the original CDs at 128 kb/s), and it pretty much all fits in a medium-sized CD case, so I can get at any song I want whenever I want. And there's pretty much no size limitations. If I exceed 80GB, I don't have to upgrade to something with a bigger hard drive, I just have to find space for one more disc. If I'm going on a long road trip or want to be able to drive around the city for a week without changing discs, I can burn off a 12-hour playlist in about 3 minutes, and throw it away when I'm done. A CD is a lot more reliable, versatile, and inexpensive than an iPod. A CD will never crash on you. I've never had a player go down, and if a disc gets scratched it'll cost $0.25 to replace it, which is a lot better than if you damage an iPod. If all my CDs got lost or stolen, it'd cost about $20 to replace them, and maybe another $50 if the CD player went with them. Again, much better than an iPod. Heck, if I walked around with 10 original CDs and they got stolen, it'd cost more to replace them than my entire collection and the player in this format.
I know they're not for everybody. I can imagine other people finding iPods more useful. But I've never had a need that a computer, a Pocket PC or an mp3-CD player couldn't handle much more handily than an iPod.
One word to the wise, though. If you're going to buy an mp3-CD player, make sure it has a resume function, and make absolutely certain that it can read ID3 tags. Now that iRiver and Rio are out of the CD business ( ) Sony makes a model I've been pretty happy with. If you can navigate by artist, album, and song, you'll be able to find the song you want on a 200-track disc more easily than you did with a 15-track disc on your old CD player. But if you have to try to find what you want to hear with nothing but track numbers to guide you, you'll drive over the damn thing with your car. An extra few bucks will make a huge difference on this investment.
Posted by EarlNMeyer-Flask (Member # 1546) on :
Get a USB card MP3 player off of eBay. They're smaller than an iPod and less expensive. Some of them play FM music. They're not made of metal though, so they might not last as long. I've had one for months and have liked it.
Posted by aragorn64 (Member # 4204) on :
I suggest the Corruption type.
(Cookies to whoever knows what I'm talking about.)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
.![[Cry]](graemlins/cry.gif)
) Sony makes a model I've been pretty happy with. If you can navigate by artist, album, and song, you'll be able to find the song you want on a 200-track disc more easily than you did with a 15-track disc on your old CD player. But if you have to try to find what you want to hear with nothing but track numbers to guide you, you'll drive over the damn thing with your car. An extra few bucks will make a huge difference on this investment.