WAY OT--mp3 players

#1

Hey, sorry, I usually try to ask knitting related questions, but I am about to invest in an mp3 player, and I wanted the opinions of the person-on-the-street, not super tech gods. Does anybody have any favorites or warnings? Right now I’m looking at the $150-250 rang, not really wanting to spend the extra 50-100 for extra GB unless it’s just waayyyy worth it. Also, I read about some mp3 players that are skip-resistent…is skipping a problem with your run-of-the-mill player? Thanks for any input,

Kirstin

#2

Wow, you asked a lot of questions. I just bought my first mp3 player, so I did some research, and I’ll try to answer some of your questions.

There are many different products in the under $250 range, but the question is how much space do you want minimum? If you don’t need more than 1GB, I’d go with a Flash player, which stores all your songs in flash memory. Flash is more impact-resistant than HDD memory, which if you jog with it you can permanently ruin your player.

I got a 20Gb Creative Zen Touch from jr.com for $220, including the protection plan I bought for it. My requirements were playlists on the go, 20G of space, and not an iPod. You may have different requirements.

HTH.

#3

My daughter has a zMate MP3 player by Dana-Elec. We got it free when we bought a new memory card for my camera (and then we had to go buy a memory card for the MP3 player LOL!) It’s small and has a removable memor card, so I can use the one that I bought that has my music on it. Itis USB connectable and runs off a AAA battery. No read out or anything, just play, volume and skip buttons. I’ve gone walking in it (I don’t jog!) and not had any problems with it skipping. It’s small enough that it fits in my pocket. For cheap it’s nice. I really want a regular iPod, but I’m going to have to wait on that.

#4

I :heart: my iPod! I work out with it every day and it doesn’t skip. (Actually we have two – a 4th gen 20GB iPod and an iPod shuffle – neither have ever skipped at the gym.)

I went back and forth for a while and finally decided to get a factory refurbished one directly from Apple – that way I could get the GB I wanted but not have to spend a freaking mint. So much of our music was already in itunes, and we really like the interface, so it was the logical choice for us.

Mine was $189, and the last time they had them available I noticed the price had dropped to $169 for my model. A great deal IMHO. :thumbsup:

#5

You can get an iPod shuffle for $99. iPod is THE way to go with MP3 players. SO easy to use my 10 year old can do it (He got a nano for xmas from Grammie. The Nano is a highend deal in the $300 range. Yikes!) If you want quality, something that lasts, something that works well, then go with iPod.

#6

I’m going to have to agree with Fem and Julie - this family loves i-Pods!

We currently have over 4000 songs in our i-Tunes library. No one likes ALL of them and it’s easy to set up “Play Lists” which contain everyone’s personal choices. The software is remarkably easy to use and has a “burn disk” feature which is great for picking one or two songs from different disks to create one favorite. Easy to understand, manage and enjoy.

I would strongly suggest that you check out the Apple site for factory refurbished i-Pods - you can get some amazing deals here! We have a “big” old school i-Pod that I wear while I’m doing housework or walking the dog. DD has a Nano that she loves! DH has a couple of phones that support i-Tunes. I don’t mean to push you in this direction but there is so much that is i-Tunes compatable now that it makes things easier. None of our i-Pods has ever skipped unless the CD was scratched when we installed it. The program is pretty good at “fixing” scratches in songs but one or two have slipped through.

I wish you luck - this is quite a decidion but I think one which you will be thrilled to have made. My in-laws are in their 70’s and LOVE the Shuffle. The kids roll their eyes because it has only classical/opera/show tunes and nothing fun but… to each his or her own!

Keep us posted - Angela

#7

I have an iPod Nano and it is great and very easy to use. I think Target has a 512MB shuffle on sale for $69 this week.

I had an older Nike MP3 player and it was crap. It drained the battery when it was not even turned on and the software was horrible. I sent it back.

Candice

#8

I have a warning for you.
I got a Rio Carbon 5GB mp3 player for my last birthday. It cost about $200 - great price for the size. However, ever since the warranty expired I’ve been having trouble with it. I had to reinstall the flatware twice because it wasn’t charging properly, which wiped all my songs and bookmarks. (There are also only 9 bookmarks, which I’m not fond of… you can’t really view the songs in a list, so it can get tricky to find a particular one you want to listen to.) Also, I had to go through and manually clean the ID3 entries because “odd characters such as URLs” can make the player restart itself for no evident reason. And whenever I add new songs, chances are I’ll have to try to play them once, wait for the player to restart, and then reupload them so they work properly. It’s a messy business. I’m seriously considering trading it in for an iPod, despite my tendency to shy away from those sorts of trendy things.
To sum up: Don’t get a Rio, they’re more trouble than they’re worth.

#9

I have an ipod mini, and I LOVE it. They don’t make the mini’s anymore, but have the nanos and they are really good too. Just make sure you get one that holds plenty of songs. :thumbsup: Mine holds 1,000, and its almost full! I never thought I knew that many songs, but it turns out I do! :shock:

#10

I’ll add that it depends on how you already store you digital music. I ahve gigs and gigs of music on my computer, but it’s all stored in WMA format - I’m very happy with Windows MP 10.
So I chose an iRiver - it stores in the same format, so there is no need to convert file types. It saves a bunch of time!

#11

I must put in my vote for the iPod. We have had three different kinds of MP3 players and the iPod is the only one we haven’t had trouble with. Yes, they tend to be slightly more expensive, but when you consider the cost of ownership, replacing or repairing, it is actually cheaper.

Also: iTunes is the easiest online music store to use and I think offers more choices for organizing our 4,000 plus songs into usable lists. Plus we :heart: :heart: :heart: podcasts.

#12

I have to put in a vote for the ipod mini, as well.

Apple has discontinued them and has them for a big discount:
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/apple-offers-refurb-ipod-minis/

I have a pink one and I love it. I still haven’t filled it yet and I use it every day. It seems you can get the coolest cases for the minis rather than the new nanos, too. I have one of these: http://www.iskin.com/vibes_features.html

Good luck! :thumbsup:

PS: My mom has an iriver and I hate the thing. The interface is confusing and I can’t really get behind it. Also, it’s huge. I can’t even fit it in my pocket.

#13

iPod Nano here. I use it everyday. E V E R Y day, and have never had any problems with it. I use mine mainly for audiobooks, but I’ve also put nearly my entire CD collection on it too. I plug it into my car stereo when driving, I listen to it while grocery shopping, and anywhere I’m waiting around. It’s so easy to use. Love it. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my iPod!

Only recommendation, if you get an iPod, get a case or skin (and/or screen protector) for it too, and never go without. iPods scratch easily!!

#14

I have to vote for Creative Labs Zen–I got a 20 GB Creative Zen Touch for around $200 on Amazon.com. It’s not for running, as it’s pretty big, but I use it every day in my car on the way to and from work. Very easy to add and organize music, and the battery last forever! I don’t even have to charge it every week, even though I use it most every day.

#15

I also have a Creative Zen Touch. LOVE it. :smiley:

#16

I also have an Ipod mini Mines pink Too. Hubby bought it for me for mothers day last year. Although, we had a problem with our old laptop and my hubby bought a new one, well when we loaded the software on the new one somehow all my songs got wiped out. :crying: So now I am starting over. We like it otherwise.

#17

my last gf was gonna get me an Ipod 10, but I did some research and thought the Rio carbon 5 would be better for the money
I loaded over a thousnd songs and was happy,
UNTIL
I tried to do anything with the playlists,
and when I tried to reinstall, everything went to bailzes
the battery was good though, lasted hours and hours

I would not recomend this to anyone now

ecb