MP3 Players

[nasrules]

Erm...........been a while since we've had one of these threads, and a nice shiny 10GB iPod arrived this morning, so I'm kinda in the mood!

What's your favourite, what's the best value, what looks the nicest, what's the best HD-based, what's the best flash/smart/memory stick-based? etc.

I have to say, the iPod totally kicks everything else's ass in, well, everything! But what does everyone else think?

[mrlipring]

i have a 20gb archos jukebox fm recorder. i move a lot of files about regularly so i needed the 20gb. it's got a built in fm radio and can record from radio, built-in mic, or any analogue or digital external source.

It was £250, it's went down a bit in price now, and for the money, i think it's well worth it.

Archos' support is crap. They really need to bugfix the firmware, but it's been 6 months and no update. The rockbox guys do a custom firmware though.

The build quality ain't brilliant. I'm kinda clumsy with it, but the paint's all flaking off the back. apart from that it's a great toy, very cool and very cheap.

[UBER-RAT]

i have a 32mb baby yepp. frankly, i only need to listen to about 6 songs on an average journey, so i dont need 40gb or whatever. the small size is very convenient...

[CCSDUDE]

Originally posted by mrlipring
i have a 20gb archos jukebox fm recorder. i move a lot of files about regularly so i needed the 20gb. it's got a built in fm radio and can record from radio, built-in mic, or any analogue or digital external source.

It was £250, it's went down a bit in price now, and for the money, i think it's well worth it.

Archos' support is crap. They really need to bugfix the firmware, but it's been 6 months and no update. The rockbox guys do a custom firmware though.

The build quality ain't brilliant. I'm kinda clumsy with it, but the paint's all flaking off the back. apart from that it's a great toy, very cool and very cheap.

Looks slick....but is kinda cheap, huh?

I love when you say their support is crap and the firmware is buggy...

http://www.archos.com/

Click on the MAIN jukebox window...it's a broken link...lol

They must really suck in alotta ways...but hey..cheap is cheap.

At the moment I only have a crappy rigged up 486 laptop with a Apex DVD player routed through it...boot from a floppy that loads drv lib dlls and all that...then whipped up a crappy volume control...wanted to add a VU meter but I'm lazy.

If I do choose to get something...Ipod or Nomad would be my choices...

Mac stuff ain't the best but their product itself is always tough as hell and top notch.

[mrlipring]

i plain wouldn't pay the money for an ipod. it's 200 quid dearer than mine for the 20gb one, and by the time mine falls apart, i'll be able to get a new 60gb one for £200...

ipods (and all newish mac things) are beautiful, i'll give you that, but they're WAY not worth the money. fine for posing, but it's in my back pocket or on a shelf above my pc for most of its life.

[mrlipring]

http://uk.dukebox.net/search.php/uk/

i wouldn't touch a nomad, they stink! :)

i like the look of the zen though...

[nasrules]

the ipod IS expensive, no doubt about it, but it is superior in many ways. its smaller than every other hd-based player in every direction, it looks great (unlike all the others), its a joy to use (partly due to the touch-scroll wheel on the 10gb and 20gb models) and it sounds great. the build quality is absolutely top-notch and it even looks MUCH better quality than anything else.

my advice? go for it. yes they cost a lot, but you'll get the best mp3 player money can buy.

zens are good, but although they're cheaper than ipods, they are MUCH bigger and heavier, particularly with that lard-ass case on. yes, theyre only £300, but you can get a 10gb ipod brand new for £280 from ebay, and a brand new 20gb one for £340.

the zens are about £220 on ebay, i paid £240 for my ipod 'cos it's got a tiny ding on the back of it so they can't sell 'em at apple.

not sure where Dukebox.com are getting their prices from, have a look:

From Apple:
5GB iPod - £260
10GB iPod - £330
20GB iPod - £400

From Dukebox.com:
5GB iPod - £305
10GB iPod - £375
20GB iPod - £450

From eBay:
5GB iPod - £230
10GB iPod - £280
20GB iPod - £340

[isus]

the ipod is great. i wish it was a little more scratch resistant. and a little stronger against windows (windows explorer screwed mine up, to the point where i need to send it back to apple, and i lost 500 mp3's...)

anyway, its great, not really any problems. if there is one, i would say its how long the remote cable is... there is so much loose cord when you plug everything in, it kinda drags around... not good.

other than that, 2 thumbs up!

nice avatar, nas ;)

[wonderboy2005]

i am looking for a HDD player, but i dont have the money to get an ipod(even if i did, i dont think i'd spend ~$400 on an ipod). so ive been looking around, and the rio riot seems to be the one im going to get. the thing is, the only reatilers that have em are those selling it for ~$300 or those that sell refurbished ones. a bunch of sites are selling them for about 170-180, but they're never in stock. ive been looking at www.jandr.com and www.newegg.com for about 2 mo.s now, and they have yet to get em in stock.

so any one got any suggestions on what to get? i already have 4 gigs of music, and i anticipate it growing. im thinking a 15 gig or 20 gig would be appropriate. it needs to be fairly cheap... $200 range, no more. thanx in advance for any suggestions...

[mrlipring]

well, go for as big as you'll need, the bigger you can afford, the better.

I can fit about a quarter of my mp3s on my archos at the one time. I only take my newest stuff and the stuff i really like about with me, and 20gb does me just fine. i'd do fine with 5gigs probably but i like having the extra space just in case. i've got 12gigs of mp3 on it just now and 6 or 7 gigs of other stuff. it's great to be able to take a whole stack of music about with me, cos i never know what i'll take a fancy to. at least this way i have a lot of bases covered :)

[wonderboy2005]

well, i really want a rio riot... ive been contemplating getting a refurbished one. is that a bad idea? my dad doesnt really like the idea, but i can get it for ~160. if this would sway your advice to me, its from www.gopcplus.com

[mrlipring]

aren't those the same size and shape as an old atari lynx?!

[Tremaine]

in my opinion mp3 players sucks, i had 3 they're all broke i had a 32mb rio one with flash slot, a 64mb rca k@zoo it was a good mp3 player but battey jack broke i gave it to one of my sisters, then i had an rca1080 the worst mp3 player i've ever had the volume button jamed. i was sick of mp3 players the ipod is an amzazing mp3 player(one of my friends owns the 10gig also) but i dont need that much memory 5, 10, 20 i'd consider 5 but the rest is to much. hdd based mp3 players are to heavy and are to big(excluding ipod and clones) and i"ve heard the tend to skip old portable cd palyers all over again. so not that long ago on my birthday april 1st.... i got a minidics its a mz-n707 i can get 80 cd quality songs on a minidisc using netmd in lp4 atrac 3(alot like an mp3). it converts all formats to atrac and ive droped it a few times nothings happend praticly skip proof. some guy dropped one off a cliff it worked 8weeks later then dided lol. so if anyone wants help with mindisc pm me ill teach you a small trick to get around checking in and out(all you need is nero, and image drive, simple burner). this is my opinion plus minidic media is cheap about $5 a disc canadian $2 dollars american:) buy a few recordable discs your set(cross between cd and floppy)
Can an mp3 player record from praticaly any source with an audio output? didn't think so(except for the mp3 player featured in hardware section of zp)

[mrlipring]

they're hella not cd quality.... and how long does it take you to copy those 320 minutes of bad quality songs onto your minidisc player? encoding from mp3/wav/cd to atrac every time you want to put stuff on a minidisc...

mp3 players are far more flexible and have more uses.

i'd recommend an mp3 player to anyone with a computer. Minidiscs are just too much hassle...

[Tremaine]

they are not cd quality but they're as close as you can get without a cd player, i record mostly in lp2 and it sounds better than any mp3 player, it record in 32 times, most cd burners burn in 8 times, so its about 3 minutes to transfer to a cd the better minidisc record a 64times now. you'd recomend an mp3 player which is plastic and isnt even fill sorry i said cd quality but theres not much of difference to most people. take a md and and mp3 player guess which one sounds better, the rca 1080 actually had good sound because it didnt crack a high volumes it record in mpy its own format. I myself didn't like md that much because they were a little bigger but it doesnt kill batteries as quickly, and your you can rearrange tracks, ive been through 3mp3 player in 2years and i wasnt sure about getting one myslef but once you go md you dont go back, and the only reason i'd get and mp3 is for working out or something thats related when you need something extremely light and small for it doesn't get in your way. they both have pros and cons but in the end md kills mp3.

[Tremaine]

i have a netmd not just an md it uses usb so it converts it which doesn't take long then transfering which is also quick, most mp3 players transfer quicker but there is not that much of a difference if my computer was quicker and i had a mz-n10 it would be quicker than mpst mp3 easily. minidiscs alone are slow they record in realtime using analog optical cables, which all isn't that bad if you mind waiting. netmd just uses a md as memory for the files it transfers like a mp3, md media is cheap it sounds good its worth it.

[isus]

wonderboy: does size matter? bc i have heard that the riot is pretty big...

[Alannah777]

There's just something very intimate about mp3 players . . . getting crystal clear digital music directly into your head from its source without the filtering factor of a medium (such as a disk) which in almost all cases, is flawed . . . to some degree. Some people say they can't tell a difference as long as it's near cd quality . . . but my mp3 player is my baby . . . I wouldn't give it up for all the near cd quality disks in the world.

I'm in no hurry to upgrade players at this point; but since this thread is here, I started thinking about upgrading . . . and what I will look for in a new player.

Sound quality is pretty much the same in most players, so that won't be a major factor; instead I'll be looking more at (1) onboard memory size (20 gigs sounds really good to me); (2) size and overall appearance of the player; and (3) features.

I want a compact player that's easy to wear (either clipped on or in my pocket). Something like the PoGo Flipster would be perfect since it's just a smooth little silver box when its closed (no chance of harming the face (controls) of the device this way).

I will also look for a player with a docking station (for uploading and recharging); and also a car docking station (this is a must for me). Recordable FM radio would be really nice too.

Hopefully, by the time I am in the market to buy a new player, I will find one like this.

:tilted

[Serps]

I have recently brought a Treo 15 Mp3 player. I have to admit it doesn’t look that good but its small it can store 15 Gb and the sound quality is excellent. And all for £150.00

[wonderboy2005]

size isnt all that important to me, i would prefer that it was smaller than my current cd player though (TDK Mojo first generation). the rio riot would be perfect for me, but no one has it at a reasonable price.

so does anyone think a refurbished one is a good/bad idea?

[warlord716]

I have a nomad dmuvo 128 mb player that doubles as a flash memory stick. i got it at christmas time and it cost about $140 then. maybe its cheaper now. It is really easy to use, plays mp3 s and wmas and it has a decent capacity.

thething i dont like is that everytime u turn it on it starts at the begining of the tracks, so it is sort a useless for many many songs. also, the battery life is shorter than advertised.

other than that, it is a simple easy to use flash stick/mp3 player.

i generally use it at the gym and when i go running...it is excellent:devil

[Alannah777]

Originally posted by wonderboy2005
[Bso does anyone think a refurbished one is a good/bad idea? [/B]

I would not recommend buying a refurbished one at all . . . especially since you can buy a brand new Rio Riot for around $150.

That's not bad at all for a 20 gig mp3 player.

[wonderboy2005]

id be happy with buying one new for $150, but unless you can show me a site that has it IN STOCK for that price, its not happening.

[Alannah777]

Originally posted by wonderboy2005
id be happy with buying one new for $150, but unless you can show me a site that has it IN STOCK for that price, its not happening.

Have you checked Ebay?

[wonderboy2005]

yeah i have... but i havn't really taken it into consideration... i dont want to get somthing used or refurbished, witch i'd most likely end up with via ebay. but ill keep it in mind....

[Alannah777]

Originally posted by wonderboy2005
yeah i have... but i havn't really taken it into consideration... i dont want to get somthing used or refurbished, witch i'd most likely end up with via ebay. but ill keep it in mind....

I understand your concerns regarding Ebay. However, if you will look for items that are clearly marked NEW IN BOX and the seller has good feedback, your risk of getting a bad product is very minimal.

There are usually several NEW IN BOX Rio Riots available, and I've even seen them with the BUY NOW feature where the BUY NOW price was $159.00.

Just thought this information might be helpful to you in your search. Good luck. : )

[isus]

well, im still gonna push the ipod. and i wouldnt suggest buying anything more than $50 on ebay. especially computer parts... all the people selling 400 computers, all the same title, description, pictures, etc...

anyway, if the place offering the refurbed riot has a return policy, thats pretty much no questions asked, then i would go for it. but since i dont see too many people doing that...

good luck tho. and read the fine print!

[mrlipring]

if i had money to burn i'd buy an ipod. they're beautiful, but i realy couldn't justify the outlay.

i wouldn't buy a minidisc because at 320min/disc it sounds icky.

Playlists are very useful things too... :)

i really wouldn't touch anything other than an mp3 player, or similar.. (ogg, etc)

[nasrules]

Originally posted by wonderboy2005
well, i really want a rio riot... ive been contemplating getting a refurbished one. is that a bad idea? my dad doesnt really like the idea, but i can get it for ~160. if this would sway your advice to me, its from www.gopcplus.com

$160 will get you a riot from ebay, np. but look out, they are quite big. if theres any chance of being able to afford an ipod, go for it. you'll never look back!

im still astounded at the size of my ipod. its tiny!

[wonderboy2005]

trust me... i know i cant get an ipod that would be sufficient for me... atleast not right now. i need atleast 10 gigs, that might even be cutting it short. also, i don't have a firewire port, and i just removed the modem in our pc to make way for a usb2.0 card. so basically, an ipod is not an option as of right now. i need somthing cheap, somthing that has a lot of memory, and can use usb or usb 2.0. i checked ebay and over 1/2 of the rio riots have "*REDUCED*" in the title, and they are all from the same person. i emailed this person, and it didn't seem like somthing i wanted to throw ~$170 into. they are refurbished, and im only given 7 days for a "DOA" return and 90 days for repair. not worth it IMO.

but its not like im mp3-less right now... i still have my TDK mojo, which is prety good.

im starting to question myself if i really want to spend more money on music, when i already have something sufficient. im thinking about one of the new video players that are comming out, like the RCA lyra. that looks sweet.

[mrlipring]

archos do a video player, but it's pretty bad quality.

An links for the one you're talking about?

[wonderboy2005]

ive looked at the archos video player; not impressed. this however, looks pretty cool

New RCA LYRA Audio Video Jukebox Adds Video to mp3 Experience

The first RCA LYRA portable to incorporate video playback, the palm-sized 20GB RD2780 RCA LYRA Audio/Video Jukebox delivers a complete digital entertainment experience in the palm of the hand. About the size of a small picture frame with a 3.5-inch Thin Film Transistor (TFT) LCD screen, the RCA LYRA Audio Video Jukebox also acts as a computer storage device, compatible with multiple audio and video codecs, and can be easily connected to most standard television sets. Measuring a compact 5.2 x 3.14 x 0.98 inches, the versatile RD2780 can play mp3, mp3PRO and Windows Media Audio files.

"Adding video functionality to the digital audio product line is a natural progression for us as we continually seek ways to expand our consumer base and add value," said Redmond. "The RCA LYRA Audio/Video Jukebox is designed to go beyond the digital enthusiast audience and attract both young consumers and frequent travelers looking for an easily portable entertainment source that will deliver hours of entertainment."

Consumers can watch up to 80 hours of pre-recorded television shows, feature films, or home videos directly on the RD2780. It easily connects to a television set via its composite video output and includes both audio and video recording mode. Since the device is essentially a computer peripheral with a hard drive, the display screen can also be used to organize digital audio song files or other types of stored data, including computer files such as word processing documents and presentations. The RCA LYRA Audio/Video Jukebox is also a portable photo album, since JPEG images can be viewed on the RD2780, by either transferring them directly from the PC using a USB 2.0 high-speed connection or by inserting a Compact Flash memory card. The vast hard drive in the RCA LYRA Audio/Video Jukebox can accommodate up to 100,000 JPEG images.

Using the enclosed MusicMatch management software, users can also organize hundreds of hours of mp3 audio files using ID3 tag song data to display artist, album, song title and genre. Music fans can listen to their collection of mp3 files using one of nine playback modes, including normal play, shuffle and repeat, or by programming their own playlists. While listening to music files, the user can also navigate through the library and "tag" songs he or she would like to hear later, or delete from the device.

Other convenience features include auto resume, which "remembers" the track location and volume setting when the power was shut off, and returns to that same spot when the power is returned. Adding to the overall value of the RD2780 are the included AC/DC adapter, e.clipzä clip-style stereo headphones, an audio/video patch cable, carrying pouch and recharge cradle. The RD2780's car kit provides hours of audio entertainment through a cassette adapter. Available in summer 2003, suggested retail price of the RD2780 is $399

from: http://www.rca.com/content/viewdetail/1,2811,EI700426-CI258,00.html

the types of videos that it will support are as of yet unknown, but many sources say mpeg4 will be in the "multiple supported codecs".

here is a picture of the said player:

[wonderboy2005]

well, i began to look into this a little more, and it supposedly will utilize a Texas Instruments processor, and will "definately play Divx files".

after reading all of this, im thinking i might just wait until this summer (when it comes out) and buy one instead.

[mrlipring]

will it play divx files the same way the dvd player from scan.co.uk will? i mean, will it only play divx 5? most of the people releasing divx onto the internet release in 3.xx, and people are turning to xvid. now ain't a good time to commit to such a quickly changing technology. unless it's easily upgradeable...

[wonderboy2005]

well i imagine that they will embrace popular codecs, and its not like your stuck with what it cones with; im sure they icluded upgradeable firmware. who knows, maybe you'll be able to install codecs you want.

[mrlipring]

problem being that divx 3.11 etc are illegal hacked MS codecs. that's why the one scan sell don't support it.

hopefully the hacked firmwares will be able to support it. if it does, i'd love one. oh, and if it has svideo out too. :)

[Rish]

I've had an iPod for around 6 or so months now and I wholeheartedly recommend that if you want an MP3 player and can afford one, then there really is only one choice.

I got mine from eBay, new in box, 10gig, for £245 - a great price. Just keep your eyes peeled on eBay for someone selling it new in the box (plastic sealed to prove it hasn't been opened as mine was...), and make sure they have good feedback.

You can't really go wrong then...

[mrlipring]

how much are the 20gig ones? they're beautiful, those ipods, but i really needed more space, and i paid that for my 20gb one.

[nasrules]

you can get a 20gb ipod from ebay for about £320, any day of the week. if you want to spend less than tha (who doesn't), check ebay a couple of times a day and when there's a good offer, buy it.

wonderboy: that video one is really cool, but if you only need audio, check out the creative nomad zen. they're about £200 from ebay, 20gb.

[mrlipring]

see, that's 70 quid i could spend on other stuff. i'm happy with my archos, even if it's a bit big and not as beautiful. it's in my pocket most of the time anyway :D