mp3 players

[markolas]

It seems like there was a thread about this a long time ago, but damned if I can find it.

Anyway, I'm thinking about getting an mp3 player in the near future and I'm not convinced I want an iPod. I'm looking to see what other people's opinions here were about the different brands - iPod, Sony, Creative Zen, etc.

I'd probably only be using it to play music, so the video capability doesn't matter much to me and I don't need to store my entire music collection on it - just enough for a few hours' worth of songs at the most.

[Lee]

I have an Apple iPod. It has videos, pictures & music on it & I love it. I think I've had it for about four or five years now. Never had to replace the battery yet (knock wood), & I've never really had a problem with it (knock wood).

Lee

[David]

Originally Posted by markolas

It seems like there was a thread about this a long time ago, but damned if I can find it.

Anyway, I'm thinking about getting an mp3 player in the near future and I'm not convinced I want an iPod. I'm looking to see what other people's opinions here were about the different brands - iPod, Sony, Creative Zen, etc.

I used to own a Creative Zen. It was a little flash drive device that worked well enough.

Now I own a Sansa SanDisk 1.0 GB. It's been great. It holds 1 GB of music & also has an AM/FM radio (because there are times in the gym when you get tired of the songs you've loaded) & even a little digital voice recorder.

The USB cable goes to the computer, & you open the folder with Windows Explorer. Nothing could be simpler.

[LukeA]

My 4 1/2 year old 4th generation iPod died about a month ago. I bought one of the new Shuffles to replace it. I'm not sure I would recommend it; it works for what I need it for, but I don't think it would good for most people (very small and somewhat unwieldy)

[Macfanforever]

Through the years I owned several mp3 players.back in the heyday I picked up a Diomond, Rio 300 Napsters best friend,at the time, with a whopping internal 32mb plus an external card of 32mb which make it to a whopping 64mb ,I still have it somewhere loaded with the WWD HBO concert soundtrack .second was an D-link with tha same memory capacity as the Rio 300 for $25 at the fleamarket about 4 years later, this one was a piece of junk.the next one was an VR3 1gb player with a builtin FM modulator which was good until I killed it.Next a cigarette lighter operated USB flash mp3 player with builtin FM Modulator by VR3. then i tried an Sansa SanDisk 1.0 GB player,but I could not use it on my old win98 computer at the time so i'd had to returned it back to the store.now I use an ILO 1.0 GB player from Wal-Mart.Now I'm getting ready to upgrade to a Ipod soon.

[Enchanted_Stevi]

I had a SanDisk Sansa and it SUCKED and it died on me less then a year I had it
My dad bought me the iPod Classic(80 GB) and its amazing..Ive had it for a little over a year and I have no complaints

[Zombie]

I, too, have a Sansa. Err...HAD a Sansa. And if you had asked me before last week, I'd have told you to buy one and not look back...but alas.

It's a 1 gig, and I've had it for about 6 years now, I think. A dog chewed on it in a determined fashion once or twice (my greyhound, Anubis, was a bad, bad dog), I've dropped it down countless flights of stairs, both my kids used it constantly, and it's battered, old, filthy, and kinda ugly by now...but up until 2 weeks ago, it still worked like a charm.

Then last week, I hooked it up to my boyfriend's Macbook to transfer some songs to his iPhone and it went retarded. Now it's stuck in an endless "initializing" loop no matter what I do to it, and since the factory reset function is located in the menu and there's no way to do a hard reset, I can't fix it. MADNESS.

I went online and discovered this happens to a LOT of people with these things, though theirs had typically gone haywire much sooner than mine did. So I cannot recommend the Sansa now. At least not the m240. I don't want to buy an iPod and I can't afford an iPhone at the moment, so I am on the hunt for something else myself now.

[Chrislit18]

I honestly love my iPod. They have great capabilities.

I have some friends who have Zunes. They Love their zunes, but I honestly [when using it] had a hard time manuvering it. Maybe that's just cause I'm so used to the iPod.

I got my first iPod in 7th grade. A silver 4gig mini. It still works, yet I don't use it. Not enough space.
I got another mini the year after. That died in xmas 2007. I used it MUCH more than the first one, as they improved battery life. [I actually got that one free from Citizens Bank.]
Then for Xmas to replace the dead one [and to add memory of course] I got an 80 gig classic. I download Youtube vids, songs, everything. I LOVE it. I still have about 57 gigs on it too.
For my birthday I hope to get the iPhone, but not for music capabilities. [Phone, web, texting essentially. plus all the awesome apps ]

I am essentially an Apple Whore. So I am completely biast. [That is NOT spelt right. whatever.] I will not buy a non Apple Music Player. I have been so happy with mine, plus I know how to do the little tricks [reset, add videos from youtube, etc] and I'm used to using them.

Zunes I guess ARE similar, however they were foreign to me. Plus they use Microsoft software. [blech]

That is about the extent of the help I can offer. Sorry :/

[markolas]

I hadn't really considered the Zune - I kinda figured since it seemed like almost no one bought one, they'd eventually be discontinued and I'd be up **** creek....

1GB seems small - but I don't need anything huge either; maybe 8GB max. And I have no use for an iPhone. I thoroughly despise phones in general; I have a pre-paid cell phone from AT&T that I probably spend $25 every 2 or 3 months on, and there are times when I wish I didn't even have that.

[LiamMcConville]

Originally Posted by markolas

I hadn't really considered the Zune - I kinda figured since it seemed like almost no one bought one, they'd eventually be discontinued and I'd be up **** creek....

1GB seems small - but I don't need anything huge either; maybe 8GB max. And I have no use for an iPhone. I thoroughly despise phones in general; I have a pre-paid cell phone from AT&T that I probably spend $25 every 2 or 3 months on, and there are times when I wish I didn't even have that.

Just spend the $150 for an iPod Nano. It'll be the best money you've ever spent, and once you fall in love, you can upgrade to the iPod Classic. You won't be dissapointed.

[Miss Vicky]

I agree with Liam. Get a Nano. You can get an 8 gig iPod Nano for $150.00 or the 16 gig for $200.00 if you buy from Apple.com and you can get it engraved with your name (or whatever) at no charge. Amazon.com also carries them and actually has them for less than what Apple charges. It's a nice size physically (easily fits in a pocket), as well as capacity wise (8 gig will hold roughly 2,000 songs and 16 will hold 4,000), it's durable (mine has been dropped numerous times and has gone through the wash but still works like a charm and none of my music was lost), and it comes in a wide variety of colors. Also, there seems to be a great deal more accessories available for iPod than there are for some of its competitors.

My best friend was really skeptical of iPods too, swearing that she'd never get one, but I gave her an 80 gig iPod classic for Christmas two years ago and now she's in the market to get a new one because hers is full. She takes it everywhere, listens to it constantly and also watches movies on it at work.

[markolas]

How is the sound quality on the iPod? I know mp3 isn't ever gonna be as good as CD quality and I'm not really an audiophile, but I do listen to a lot of jazz and not so much rock or dance music.

[LiamMcConville]

Originally Posted by markolas

How is the sound quality on the iPod? I know mp3 isn't ever gonna be as good as CD quality and I'm not really an audiophile, but I do listen to a lot of jazz and not so much rock or dance music.

It's actually amazing. And if you plan on purchasing from iTunes, Apple just made all of their music DRM free. So on top of being playable and burnable unlimitedly, the sound quality is AMAZING.

I use Bose speakers when listening to music at home, and I have no issue with the sound quality of the iPod headphones. You'll go through them quickly, but they're decent.

[Chrislit18]

Originally Posted by LiamMcConville

It's actually amazing. And if you plan on purchasing from iTunes, Apple just made all of their music DRM free. So on top of being playable and burnable unlimitedly, the sound quality is AMAZING.

I use Bose speakers when listening to music at home, and I have no issue with the sound quality of the iPod headphones. You'll go through them quickly, but they're decent.

Bose is great!

I actually ditched the apple earbuds and shopped around for a new brand-they were uncomfortable in my ears. Right now SkullCandy is my favorite, however good quality Sony's sound good too.

My recc though? no earbuds, they do worse for your hearing than the over the ear ones, and they can be very uncomfortable.

[skcin]

I had a Creative Zen. great for about a year, then it froze on me & that was that. Couldn't reset or anything. I wouldn't recommend that brand. Now I have a phone w/mp3 capabilities.