Why iPod?

[Eazy_b97 1]

I'm in the market for a new MP3 player. I'm looking at the iPods, I don't need a ton of memory, but have heard they are the best. I'd like it to hold anywhere between 100 --> 200 songs. Why are the iPods so highly regarded? Is it a problem I don't have an apple and just download songs off of Ares? If I go in another direction (please suggest a brand or model), what are ther pros/cons and what memory do I need? This will be used for studying, working out and walking around.

Thanks in advance.

[gotdangles16 0]

just make sure you get one of the new iPods if you get one...the battery gets all F'd up on the old ones after extended use and soon youll need a new one because urs wont charge..id stay away from ebay on this one

[pldhockey4 0]

i have an ipod mini, it is just fine, i paid 150 for a 6 gig and i got it 1 hundreed dollars off, i dont really use it that much so i dont really want a nano.

[volaju 0]

the only advantage to owning an iPod, if you can even call it one, is that you'll be cashing in on a trend. there are better MP3 players out there.

[lando_8 0]

I 2nd what volaju said...

If you want more info on DAPs that aren't Apple check out the portable audio forum at head-fi.org (http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=22).

The Cowan iAudio's have great reviews, as does the Creative and the iRiver. I have been told that the Sony’s are brutal and to avoid them like the plague. (Software in particular)

I have an iPod and don't mind it but find the software a real pain in the ass and the accessories to be astronomically priced.

[mack 44]

Boy, it's a good thing you guys are following up your claims with recommendations of said mp3 players.

[Nick23 0]

Why are the iPods so highly regarded?

They are very well marketed, simple as that, easy to use software and look good (because looking good is all that matters) I suggest a creative mp3, you can remove the battery so if it f***s up then they can send you a new one, and since its not apple, you will get alot more for your money. From experience creative has good customer service. And everyone i know with an ipod has had trouble, breaking batteries, freezing screens and a very short life. Unless you have money to burn, do NOT get an ipod.

[dietzie27 0]

i 2nd the creative. i have the zen-touch 20gb and its great. heres a few links to check them out

If you dont need alot of memory, try this.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4570926

[Eazy_b97 1]

Ya, I'm pretty familiar with the hold Apple has and their marketing techniques, I just want to know if it goes outside the name recognition.

How much will 512mb gets me for songs (in general)? How much is a GB?

I had a creative before (I lost it) and it was very good. Not alot of memory, but I was happy with the quality.

[mack 44]

Depending on the various bitrates I'll have, I usually get ~115-120 on a 512 Shuffle.

[Chadd 916]

Ya, I'm pretty familiar with the hold Apple has and their marketing techniques, I just want to know if it goes outside the name recognition.

How much will 512mb gets me for songs (in general)? How much is a GB?

I had a creative before (I lost it) and it was very good. Not alot of memory, but I was happy with the quality.

My new phone holds 256MB of Mp3s. It's nice to only have to carry one toy instead of two.

Yeah I know that was off topic, sue me. ;)

[seanmccann 3]

Since the iPod has a built-in battery, you do not have to buy batteries each week. Also the iPods have the best menu system (that I have seen), and have the nicest look.

[NuggyBuggy 0]

The biggest reason I can see to buy an iPod is that the accessory market for them has gone absolutely mental. You can buy bases that you just drop your iPod into. Cars are being made that integrate with the iPod connectors, and with iPod-specific navigation interfaces.

Are they technically better than all the other MP3 players out there ? No, but they have achieved such dominance that if you want to buy anything to add on to your MP3 player, you had better buy an Apple. Having said that, the accessory market is more important for the larger sized MP3 players.

If you know you only want 100-200 songs, you're probably going to need a 512MB - 1 GB player which will hold about 128-256 songs, assuming an average song is about 4MB - could be more or less depending on how you are encoding and how long your songs are. I would stay away from the iPod shuffle. It has no display, so good luck looking for that one song you just have to hear in amongst 100-200. That's why they called the Shufle that, they are recognizing there is no way to locate a particular song, so the brilliant marketing dudes at Apple decided to try and sell this glaring limitation as a "feature", even though every MP3 player ever made probably had a "shuffle" or "random" feature. You NEED a display. You may also need more memory than you think you need.

When I bought my wife a flash-based MP3 player several years ago, I bought her a Cowon iAudio. It was way ahead of its time - tiny, flash-based, had a display, had voice recording, FM receiver, and best of all, used a single AAA battery which lasted 25 hours or more for her. Ten times better than the Shuffle and 2-3 years earlier. This is a small little company so it is probably hard to find these devices, and I haven't shopped for MP3 players recently so I have no idea if their stuff is any good now or if there aren't better players now.

Sony had a bunch of wicked little flash-based MP3 players which lasted forever on a single AAA. I'd check some of those out. I had high hopes that they could threaten Apple but alas they did not.

[dietzie27 0]

P-I-M-P

[McCabe24 0]

I went against the iPod and bought an iriver in the summer, had no problems so far with it. Only disadvantage for you is that the lowest memory model is 5GB.

http://www.iriveramerica.com/prod/hd/h10_5gb.aspx

[Project_2501 0]

iPods are best due to ease of use. Anyone can get accustomed to one nearly instantly.

Creative has a pathetically un-intuitive control scheme, and Cowon has too-small screens to bother with video (if you go for large capacity).

iRiver is an Apple copy-cat offering the same exact features, some times costing more, having the same terrible controls as the Creative DMP's and sometimes even costing more.

Sony's are quite good... After you spend forever and a day getting used to the software and being able to use the product to its potential (also plagued by poor controls).

I have used all of the above mfg's.

From Creative:

20gig Zen whatevers, with the scroller on the side (wtf, buttons on the side?)

40gb Zen somethings with the center scroll pad (same)

5gb Zen Micro with center scroll

Uses WMP... I mean, wtf man.

iRiver:

Who knows what model, some black 20gb thing with video capabilites. (More buttons in terrible places)

More WMP "lovin"...

Cowon:

30gb X5i Nice screen, too small though, nice package, damn hump on the back, and side audio jack (<-- wtf!?)

God damn WMP!

Sony:

My friends cool looking Video model (no idea what one): More god damn buttons on the side, what the hell guys, do we need 8 fingers for these damn things?

/sigh at software...

My personal favorite is the Apple:

I've had a 4g 20gb: No scroll wheel lag, HDD died in just over a year (dropped a lot)

5g 30gb: Some wheel lag, battery dies quick, haven't dropped yet once

iTunes beats the other options, but still has its issures (Too high cpu usage mainly and sometimes laggy, visualizations are a bitch on CPU power and ram)

The apple despite being flawed, is my personal favorite on the market.

Hope this helps.

[Rustybender 0]

The ipod's menu system is protected by patent. Unfortunately for Apple, that patent is held by Creative...Oops!

I won't recomend a digital audio player for you because I am shopping for a new one myself. I like dapreview.net, lots of reviews of various DAP's. They pay attention to something most dap reviewers ignore, sound quality. Beyond sound quality, look at the tranfer interface, controls, DRM features , physical size, battery life, replaceable battery, display size and readability, and the in player menu. Alot of daps have FM tuners built in so you can listen to the radio if you want.

ipods are popular because they are what is in fashion. (that's doesn't mean they suck, I actually think they are fine basic dap's.) If fashion is important to you go buy one. If that's not important, do some reading and research. You might end up finding that an ipod is right for you, or you might find some other player that suits you better.

If I had to recommend one area to pay special attention to, it would be the music management software you need to transfer files from your PC to the player. Stay away from anything that requires you to use Musicmatch. I have a older Dell DJ that can only use Musicmatch. That program is the biggest POS. Unintuitive, cumbersome, and crash happy.

[ChrisGass9909 0]

no ipods are the best there is no other mp3 players better than an ipod do not listen to the other prople buy and ipod.

[beaver5 1]

no ipods are the best there is no other mp3 players better than an ipod do not listen to the other prople buy and ipod.

wow

that was a very intelligent comment there..

good on yah buddy

[lando_8 0]

no ipods are the best there is no other mp3 players better than an ipod do not listen to the other prople buy and ipod.

What are you basing this on?

- cost

- ease of use

- functionality

- audio quality

these are things I might be concidering if I was looking at a new DAP

Considering the iPod doesn't win in any of these categories I find it hard to believe that "there is no other mp3 players better than an ipod"

You may want to do a bit more research before making such a blanket statement. Just because all the kids at school have them doesn't mean they are the best.

[M-Cohen 0]

^^ May I ask why the Audio Quality is not very good? This is not meant to be an attack, i'm just interested. I know the headphones are just crap but is there any other reasons?

[lando_8 0]

not saying the audio quality on the iPod is crap, just saying that some of the others are ahead of Apple when it comes to the quality of audio

[bobbyorio 0]

iPods are best due to ease of use. Anyone can get accustomed to one nearly instantly.

Creative has a pathetically un-intuitive control scheme, and Cowon has too-small screens to bother with video (if you go for large capacity).

iRiver is an Apple copy-cat offering the same exact features, some times costing more, having the same terrible controls as the Creative DMP's and sometimes even costing more.

Sony's are quite good... After you spend forever and a day getting used to the software and being able to use the product to its potential (also plagued by poor controls).

I have used all of the above mfg's.

From Creative:

20gig Zen whatevers, with the scroller on the side (wtf, buttons on the side?)

40gb Zen somethings with the center scroll pad (same)

5gb Zen Micro with center scroll

Uses WMP... I mean, wtf man.

iRiver:

Who knows what model, some black 20gb thing with video capabilites. (More buttons in terrible places)

More WMP "lovin"...

Cowon:

30gb X5i Nice screen, too small though, nice package, damn hump on the back, and side audio jack (<-- wtf!?)

God damn WMP!

Sony:

My friends cool looking Video model (no idea what one): More god damn buttons on the side, what the hell guys, do we need 8 fingers for these damn things?

/sigh at software...

My personal favorite is the Apple:

I've had a 4g 20gb: No scroll wheel lag, HDD died in just over a year (dropped a lot)

5g 30gb: Some wheel lag, battery dies quick, haven't dropped yet once

iTunes beats the other options, but still has its issures (Too high cpu usage mainly and sometimes laggy, visualizations are a bitch on CPU power and ram)

The apple despite being flawed, is my personal favorite on the market.

Hope this helps.

With regards to the I River what are you basing this on? Different I Rivers have totally different controls! I can think of 3 different types off the top of my head.

As for having the exact same features as far as I know the I Pods still dont have an integrated Fm tuner which is very useful.

I have a H10 20GB and find it excellent. Another of my friends had the same model. Another has a 6GB H10. 3 more have 40GB H140s and one more has a 20GB 320. NONE of us have had any problems. Ipods are very well marketed and do sell well but as far as I can see are overpriced. The one thing in favour of them I guess is that there are so many optional accesories available from 3rd part companies.

In stark contrast I know of too many Ipod mins that had cracked screens and standard Ipods where the battery life deteriorated really quickly!

[Thockey17 1]

not saying the audio quality on the iPod is crap, just saying that some of the others are ahead of Apple when it comes to the quality of audio

The ipod unit itself has nothing to do with audio quality. It all depends on the quality of the file being played, and the headphones you have.

[Jim A 4]

my gf has a shuffle and a creative mini..and a iPod mini..out of all she likes the iPod Mini the best...doesn't care for the controls as much on the Creative and I get less questions and "can you help me" type stuff when I'm away when she's using the apple's...