Why iPod?

[Fonya 0]

I went for the iPod because I got a thin, sleek ipod that can hold all my music and play videos at the same time. Its simple to use and looks awesome.

[Fonya 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.

That pretty much sums it up. Great post and non biased too. I think the lag issues have been fixed on the 5G ipod with the new firmware.

[steve66 45]

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. ;)

I've been looking to get a stand alone MP3 player, but I too just whack a ton of MP3s in my phone's 2GB Memory Stick PRO Duo. Two-in-one. Lovely!

[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. ;)

I've been looking to get a stand alone MP3 player, but I too just whack a ton of MP3s in my phone's 2GB Memory Stick PRO Duo. Two-in-one. Lovely!

I just rotate the selection on my phone.

[Fonya 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.

Ipods have got to be the easiest of DAP's to use.

[asdfa 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.

ease of use and functionality go to the ipod, and most people (including me) wouldn't really notice the difference between ipod audio quality and anything higher.

anyway, eazy, i don't know how much you want to pay, but i was in a store with a buddy over christmas and i saw these sony ones

they look really cool. just a heads up, since they haven't been mentioned yetsony mp3 players

[Project_2501 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

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.

Actually, the DAC (digical audio converter) in the iPod is slightly below quality to some other brands (I think Cowon stands out here).

And as for the iRiver I used, I honestly couldn't tell you, it was a 20 gb guy though, that's all I can remember.

And unless there's firmwear newer than 1.1 (which I have) the lag is still very present.

[Project_2501 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.

ease of use and functionality go to the ipod, and most people (including me) wouldn't really notice the difference between ipod audio quality and anything higher.

anyway, eazy, i don't know how much you want to pay, but i was in a store with a buddy over christmas and i saw these sony ones

they look really cool. just a heads up, since they haven't been mentioned yetsony mp3 players

Sony's are a pain in the ass getting them to work if they decide not to. Good players if they do work (still don't like side-placed controls, whatever) but if you have software problems, God bless you...

[Fire0nIce228 1]

My brother (and I'm starting to take it over) has an Iriver H10. We both really ike it, it can do pictures, music, recordings, all that good stuff, and the battery lasts quite a long time. It takes about 3 hours to fully charge I believe. I think he paid about $280 for it. It uses Windows media player 10 to put songs on it (atleast thats what it suggests and what we use) and that program itself is very easy. All in all I really like it, its pretty small and slim and light, although nowhere near nano size, but I feel like I could crush those in my hand if I wanted to. Anyways, the only problem we have is sometimes getting songs to go on it, they will go under other band names or whatever instead of the correct band name (IE hawthorne heights songs go under My chemical romance for some reason) but that could be user error! :D He's had it since a little before xmas, and no problems yet. He uses it just about everyday on his paper route, which takes him atleast an hour, in the rain/cold/ and I use it at my work, where I was dishes and am usually toucing the buttons and such with wet fingers, and its all good so far! recommeneded!

[awall 0]

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.

I have a 2 gig Ipod nano that I picked up just before christmas that I share with my wife. When I picked it up I was not sure that she was gonna go for it, she hates to learn new things and gets easily frustrated. After showing here how to use it I can hardly get it away from her.

I only have two issues with my nano. Recharging it on an older computer can be complicated and the surface gets scuffed up pretty easily. The nano recharges only when hookedup to the computer unless I buy an extra recharger and unless the USB port on your system is USB 2.0 you might have problems recharging the unit. The surface of the ipod is kinda glossy, smooth, and metalic which leads to it easily getting smudges and finger prints all over the screen. We already have small scratches on ours from being dropped a few times.

I like my nano because it is small, easy to cary around, and easy to use. Right no I can't see any reason why I would not recoomend one, in fact I'm thinking about getting another one so my wife and I can do the his and hers thing rather than share, much like we do with our computers. Some things in a marriage don't always easily compromise.

Something that I just noiced in your first post.

I don't have an apple and just download songs off of Ares?

You don't need to have an apple to use an ipod, but you will need to use apple's itunes to manage your songs. We import all our CD's via itunes and I have even purchased a few off the net. If you're commited to another service you may want to experiment with the free version of itunes to make sure you can import the songs you use.

[Project_2501 0]

There's other programs you can use to load songs onto your iPod. Some people like these much better than iTunes, I haven't tried them as iTunes does its job fine for me.

Just google for them.

[LetsGoWings13 0]

I have a Creative Zen Micro and its very very nice. I would deffinitally go for this. For the people who say that the Creative is hard to use really i dont think so i can go from an ipod to my creative with no problems. I found the creatives softwear very easy to install and use.

[Squirrel 0]

There's other programs you can use to load songs onto your iPod. Some people like these much better than iTunes, I haven't tried them as iTunes does its job fine for me.

Just google for them.

I know off the top of my head Realplayer does but IMO iTunes is better.

[Fonya 0]

Also anapod and ephpod. Also, Ive had no problems charging or transferring using usb 1.1. It seems a bit faster than my old mp3 player actually.

[Project_2501 0]

Also anapod and ephpod. Also, Ive had no problems charging or transferring using usb 1.1. It seems a bit faster than my old mp3 player actually.

These are the two I was thinking of.

Screw that realplayer garbage.

[Thockey17 1]

The winamp ipod control plug-in is great.

[Langenbrunner15 0]

iRiver is amazing!

[Project_2501 0]

Okay, now back it up with some information.

[Langenbrunner15 0]

Ok, it's sleek, smaller so in school you won't get in trouble....mine hold 1000 songs on it and hell, for school or anything for not that long trips, its perfect...

I also have an iPod also so it's not like I take the differences from other people..

[Fonya 0]

Ok, it's sleek, smaller so in school you won't get in trouble....mine hold 1000 songs on it and hell, for school or anything for not that long trips, its perfect...

I also have an iPod also so it's not like I take the differences from other people..

The nano is smaller and it has 4 gigs.

[Langenbrunner15 0]

Yes but it's more money..

[Langenbrunner15 0]

Yes but it's more money..and wouldn't need that many songs for short trips

[asdfa 0]

obviously not everyone's preferences/needs are the same. the best way is to go to a store like best buy and play around with the sample players, to get a feel for them and to see which one would suit your needs.

[Project_2501 0]

Okay, anything pocket sized is small enough. Some creatives are on the larger size, but still. If you need something nano-sized to not get in trouble... wow, you fail at secrecy. :lol:

[cupcrazy16 0]

Not to rehash an old topic, but I was at Futureshop looking at mp3 players and came across the Creative Zen 8GB Photo, which is 30bucks more than the 4GB Ipod Nano. So I could get 4Gigs more for 30 bucks, I was wondering if anyone has the the Zen Photo and what their opinions of it are. Also, do you think jogging and going to the gym with a microdrive mp3 player is ok? because the nano is a flash player i'm guessing it could be more durable. Thoughts? Thanks in advance.