Help me pick an MP3 player

kanezfankanezfan sunny south florida Icrontian
edited June 2005 in Internet & Media
Last night was my 30th birthday party and I'm happy to say that I got a lot of money, almost $600. $165 of it is Best Buy gift certificates, and I want to buy an MP3 player. Today I went to BB and played with a bunch of them, and now I'm more confused than ever as to which one to buy. At first I figured as long as it plays MP3s I'm happy, but it's gotta be at least 20GB. I saw this creative player with a 30gb drive for $220, but it's a couple years old and big when compared to the other models out today, about the size of a walkman tape player from the 80s. Then they had some 5GB players, some with color screens, some with FM tuners, some with the ability to show pictures, some with voice recorders.

I love the scroll wheel on the Ipods, but I'm scared of the battery thing and the guy I was speaking to said they still haven't fixed that and that it would cost me $106 to send it to Apple to replace the battery. That sucks.

Please help me decide what to get. They had this Samsung model out there, $299 with color screen, 20GB drive, but they had no earphones to let me listen to the sound quality of these things.

edit: I'm also interested in getting a cell phone that plays MP3s instead of a dedicated MP3 player, can you guys recommend any that would work on Cingular's network?
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Comments

  • teflemingtefleming
    edited March 2005
    Don't forget that the Ipods don't actually play mp3s. If you're already using Itunes, then you won't notice the difference.

    I love my Creative Muvo2 because it works just like a pen drive, no DRM, no special software, etc
  • leishi85leishi85 Grand Rapids, MI Icrontian
    edited March 2005
    tefleming wrote:
    Don't forget that the Ipods don't actually play mp3s. If you're already using Itunes, then you won't notice the difference.

    I love my Creative Muvo2 because it works just like a pen drive, no DRM, no special software, etc

    i don't really understand what you mean by ipods don't actually play mp3s?
  • entropyentropy Yah-Der-Hey (Wisconsin)
    edited March 2005
    tefleming wrote:
    Don't forget that the Ipods don't actually play mp3s. If you're already using Itunes, then you won't notice the difference.

    I love my Creative Muvo2 because it works just like a pen drive, no DRM, no special software, etc
    Really? :( I thought they could play those, but when you do it through iTunes it changes it to the .mp4 or whatever. I thought it could do both, though...

    Well damn, whenever I can afford an MP3 player, iPod is out :(
  • leishi85leishi85 Grand Rapids, MI Icrontian
    edited March 2005
    no, when u use itune to upload song onto your ipod, they don't change to mp4 or whatever other format, it keeps it as it is. If it doesn't supports it, for example wma, it will just spit out a message saying this song was uploaded, because it's not supported.
  • RWBRWB Icrontian
    edited March 2005
    I don't know if it actually plays MP3's or not, but you can use MP3's I know that. You take your music from iTunes, put it to the iPod, it may or may not encode it to whatever the iPod uses, but still.... it's not like you can't use MP3's.

    I've had a bunch of friends who owned them, never said anything about them not being able to play MP3's....


    edit://
    I just looked it up, it seems they do play MP3's so I don't know where anyone got the idea of them not playing MP3's.
  • entropyentropy Yah-Der-Hey (Wisconsin)
    edited March 2005
    Is it required to use iTunes? Or will the iPod show up like, say, a flash drive does? That I can just drop folders/files over onto?
  • leishi85leishi85 Grand Rapids, MI Icrontian
    edited March 2005
    the ipod will show up as a drive, but u can't actually put music on it like drag and drop, but however u can drag and drop files on it as storage.

    and itune is not required, there are many other third party softwares out there.

    EDIT// for typo.
  • botheredbothered Manchester UK
    edited March 2005
    One of my Sons has a Creative Zen player (20Gig) and he's very happy with it.
  • GnomeWizarddGnomeWizardd Member 4 Life Akron, PA Icrontian
    edited March 2005
    the zen is nice but i played with a friends Dell mp3 player it was nice
  • FormFactorFormFactor At the core of forgotten
    edited March 2005
    I use the 4G Ipod. I love it, and would recommend it to anyone.


    Oh, and I wouldnt worry too much about the battery. You can buy replacement kits on line now for ~30$, and replace it your self. Linky

    1 more thing. the iPods DO play MP3, and quite well I might add.


    I think the guy that said they do not was thinking of some of Sony's crappy portable audio devices.
  • TheBaronTheBaron Austin, TX
    edited March 2005
    Ipod's can't play OGG

    look into the iRiver and Zen
  • fatcatfatcat Mizzou Icrontian
    edited March 2005
    u dont have to use iTunes with you iPod, u can use Winamp with a plugin, or a program called ephpod to upload/download mp3's i love my 4g 20gb iPod, but if you do decide on an iPod, I would look at the 30gb iPod Photo one, only $50 more than the 20gb non-color version.
    http://www.apple.com/ipod/
  • JimboraeJimborae Newbury, Berks, UK New
    edited March 2005
    TheBaron wrote:
    Ipod's can't play OGG

    look into the iRiver and Zen

    iRiver is ugly as sin, looks like a brick & build quality is not that great (3 people in office have them & thats their comments).

    iAUDIO M3 is much nicer, built better & supports OGG, also they have great support with new firmware releases coming out fairly frequently.

    iAUDIO website
  • RiddickRiddick Malaysia Icrontian
    edited March 2005
    id recommend the samsung d500 as a mp3 playing handphone.. though you cant add in additional memory (built in around 90 mb) it serves its purpose as a good phone with a great look and feel. it comes with several other built in goodies as well.. bluetooth etc etc. have a look at it ! :cool:
  • FormFactorFormFactor At the core of forgotten
    edited March 2005
    Curious. Wich one did you end up getting Kanez?
  • kanezfankanezfan sunny south florida Icrontian
    edited March 2005
    I still didn't get anything. I'm leaning towards the 30gb ipod photo because with the baby almost here, it would be nice to be able to carry a lot of pictures around. My only concern with that is the screen is so small, is there anything that lets me hook it up to a TV like I can do with my digital camera?
  • rykoryko new york
    edited March 2005
    yeah i am glad someone who actually owns an ipod chimed in with the real facts. i bought a 20gb for a friend, and i ripped almost all of my music collection into mp3 using cDex and uploaded through itunes without any problems. itunes only turns your songs into .mp4 if you ripp cds through it.

    what about a psp? they have mp3 capabilities and you can add extra storage... might be a little on the expensive side though... :mullet:
  • shwaipshwaip bluffin' with my muffin Icrontian
    edited March 2005
    kanezfan wrote:
    I still didn't get anything. I'm leaning towards the 30gb ipod photo because with the baby almost here, it would be nice to be able to carry a lot of pictures around. My only concern with that is the screen is so small, is there anything that lets me hook it up to a TV like I can do with my digital camera?


    The ipod photo dock kit has s-video out
    http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=M9868G/A
  • kanezfankanezfan sunny south florida Icrontian
    edited March 2005
    shwaip wrote:
    The ipod photo dock kit has s-video out
    http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=M9868G/A

    Thanks, that's what I was looking for. Now, if only iPods had the ability to voice record and had an FM tuner, I'd have everything I want.
  • fatcatfatcat Mizzou Icrontian
    edited March 2005
    iPod voice recorder

    alot of accesories for an iPod is right here
    http://www.apple.com/ipod/accessories.html
  • cerberuscerberus The Edge Of Madness
    edited March 2005
    I have the Creative Nomad zen xtra (4ogig) and love it. only good for mp3's though, it does have data storage capabilities as well though but it wont display pictures. A good little player if you want music on the move.
  • kanezfankanezfan sunny south florida Icrontian
    edited March 2005
    Worst Buy doesn't let you listen to any players. Do you guys know if CrapUSA or Circus ****ty will let you listen to them? Sound quality is really important to me.
  • FormFactorFormFactor At the core of forgotten
    edited March 2005
    LOL ;D we dont have a CrapUSA or a CircuitSh1tty in my hodunk town.

    But I have heard that Creative players have slightly better sound quality than iPods. I think that fact is attributed to the fact that they manufacture sound cards n stuff.

    A guy at work has a flash based creative MP3 player.

    Personally I could not tell the difference between the two. As far as sound quality goes, I think the quality of the MP3s in your library will make a bigger difference.
  • fatcatfatcat Mizzou Icrontian
    edited March 2005
    Personally I could not tell the difference between the two. As far as sound quality goes, I think the quality of the MP3s in your library will make a bigger difference.

    agree, and also the quality of the headphones you use.
  • pseudonympseudonym Michigan Icrontian
    edited March 2005
    kanezfan wrote:
    Thanks, that's what I was looking for. Now, if only iPods had the ability to voice record and had an FM tuner, I'd have everything I want.

    I think they can voice record actually, I seem to remember some type of hookup I came across as I was shopping, but I could be crazy.

    I just bought a 6gb mini and I love it. 20gb was way too big for me and after burning all my CDs (A day long process) I have 2 gb left, which should last me awhile.

    edit// Sheesh, what is with me not looking at the 2nd page and missing all the answers!!
  • simzlolsimzlol
    edited March 2005
    Wait so if i use something like limewire or winmX to downlaod music, will it still work with the apple ipod if its in mp3 format?
  • kanezfankanezfan sunny south florida Icrontian
    edited March 2005
    simzlol wrote:
    Wait so if i use something like limewire or winmX to downlaod music, will it still work with the apple ipod if its in mp3 format?

    yes
  • fatcatfatcat Mizzou Icrontian
    edited March 2005
    iPod supported audio...
    AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Music Store, M4A, M4B, M4P), MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, and 4), Apple Lossless, WAV, AIFF

    iPod Photo additionally supports...
    JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PSD (Mac only) and PNG formats
  • WuGgaRoOWuGgaRoO Not in the shower Icrontian
    edited June 2005
    the main hinderance in the ipoc is its inability to allow the user to use it for however he sees fit. For instance, my iriver (bless its soul) used to be able to hold ANY infromation with out a problem. It would attach to the computer as if it was an external harddrive and u would use the drag and drop function. Now i was wondering, does anyone know of any recent portable audioplayers with a similiar interface
  • fatcatfatcat Mizzou Icrontian
    edited June 2005
    WuGgaRoO wrote:
    the main hinderance in the ipoc is its inability to allow the user to use it for however he sees fit. For instance, my iriver (bless its soul) used to be able to hold ANY infromation with out a problem. It would attach to the computer as if it was an external harddrive and u would use the drag and drop function. Now i was wondering, does anyone know of any recent portable audioplayers with a similiar interface

    um dude, you can use an iPod solely as an external hdd if you wanted to, although ur limited to the speed of the iPod hdd/firewire/usb2. when you plug the iPod in, it shows up as a device in My Computer. just drag/drop files to the iPod
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