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Mp3 players ? Any advice please ???
Andybarbet - 6/5/06 at 06:39 PM

Ive decided to get a decent mp3 type player & am looking at ones with around 30gig of memory.

The ipod 30gig does video and pics aswell but reading the reviews, the battery life is very short & its casing scratches very easily. Also you dont get a mains charger so you have to plug it into usb to charge ??? Good thing with ipod is the amount of add ons you can buy for it, car chargers & docking stations etc.

The Creative Zen Vision:M 30GB sounds very good, bit more expensive but amazons owners reviews look much better than the iPod. They reckon the software is much better than itunes & the video playback is far superior to iPod ??
Also it can be used as a memory stick which is handy

So has anyone got any recommendations for me ? have you got 1 and what do you think of it ? good or bad feedback please

Cheers......Andy

flak monkey - 6/5/06 at 06:54 PM

Said it before...

Get a Sony NWHD series one. Not sure what number they are up to now without doing some research...

Better than an ipod (will last longer than 18months), infinately cooler. Incidently they are also cheaper than the crappy Ipods....

Yes I have one (NWHD5), so I am a bit biased. But i think everything I have said above is true

David

[Edited on 6/5/06 by flak monkey]

chockymonster - 6/5/06 at 07:08 PM

Ipod.

I've got a 30gb photo, my wife has a 4gb nano. Sound quality is great. Battery life isn't bad either.

You can get a mains charger as an accessory. Mine came with one but to be honest I haven't used it at all!

The other bonus about the ipod is the control software. I-Tunes is good but there are also loads of 3rd party ones that are even better.

I did have a sony mp3 player and took it back after getting so frustrated with sony's P*ss Poor attempt at a piece of software to control it.

Humbug - 6/5/06 at 07:40 PM

If you don't want photo capability, try this: Archos 20GB

I've had mine for a month or so, and it's great. Also, unlike Apple, Sony, etc. you don't have to use proprietary software. You can alos use it as a hard disk connected to your PC.

GBP129.99 from Amazon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000CFBU4I/qid%3D1146944282/202-5474099-3015843 Rescued attachment B000CFBU4I.02.jpg
Rescued attachment B000CFBU4I.02.jpg

greggors84 - 6/5/06 at 08:18 PM

I wouldnt listen to too many of the bad reviews about the Ipods. Everyone who i know who has one, including myself, think they are great, except my friend who was annoyed hers stopped working for a while after she spilt her drink all over it, but was fine after a good drying.

I think as they are so popular and the one everyone has, people like to bitch about them as say how rubbish they are. Its like windows, so many people complain how rubbish it is compared to other O/S and older versions. But its good at what it does really.

Mezzz - 6/5/06 at 09:01 PM

Sorry its gotta be an I Pod

flak monkey - 6/5/06 at 09:16 PM

quote:
Originally posted by greggors84
I think as they are so popular and the one everyone has, people like to bitch about them as say how rubbish they are. Its like windows, so many people complain how rubbish it is compared to other O/S and older versions. But its good at what it does really.


I complain about them because everyone I know who owns one has had it break on them after no more than 18months. A few have even had replacements under warranty. Not through misuse or abuse, just because they are not well made. They feel cheap and nasty, not like a £200 bit of kit should.

I tout the Sony one as good because it is very well made (metal casing), it sounds brilliant (compared to an IPod through my good system at home), it looks good, isnt a fashion accessory that everyone and their dog has just because its an IPod, it cost £40 less than the equivalent IPod at the time. I dropped my accidentally from head height a couple of weeks ago, (actually more threw it while i was talking to someone) the only damage it suffered was a scratch to the case, an Ipod wouldnt stand up to that... I could tell stories but I cant be bothered at the moment.

The new version of sonic stage isnt as bad as people make out that it is. I certainly have no problems using it with 25Gb+ of music.

If you want other recommendations, the Olympus ones are great, and look very cool as are many of the Archos ones. Some of the Rio ones are nice too.

Benzine - 6/5/06 at 10:30 PM

Cowon iAudio X5L ftw! Ipods are for sheep. With electrical products, as well as most things I buy, I search around for ages to find the best product within whatever price range I'm aiming for. Since there are better things than ipods at cheaper prices I buy these things.

Edit: I'm not saying ipods are bad in anyway, they do the job just fine and there's nothing wrong with them. I just went for one that had a metal case, 35hours of actual battery life and more features.

[Edited on 6/5/06 by Benzine]

gingerprince - 6/5/06 at 11:10 PM

I would never have bought an Ipod, however when I got one for free from www.freepay.com (which have now changed their t+c such that it's a lot harder now) I couldn't live without it!

Was a bit peeved that you didn't get an AC adaptor with it, and they charged 20 quid for one, but on ebay you can get a mains->USB adaptor for 5 quid so you can charge it anyway.

It is a nice piece if kit - especially for the money

lsdweb - 7/5/06 at 08:17 AM

I went for an iPod because of th amount of add ons available and, in particular, the Dension Ice Link (picture below)which is outstanding! Rescued attachment dension.jpg
Rescued attachment dension.jpg

donut - 7/5/06 at 08:26 AM

I have an iPod Nano 4Gig. Battery life is ok providing you don't keep fiddling with it, as it's the backlight that eats up battery life.

Also you need iTunes which for me is the best free software I think I have ever had. On all my other MP3's I had to change the file name so the tracks would play in order and not alphabetically, iTunes sorts all this out for you. Also I’m slowly putting all my CD's on iTunes and can leave the computer playing random tracks all day long. It's like having a radio station with no DJ, no ads and playing music that you actually want to listen to.

The iPod also sounds superb.

The end.

[Edited on 7/5/06 by donut]

OX - 7/5/06 at 10:06 AM

the iriver ,these are brilliant Iriver

Marcus - 7/5/06 at 04:21 PM

I'm with Donut on this one, got a 4gb Nano.
Well built, reasonable battery life, excellent sound quality, like Itunes, looks good in black.
Don't use it for photos though (can't see the point - small screen, bad eyes!). Wife kept borrowing it though told her to get her own. Now a 2 ipod family!

Marcus

chockymonster - 7/5/06 at 04:33 PM

If you want another option to Itunes look at anapod by Red Chair software. So much more functional and only a £10.

Puts the bigger software houses to shame

Pezza - 7/5/06 at 06:30 PM

Got the ipod 4gb nano here too, been very impressed with it, battery lasts 2 days of work and is a piece of wee to use/upload too comepared to some of the other mostrosities i've had in the past.

dave dickson - 8/5/06 at 10:10 AM

I was looking for a 20gig player a while back, and got the 20gig version of the Creative Zen Micro from Hong Kong via ebay.

A couple of friends have 20gig Ipods and the Zen is smaller, feels better built, the battery lasts much longer and is easilly replaceable in the future, and it can easilly be set up with a partition of any size you like and it can be used as a drag n drop style usb drive.

Humbug - 8/5/06 at 09:33 PM

quote:
Originally posted by snoopy
also available at tesco,s
http://www.tesco.com/electrical/product.aspx?R=8322611


...but Amazon is £20 cheaper for the Archos!

Jasper - 9/5/06 at 11:58 AM

iPod - love my 30gig, Denison link for the car is superb.

Gadeget Show still rated it as the best mp3 played - interface is superb.

wildchild - 9/5/06 at 12:02 PM

IPods - Expensive, trendy, and locked down.

I bought the cheapest, nastiest MP3 player I could find on the grounds it supported several file types, functioned as a normal flash drive and doesn't try to interfere with how I listen to my music.

Jasper - 9/5/06 at 03:00 PM

quote:
Originally posted by wildchild
IPods - Expensive, trendy, and locked down.


And I can store ALL my music on it, it's an absolute joy to use, and has masses of aftermarket accessories for it.

I tried to use my Dad's Creative mp3 player - it was around the same price as my iPod and was horrible to use, the user interface on both the unit and the PC were very unintuitive ... it just didn't put a smile on my face like my iPod does.

It might be trendy - but there's a reason why so many have sold - because it does what it says it will do so very well.

I know if has it's own file format, so I just keep all my music on my PC in original MP3 format as well.....

You pays you money ........

[Edited on 9/5/06 by Jasper]