MP3 players - Ipod?

only gotta look 1 page off the front for this one..

http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=109123

 

Some PC people prefer non-apple products out of wariness, but I've yet to see people throw their iPod in the garbage to go get a Zen player. Like most people who have one, I would never want anything but an iPod - Apple is the leading innovator of the product, and competitors seem to just play catch up.

There are only a couple of caveats that you should be aware of:
-iPods *seem* to be more reliable and trouble-free if they are synched to a mac computer than a PC. I know of only 2 people who have endless troubles with iPod's that freeze or otherwise glitch, and they're both hooked to PCs.

-Apple's iTunes bases its music, in particular the songs you purchase, on AAC encoding which is not as universal as mp3 or even WMA. All purchased downloaded music, regardless of website, has digital rights managment, but if you make a "mp3" CD for your car using AAC songs, it won't play. You can burn them as audio tracks, but Apple will not permit direct [protected] AAC-->mp3 conversion. Also, Apple (last I checked) won't work with WMA, if you have that in your collection. AAC, though, is a much better encoding (more band for your MB buck) format than mp3.

I mention the above not because these are things that frustrate me, but because I'd like to give you as complete a picture as possible. The iPods are awesome, and the smart playlists you can create are a big part of that. It gets old choosing songs and making a playlist just to get tired of them, but with iTunes, you can set it up to automatically make playlists based on criteria (my rating is ___, song hasn't been played for 2 weeks, genre is rock, etc).

As far as particular iPods to buy:
The video iPods are neat, and the upper end ones (80 GB) have far more room than you could possibly use for music alone (my entire collection of 3700 songs fills 23 GB, and I use relatively high bitrate encoding). Numerous users have claimed that they are much easier to scratch than older iPods. If the video really excites you, be aware that a widescreen (4" over the current 2.5") version is supposedly going to be released in the upcoming months.

The iPod nanos are fantastic for jogging, since they're so lightweight and they have the Nike+ workout kit that tracks your distance and pace which are uploaded when you synch to your computer. The nanos only go up to 8 GB, so they may not be enough to hold all you want.

The shuffles are iPod Jr. No playlists, no monitor, just a teeny guy for teeny cash. 1 GB, so you'll only manage to have a few more songs than what fits on an mp3 CD.

A final option is getting refurbished iPods from Apple (online, in stores, or off ebay). The nicest thing about this is you could snag a non-video 30 GB iPod which coud be more ideal if you simply want to have music, all your music, and nothing but music. They'll be slightly thicker and heavier than what's out today, but they could also turn out to be your best bargin.

Evan

 

You are in luck. Apple Store just dropped the price on all refurb Ipods quite a bit.

* iPod Shuffle 512MB: $33 Shipped
* iPod Shuffle 1GB: $59 Shipped
* iPod Nano 1GB: $109 Shipped
* iPod Nano 2GB: $99 Shipped
* iPod Nano 4GB: $149 Shipped
* iPod Video 30GB: $179 Shipped
* iPod Mini 4GB: $99 Shipped
* iPod Mini 6GB: $129 Shipped

 

I wanted an iPod, but the price turned me away. I ended up getting a 40 GB Creative instead. I like it.

 

If you open a WMA file in iTunes, it won't play it, but it will open a window asking you if you want to convert it to mp3. Hit yes, it converts it, goes into your library, you can play it.

 

I got the 30g video recently. I am in love. The video is soooo worth the extra $.

 

...Zune

 

Why did you decide just today to buy one?

If you told me earlier you couldve bought one (yesterday only) 30 gig video Ipod for only 174.99!!

http://www.fatwallet.com/t/18/669570/

 

It's posted above that the 30gb refurb is pretty much the same price from the apple store.. from what i hear, they're just as good. (I haven't dealt w/refurb ipods, but refurb other electronics have always been fine for me)

 

Refurbished anything won't last as long. Ive had plenty of Ipod problems with my original one. They kept sending me refurbished ones and the battery would not last as long to begin with and the entire thing kept dying within 6 months. I was fed up with the way they were handling it I just ended up buying a nano. I havent had problems since.

And these refurbished Xbox 360's are nonsense.

Its like buying a car. If you are getting both used and new for the same price, why would you settle for used?

 

i dont know why ipods are considered the leading innovator. if by leading innovator you mean being the first to flood the media with as much advertisements as possible, then yeah, its the leader alright.

i think on this board alone, there's been at least more than 2 people who ditched their ipod for creative. if i'm not mistaken, the ipod song display was originally owned by creative, until they were bought over by apple?

if you know the features you want, there are alternatives to the ipod, that are cheaper and has extra features (radio, recorder, etc). if you dont want to think about it and just want an mp3 player, go get yourself an ipod.

i use a cowon iaudio. plays mp3s, wmv, flac, ogg and maybe a few others i dont know about. fm radio, recorder, and can encode mp3s directly from an inline jack. doesnt need any special software to work on different computers. drag and drop from any folder into the player's folder just like a thumb drive.