Rio Carbon vs Ipod Mini

AN MP3 is an MP3. There are many different forms of audio files. WMA...Atrac, Atrac3+, mp3 wav....etc....

 

since we are on the topic, i was debating between the ipod mini or the zen micro? anyone have feedback on the micro?

I was thinking about going with the zen mainly because of the replacible battery, but im still not sure.

 

see my post . . . I love my Zen Micro. I use it every day. It's been durable, it sounds great, and the Napster 2 Go service is the bomb! My major caveat is that making it work with N2G was not the smoothest thing in the world. Oh, and if you do use a Zen Micro, use WMP to sync, it works a lot better than anything else.

 

I have a Zen Micro and really love it. The sound quality is very good and i really dig the touchpad controls. The build quality is pretty solid as well.

When i purchased it I was really looking at the IPOD mini but I glad i went with the Zen. Its about $20 cheaper if you catch it on sale and has an extra gig of storage space, FM Tuner (which kinda sucks) and a voice record function. The removable battery is also a nice feature as well when compaired to the IPOD which you have to send it if it goes bad.

I also looked into the RIO carbon and it was also very nice. Though i was concerned about the build quality and reliability and I have had problems with RIO in the past.

 

I have old, old Rio MP3 player. What I like about it is that I don't have to use iTunes to load up music, it's pretty much drag and drop thru an older version of RealPlayer that I have.

 

I am very happy with my IRiver 20 gig player I got for Christmas. It is basically a portable hard drive and I can play video on it (after installing the firmware from their Korean website) and record and listen to the radio. The sound is awesome and I really, really like being able to drag and drop to load it up. I can basically get any file I want from most computers. I am not sure about the mini IRiver players, but I imagine they are pretty good.

 

what model is it?

 

I believe there was a sale last month at all Houston area Fry's.. green color only.

Yeah, I can upload whatever I want to it.

 

ive had two 40gig ipods break down on me. thats the bad news. the good news is, both times, the apple warranty was good enough that they replaced the ipod for free. the one i have now ive had for about four months now and seems to be fine *knock on wood*. i think the problem was i carried the first one unprotected in my backpack sometimes and it might have gotten hit a few times, and the second one was knocked off my desk once by my cats. just dont drop the ipod and it should be fine.

 

I can't give you an answer from firsthand experience, but I know two people who have had a Dell DJ. One loves it, and the other tried it for a week, hated it, and ended up getting an iPod Mini.

Take that for what it's worth. I don't know the reasons why or the model numbers, I never asked.

 

i'm looking to get an mp3 player for use when i'm out running. been looking at the rio cali 256 mb flash. anyone know anything about it? some people who've used it said its flimsy and some said theyve dropped it, kicked it, and had it go through sweat and rain and it still looks and works like new.

how are the hard drive mp3 players like rio carbon and ipod mini when used for running?
i think jeff uses a ipod shuffle for running doesnt he?

 

I have a DJ30 (the 30 gig model) and I love it. It seems well built, has a nice aluminum case (real metal) and is very easy to navigate. I have no problems whatsoever scrolling to get to songs/albums/artists that I want to listen to.

You can choose the original firm ware and use Music Match (the included software) or Windows Media Palyer to sync music to your player or you can load the PlayForSure firmware and use Windows Media Player (or any other PlayForSure compliant software) to sync and to use online music services like Napster to Go. You could even use third party software like Deubox Explorer for syncing if you have really advanced needs.

One think that I liked about the DJ was that you are not stuck using a single proprietary piece of software to sync you player. You've got some choices. I really don't like ITunes and if you use an IPod you kind of have to use ITunes.

The DJ is a very basic, no frills MP3/WMA player that seems well built and very reasonably priced. So, if you want something that people will ogle over, the DJ may not be for you. But if you want a good, solid MP3 player that sounds good (guts are by Creative Labs I hear) the DJ is a good option.

The main thing I would consider with regard to IPods is that there is a HUGE third party accessory market for them. If aftermarket accessories are important you may want to consider an IPod.

Dell's go on sale all the time so you may want to keep an eye out. I got my DJ30 for $250 plus free shipping.

One last thing: With any MP3 player I would get an extended warantee. If you look at the Creative or Rio or Ipod or Dell message boards there are always people complaining about broken players. Of course, message boards are where people are supposed to go for help with broken players to I would not use them as a measure of a players durability but MP3 players seem to break and an extended warantee makes replacing them a whole lot easier. I have had no problems at all with my Dell.

 

I have the IRiver H320. 20 gigs. It is enough for me, but getting the 40 gig model is not much more of an investment and worth the money I would imagine. I got mine while I was in Texas over Christmas. I just could not fine the 40 gig one in any stores here.

 

I think candycane has one.