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[Cauliflower of Love]

Yes, yes, another fucking thread, but um....help a brotha out.


I'm way out of the loop.

edit: oh yeah, Iriver is the one with gapless play, right? Gaplessplay is definatey a plus.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

Get the Rio Karma. You should be able to find it on the Net for under $200 these days. It's got gapless playback. I think iRiver has promised it but hasn't delivered yet. The Karma comes with 20GB of storage and tons of options for music playback. Very nice. Not as long as an iPod but thicker. I love mine.

Here it is for $175.

http://www.compuplus.com/insidepage.php3?refer=pricegrabber.com&id=1001537

 

[COCKLES]

No other possible choice IMHO.

http://www.tomshardware.com/mobile/20041021/index.html

Gmini 400

Music quality is great, you can store plenty with 20gig and the fact you can play movies (mines packed with about 15 movies (30fps at 640*480) and 20 episodes of TV, Lost, Contender, Dr Who ect is the icing on the cake. Oh and it plays games.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

The Gmini does rock, and I have the Archos AV420 for video, but it doesn't exactly fall under $200.

 

[samus4ever]

No other possible choice IMHO.

http://www.tomshardware.com/mobile/20041021/index.html

Gmini 400

Music quality is great, you can store plenty with 20gig and the fact you can play movies (mines packed with about 15 movies (30fps at 640*480) and 20 episodes of TV, Lost, Contender, Dr Who ect is the icing on the cake. Oh and it plays games.

he said for 200 dollars, not 400.

 

[frolet]

Creative Zen Nomad Xtra 30GB for $198.87

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/prod...ct_id=2689656&sourceid=0100000030660804302498

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

The Zen isn't bad, and the 30 GB is larger then a lot of other DAPs for the price, but the unit as a whole is bigger as well. Nice sound quality though. I still say stay with the Karma for more features and better over all size.

 

[Fresh Prince]

Get the Rio Karma. You should be able to find it on the Net for under $200 these days. It's got gapless playback. I think iRiver has promised it but hasn't delivered yet. The Karma comes with 20GB of storage and tons of options for music playback. Very nice. Not as long as an iPod but thicker. I love mine.

Here it is for $175.

http://www.compuplus.com/insidepage.php3?refer=pricegrabber.com&id=1001537

Karma has gapless playback if I'm not mistaken the iRiver has pseudo gapless or something. Definately a Karma-but reliabilty is an issue so I'd get a warranty plan. Old Creative's I've heard are pretty hardy so :dunno

Also I think with the creative you can put in a laptop hardrive if you want more space (though somebody put a mini\micro 40gb in a Karma)

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

There have been some issues with Karma reliability in the past, but I've had mine since Day 1 and have had zero problems with it. An extended warranty can be a real useful thing on items like this none the less.

 

[Great King Bowser]

Apparently creative are releasing a 20gb version of the Zen Micro.

http://www.tomshardware.com/hardnews/20050331_113750.html

Article's dated 31st March, so hoping it isn't a stupid April fools because I'd seriously consider one. Supposedly $200 but that sounds way too cheap. If it's an April fools there'll be hell to pay.

 

[bionic77]

No other possible choice IMHO.

http://www.tomshardware.com/mobile/20041021/index.html

Gmini 400

Music quality is great, you can store plenty with 20gig and the fact you can play movies (mines packed with about 15 movies (30fps at 640*480) and 20 episodes of TV, Lost, Contender, Dr Who ect is the icing on the cake. Oh and it plays games.

That screen looks way too small to enjoy movies on it. I would imagine if you don't want to lug around a nice laptop that a PDA or PSP is a better option for watching movies on the go. Personally I just use my laptop.

 

[jobber]

I got the Nomad Xtra for $200 at Best Buy in December and it never leaves my side. It's nearly full too

 

[WHOAguitarninja]

Karma has gapless playback if I'm not mistaken the iRiver has pseudo gapless or something. Definately a Karma-but reliabilty is an issue so I'd get a warranty plan. Old Creative's I've heard are pretty hardy so :dunno

Also I think with the creative you can put in a laptop hardrive if you want more space (though somebody put a mini\micro 40gb in a Karma)

Having owned both, let me add my two cents.


As a pure audio player, the karma is superior. If all you want is something to play music, I think the Karma is probably the best bet. The interface is great, as is sound quality, gapless playback, support of tons of file types, including multiple types of lossless codecs.

As a general purpose device, my iRiver is superior. I can record line in(which I'm actually doing as I type this, recording the audio from a live video), via the internal mic, i can listen to the radio, record the radio, and view pictures.


But I'd be lying if I said there were no times that I missed my Karma.

 

[3rdman]

That screen looks way too small to enjoy movies on it. I would imagine if you don't want to lug around a nice laptop that a PDA or PSP is a better option for watching movies on the go. Personally I just use my laptop.

I own one of those Gmini400's and happinly I can say you're wrong. The screen is small but its backlit and looks great. With 20 gigs, there is enough room to store over 100 hours of video and you could always output the video to a nearby TV. PSP has a beautiful screen, but when you're only option for storage is MS cards...it's really not worth it for videos. Hopefully a hard drive enabled version that was rumored turns out to be true.

Me and the wife have been taking the Gmini everywhere...nothing like sharing a steak while watching "The Incredibles." But under 200, this one won't do...

 

[COCKLES]

That screen looks way too small to enjoy movies on it. I would imagine if you don't want to lug around a nice laptop that a PDA or PSP is a better option for watching movies on the go. Personally I just use my laptop.

It's surprisingly watchable! Being able to connect it your TV to display stuff is an added bonus when visiting friends as well - great TV quality as well. Great thing about the size it's so small, now summer is here and you don't want to carry a bag around when out drinking or something, you can still slip the Gmini into your trouser pocket without any bulk.

Hopefuly they'll update it soon. Remeove the bottom option buttons, increase the screen size to widescreen, stick in FM radio. Infact make the whole unit touch sensitive screen DS style and do away with buttons all together so the whole front is a screen. Probably lose games functionality, but that's no loss to be honest.

 

[Winged Creature]

Apparently creative are releasing a 20gb version of the Zen Micro.

http://www.tomshardware.com/hardnews/20050331_113750.html

Article's dated 31st March, so hoping it isn't a stupid April fools because I'd seriously consider one. Supposedly $200 but that sounds way too cheap. If it's an April fools there'll be hell to pay.

the battery life on that one sucks, its 11 hours and apparently doesnt last long according to CNET asia

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

Having owned both, let me add my two cents.


As a pure audio player, the karma is superior. If all you want is something to play music, I think the Karma is probably the best bet. The interface is great, as is sound quality, gapless playback, support of tons of file types, including multiple types of lossless codecs.

As a general purpose device, my iRiver is superior. I can record line in(which I'm actually doing as I type this, recording the audio from a live video), via the internal mic, i can listen to the radio, record the radio, and view pictures.


But I'd be lying if I said there were no times that I missed my Karma.

Nice summary. I agree with you completely. For pure audio, it's difficult to beat the Karma, but with the other options factored in, the iRiver is a great DAP too.

Don't forget, the Karma comes with a nice docking station that makes it very easy to sync your music and playlists.

 

[Cauliflower of Love]

Much obliged guys. One thing that's keeping me from finalizing on the karma is the lack of drag and drop. =\ My mp3 collection is a huge clustefuck of id3 tag free mp3's. Does the Zen have gapless?

edit: also the bad talk of the hd's on the karma, making me iffy. If i decide on that guess i'll put my all karma eggs in that basket. (sorry )

 

[Great King Bowser]

Gah, quite sorry to hear the battery on that 20gb Zen Micro is only 11 hrs. What the hell happened, weren't the Zen Touch/Micros clocking in at 24hour battery lifes?

I would've considered replacing my iRiver H140 with it if the battery wasn't so poo.

But I'm still happy with my H140. So I put it forth as a recommendation.

40gb, 16hr battery life (there's higher capacity aftermarkets available now which are easy to install), MP3, WAV, WMA, OGG playback, FM radio, Line in, line out, Optical in, optical out. Built in Mic (useful for dictaphone style use, lectures etc.), recognised as external HDD with no drivers in Windows XP/2000, drag and drop.

No gapless at the moment due to iRiver releasing pretty shitty firmware. But Rockbox group are currently coding their own firmware which is offering a load of cool features including proper gapless playback, and even features a GameBoy Emulator!

Check out Mistic River's forums for really good iRiver community and information on Rockbox's upcoming firmware.

 

[WHOAguitarninja]

Much obliged guys. One thing that's keeping me from finalizing on the karma is the lack of drag and drop. =\ My mp3 collection is a huge clustefuck of id3 tag free mp3's. Does the Zen have gapless?

edit: also the bad talk of the hd's on the karma, making me iffy. If i decide on that guess i'll put my all karma eggs in that basket. (sorry )

My hd on my karma lasted about 2 years, and it was one of the earlier models. I'm sure they're far better by now.

So far as I know, the karma is the only truly gapless player.

If they really do manage gapless on the iRiver that'll be FANTASTIC (since my 3 favorite cd's of all time all have songs that bleed into each other). I'll still say the karma is a better audio player though just because of how quick it responds, boots up, and starts songs.

Whatever decision you make, I'm sure you'll be happy with it. There aren't many DAP's out there that are just plain BAD, and the ones you're considering are all fantastic in their own right.

 

[The Interrobanger]

I've got a 40GB Creative Zen Xtra and I love it.
Too bad it's already 80% full though...

 

[RaymondCarver]

lack of drag and drop

That keeps me for purchasing those type.









There's no difinitive word in sub $200, is there? I'm talking no video, doesn't have to be in color screen, all for the purpose of listening to and easily accessing music.


That's what daddy wants.

 

[Cauliflower of Love]

Well I've decided on the Karma. $180 I'm gonna put the 30 dollar 2 yr add on warranty. So for $215 ish I'll have a gapless player and should it crap out in 6 - 24months, I can get another, presumably better by then, different $180 player.

 

[RaymondCarver]

let's hear more about the Gameboy emulator....