Support NeoGAF

[Gruco]

I figure there haven't been enough of these!

...

Alright, so I'm trying to think of what I want to get. I've been thinking that it might make sense to have a larger hard drive one to keep for playing around home and on trips and stuff, and then maybe a smaller flash one on top of that, for working out. That seems kinda inefficient, but I hate to wreck one working out if I a ton of stuff on it.

Ideally, I'd like to stay away from iPod. But I'm not vehemently opposed; I'd get one if it seemed like the best option. One thing that appeals to me about it the availability of audiobooks on iTunes. Not sure how readily available those are elsewhere. I generally like the wheel interface too. From what I've seen, the audio quality doesn't make my ears bleed or anything; although if I'm buying this for storing my entire collection for listening at home, high sound quality would be nice...In terms of battery, anything over ten hours is all the same to me...

For flash, the Rio Forge looks pretty cool. Marked down in most places, plus radio and stuff.

Honestly, part of me want to wait a while for something, because nothing on the market really jumps out as being exactly right. Don't like the wheel on the Rio Karma, the iRiver looks like a pain to use (Zen Touch looks pretty solid though). But I don't know what else is on the way, or how long I'd be waiting....

 

[Pochacco]

I'm quite happy with my iPod HDD player.

 

[Cauliflower of Love]

I'm rocking a Karma. Bought it about a month ago. It's sex. Very good value for the $. A 20 gig for about $180 from buy.com, you can nab a refurb on ebay for $150 or so.

The wheel is nice. From what I hear, it's one of the better/quicker interfaces around. Plus, gapless.

 

[Teknopathetic]

I'm rocking my NetMD N707 (Hi-MD shortly, hopefully.)

 

[Dilbert]

What is your total budget? What are your top five most important features (battery life, software interface, aesthetics, storage capacity, durability, sound quality, ability to play certain kinds of formats, etc.), and how imporant is each of those five on a scale from 1 to 10?

 

[guess]

Iand then maybe a smaller flash one on top of that, for working out.

I just bought a Samsung YP-T7.

$150 for 512MB

Color LCD (65K Color)
JPEG Image & Text Viewer
Clock Function (Alarm, Programmed FM Rec.)
512MB Real Time Equalizer Display
MP3, WMA, Secure WMA, ASF, JPEG
Flash Storage Device
FM Tuner & Recorder
10 Hr. Built-In Li-Polymer Battery
Voice Recording
Magnesium & Aluminum Body Blue

CNET Review

 

[Gruco]

What is your total budget? What are your top five most important features (battery life, software interface, aesthetics, storage capacity, durability, sound quality, ability to play certain kinds of formats, etc.), and how imporant is each of those five on a scale from 1 to 10?

Willing to spend in the neighborhood of 400, but would prefer to keep it closer to 300.

As for how I'd rate things, I'm going to give two sets of criteria because what I want will probably conflict depending on the situation (working out vs. travel and listening at home/work).

Hard drive (20 GB) -

Durability 7/10 - I don't want anything that will self destruct, but I'll take good care of it, so it doesn't need to be legendary for surviving people chucking it against the wall...

Audiobook support. 7/10

Software and user interface 6/10

Aesthetics 6/10

Sound quality is nice, but subordinate to the above (iPod is supposedly low end here, but I don't have a problem with it). 5/10

Battery is probably the least important. Or rather, it's important so long as I can get maybe ten hours in. Anything that extends beyond twelve hours is irrelevant. 3/10

For file types, the only thing that matters is that I can easily rip my CDs.....


Flash (256, 512, whatever)-

Durability - 10/10 I can see me beating the hell out of it while running.

Software interface 6/10

FM radio 6/10

Aestheics don't matter, and sound quality will be less of a concern than for the hard drive one, only need 4-5 hours for battery.

 

[Dilbert]

The reason I asked for your criteria and their ranking was to help you set up a trade study. People should rank those attributes on a 1-10 scale for each model, and then you can get an overall score by multiplying (weight)(score) for each attribute, and summing all of them up. Unfortunately, most of what you listed is weighted to be 6 or 7, and this method works best with more sharply differentiated preferences.

In any case, here is some data about iPod and iPod shuffle, since you could buy a 20GB 4G iPod for $299 and a 512 MB iPod shuffle for $99 and make your budget (pre-tax). Hopefully some other people can provide data on other kinds of MP3 players. I'm only familiar with iPods, sadly enough.

4G iPod 20GB

Durability 7/10 - I have a 3G model, and so far, it's survived for over a year and a half with no incidents. Then again, I treat the thing really well. The chrome on the back does have some scratches, and I managed to get a scratch on the screen as well, but neither bothers me all that much. Score: 7

Audiobook support 7/10 - Supports Audible, and most podcasting software integrates with the iPod seamlessly. Score: 10

Software and user interface 6/10 - I like iTunes a lot, and with the exception of a few tricks, the user interface is a no-brainer, especially if you have a small enough collection to make auto-sync the best option. The integration with the iTunes Music Store is a plus for me, and if you plan to purchase a lot of audiobooks through iTMS, then it could be a big plus for you. Otherwise, it's not any special advantage. On the downside, iTunes consumes a decent amount of system resources (worth noting if you have an older PC) and doesn't look like any other PC apps. Overall, though, it kicks the crap out of most other jukebox packages I've seen. Score: 8

Aesthetics 6/10 - Either you love the minimal white/gray design, or it bugs the crap out of you. I bought one, so you can see where I stand. Score: 9

Sound quality 5/10 - Not as loud as I'd like, and you need to run the EQ to get any decent bass out of it. The iPod shuffle, by contrast, sounds spectacular. Score: 5

Battery 3/10 - I have an earlier model, but from talking to people with the 4G iPods, you can expect 8-10 hours depending on usage patterns. Score: 6

Minimum criteria - It has a 20 GB drive and iTunes can rip CDs into a variety of formats, including MP3 and AAC. If you prefer to use another CD ripper, it's trivial to add those files to the iTunes library for syncing with the iPod. Score: PASS

iPod shuffle 512MB

Durability - 10/10 - The unit itself is so light that it's hard to imagine a fall screwing it up. With that being said, I'm getting an aluminum case as soon as the Belkin one is available. That does add to the cost, though. No way in hell I'd hang it from a lanyard. So far, it's been great for the gym, which is why I picked it up. Score: 8

Software interface 6/10 - Ditto all the comments above. An additional plus for the shuffle is the autofill feature. If you have a playlist with workout music, it could easily generate fresh mixes for you. I tend to play tracks in order and load it up with long (1-3 hour) DJ mixes for the gym. Score: 8

FM radio 6/10 - Doesn't have one. Score: 0

Minimum criteria - The battery life is outstanding (12+ hours in my experience) and the sound quality is MUCH better than the regular iPods. The aesthetics are quite controversial, and really boils down to whether or not the lack of screen bothers you. In my case, I have no need to look at the screen -- I bought it for the gym. If it was my primary player, the missing screen would bug the living crap out of me.

Again, I hope some other people can contribute...or critique my numbers.

 

[GDJustin]

I bought an iPod because its what's popular.

I like it.

 

[calder]

I got it over 5 years ago (7?) and it just won't die. Obsolete but it just keeps going, and it still does what it does well enough to prevent me from upgrading, although part of that is because my portable audio needs are much less nowadays.

 

[Great King Bowser]

Anything by iRiver.

I've had my H140 for going on a year and I still love it to death.

 

[ArcadeStickMonk]

I was shopping for a replacement for my 2nd Gen iPod last October. I heavily considered going the iRiver route. The two factors that prevented me from actually getting the iRiver were power supply and song transferrence. I went with a 4th Gen iPod.

I almost got one of the iRiver flash players, since I realized that I really only listen to about a gig worth of music anyway. However, I refused to change batteries in my player. I also refused to have another AC adaptor cord running across my desk. The iPod lets my plug it into a dock (so it has a "place") and it allows me to charge it with the same cord I use to transfer music. This was really important to me.

I don't know what iRiver owners use to transfer song onto their players; frankly, I don't want to know. They use WMP I guess. I could already use WMP with my first iPod, thanks to Xplay (the software, not the show) and I wasn't too keen on it. I tried out iTunes after holding off on it for over a year, and fell in love with it. I play my shit, I transfer my shit, I rip my shit, and sometimes I even buy my shit - all at once. It was too smooth to pass up.

Basically, even though I tried pretty hard to find an iPod alternative, in the end I found that only the iPod would let me use it like I wanted to. Less cords and less software. Interfacing is just about everything to me; it's all about how you use a given device. The convenience equals out the amount of money I've put out since in accessorizing\protecting the 4th Gen.

 

[Great King Bowser]

I just use drag and drop on my iRiver H140. Nothing can be easier than that.

 

[ArcadeStickMonk]

It's simple and close to windows and I can appreciate that. But just putting my iPod in its dock and having iTunes fire up by itself and update any changes in my library to the iPod is absolutely zero mouse clicks.

Well, one I guess, because iTunes won't close by itself.

 

[Manics]

I used my iPod mini at my sister's wedding this past saturday. It was a small wedding of only 40 guests and the bride&groom just wanted a random selection of jazzy tunes playing in the background. Basically they gave me all the music they wanted, I ripped them to mp3's then I used mp3gain to make all the sound levels consistent across the songs. We hooked the mini up to an amp and speakers using the ipod mini dock and it was great. All in all, it made me realize how far we've come with technology to be able to carry the entire wedding music playlist in my pocket.

 

[Talas]

Anything by iRiver.

Agreed, I love my H320.

 

[Great King Bowser]

Even though you say you're not bothered by sound output; H140 + Super Mini Moy amp + Shure e2C sound isolating headphones/Grado SR80s = Bliss.

 

[Shinobi]

For the players that have built in rechargable batteries (which seem to be almost all the HD players), how long do those last? And what happens if they can't be recharged anymore? And which HD players have batteries that can be changed?

 

[Matlock]

I <3 my ipod shuffle!

Great for runnin'! And gokartin'!

 

[CosmicGroinPull]

Sony NW-HD5

20GB, a bit smaller than ipod (55.9*89.3*14.4mm) apparently

Review

i'd check it out if i didn't already have a 4G ipod

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

I'll throw in another vote for the Karma. The wheel works great once you get use to it, and there aren't many audio players on the market now that have the features of the Karma, which is a year and a half old. I've had mine since the day they hit stores, and I love it. I know there were some quality issues early on, but I've never had a problem, and I use it working out and running all the time. The Rio DJ is unmatched for customizing on the go what you want to listen to, and gapless is just awesome. Plus, it supports a ton of formats, has plenty of storage, is small (but a bit thick), and had great battery life and better sound then the iPod. On top of all that, it's damn cheap to pick one up right now.

 

[DarienA]

I've skipped the whole MP3 crazy because while I have gigs of MP3's at home I've never felt the need to have them with me at work, etc.... well one of my co-workers recently showed me her ipod mini with the itrip add-on... and that would be perfect for my car using the fm modulation the same way I use it for my XM Radio... so my question is... do any other mp3 players come with fm modulators built in? do any other mp3 players have fm modulators as add-on's?

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

I've skipped the whole MP3 crazy because while I have gigs of MP3's at home I've never felt the need to have them with me at work, etc.... well one of my co-workers recently showed me her ipod mini with the itrip add-on... and that would be perfect for my car using the fm modulation the same way I use it for my XM Radio... so my question is... do any other mp3 players come with fm modulators built in? do any other mp3 players have fm modulators as add-on's?

There have been a couple that have come withit built in. I forget which models off the time of my head, but they were some of the poorer reviewd units, so it really wasn't a selling point. On the other hand, there are plenty of FM Transmitter add-ons out there that work on any MP3 player. The iTrip is sort of unique, but Monster, Belkin, and a host of others make FM transmitters that will work on any model MP3 player.

 

[aoi tsuki]

Sony NW-HD5

20GB, a bit smaller than ipod (55.9*89.3*14.4mm) apparently

Review

i'd check it out if i didn't already have a 4G ipod

As usual of late for Sony, the player is sex, but how do you get music on it? SonicStage doesn't like my MP3s, which prevents me from buying a Sony player.

 

[Defensor]

Sony NW-HD5

20GB, a bit smaller than ipod (55.9*89.3*14.4mm) apparently

Review

i'd check it out if i didn't already have a 4G ipod

I don't like the look/design of the buttons on the NW-HD5. NW-HD1 with upgraded MP3 firmware for life!

 

[Great King Bowser]

Slightly off topic; but what's the difference between a headphone out and a line out when both are available on a DAP?

I know I'm meant to use my amp on line out, but why? Is there a sound difference? If so, why don't we just plug our headphones in there? The line out is also optical out on my iRiver so I also use it with my 5.1 speakers. But what's the difference?

 

[FiRez]

Sorry to bump this thread but I was searching for a cheap USB memory, and found this:

link

Basicly you can use any Sandisk cruzer micro device (from 256mb-2.0gb) it use a single AA
battery that last 9hr.

I was planning to bought a 512 usb memory + Mp3 companion= 90$ aprox

Maybe someone has used it to recommend it or suggest another option, because there are some mixed user reviews.

 

[Suerte]

For all your buttseckz needs...