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[wipeout364]

I am going to get a MP3 player in the near future and I was wondering if there were any suggestions? I know that I want flash based and probably 512 Mb. Does anyone have any experience with brands such as iRiver, creative, sony or any others? Brands that suck?

My second question is this. A lot of CD's I buy now have a Copy control label on them can You transfer these to MP3 players easily? Which brand has the best software for ripping? thanks.

 

[Great King Bowser]

Personally vouch for Creative Muvos or the iRiver flash based players.

Most flash based players are drag and drop so you can use whatever software you want for ripping. Programs like CDex will get you past most copy protection.

 

[Fatalah]

I've been looking at the 20gig iriver model for a while now. its impressive, not as cool-looking as their 5gig but its got alot of cool features.

for ripping, try download.com and see what they rate as a good one. musicmatch has always been good, but its not free...

my plan is to wait for the next model of the ipod, and then snatch this current gen ipod once the price dips bc everybody wants a *new* one. thing is, i don't know when a new generation is coming out.



edit-- CDex is really good. good call.

 

[The Faceless Master]

i can vouch for iriver flash, hd and cd based players!

they truly are "the shit"

and cdex rocks

I've been looking at the 20gig iriver model for a while now. its impressive, not as cool-looking as their 5gig but its got alot of cool features.

there's a 20GB H10 now... same look as the 5/6GB model.. not the same size though :/

 

[Great King Bowser]

i can vouch for iriver flash, hd and cd based players!

they truly are "the shit"

and cdex rocks



there's a 20GB H10 now... same look as the 5/6GB model.. not the same size though :/

And they took away the swappable batteries didn't they?

iRiver H140 is honestly the greatest DAP in existence, up there with the old Rio Karma from personal experience.

And there's new firmware from Rockbox in development so I'll finally have my gapless playback.

 

[guess]

I am going to get a MP3 player in the near future and I was wondering if there were any suggestions? I know that I want flash based and probably 512 Mb. Does anyone have any experience with brands such as iRiver, creative, sony or any others? Brands that suck?

I have a Samsung YEPP YP-T7X (512MB)

Review

 

[Matlock]

I'm perfectly happy with my Shuffle, it's damn fine for music.

 

[Malleymal]

this will not be pretty...


I have a 30 GB ipod and I am very happy with it.

 

[Dagless M.D.]

there's a 20GB H10 now... same look as the 5/6GB model.. not the same size though :/

I've been interested in the 20gb model for awhile, are there any comarison pictures of it comaperd to other players

 

[Lemurnator]

If you're getting a 20 gig iRiver get the H320.

The H10 20 gig has an easily replacable battery but nowhere near the same level of awsome features as the H320.

I bought an H320 in November last year and the only regret I have is that I didn't by the 40 gig model.

 

[Dagless M.D.]

If you're getting a 20 gig iRiver get the H320.

The H10 20 gig has an easily replacable battery but nowhere near the same level of awsome features as the H320.

I bought an H320 in November last year and the only regret I have is that I didn't by the 40 gig model.

What features is the H10 20gig missing?

 

[Great King Bowser]

If you're getting a 20 gig iRiver get the H320.

The H10 20 gig has an easily replacable battery but nowhere near the same level of awsome features as the H320.

I bought an H320 in November last year and the only regret I have is that I didn't by the 40 gig model.

And the H320 lacks certain awesome features of the H1XX series. I swear iRiver are going backwards.

So the H10 (20gb) definitely features a user replacable battery? I heard it was fixed.

EDIT - http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1390387&highlight=h10+battery#post1390387

 

[Draff]

For flash-based players... If all you want is something functional and well priced, get the creative muvo. Otherwise, check out the new Sony mp3's... awesome battery life (50 hours or so) and recharges most of the battery in 30 minutes (or something like 30 seconds for a few hours) and you don't have to use sonicstage.

 

[Lemurnator]

And the H320 lacks certain awesome features of the H1XX series. I swear iRiver are going backwards.

So the H10 (20gb) definitely features a user replacable battery? I heard it was fixed.

EDIT - http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1390387&highlight=h10+battery#post1390387

Oh well, sorry.

I just figured it was the same as the other H10's.

H320 has video playback and I'm not sure if the H10 has any of the recording features the H300's have.

 

[Sukahii16]

What players do or do not have gapless playback (like how one track on a cd will smoothly transition into the next track without skipping). Or is it pretty much standard that all of them do?

 

[Great King Bowser]

What players do or do not have gapless playback (like how one track on a cd will smoothly transition into the next track without skipping). Or is it pretty much standard that all of them do?

It's standard that most of them DON'T.

Rio Karma's do gapless. Rockbox are working on their own firmware for the iRiver H1XX so they will support gapless. They've already released early incomplete firmware which has only recently been capable of playback period. But gapless is already working.

EDIT - That's in reference to HDD based DAPs. Flash based should all do gapless, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[8.6 GREAT!]

30 gig nomad all the way

 

[alejob]

Got me a 1GB Muvo FM 2 days ago and it rocks. 20 buck rebate at staples this week.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

I have the Rio Karma, and it's a really awesome player. I highly recommend it, and yes, it does Gapless as well as playing FLAC and Ogg files. Lots and lots of options, and is considered by many to be the most under rated player on the market. It's been discontinued now, but you can find it online for very cheap.

As for flash players, which is what the orginal poster was asking about, the iRiver ones are very good. Most people seem to like the iPod Shuffle, but without a screen, I have no interest in the Shuffle. It's great to organize playlists on the go, and play songs by artist or album as opposed to one giant list. Just my opinion though.

By the way, how long has it been since we've had a "which MP3 player should I buy thread?"

 

[Cauliflower of Love]

It's standard that most of them DON'T.

Rio Karma's do gapless. Rockbox are working on their own firmware for the iRiver H1XX so they will support gapless. They've already released early incomplete firmware which has only recently been capable of playback period. But gapless is already working.

EDIT - That's in reference to HDD based DAPs. Flash based should all do gapless, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

I don't think any flash players do gapless either. Well the last flash I had was from san disk, that one didn't do gapless, hell everytime I switched folders looking through music there would be a hiccup. = \

edit:

Oh yeah, Karma is sexy. Although it gets stuck on "Starting Mixer" every few days. =(

 

[Great King Bowser]

That's strange. I swear they should be considering there's no mechanical parts.

 

[Slurpy]

I have a Samsung YEPP YP-T7X (512MB)

Review

I've been reading about this player and have heard good things, am seriously considering picking one up in the next couple days. Can you share anything you've noticed from your personal experience, flaws, etc.

 

[Great King Bowser]

What the? Did they release a different model of the Rio Karma?

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

What the? Did they release a different model of the Rio Karma?

Bowser: I believe that is the Rio Chroma, which hasn't been released yet. Rumors are it'll be out this Fall, and is slated to replace the Karma in the Rio line-up.

 

[Fresh Prince]

Na I think it's only 5gigs.

 

[guess]

I've been reading about this player and have heard good things, am seriously considering picking one up in the next couple days. Can you share anything you've noticed from your personal experience, flaws, etc.

This is my first mp3 player so I can't compare it to any others, but I haven't had any problems that would make me want to return it.
There are some things I don't like though. Everytime you press any button the screen comes on. This can really eat up the battery. Also, the screen is to small to display long song titles, but you can set the speed that the text scrolls.

 

[Quadrophenic]

From what I understand, the problem with Gapless playback is not the result of moving parts, but rather the way MP3s are encoded in that there is some useless/blankdata at the end of the file.

I am not a techie, but thats what I remember finding about a year ago when looking for a MP3 player...

 

[Great King Bowser]

From what I understand, the problem with Gapless playback is not the result of moving parts, but rather the way MP3s are encoded in that there is some useless/blankdata at the end of the file.

I am not a techie, but thats what I remember finding about a year ago when looking for a MP3 player...

Yeah the way it's ripped is important, FLAC and OGG are usually ripped without any input gaps. You have to rip MP3s with a certain preset which I think is default now in CDex.

But with HDD based DAPS I think the next track has to be cached for it to be played immediately after without a gap. At least that's what I remember reading during the promised gapless firmware from iRiver fiasco.

 

[wandering goat]

MP3 files by default are not gapless. Players have to be specifically programmed to remove that gap by loading and playing the next song early, which is why almost all players still have gaps (though why companies don't try for gapless I don't understand.)

For ripping MP3s, I use CDex with the latest LAME drivers (though some version or other is already included.) Don't use anything besides LAME. For good quality, I'd rip at VBR between the lowest you'd like to listen to and the highest you want to go to save space.

Anyway, I have a shuffle and I love it. You won't like it if you listen only to full albums and want to fill it up with them, if you want to select a specific song that you didn't already place in a certain position in the list when the shuffle's connected to the computer, or you need to see what song's playing (I don't miss this feature but I know most of my library.) You also have to like listening to random music obviously, as that's its main feature.

Things I like about it are the sound quality (best I've heard in an mp3 player, though people who like EQing are out of luck), simple controls (I can put it in a pocket or under my shirt and control it through my clothes), iTunes compatibility (you have to try the program to see what I'm talking about, especially regarding smart playlists), cheap price, and easy access shuffling (just slide the switch on the back.) Battery life's great too at about 15 hours or so, making it an Apple first, underestimating battery life. If your idea of using a portable player is putting 3-5 CDs on and autofilling the rest based on you choice of music (using smart playlists) to listen to randomly, then it's perfect. You can get to about three CDs from the beginning or go 2 CDs backwards to the end of the playlist quite quickly just pressing next or back a bunch of times, though any further and it becomes a bother. If any of its drawbacks bother you then don't even consider it, but it's a great player for anyone else. Everyone has good things to say about the Creative MuVo series, so take a look at that.

[edit] Beaten to the gapless playback thing.

 

[Slurpy]

This is my first mp3 player so I can't compare it to any others, but I haven't had any problems that would make me want to return it.
There are some things I don't like though. Everytime you press any button the screen comes on. This can really eat up the battery. Also, the screen is to small to display long song titles, but you can set the speed that the text scrolls.

Well, it was between this and the ipodmini. 1GB vs 4GB I know.. but I honestly don't need 4Gb. The extra features and screen push this over the edge. 1GB is fine for my needs- ill pick it up soon.

 

[Cauliflower of Love]

What the? Did they release a different model of the Rio Karma?

Nope, not the chroma, or karma, that's a Carbon. rio's 5 giger line.

About the gapless thing, it has to do with the coding. The karma queues up about 10 megs worth of music and deletes gaps between songs that fall into that. One downside of this though, is that some songs start a second earlier than they are supposed to, sometimes, not always. Most companies just haven't gotten arount to, or don't know how to practically implement the gapless code.

 

[jenov4]

Wow, this is some great timing as I'm thinking about picking up a flash mp3 player.

Regarding the ipod shuffle, can you plug it into your USB port and have it show up as an external drive? I just want to drag and drop my files into the thing and not install iTunes. Anyone know?

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

Wow, this is some great timing as I'm thinking about picking up a flash mp3 player.

Regarding the ipod shuffle, can you plug it into your USB port and have it show up as an external drive? I just want to drag and drop my files into the thing and not install iTunes. Anyone know?

I'm not positive on this, but I'm pretty sure you need iTunes for a shuffle. It's part of Apple's music scheme to have the iTunes software/Music Store on your computer. You can plug the shuffle into ta USB port and move files to it, but not music, if I recall correctly.

 

[BTMash]

You could also try a winamp plugin for the ipod called mlpod which (I believe) allows you to transfer songs to the ipod (I'll need to try it out now).

 

[scorcho]

the creative muvo tx/fm is by far the best flash-based thumbdrive mp3 player on the market IMO. mp3s play nice and clear, fm reception is top notch, recording is adequate and you don't need to install any drivers. the only change i would want is playlist capabilities, but i usually listen to full albums anyhow.

 

[FiRez]

the creative muvo tx/fm is by far the best flash-based thumbdrive mp3 player on the market IMO. mp3s play nice and clear, fm reception is top notch, recording is adequate and you don't need to install any drivers. the only change i would want is playlist capabilities, but i usually listen to full albums anyhow.

Yes, is my only complaint so far and it doesn't need 1st party software to upload your music

btw look what i found:

http://glow.m0f0.net/rockbox/pictures/

 

[Fatalah]

Thanks for the heads up on the H10 iriver 20gigger. it looks nice, but why couldn't it be cheaper than just buying an ipod? not cool.

 

[Great King Bowser]

Thanks for the heads up on the H10 iriver 20gigger. it looks nice, but why couldn't it be cheaper than just buying an ipod? not cool.

Did you just edit your post? :lol

 

[jenov4]

Did you just edit your post? :lol

HAHA you noticed that too? I was going to quote his original post, but he quickly changed it. Too speedy. It's all good. :lol

 

[FiRez]

This is sooooo sweet

 

[Great King Bowser]

HAHA you noticed that too? I was going to quote his original post, but he quickly changed it. Too speedy. It's all good. :lol

Too speedy for no one!

 

[Claus]

Thanks for the heads up on the H10 iriver 20gigger. it looks nice, but why couldn't it be cheaper than just buying an ipod? not cool.

Color LCD, larger battery life, FM tuner and recorder, voice recorder, and the same price as an iPod. Seems reasonable to me.

 

[Lord Error]

The other day, someone posted a picture of really nice looking cigarette lighter sized MP3 player. It was black, with OLED screen, 1GB, FM radio and was from some company I've never heard of.

 

[The Faceless Master]

Too speedy for no one!

don't tell me he missed the 'post new topic' button!

:lol :lol :lol

 

[jenov4]

Too speedy for no one!

LOL Fatalah pwned. Anyways, getting back on topic, I think I'll end up getting an iRiver myself. Heard too many good things about it, but I just don't like the bulky triangle shape on these things.

 

[wandering goat]

If you donwload this program you can use the shuffle by dragging and dropping files to your own folders on your shuffle. I haven't tried it yet but people have good things to say about it.