MP3 portable players

[Howell]

I'm looking to buy a little MP3 player. I figure I need about 3-4 hours of playtime. I would like to take it running so small and light would be good. I presume using an HD for storage would be too suceptable to shock. I already have a digicam that takes compactflash but I'm open to other forms.

I have no idea what size memory to shoot for. Assume my headphones are better than your average computer speakers, trust me. I would also like to be able to use rechargable batteries if possible.

TIA.

 

[honold]

is there some reason other than price you haven't already bought an ipod?

 

[timwhit]

My dad bought a 20GB iPod last Christmas. It is cool, but the software they include sucks real hard. It's based on MusicMatch, which is pretty crappy if you ask me. You can get xplay which works better, but it is anything but foolproof.

Not to mention the fact that the iPod is incredibly picky about which firewire port it is going to work with. It wouldn't work with the firewire port that is onboard my Asus motherboard. It wouldn't work with another average firewire card I bought from NewEgg. But, it would work with a SIIG card? SIIG isn't even good, why the hell does it work with that card?

iPods are cool, but they aren't up to primetime on the PC just yet. Plus, the battery life is average, not great by any means.

 

[time]

Most of the Flash memory players are only 128MB, whereas you'll need 256MB to stretch reasonable quality out to 3-4 hours.

Dan's Data has a tip on what sort to get.

 

[blakerwry]

yes, i thought the cendyne groove stick looked good

http://www.cendyne.com/product.asp?pid=18

 

[CityK]

As an aside, it seems to me that mobile digital audio has been in suspended animation for the last little while. I'm rather shocked that there aren't a whole host of feature packed solutions out by now.

CK

 

[honold]

i believe the consensus was/is that if you buy a western digital firewire card an ipod will work with a pc 100% of the time

isn't there also pc software that just treats it like a drive? dump in mp3s, then play them.

 

[CityK]

western digital firewire card

Was that supposed to be Pacific Digital maybe?

 

[honold]

no, western digital. perhaps they don't make them anymore, but they definitely used to. 2 guys at my work use them with their ipods.

 

[CityK]

Never knew that....and upon closer inspection of wdc's site: External Drives > Firewire Accessories > 3 port, 2 port, cardbus

CK

 

[timwhit]

i believe the consensus was/is that if you buy a western digital firewire card an ipod will work with a pc 100% of the time

isn't there also pc software that just treats it like a drive? dump in mp3s, then play them.

I spent a lot of time on an iPod forum trying to get the stupid iPod to work. The consensus at the time was that the SIIG card works best with the iPod. And, it works fine now, but why does the iPod need to be so picky? Why can't it work with any firewire card? Sounds like pretty poor design to me.

There is software that you can use to turn it into a drive, and that is what I use. It is called Xplay, and it works ok. Not great though. If you try to synchronize it does not work. You have to go in manually and delete everything, then synchronize onto a clean slate. These all seem like problems of an immature product if you ask me.

 

[double bit CRC error]

i've used an iPod and i thought the demo model was a fabulous little piece of hardware.

Now that I know that Apple aparently has put little effort or care into prodcucing workable software for the iPod I don't think I shall even consider it.


My biggest complaint about input/output devices is that alot of the time you'll have a good piece of hardware that will be absolutely fowled by poor software. This is a problem with many scanners, printers, mice(think logitech), digital cameras and mp3 players. And while wer're at it sound and vid cards are sometimes involved in this predicament as well.

A piece of hardware is only as good as the software that controls it.

Things are getting better, most printers and scanners now ue an intuitive, standardized interface that works flawlessly -but look at logitech it took them over 5 years to get their software right.

 

[Pradeep]

Now that Apple have changed their T&C reseller agreement, the iPod isn't such a great deal. Dell (amongst others) don't sell them anymore. With Dell often having 20% promos in Periphs, they were excellent value for money.

 

[Howell]

is there some reason other than price you haven't already bought an ipod?

Well, I've never owned one and I just started looking yesterday and I don't like making hasty decisions.

 

[Pradeep]

Keep in mind that there will soon be two new iPods released, a 15GB and a 30GB.\, this may drive down the price of existing models.

 

[Howell]

Keep in mind that there will soon be two new iPods released, a 15GB and a 30GB.\, this may drive down the price of existing models.

I have two concerns with HD based models.
One, that I will find the weight annoying when I'm running. A typical HD based model seems to weigh about 6.5oz(185g) as compared to 2.3oz(65g) for non-HD. Two, that the device will find the shock annoying when I'm running.

 

[Howell]

I have decided to buy the Frontier Labs Nex IIe.
I like that it accepts 2 AA batteries rather than a single AA or two AAA.
I like that the CF memory is interchangable with my digicam.
I is compatible with the IBM microdrive and "all future CF technologies".
I like that it is light completely solid state, easily upgradable and highly shock resistant.
I like that the manufacturers are still updating the firmware even for models the don't sell anymore. Although the old model and the one I got are very similar.

Maybe after a while I'll get up the nerve to write a full review.

 

[Adcadet]

I have an iRiver 256 MB player - the small one that holds a single AA battery. I love it - very small, and a decent feature set for me (eq mostly).