Mp3 Players

Mr Cube · 27-01-2006, 12:16 PM

Don't want this to be a debate, but in true FF.com.au style it most prolly will.

Never really been interested in getting a portable Mp3 player until now for 2 reasons.

Reason 1) new baby on the way and the car seat we have bought has got speakers builtin with a mini jack to the audio player.
Reason 2) just been moved to the noisiest busiest spot in the office, guess when ya a contractor, you have to put up with that. I need music to block out the crap talk and noise.

So people who have got them, researched them please hit me with your thoughts..

iPod (and the varients)
V
Other MP3 plyers (IRiver, Creative, etc etc)

My thoughts at the moment are with a 20gb iPod. Mainly for the music, though also portable storage. Also when I upgrade the audio system in my car, some headunits now have an interface built in for your Ipod, so I could buy a single unit but have the iPod plugged in and hidden.

blueoval · 27-01-2006, 12:31 PM

Well I cant speak for others, but I have a 30gb iPOD video and I cant speak highly enough of it. I can fit up to 7500 song on it, plus can fit quicktime videos on it, and pictures etc. Im sure the iRIVER fans out there will argue that theirs is better but I really cant say as I dont have one, and the iPOD I have is the first one Ive owned, so I give the iPOD a thumbs up.

I have just recently upgraded my h/u in my car to take the iPOD adapter and the sound quality is as good as CD, plus because its small it fits in my indash pocket nicely, and I dont have to worry about changing CD's etc.

The iPOD screen quality is awesome to say the least, and the sound quality thru the earphones is dam good too.

TURBO_GHIA · 27-01-2006, 02:01 PM

i have a ministry of sound 256mb mp3 player got it off ebay for $50 and use it when mountain bike riding and when on trains ,i dont need 30 gigs of music id never listen to it all

Mr Cube · 27-01-2006, 02:22 PM

yeah I went and looked at them today.. Side by side the iPod seems to dominate the iRiver. the iRiver was so big and bulky..

old_mate · 27-01-2006, 02:24 PM

Im not a fan of itunes, and my missus' ipod has been a big pain in the ИИИИ

went looking at some alternatives, creative zen looks the goods, but i have recently bought for a friend a toshiba version. Full drag and drop capability within windows, comes with a cradle etc

I decided not to bother has i have a PDA. Just been more SD cards now

Mr Cube · 27-01-2006, 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by old_mate

Im not a fan of itunes, and my missus' ipod has been a big pain in the ИИИИ

Whats the problems you have had with it..?

old_mate · 27-01-2006, 02:50 PM

Just with the ipod freezing up, battery life issues....pretty minor

moreso personal issues with Itunes. And for the fact its not drag and drop. I realise why they have it this way (combat piracy issues) however with the toshiba thing i bought my friend its really like a portable hard drive that plays mp3.

Mr Cube · 27-01-2006, 02:55 PM

whats the model/specs of the toshiba thing.. that may be something to look at also..

old_mate · 27-01-2006, 02:57 PM

Can't remember, i bought it from my local Harvey Norman. Has a colour screen, looks a bit like an ipod actually

Paris Hilton · 27-01-2006, 04:58 PM

Yeah i've had alot of troubles with my iPod.

Battery life is crap, thing freezes all the time, and now the hold button is stuck on the "Hold" position. Worst $500 ever spend, and Apple won't warrent the warrenty, because it is apparently my mishandling that has caused it.

svo347 · 27-01-2006, 05:04 PM

I have a 5gig M-robe and pretty much love it at work.
ill listen to it for say 10 hrs b4 it starts to go flat.
on a downside the volume can be alittle soft, ive gotten around this by adjusting the loudness etc b4 the music transfers from comp to M-Robe, its pretty good now.

DJL351 · 27-01-2006, 05:35 PM

I have a 20Gb Sony unit.

It's great!

I have it set as half music, half spare storage.

It will play both MP3's and Sony's newer and smaller format Atrac3plus.
(12,000 songs baby!

)

Battery is great, I play it from 7am when I jump on the train, in to work, then plug it
in to the desktop speakers I bought, play it all day at work, then home again on the train.
Two, two and a half days, sometimes three days before it need charging.

It doesn't play Video, but I can put it on the drive and play it at work or home.

The software is plug and play.
Only down side (for some) is that Atrac3plus is only supported on other Sony gear. (Car stereos, mini HiFi etc)

D

:

Rodp · 27-01-2006, 05:36 PM

Love my iPod, don't know how I could go without it now. Have the 60GB version (3/4 full) and haven't listened to radio or CD in the car since I bought it 6 months ago.

Psycho Chicken · 27-01-2006, 05:41 PM

While we're sort of on the topic, does anyone else have an issue with iTunes going all black and laying the songs over each other on the playlist? It's bloody annoying.

Mr Cube · 27-01-2006, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by old_mate

Can't remember, i bought it from my local Harvey Norman. Has a colour screen, looks a bit like an ipod actually

The GigaBeat??? saw it today..

Have to say the 30gb Ipod is winning the race at the moment for me.. Looks a heap better then its competitors IMO

Is iTunes on the iPod or is it the version on your PC.. I have iTunes here, then I see iTunes at Grace Bros.. everywhere is iTunes..

Josh_XC · 27-01-2006, 05:47 PM

IPOD hands down is better the quality is the best ive seen in an mp3 player, once u own one its easy to see why the Ipod has taken off like it has. the neno is awesome its so small.

DJL351 · 27-01-2006, 05:55 PM

Couldn't, wouldn't touch an Ipod..... in a word Apple
I have two that I have to sort out almost weekly.
Software bugs, spyware from sites they download from, computer hang while transfering songs.... <sigh>

Just remember, while colour screens and that look great, they kill battery life.

Each to their own. :dj:

D

MrSparkle · 27-01-2006, 06:04 PM

Go to your nearest large Harvey Norman - they should have a "wall" of players, each plugged in and operative, so you can play and tinker and grope them and see how you like. I looked long and hard and researched long and hard and the 60G Ipod Video won it for me on several fronts :

1) Build quality - apart from the black surface which scratches if you are careless, it was head and shoulders above other players of the same capacity
2) Range of accessories - this is good and bad - good in that there's a world of options and things you can get to add to the usefulness of the player, bad in that they all will cost extra cash! Still it's better to have all the options I reckon
3) Quality of sound - ok this is only as good as your mp3 encode and your headphones but I have a "standard" track and my own phones which I trialled on MANY players and the Ipod (with a tinkering of the EQ) had the cleanest and best balanced sound.
4) Widespread support everywhere - even car makers are starting to provide Ipod integration with their factory sound systems

There are other players with more functions and features but for me, considering I needed something that would primarily play music (and hold at least 50G) it was the best choice. Haven't had any regrets at all yet.

blueoval · 27-01-2006, 06:18 PM

Im not sure on the issues with itunes as posted already here. I find itunes a little confusing to get around, but after a while of playing with the functions, you can navigate around the system quite well. With the unit itself, I havent had any issues with it playing up, but then again, Im not using it everyday, and I mainly use it for playing music in the car.
But I have to agree with sparkles, the quality of the iPOD with sound and visual is excellent, and more than what I had expected even with the stock earphones and adjustment of the EQ. I'm still having trouble though, trying to get avi movies converted to quicktime pro. It not only takes a long time but sometimes it doesnt load on the iPOD at all. I'll just have to keep trying.

XRated · 27-01-2006, 06:29 PM

I have a 4GB iPod Mini and it's been perfect. It just doesn't hold enough music!!! I also like the fact that Apple constantly has updates for the iPod itself and iTunes.

Jeld-Wen Falcon · 27-01-2006, 07:40 PM

I got a Creative, its only a small 512mb, DONT get one of those, had nothing but trouble with it. I dont know what all the others are like.

Martyvan · 27-01-2006, 08:31 PM

Have never had an Mp3 player myself until a few days ago, when i got a new mobile phone. I got a Nokia N70, and i have ordered a 512mb card for it. Not very expensive, and saves carrying around a PDA/Digital Camera/Mp3 player.
It has a 2mp camera, and the Quality of the photos are not too bad. But the Sound Quality through the contained headset is actually pretty good also, and unusually for Nokia anything, it came with all accesories needed to hook it up to a PC.
Anyway, its food for thought if you were looking at something a little more versatile.

FRDXR6 · 27-01-2006, 09:40 PM

I know a few poeple with iRivers of which ALL have broken and need to be sent back for repairs! One person is also about to recieve their second replacement unit lol so in a word i think i'll be staying clear of them in the future.

I have a 1GB Samsung MP3 Player (tiny one like size of lipstick) and it was good, awesome sound but thats broken now too, well about 5 months ago i really should get that fixed lol

Mr Cube · 27-01-2006, 09:58 PM

seems to be alot of support for the iPod and download software aswell..

Now it seems that the toss up may be between the 30gb or 60gb..

Thanks for the thoughts and comments so far all good.

Bucknaked · 27-01-2006, 10:00 PM

I have a scan disk MP3 Player. 1gb. Got it from Big W before Christmas. It has long battery life and is small. Downside to it is that for some reason, it doesn't like wma formatted songs, But who cares. It works. i use mine most mornings when checking my overnight processing.

Redrum · 27-01-2006, 10:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by svo347

I have a 5gig M-robe and pretty much love it at work.
ill listen to it for say 10 hrs b4 it starts to go flat.
on a downside the volume can be alittle soft, ive gotten around this by adjusting the loudness etc b4 the music transfers from comp to M-Robe, its pretty good now.

I have the M Robe also, if you go to Olympus site, you can download software upgrade which raises volume. I did this and now is too loud at highest setting so quite good. I had some earlier issues with unit, but one visit to Hardly Normal and was fixed. I plug it into aux port of premium sound system and get hours of songs, love it.

XA Coupsta · 27-01-2006, 10:03 PM

I'll throw more support for the iPod too Mr Cube.

I went the 30gig video iPod and it is simply awesome. Not one reason to complain.

apolloxbgt · 27-01-2006, 10:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Cube

The GigaBeat??? saw it today..

Have to say the 30gb Ipod is winning the race at the moment for me.. Looks a heap better then its competitors IMO

Is iTunes on the iPod or is it the version on your PC.. I have iTunes here, then I see iTunes at Grace Bros.. everywhere is iTunes..

I recently got a 20gb (Toshiba)gigabeat for a birthday present.I probley wouldn't have bought an mp3,but now I don't know how I lived without it.No dramas (and I give it a hard time at work) and very simple to use,as someone else said,just drag and drop music or photos.

Kenaz · 28-01-2006, 12:53 PM

I've just got a little iPod Shuffle and it's pretty good. For $149 I can't complain. Wouldn't mind upgrading to something like a 30gb one in the future.

Bluefreak · 28-01-2006, 01:19 PM

I got an iRiver only 512Mb... I don't need that much music and am happy to play around adding and subtracting songs as I please... I went to Harvey's and did the listen test, couldn't pick the difference between the iPod & iRiver... Sone of the generic brands had shocking sound quality. Mine claims 53hrs battery life, I'm getting a fairly consistant 47-48hrs out of a single AA. It also has a very sturdy belt clip, handy for me as It feels secure when I'm running. Also love the simplicity of drag-and -drop.