opinions on MP3 players, Please help me

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Kangoogle
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09 Jan 2009, 10:44 pm

Orwell wrote:

Kangoogle wrote:

Asides its lack of proper battery (or battery life), abysmal format support and forcing you to stick with them, Apple is a great buy...

Battery life could be better. What do you mean by abysmal format support? "Forcing you to stick with them?" I can use my iPod just fine in Windows, MacOSX, or Linux. If you are so inclined, you can even hack the iPod and replace all the software on it with a Linux distro designed specifically for that purpose.

I mean lack of most common formats that ideally should be supported on all Mp3 players (if there were such a thing as competent government - they all would be supported as a legal requirement). As for sticking with them - check out how difficult it is to move music from an Ipod to another type of player once you have bought it.

You are forgetting that 99% of users will not want to mess around hacking their Ipod, and nor should they have to.

KazigluBey
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09 Jan 2009, 10:45 pm

irene wrote:

:? I will being on a 2 day road trip very soon. The only way I can do this without losing my mind is have some toys. Like puzzle books and a something to use to listen to music using my noise cancelling earphones. I actually thought that the earphones could have be used just to cut out noise then I found out that it only works if I am listening to something. Darn.

Could anyone recommend a easy to use MP3 player? I would like to have one that has a screen so that I would be able to select a certain piece of music. Also the operating system for my computer is Windows XP.

My other options are to buy a 4 G memory card for an old MP10 player, or my PSP. However, I am having trouble finding all the pieces of the PSP recharger. Let alone the cost of the memory card could be as much as a new MP3 player.

Any suggestions? The lovely younger man I live with said the only way to select one is to play with one in a store for about 5 minutes. So I figured by doing this it's the equivalent of having other peoples fingers doing the same thing.

Thanks everybody. irene

Get a smartphone and use it like I do:

- as an mp3 player
- video game system
- portable document reader (ebooks and such)
- cell phone (talking, texting & video/picture messaging)
- organizer
- news aggregator

And well, quite a few other things. It's rare that my phone cannot keep me preoccupied.

Orwell
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09 Jan 2009, 10:52 pm

Kangoogle wrote:

As for sticking with them - check out how difficult it is to move music from an Ipod to another type of player once you have bought it.

Not exceptionally difficult. The only way I would really see there being problems is with stuff bought from the iTunes store, which I don't do. But even those can be transferred relatively easily, albeit via legally dubious means.

Quote:

You are forgetting that 99% of users will not want to mess around hacking their Ipod, and nor should they have to.

That's an overly conservative estimate. I have no interest in attempting to hack my iPod; I was merely mentioning that it was a possibility.

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Kara_h
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10 Jan 2009, 4:54 pm

KaliMa wrote:

ITunes only does mp4s, so if you ever do want to go with another mp3 player you will have to repurchase all the songs you bought from ITunes. It's like going to the furniture store and buying a sofa for the same price you could have gotten it at any other furniture store, then later finding out that if you put it in a room that's painted any color but white the store won't let you sit on it!

I suppose you don't believe in using a media conversion program for some reason?

Besides, iTunes and the apple store do MP3s just fine, so not even sure what the complaint is.

iPods forever!

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Kangoogle
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10 Jan 2009, 4:56 pm

Orwell wrote:

Kangoogle wrote:

As for sticking with them - check out how difficult it is to move music from an Ipod to another type of player once you have bought it.

Quote:

You are forgetting that 99% of users will not want to mess around hacking their Ipod, and nor should they have to.

That's an overly conservative estimate. I have no interest in attempting to hack my iPod; I was merely mentioning that it was a possibility.

You forget that Apple's target market for their products are largely those who cannot use a computer.

Kara_h
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10 Jan 2009, 4:59 pm

KaliMa wrote:

I decided not to stay with IPod cuz they don't stand behind their warranty. I had spent several HOURS looking on numerous pages for the link to return an IPod under warranty, and when I finally found it, it kept "timing out" (yeah, right, blame MY computer that never times out on anything else) every time I tried to get a confirmation number, and they wouldn't let you return an IPod without a confirmation number. After 2 DAYS of trying to return the stupid thing I just gave up.

Actually, apple is pretty good about that, particularly if you buy the protection plans (extended warranty/support). I just call them and they will ship me the replacement item and a prepaid overnight envelope for the defective one.

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t0
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10 Jan 2009, 11:38 pm

We have a Sansa and a Zune in our house. We like them both.

For iPod owners, what makes them "the best"? Our music players were cheaper than the similar iPod models and we don't feel like we're missing anything.

KaliMa
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11 Jan 2009, 7:45 am

Kara_h wrote:

KaliMa wrote:

I hope you're not saying I would have to pay for extra warranty in order to get them to honor the 1 year warranty you get with the Ipod and that that's OK with you. That first Ipod punked out about 9 months after I got it, although I admit they don't usually die that young.

Also, as far as the conversion, I tried 2 different programs and neither one could make the songs I had bought from ITunes playable on another MP3 player. If you're saying you can buy songs from ITunes now and specify you want MP3s instead of MP4s, that's new. It wasn't like that when I had IPods.

Another good thing about my Sansa is that the batteries are user-replacable. You don't have to go buy a whole new MP3 player when the batteries go. Now, I've yet to have to replace the batteries so I don't know if it's hard or not, but it didn't sound that hard or I wouldn't have boght the player..

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peterd
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11 Jan 2009, 8:04 am

Recently, I've been using a little Samsung pebble unit. 2Gb, USB charger, MP3 files. It doesn't have a screen, so it's really cheap - I use two of them, one loaded with old rock on random play and the other that gets loaded with new stuff.

They have the best tangle free headset arrangement I've ever seen.

The latest addition to my stable, though, is a Nokia E71: phone, email, music, web access all in the same magic package. I've only had that one a few days, though, so the evaluation is far from complete.

Kara_h
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11 Jan 2009, 9:50 am

KaliMa wrote:

Not saying that at all, was saying I have found their warranty department to be excellent. I just added that the extended warranty extends your time the warranty is valid for. Remember there are different lengths of time for call-in support and parts/labor on any product by any manufacturer though, so check on the time periods when making a decision about extended warranties.

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gramirez
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11 Jan 2009, 10:14 am

t0 wrote:

For iPod owners, what makes them "the best"? Our music players were cheaper than the similar iPod models and we don't feel like we're missing anything.

You don't know what your missing until you've gotten it. Go buy one. Now. I need more money from Apple stock.

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Kara_h
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11 Jan 2009, 10:20 am

gramirez wrote:

You don't know what your missing until you've gotten it. Go buy one. Now. I need more money from Apple stock.

Ditto on both accounts. I invested in them 8 years ago to show I believed in their stuff and was pleasantly surprised when the value skyrocketed.

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garmonbozia
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11 Jan 2009, 10:49 am

I use an Insignia Kix 1 GB. It was about $40 at Best Buy last spring. IMO, a very no-nonsense gadget that can be figured out in an evening or two. Pocket sized, with the form factor of a thumb drive. Recharges its battery any time it's plugged into a USB port. I can click-and-drag items from iTunes and Finder (Mac's file manager) to the player with no problem. Menus are straightforward, allowing you to select items by artist, album, or genre. OLED display that can be set to stay on all the time - easy to see in the dark and, oh yeah, bright and shiny! That was the deciding feature in my purchase decision right there. I use it at work with noise-cancelling headphones, because annoying co-workers don't come with a mute button.

I once got a Sansa as a second MP3 player but took it back the next day when I realized its OLED could not be set to stay on for more than a minute or so. Is that all of Sansa's models or just the gumstick-sized one (forgot the model's name)? I've considered getting a Sansa Clip to use with the auxiliary input of my car radio, because with the clip feature I could probably rig up something to let me clip it to the dashboard in easy reach. The orange-and-blue OLED would be perfect (less distracting than the radio's display), but not if it shuts off after a minute. Anyone got the specifics on that particular model?

Kangoogle
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11 Jan 2009, 11:16 am

garmonbozia wrote:

I use it at work with noise-cancelling headphones, because annoying co-workers don't come with a mute button.

I once got a Sansa as a second MP3 player but took it back the next day when I realized its OLED could not be set to stay on for more than a minute or so. Is that all of Sansa's models or just the gumstick-sized one (forgot the model's name)? I've considered getting a Sansa Clip to use with the auxiliary input of my car radio, because with the clip feature I could probably rig up something to let me clip it to the dashboard in easy reach. The orange-and-blue OLED would be perfect (less distracting than the radio's display), but not if it shuts off after a minute. Anyone got the specifics on that particular model?

All Sansa's afaik - my Fuse is the same it seems. Unless there is a firmware update which fixes the issue...

philosopherBoi
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11 Jan 2009, 12:33 pm

If your looking for something for this one trip then go get a cheap-O but if your looking to hold onto an MP3 player for a long time go iPod. iPods are quality products, they have proven their worth by their continued popularity, their program stability, and sleek elegant design.

philosopherBoi
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11 Jan 2009, 12:33 pm

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