Mp3 player!

[brgnorway 0]

Right, never thought I would come to the point of seriously considering buying an mp3 player. Too compromized sound, but very convenient to carry with you. So I'm finally giving in    

However, I don't quite know what mp3 player to go for? I've been looking at some rather small ones which are nice and small but they are typically low on storage space for songs.

Right now I'm fascinated by the ipod, but it's a tad expensive.

What appeals to me is that it has lot's of storage space and is said to be the better sounding of the various types of players. It also looks very easy to use - wich definately would be a good thing considering I'm a total idiot with slightly technical matters. That it can also be used as an external hardisc (?) makes it even better!

Do you have an opinion on mp3 players please share with me your experiences? Secondly, do you think the 15 GB will be sufficient for mainly audio use?

Regards

Christian

[robbo 0]

I bought my MP3 player back in February after a lot of research of the players out there. In the end I got an I-River H-120 and have never looked back, I'm very happy with it .

It all comes down to what suits you the most, so a good place to start is through reviews of all the players your interested in.

I looked at both CNET and IGN predominately to find what would suit me the best. In the end it came down to the Rio Karma and the I-River H-120, and the later won out.

Here are 2 lists of reivews of various mp3 players

IGN Mp3 Player Reviews

CNET Reviews

Hope those sites help out

[Major Fubar 0]

Whatever the brand, I would strongly recommend a combined Discman/MP3 player...that way you can burn your own compilations using a CD burner, and at 700mb you get a lot more storage than on most memory sticks...not to mention that blank CD's are only about 2% of the cost of a memory stick

[theavonlady 2]

I bought my MP3 player back in February after a lot of research of the players out there. In the end I got an I-River H-120 and have never looked back, I'm very happy with it .

It all comes down to what suits you the most, so a good place to start is through reviews of all the players your interested in.

I looked at both CNET and IGN predominately to find what would suit me the best. In the end it came down to the Rio Karma and the I-River H-120, and the later won out.

Here are 2 lists of reivews of various mp3 players

IGN Mp3 Player Reviews

CNET Reviews

Hope those sites help out

PC Magazine: MP3 and Digital Music Players.

[Mister Frag 0]

Or THIS.

[WhoCares 0]

Whatever the brand, I would strongly recommend a combined Discman/MP3 player...that way you can burn your own compilations using a CD burner, and at 700mb you get a lot more storage than on most memory sticks...not to mention that blank CD's are only about 2% of the cost of a memory stick  

It depends. I wouldn't want to carry a CD-Player around while jogging - in such cases a Flash or HD solution is the better choice.

[brgnorway 0]

Hm...thanks for the contributions everyone!

The I-River H-120 looks fantastic and I'm sure it has the sound to match. It is more than a wee bit expensive (712 USD in Norway) - at least if I'm upgrading the earplugs to a decent headphone like the Grado SR60. So, it's ruled out I'm afraid!

Then there's the Discman/MP3 alternative. Philips Expanium looks very promising and cheap at 266 USD - and it has a radio too! The downside is the loss of simplicity you get with ipods catalogue system. It's also a bit large to carry around even if it's extremely flat. It gives me a feeling of walking round with a dinnerplate tucked down under your tanga trousers    Still a good alternative though - especially having in mind I'm not jogging at all - except for the times I have to run to the wine monopoly before closing time  

[joltan 0]

I have an iRiver H120, too - and I love it. But it's an expensive piece of equipment and if you just want to listen to a bit of music on the bus to school/work or for running in the park then it might not be what you are looking for. Rather go for a cheaper USB-Stick or CD-based player instead. Edit: some newer cellphones also can play mp3.

The advantage of hd players is that you can store other data (and a lot of them) on the player without compromising on the amount of music/audiobooks you can listen to. In some cases it can be a pain to access those additional data on another pc than your own (like having to install a special software to store & retrieve the data). Only in a few cases (like the H120) can you just drag&drop music and data from the Explorer without installing any special drivers or software. The H120 has USB 2.0 and works as a normal external harddisc without the need for special drivers - and therefore it also works flawless with MacOS or Linux.

The advantage of the H120 in comparison to Rio's or Apple's hd players are the combination of small size & weight, long endurance, great sound, the impressive remote with lcd (I never control it from the main unit), and the Plug&Play connectability (I use it often to take data to/from work or to customers). It's radio receiver, optical line in/out and the recording features are nice extras, too.

I have my player since it came out in last november, and I've been happy with it ever since. I use it often to transfer large amounts of data (I work with geo data - huge images and databases), I have my whole cd collection stored on it (as ogg files) and besides the data I need to fit on it there's still room for a small collection of the most important tools I might need when being abroad for a longer time. As I travel a lot (long train rides & flights) I prefer to have the ability to choose the music/audiobooks I want to listen to on the spot - and not selecting them in advance just to find out later I forgot the one I'd like to listen to most.

So for me it's the right gadget - wether your needs are similar or not is something you should carefully think about before selecting any mp3 player.

BTW: I bought mine for 380 Euro last year - just go for a nice trip to Germany or the Netherlands for the difference in price and buy it over here... or ask someone you know there.

[Supah 0]

I recently got a Creative Rhomba for my birthday. I can honestly say that these are the worst around. They have a problem with deleting their firmware out of the blue. Once that happens you need to install new firmware via the USB cable. Problem is it needs to be turned on for that to work ... guess what it wont do ? TURN ON It is fixable by pushing all the buttons, creative warns against this and his their own procedure. Sadly Creative's procedure hasnt worked for anyone. They have been aware of the problem for a year now and have released new firmware but apparently couldnt be bothered to fix this issue. Mine crapped after a month, i read stories in creatives support forums of it happening within hours. Its fixable but you shouldnt have these problems in the first place.

[brgnorway 0]

I have an iRiver H120, too - and I love it. But it's an expensive piece of equipment and if you just want to listen to a bit of music on the bus to school/work or for running in the park then it might not be what you are looking for. Rather go for a cheaper USB-Stick or CD-based player instead. Edit: some newer cellphones also can play mp3.

The advantage of hd players is that you can store other data (and a lot of them) on the player without compromising on the amount of music/audiobooks you can listen to. In some cases it can be a pain to access those additional data on another pc than your own (like having to install a special software to store & retrieve the data). Only in a few cases (like the H120) can you just drag&drop music and data from the Explorer without installing any special drivers or software. The H120 has USB 2.0 and works as a normal external harddisc without the need for special drivers - and  therefore it also works flawless with MacOS or Linux.

The advantage of the H120 in comparison to Rio's or Apple's hd players are the combination of small size & weight, long endurance, great sound, the impressive remote with lcd (I never control it from the main unit), and the Plug&Play connectability (I use it often to take data to/from work or to customers). It's radio receiver, optical line in/out and the recording features are nice extras, too.

I have my player since it came out in last november, and I've been happy with it ever since. I use it often to transfer large amounts of data (I work with geo data - huge images and databases), I have my whole cd collection stored on it (as ogg files) and besides the data I need to fit on it there's still room for a small collection of the most important tools I might need when being abroad for a longer time. As I travel a lot (long train rides & flights) I prefer to have the ability to choose the music/audiobooks I want to listen to on the spot - and not selecting them in advance just to find out later I forgot the one I'd like to listen to most.

So for me it's the right gadget - wether your needs are similar or not is something you should carefully think about before selecting any mp3 player.

BTW: I bought mine for 380 Euro last year - just go for a nice trip to Germany or the Netherlands for the difference in price and buy it over here... or ask someone you know there.

That sounds really impressive joltan!

Allthough I havent had time yet to listen to the various alternatives, the tests I've read suggest that ipod's sound are superior to it's competitors!

After reading your post I must say the hardisc alternatives are very tempting!

[WhoCares 0]

I recently got a Creative Rhomba for my birthday. I can honestly say that these are the worst around. They have a problem with deleting their firmware out of the blue. Once that happens you need to install new firmware via the USB cable. Problem is it needs to be turned on for that to work ... guess what it wont do ? TURN ON It is fixable by pushing all the buttons, creative warns against this and his their own procedure. Sadly Creative's procedure hasnt worked for anyone. They have been aware of the problem for a year now and have released new firmware but apparently couldnt be bothered to fix this issue. Mine crapped after a month, i read stories in creatives support forums of it happening within hours. Its fixable but you shouldnt have these problems in the first place.

This sounds not like a software but a hardware problem. More precise, it sounds like the Flash memory they use to store the firmware has a low guaranteed number of read cycles - a problem with various flash types. This means, that the chance to lose the stored content increases with every time you read it. While such a behaviour might be acceptable for certain data storages (e.g. digital cameras), it is killing to use it for firmware.

[Supah 0]

This sounds not like a software but a hardware problem. More precise, it sounds like the Flash memory they use to store the firmware has a low guaranteed number of read cycles - a problem with various flash types. This means, that the chance to lose the stored content increases with every time you read it. While such a behaviour might be acceptable for certain data storages (e.g. digital cameras), it is killing to use it for firmware.

Sounds fair enough. And with an MP3 player the logic that it doesnt need to store the content on a long term basis is very sound. But a product losing its "operating system" as it were and requiring allot of trial and error by the user is just plain BAD. They should have tested it more thoroughly or when the problems arose recalled the product and fixed them. I have had problems with creative soundcards in the past, I wont be buying anything from them ever again. I dont think i am alone in this.

[SpongeBob 0]

Very soon I'll be getting one of those CD/MP3 discman.

I buy between 5 and 10 CDs per month. With a discman, I'm able to walk out of the store, struggle with the secuity tape for 10 minutes, and pop the CD in and listen it right there.

Then at the end of the month, I'll take the CDs, change them to MP3s, and put them on one CD, no more need to cary stupid amounts of CDs, just need a case that holds 10 CDs and I got all the CDs that I bought over the pass year with me.

[SgtBarnes 0]

I also have an iRiver IHP 120...expensive, but you get what you pay for. I love how i can just plug it into any PC with a USB port, and start using it instantly. It's so much more than just a device to play music.

255 UKP (about 380 euros) from advancedmp3players.co.uk

[joltan 0]

Allthough I havent had time yet to listen to the various alternatives, the tests I've read suggest that ipod's sound are superior to it's competitors!

After reading your post I must say the hardisc alternatives are very tempting!

Let's say it that way - the iPod is 'cooler' but technically inferior (features, no simple plug&play nor drag&drop for music & data), and from what I hear the sound quality is also not as good. But the latter also depends very much on your personal taste, equalizer settings and the headphones you use. As long as you're not anal about the sound you probably won't hear a big difference if you have a good combination of the above factors.

The reasons I choose the iRiver above the Ipod were mainly the simple connectability (important if you want to transport data to/from machines where you can't just install software to copy data - like at work or with customers' machines), the longer endurance (16h compared to less than 8h), the great remote and the fact that it can play ogg. Everything else it has over the iPod (radio, analog & optical line in/out, wav/mp3 recording, etc.) is a plus but never played a decisive role in my selection.

Also be aware that as with most 'Apple vs the rest of the world' many iPod reviews are, let's say 'not quite unbiased'. When selecting the player to fit your taste go for the technical data and those reviews YOU trust to be more or less objective. Apart from the 'coolness' factor there's many better players on the market - like the iRiver H-series or the Rio Karma. The iPod was without any serious competition for a long time - but that changed and they haven't caught up yet with their new competitors.

[Dauragon 0]

I have an ipod 40 gb and its really crappy imo

the battery lasts 4-6 hours, and for some reason it formats every 2-3 times when i upload songs to it

now im planning to buy the iriver after seeing joltan's post

[toadlife 3]

If I ever buy one of these it might be this:

http://www.neurosaudio.com/

Along with Mp3, it plays the ogg vorbis format, which I preffer, and it can do other really off the wall things, like broadcast the music it's playing to your stereo in FM and record songs from FM radio.

[joltan 0]

Along with Mp3, it plays the ogg vorbis format, which I preffer, and it can do other really off the wall things, like broadcast the music it's playing to your stereo in FM and record songs from FM radio.

You may not be aware that FM transmitters are illegal in most european countries (and other parts of the world, too).

BTW: the iRiver can play ogg, too (I have my whole cd collection converted to ogg), and while you can't record from it at least an FM receiver is build in.

I think FM recording is very much overrated as a feature, but you may just be the one person really in need of it. I remember recording from the radio about twenty years ago with a tape recorder - I'd never think of doing that ever again (not even with a digital device): quality is bad compared to music you buy/copy and the additional work simply isn't worth it. IF I really wanted to record I'd just record directly from my stereo (much better receiver) to my pc - that's where I'd have to do the postprocessing anyways (cutting, converting). But that's just me.

[JdB 151]

I have these two:

My oldest one, the Creative Nomad II c:

pic

and this one (also for school), the MSI Mega-stick 5-in-1:

pic

I prefer Creative MP3 players (because of the sounds quality), but iRivers are also very good.

[toadlife 3]

You may not be aware that FM transmitters are illegal in most european countries (and other parts of the world, too). ...

...I think FM recording is very much overrated as a feature, but you may just be the one person really in need of it....

In the U.S., FM transmitters are only illegal if they interfere with licensed radio stations, so legality concerns are not a factor for me. There are tons of products sold in the U.S. that contain FM transmitters - wireless cellphone kits that boradcast to your car stereo is one I can think of.

As for recording, I would never record songs from the radio -that's so 15 years ago . I would use the FM transmitter feature to listen to songs in my truck and my house.

I too have my entire music collection in ogg, ape, and mp3.

[shinRaiden 0]

On the Neuros, the FM transmitter is more for two pods to link and swap data, and also to be able to tune your car stereo to the Neuros to play your tunes without a patch cable or a stack of cd's.

But the iRiver also has ogg, and looks like a more stable company.

In any case, get an ogg player, not an MP3 player. Unless you like listening to tin warbleing inside a water filled tunnel.

[brgnorway 0]

Quote[/b] ] ......the battery lasts 4-6 hours.......

I've read somewhere that battery capacity has been a known issue with ipods - and that it's being sorted out with a new supplier.

I find it peculiar that some say that the sound is less than good compared to other devices. It has been tested in audiophile magazines and have been found to have superior sound. It also supports uncompressed data formats such as WAV and compressed data such as AAC which in 64kbps mode equals to 128kbps MP3! In 128kbps equals MP3 in 192kbps mode! AAC is also based on MPEG-2 which has superior to MPEG-1 - especially at lower bitrates.

When tested by Stereophile they found surprising results. ipod measured extremely low jitter and when used in uncompressed mode would be as good - and in some instances even better than many high end cd players!

However, it's no escaping that i-river has good sound and lots of other uses compared to the ipod - and significantly better battery capacity! Apart from the battery capacity I doubt I'll find the ipod lacking in any respect for my use especially keeping in mind that the i-river is so much more expencive compared to the 15 GB version of the ipod!

Hmmm - maybe I should go listen to both then!

[Dauragon 0]

while thinking of it, when will they make a wireless headphones mp3 player? im really looking forward to that

Edit: well guess it shouldnt be far away http://techdigestuk.typepad.com/tech_digest/2003/11/bluetooth_mp3_p.html

[joltan 0]

Music compression using ogg is as good as aac (which no other player can play anyways).

As for the iPod lacking something: you can not record (no build in microphone or microphone jack/line in), you can not just drag&drop music on the player (not sure about files) - and if you want to copy music back from the player to another machine you're fecked. Forget about simple plug&play with that player. If you use iTunes though you're forced to use this player.

At least here in Germany the same size iPod costs about as much as an iRiver with the same hd size (although last time I checked was a few months ago - Apple might have lowered it prizes since then).

[Schnuffi 0]

I want to buy the Creative Muvo tx or the Creative Muvo nx. But I still don´t know which one I should buy. Does someone own one of these ? And is the price fair ?