MP3 Players

[Rl'Halsinor]

I swear I get better advice on these forums concerning Tech Help and Technology than a number of websites designed for computers, et. al. Anyway, I am looking into purchasing an MP3 player. The thing is I haven't a clue about them and so I need some advice:

1. Besides MAC's Ipod what other brands do you recommend?

2. Besides the MP3 Player itself what other accessories will I need?

3. What software is involved and what is the cost?

4. Any other device.

I am not looking for anything else but to play music. I don't need photo capture, etc., just reliability.

Thanks

 

[Aus_Snow]

I swear I get better advice on these forums concerning Tech Help and Technology than a number of websites designed for computers, et. al. Anyway, I am looking into purchasing an MP3 player. The thing is I haven't a clue about them and so I need some advice:

1. Besides MAC's Ipod what other brands do you recommend?

2. Besides the MP3 Player itself what other accessories will I need?

3. What software is involved and what is the cost?

4. Any other device.

I am not looking for anything else but to play music. I don't need photo capture, etc., just reliability.

Thanks

I have a Samsung, and I'm very happy with it. Mainly for its 35 hour battery life (that's with continuous usage, not in 'passive' mode, obviously), sound quality and lack of those annoying iPod traits. Plus, it was cheap. That was all I needed at the time I bought it, and I haven't looked back since. However, it doesn't come with a case, so I had to get one of those separately.

I've also heard good things about the iRiver range.

I guess it depends too, on how much storage you want the thing to have.

 

[Rackhir]

Flash based players are up to 8 gigs in storage. Since they are solid state they are immune to shock damage like the HD based players. They also tend to be smaller and have longer battery life than the HD based players.

I think pretty much all of the players ship with the required software. Generally, the only add on you might want to look at is better earphones. The iPods are pretty much the only type of player with a significant eccosystem of add ons and most of those are "docks" of one sort or another.

 

[trancejeremy]

I have a Creative Zen Touch myself which is pretty good.

AFAIK, most of them come with their own software, but most non-Ipods will also work with Windows Media Player.

Most adds on for the Ipod, or at least some, like the ones that let you play it through a car radio, work with any mp3 player.

 

[LightPhoenix]

...and lack of those annoying iPod traits.

Could you explain a little more what those are? I'm curious, myself.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Could you explain a little more what those are? I'm curious, myself.

I haven't really looked into it, but I'd heard some things about DRM that sounded irritating enough to put me off. Besides, I figured, why not support one of the 'competitors'.

If that whole DRM thing isn't an issue with iPods, then I retract my previous statement alluding to said issue.

 

[Jdvn1]

From what I've seen, everyone who has a non-iPod MP3 raves that they're much better. The iPod is just the big name that everyone knows.

 

[John Crichton]

I had an iRiver for years and loved it. But then they didn't release an upgrade the model I had (HP-120) to have more HD space or any new features nor did the thing get any lighter. So I got one of the new iPods. It's impressed me so far and has a ton of accessories for play anywhere - like my old '94 Acura.

And iTunes is great as far as I'm concerned. It's not as cool as the drag-n-drop of my old iRiver, which functioned just like a portable HD that just happened to play music. But that's ok.

 

[JediSoth]

My wife has an iPod Nano and loves it. Before that she had an iPod Shuffle. Neither has given her any trouble. I have a Samsung and it's worked well for me. I like being able to just drag and drop music files onto it (my computer sees it as a flash drive); she has to go through iTunes to get music on her iPod. I second the recommendation about better earphones. We went through about 3 pairs each before we found some that fit well.

The only accessory we've bought for her iPod Nano is a recharging dock/FM transmitter for her van. It fits in her cup holder and works really well.

JediSoth

 

[Rackhir]

I haven't really looked into it, but I'd heard some things about DRM that sounded irritating enough to put me off. Besides, I figured, why not support one of the 'competitors'.

If that whole DRM thing isn't an issue with iPods, then I retract my previous statement alluding to said issue.

DRM is an issue with most of the MP3 players if only indirectly. For example older "Plays For Sure" protected WMA files won't work on the new microsoft zune player due out this month. Where it tends to really bite is with music purchased from some sort of an online download service like iTunes, the zombie remains of Napster, or the other compeditors to iTunes. A lot of the current services for the windows machines (pretty much none of them support macs, which doesn't sound like it's an issue for you), are a monthly subscription/unlimited download model. Which means that the moment you stop paying them the $10 a month, all the stuff you've gotten from them goes away. Essentially, with the online music purchases you tend to be locked into the platform that it was built for. However with iTunes at least they haven't been screwing people who have older models, or locking them out of using their files on new iPods (but you are locked into using purchased music downloads only on iPods).

If you are going to be working off of CDs that you already own, then the DRM really isn't an issue for any of them. The only major restriction that was on the iPods was that you couldn't use them to copy the music you put on them between computers. However they've changed that so it's possible to sync the music on them with up to 5 computers (the ones you've authorized to access your iTune's store account).