what i pod/mp3 player to get

[CATCRACKER]

which player should i get? is ebay a good place to go? i will use it for working out? in the car with fm modulator and at home to plug into home stereo

 

[BK]

Are you looking to buy from I tunes?

Or just rip your own and upload them in mp3 format to the player?

Is there a service you looking to use other than Itunes?

 

[Bigsaint]

Both of my daughters have Ipod Nanos, no complaints. I have my the oldest daughters hand me down Ipod 1G Shuffle, which is plenty for me. It's very small and lite, holds way more than I will ever use. Only downfall with the shuffle is that you can't select a certain song by sight. The addition of a screen lets you choose artists, playlists, specific songs etc.



The new truck radio has a access port so I can plug the shuffle right in and not bother with buring cds, pretty cool.

 

[AMink]

I have a Creative Zen Sleek. It's a 20 gig, very easy to use. They also make a 20 gig video model, but I don't really foresee a need for that. It has an FM tuner, calendar, etc. I thought about an iPod, but got this one for Christmas and stayed with it. Most of my music is ripped from my CD collection. If you have a large library of iTunes, you won't be able to download them to a non-apple brand. Screw Apple on that! :-{} I paid for the song, I should be able to put it wherever I want! Overall, very happy with my Sleek. I got my son a Creative Nano. Small as an iPod shuffle, but you can see what's playing and move forward and back. It's so small, I'd probably lose it!

 

[GFritsch]

Got my wife a video I pod for Christmas. A little pricey (400 bucks) but she absolutely loves it. All of her music won't fill it, and she stores pictures and videos on it as well. Seems to be a very well made and easy to use product. It plugs into her car stereo and we have endless music without comercials. Loading songs from I-tunes program on the computer is simple and fast.



I use the I-pod shuffle when I go running or work out. It is extremely light and easy to use.



We both use I-tunes to download music to our computers, and then into the I-pods. The I-tunes program is free to download from Apple and works on Macs as well as PC's (my computer)



Think my next computer will be a mac... Never thought I would go mac, but their products really work well.



Greg

 

[Turbo1Ton]

I am also using an iPod with video. I had considered purchasing one for a while but was hesitant because I didn't think I would use it much. Well, I was given one as a gift and while I don't use it a lot outside of the truck, it is always playing when I'm in the truck.



iTunes makes it really easy to keep the iPod updated, just plug it in and it will automatically update any songs you have added or changed info on. I originally thought I wouldn't like this but I was wrong. I primarily rip my cd's, very seldom will I buy a song from iTunes, it makes more sense to go buy the cd and rip it. That way you always have a backup copy.



I bought the Peripheral brand adapter to connect to the head unit. It works pretty well. It leaves the iPod fully functional while playing where some of the others don't. I ran the cable to my armrest console so I could keep it out of sight.



I'm happy with it and that is all that really matters.

 

[CATCRACKER]

i already have alot of songs from limewire can i download those into the ipod?



what kind of quality does the fm modulator give? when you say its hard to use and set up what do you mean? i am ignorant on these devices but i love the idea just want to buy what i need 1st.

 

[BrianJ]

I just bought both my wife and I 2 Creative Zen Microphoto's with 8g of storage and we both are very happy with them. You can download photos, it has a contact database and calendar/planner, and also has an FM tuner. I looked at many players before I settled on this one.



There are few things that steered me away from the I-Pod, besides price. One, they don't have FM tuners if you think you want that ability. Two, they are sealed units and you have to send them to an authorized facility to have the batteries replaced , which last about 80 charges before losing capacity. This can get rather costly. The Creative Microphoto units have replacable NiHim (sp) batteries that cost appx. $30. Just slide open the back to replace the battery. The batteries in our Microphoto units last up to 14 hours, I believe, before needing a charge. These batteries last appx 80 charges as well before losing their full capacity.



Other than that it really boils down to what you want out of your player.



Good luck, I know I looked for weeks and tried several before settling on the Creative Microphoto's. A good place to look for the lowest price would be Pricegrabber.com.

 

[BK]

If you have a bunch of mp3 with out DRM, (they play on your computer on any old mp3 player like winamp) and mp3 ripped from CDs, and you aren't looking to get tied up to a downloading service that uses a DRM, then go for something like the CL Zen 30gig or 20gig player.



More bang for the buck compared to IPods where the Apple name is demanding more $$ per bang. I don't know if the Zen still has a user replaceable battery, but that is something to look for.



Apple has a huge following, and they did a good job with ITunes, but the actual IPods aren't (IMHO) as good as people rant about.



Technically IPonds have an odd way of storing files on the hard dive, they segment the mp3 file into pieces , then store the different pieces in different encrypted directories, to keep people from hacking into the IPod and pulling files off it without ITunes and bypassing DRM. So if one of these thousand segmented directories drops a bit - you "loose" every song on the IPod.

This is why IPod has a higher frequency of "wiping out".



On a file system that contiguously stores a single file, of you loose a bit, the one song gets a little muffed up or becomes a bad file. On the IPod, all the files take a dump cause this linked, but segmented file storage architecture takes a dump when one link the in chain becomes bad.

KISS, is not what Apple followed for the file storage system.

IPods tend to have, more than others, battery problems.

Not that others maynot. But based on my friends that use them, IPods more frequently do.

I have to admit, no other device has such an aftermarket of accessories either.



If you plan on using a pay downloading service with DRM, you may first want to see what devices they support.

 

[RandyHamilton]

A very good friend who is also a "MAC GUY" told me that if he had it to do all over again he would not buy an IPOD. Reason for that is that the IPOD can be used on one pc,, whereas the other brands can be used on any number of PC's ,, just plug em in,,,, I use Rhapsody and am looking for one that is also Rhapsody compatible. . I already pay Rhapsody 10 bucks a month and if I get one that is compatible I can d-load an unlimited number of songs to the mp3 player,, I can also rip cd music I already own to the same MP3 player,,