Alternative to an ipod

[scarlets knees]

I'm in a reverse halo effect, I've recently moved to a pb and love it, never been bothered about getting an mp3 player but now i'm crumbling, i like the idea of listening to podcasts and the BBC here in the Uk is making loads of radio shows available and... and ....and etc. I like the look of the ipod mini over the standard ipod but then i saw the new sony with an alledged 40 hours of battery with a removable battery and wondered.....

Is there an viable alternaitve to the ipod for a mac user?

I realise by posting here i'm probably asking the converted but hey you guys are so helpful i thought i'd ask.

[macorama]

Is there an viable alternaitve to the ipod for a mac user?

Are you using iTunes as your MP3 player/organiser? Or something else?

[dsharits]

Is there an viable alternaitve to the ipod for a mac user?
To put it nicely, no.

[CanadaRAM]

The gateway question for you is: "Will I ever want to buy music from the iTunes Music Store and listen to it on a player?"

If the answer is yes, then the iPod should be your choice. The only alternative to play rights-managed AAC files is to burn them to CD and re-encode them as MP3's.

Conversely, if you are dedicated to a different music purchasing service, investigate both the Mac compatibility and the MP3player compatibility of that service.

[scarlets knees]

Using itunes at the moment but only cos it's there and does the job, I have no problem changing to other software

and as for buying form itms, they don't have most of the stuff i want so at the moment it's a no but never say never i suppose

[stevep]

Reasons to buy an iPod:
1. The 'cool' factor
2. Good 2nd hand value
3. Apple support
4. Obviously works with iTunes
5. Good design and engineering

Reasons not to:
1. ermmmm...........(oh well, maybe the file format restriction, but its not that much of a restriction is it?).

[hhlee]

Yes, there are viable options to the iPod. In fact, you can get whatever you want. But since you've made the switch to mac... you might find that getting an iPod, despite its $$$ and comparatively poor ACTUAL battery life, is just a slicker experience. iTunes + iPod works great, don't have to worry about compatibility, adapters to charge over usb or firewire. Even if iTMS doesn't have your song, you can still buy the CD and manage that via iTunes.

For me, iTunes trumps all alternatives. You can share music over a network, its easy to transfer over music, great search/playlist, you're guaranteed that it just works.

Now if someone came up with a different software that worked perfectly on Mac OS X with a player the size of an iPod or smaller with better battery life, then I'd switch.

[geese]

Well, the new Sony ones look pretty good, you have to admit. Although not Mac compatible.

This Archos (http://www.archos.com/products/overview/gmini_xs200.html) one is pretty small, but has a poor interface (I've used it- its like using Windows 3.11 on a Casio calculator). It is Mac compatible though.

The Creative Zen Touch looks and feels like a poor mans iPod. Its like expecting a pair of Adidas Japans for Christmas, and getting a pair of 'Dididas' trainers with 4 stripes on instead. I'm not exaggerating either- use one and you'll see.

The iRivers are supposed to be Mac compatible.

The one iPod alternative I would consider is the Olympus m:robe (http://reviews.cnet.com/Olympus_M_robe_MR_100/4505-6450_7-31265512.html?subj=Olympus+M%3Arobe+MR-100&part=rss). Look superb in a Knight Rider kinda way. But its not Mac compatible.

One thought though, why dont any mp3 players other then the ipod support AAC? Its daft- if anyone want to replace their ipod, then surely any competitor wants to make it easy for them to switch. As AAC is iTunes default encoder, no-ones going to re-encode their whole collection are they?

[davey-nb]

London bus stops are plastered with large posters promoting the Sony mp3 players screaming "50 hours battery use in one charge!"
I love my mini but Apple really need to improve their batteries.
8 hrs in the 20 GB is pretty lame.

[Pistol Pete]

i didnt know they made any other mp3 players..... ;)

[stridey]

8 hrs in the 20 GB is pretty lame.

I haven't timed it recently, but I'm getting *way* more than 8 hours with my 20 GB iPod. You can really maximize the battery life just by using the hold switch.

[homerjward]

i've heard good things about iRivers, and my friend has a RCA lyra (sp?) flash-based player which is nice cause of sd expansion and gets *hella* battery life on one AA batt, but dont know about compatibillity with macs. ipods rule!!!

[applemacdude]

"
Store up to 13,000 songs when using the ATRAC3plus audio fomat at 48kbps."

i would get 40 hours too with such a crappy compression

[GimmeSlack12]

The one iPod alternative I would consider is the Olympus m:robe (http://reviews.cnet.com/Olympus_M_robe_MR_100/4505-6450_7-31265512.html?subj=Olympus+M%3Arobe+MR-100&part=rss). Look superb in a Knight Rider kinda way. But its not Mac compatible.they?

I think I read on Wired.com or IGN that the M:Robe was a far cry from an iPod in many senses. Stating the GUI was atrocious, and the battery life was not good. It does look pretty, and if I was serious about getting one I'd probably go with a PSP instead. Now those things look rad, but I barely play my videogames at home, much rather on the road.

[davey-nb]

I haven't timed it recently, but I'm getting *way* more than 8 hours with my 20 GB iPod. You can really maximize the battery life just by using the hold switch.

How's that?

[dubbz]

I have a iRiver IHP120 myself, which does its job nicely. Don't know if they sell them anymore, though.

I've also heard good things about the iAUDIO (http://eng.iaudio.com/) players. They even have a "Mac OS" logo on their site.

[stridey]

How's that?

Like this. (http://www.apple.com/batteries/ipods.html) :cool:

[MacHarne]

Agreed on those positive iPod battery comments. My 3G 20GB gets about 10 hours of battery life and that's plenty for a day around campus and studying. I checked out other mp3 players before I went to the iPod and the interfaces of others were simply not up to par, in my opinion. I also use the iTMS too frequently to try and work around it by converting formats; it'd be a waste of time.

Alternative to an ipod
death.

[tech4all]

Here's something that may be handy: Link (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93548)

[J-Low]

This is an interesting topic for me as I'm about to buy a mac. After moving apartment.

I intend to get all my (purchased btw) music onto it, probably with external storage in a lossless format.
I have no need for a high storage portable player if the computer can hold the music and play it over the apartment stereo.
I should just get a 1GB or less portable player for me and the GF for our (short) commutes.
But the iaudio X5 is damn tempting as an iPod alternative (google it).
It would give you more freedom with your music, but it doesn't use an id3 tags system.

I won't pay for downloaded music until the quality is at least as good as CD and then only if significantly cheaper than CD and without DRM.

I know what I'm talking about. I've been through the home taping crisis of the late 80's/early 90's that crippled the music industry and bankrupted Bono and David Bowie and countless others.

I hope that helps (iaudio X5)-now I have a question:

I like the organisational database-like functionality itunes has but I wonder if you can share the library with another music organiser to avoid duplication?

[AlBDamned]

One thought though, why dont any mp3 players other then the ipod support AAC? Its daft- if anyone want to replace their ipod, then surely any competitor wants to make it easy for them to switch. As AAC is iTunes default encoder, no-ones going to re-encode their whole collection are they?

This is a very good point actually. Why hasn't a company made a straight-forward iPod alternative for Mac? Given the choice of a regular (ie non-photo) iPod or the Sony 20G Mp3 player, the Sony one is tiny and a little bit more techy. If there was a direct competitor, surely it would sell well?

[Savage Henry]

If there was a direct competitor, surely it would sell well?Owing to the strength of the iPod brand it would have to be not just a direct competitor, but a vastly superior product. Right now there just isn't that around.

The true alternative to using something other than an iPod is Hell and Eternal Damnation and, worst than that, social humiliation. ;)

[Mord]

the one and most important thing to me is the UI of a player and the ipod cant be beat, fiddling about with annoying controls when you want to listen to a song is a freaking pain.

the battery life is not that big of a deal, you can replace the battery with a little work (www.macsales.com sells them) after a while and 18 hours is enough for 2-3 days without power adapter i dont think you'd see a huge benefit from a longer battery life, also remember the mini is estimated while playing 128KBps files while most other players with 64KBps so more song can fit on the cache and the battery lasts longer.

[Applespider]

The current range of iPod batteries are much better than they used to be. My current 4G got me from home to airport (1.5 hours), hanging round airport (2 hours) and from London to San Francisco (11 hours) without running out (and it was on for most of the time). I did have 'shuffle' turned off and was playing from a playlist but I was pretty impressed.

The little Sonys do look good but I can't see myself changing from an iPod until it comes with something better than iTunes for organising it. It's just so easy to update, create playlists (particularly smart ones based on playback) and interact with. I like being able to listen to new tracks, rate them on the iPod and get them synched back to iTunes.

[scarlets knees]

mmm itunes rules, ipod ui rules, battery can suck or not depending on the planets but basically it's ipod all the way.

I know I'm going to go with an ipod. Next issue will be whether to go mini or standard but why do I have this nagging feeling of being forced into a corner (though I'm sure it's a great corner) which was one of the reasons I moved to mac from wintel. I suppose in this instance at least the product is a good one

[artea]

Personally, I will never buy music from the iTunes music stores. A lot of my music are soundtrack music and most come from Japan. Japanese cds = $$$$ But, I'm not interested in buying music by the truckload anyway. With iTunes, I make use of Lame encoder for mp3s or use the custom mp3 encoder ...someone said it was made by Fraunhofer or some guy in Germany. Don't remember the exact spelling. I encode my music with Lame a preset of extreme or use the custom setting at max 320 kbps. No lock-in for me.

And best of all, I can still enjoy listening to music arranged as a cd collection
and have the originals as backups. God-forbid your collection is lost if your hard drive or ipod hard drive dies. There goes the music collection.

I'm in the same boat with a lot of people who care about quality. Because you probably bought your Mac not because it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. :) But, because you care about aesthetics and quality. Some of us can't give up on the cd format even though we burn our entire cd collection into the hard drive.

Ipod for now is a nice-to-have until they make a phone/a player/digital
camera device that has 12+ hour battery life (24 hours would be ideal)
and yes, I'm dreaming. :p Sony and Apple should work together on this
dream device because do make great Sony Ericsson cell phones and
a digital cameras that are 5 megapixels or better. Sony, Apple, or Nokia
can come up with something does this in the next 5 years. :) No sweat!
a player that can play file formats the user wants -- AAC, OGG, WMP,
MP3, AVI, ATRAC, and whatever major file format that you want.

But of course, the audiophiles would never buy this device because
it doesn't and can't play CD nor vinyl albums. I suppose we may have
to settle with the CD/MP3 player hybrid that's at least half-decent. :)
What a dilemma! Whatever happened to SACD or DVD-Audio -- the
market refused them because of DRM or some other reason that I
can't remember. Then again, I'll probably wrong and some of you
do have music in that format with your high end audiophile system
and probably demanding more of your collection be released in that
format.

And I noticed that retail prices of CDs are inching upward -- inflation
or is it just me? Well, that's for music in the U.S. Japanese CDs really
hurts my pocketbook. Right now I don't see any alternatives that are a must-have.

[J-Low]

Iaudio X5 (http://www.cowonamerica.com/products/iaudio/x5/)

I think that this is a strong alternative to the iPod, should you want one.

(I don't own either.)

[weg]

Reasons to buy an iPod:
1. The 'cool' factor
2. Good 2nd hand value
3. Apple support
4. Obviously works with iTunes
5. Good design and engineering

Reasons not to:
1. ermmmm...........(oh well, maybe the file format restriction, but its not that much of a restriction is it?).

2.) Built in battery that cannot be replaced by user
3.) Only 12 hours on a battery charge
4.) Does not support MP3 encoding
5.) Everyone has an iPod, so it's not SO cool anymore
6.) There are players with higher sound quality.

I have an iPod 20GB clickwheel and an iRiver FP899. The iPod is cool, but i LOVE the iRiver (MP3 encoding, battery lasts twice as long as iPod battery AND can be replaced by user, plays Ogg Vorbis).
Though, it's really nasty to transfer music bought on iTunes to the iRiver :(

[mad jew]

4.) Does not support MP3 encoding


Huh? :confused:

[AP_piano295]

The 50 hours battery life is a gross exageration fiffty hours with lights off playing no music maybe but my friend who has the sony gets about 19 which is better than the ipod.

[AlBDamned]

Owing to the strength of the iPod brand it would have to be not just a direct competitor, but a vastly superior product. Right now there just isn't that around.

The true alternative to using something other than an iPod is Hell and Eternal Damnation and, worst than that, social humiliation. ;)

OK so why isn't there a superior product (regardless of brand). Sony can do 20GB in a much smaller. lighter package than the iPod - in fact, it's more on par with the mini. All they need to do is make it Mac compatible, work perfectly with iTunes and bang - a superior product the the regular (non-photo) range and for substantially less rrp. Mind you, in terms of photo pods versus Sony that 40GB Vaio thing is horrible. Sony have kind of stuffed up there IMO and it's way off Apple's range.

[J-Low]

OK so why isn't there a superior product (regardless of brand). Sony can do 20GB in a much smaller. lighter package than the iPod - in fact, it's more on par with the mini. All they need to do is make it Mac compatible, work perfectly with iTunes and bang - a superior product the the regular (non-photo) range and for substantially less rrp. Mind you, in terms of photo pods versus Sony that 40GB Vaio thing is horrible. Sony have kind of stuffed up there IMO and it's way off Apple's range.

ahem... (http://www.cowonamerica.com/products/iaudio/x5/)

Appears to do much more than any iPod available, without the need for expensive add-ons, acoustic tech specs beat iPod's, comparable size, mac compatible.

Only thing is that it won't synch with iTunes; but apple won't allow any other player but iPod to do that. (correct me if I'm wrong) and if you don't need the photo video capability, then go for the sister product (the M3).

[AlBDamned]

ahem... (http://www.cowonamerica.com/products/iaudio/x5/)

Appears to do much more than any iPod available, without the need for expensive add-ons, acoustic tech specs beat iPod's, comparable size, mac compatible.

Only thing is that it won't synch with iTunes; but apple won't allow any other player but iPod to do that. (correct me if I'm wrong) and if you don't need the photo video capability, then go for the sister product (the M3).

Any idea on price? If only $$ available, how much is the 30 GB photo in the US and how does it compare? Looks awesome though.

[AlBDamned]

P.S. I'd hope the X5 earphones would be better (the weakest link in the iPo package by a long long way).

[Sharewaredemon]

mmm itunes rules, ipod ui rules, battery can suck or not depending on the planets but basically it's ipod all the way.

I know I'm going to go with an ipod. Next issue will be whether to go mini or standard but why do I have this nagging feeling of being forced into a corner (though I'm sure it's a great corner) which was one of the reasons I moved to mac from wintel. I suppose in this instance at least the product is a good one


Good decision, you won't regret it!

[J-Low]

Here's a UK price comparison on the different models since you're in London.Try newegg for US pricing.

http://www.iaudiophile.net/gallery/albums/userpics/X5%7E0.jpg

They come with Cresyn phones I believe.

[mad jew]

Here's a UK price comparison on the different models since you're in London.Try newegg for US pricing.

http://www.iaudiophile.net/gallery/albums/userpics/X5%7E0.jpg


Picture didn't work. :(

[AlBDamned]

Prices are indentical to apple stuff across the range, at least in the US. I would assume this translates to the UK but checking now.

[AlBDamned]

£249 in the UK for the 20GB model. This is directly in line with the 30GB photo so UK-wise you're sacrificing 10GB at that price. Nothing to stop buying one in/from the States though!

I would agree with J-low, this is a strong competitor to the iPod, and has it beat in many places.

Downsides could be lower battery life (on paper) and, of course, it's not an Apple. Fewer people have one so problems may be harder to deal with, but it does look like a quality bit of kit.

Portable video in something that size has to be a future consideration for a sometime next G iPod.

[Applespider]

why do I have this nagging feeling of being forced into a corner (though I'm sure it's a great corner) which was one of the reasons I moved to mac from wintel. I suppose in this instance at least the product is a good one

It's a very crowded corner these days! But still very comfortable compared to the rest of the room!

Incidentally, I'd hang off buying an iPod at the moment. iTunes 5 is due out in the next few weeks and it's probably worth waiting in case the 5G iPod is announced at the same time (even if it's just so you can buy a 4G one cheaper)

[weg]

Huh? :confused:

It does of course support MP3s.. but MP3 players like the iRiver FPxxx support direct encoding of MP3, it can encode from line in or directly from the built in radio...

Oh.. I forgot! The iPod has no built in radio!

[BiggeeC]

yeeeeeeeeeeeeah, that iaudio x5 thingamabob looks pretty sweet. However, I've had a ipod since the 1st gen. I gave that one to my sister and bought a 3rd gen. As for the person who posted that ipods are no longer cool? How very right you are. Everybody has them now.

I think the problem here is the same issue with Apple in general. Sure, there are other products out there that perform better in various aspects, are cheaper, and may look cooler (not much, but the iaudio x5 looks darn cool), but would you rather have them or an Apple product? Unless they have a better protection plan than Apple, better support, and better applications, I'm sticking with Apple my ipod. I'd rather have an original than a knock-off, even if the knock-off has a better battery life.

--Chris

[geese]

[QUOTE=weg]It does of course support MP3s.. but MP3 players like the iRiver FPxxx support direct encoding of MP3, it can encode from line in or directly from the built in radio...
[QUOTE]

Why would anyone want direct mp3 encoding??? It wont name the tracks for you then. You'll end up with loads of mp3's called 'Track 01, Track 02 by Artist 01, Artist 02' and so on. Pointless feature, do it on your PC/Mac and it'll tag your mp3's then.

A DAB radio version would be triffic though.