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Ipod or other mp3 player.

N

nikeballa09

macrumors member
Original poster
Hi I just recently started college and would like advice on weather i should buy an Ipod or some other mp3 device similar to an Ipod. I recently got a toshiba notbook with centrino and its amazing. anyways i would appreciated a reason on why you recommend the ipod or other product.


Thank You
 
Uhhhh, excuse me but...iPod!!!!!!

indexipod_20040719a.gif
 
Well ... you're coming to a Mac forum to ask if you should buy an iPod or some "other mp3 player." What kind of answer do you think you're going to hear. 😛

If you just want to listen to mp3s, I think the iPod would be a great pick. There's a lot of aftermarket accessories available for it, so you can add a voice recorder / FM transmitter / etc. The iPod is easy to learn and use, so you'd be quite happy I'm sure. Now. If you want something that has a built-in FM radio, then you'll need to look at something other than the iPod -- the iPod has a lot of things, but not everything.

Before you can get helpful advice, you have to explain what you're looking for. So, what do you want in an mp3 player?
 
We need details. How much music? What format are they stored in? Do you use (and/or like) iTunes? <-- Key question. If answer is yes, iPod no question. If no, don't get an iPod.
 
dotnina said:
Well ... you're coming to a Mac forum to ask if you should buy an iPod or some "other mp3 player." What kind of answer do you think you're going to hear. 😛
Click to expand...

Seriously. What do you think mac users are going to say? ipod, of course! ...unless price is a major issue, in which case you can get something smaller and crappier, but you'd have to go pretty low-end to make it a lot cheaper than an ipod mini.
 
Well, if he wants a few other suggestions or something, then how about iRiver? www.iriveramerica.com is their URL, I think.

Oh, and Rio makes quite a few decent players, although a few more bad ones. 😉

Then there's the iPod. That's the one I have, and it's quite great. 🙂

Another option is Sony's HD Minidisk players, each HD minidisk holding around 1 GB. That's quite a bit, and you can buy as many as needed. That's what I'd consider if I had a Windows computer, and I needed a player. The problem is that they make you convert everything to Atrac3 plus, but whatever. The battery life is long, and the size is small.

There's the Creative Zen Touch as well, but I believe its just a (physically) larger iPod. May as well get the real deal.
 
about two weeks ago I received a Rio Karma. Broke within two days. Admittedly that was extraordinary bad luck. Yet looking at the CNet review as an example you'll notice that they actually lowered the score and put up a note about frequenr harddrive deaths (which ironically wasn't my problem with it). Admittedly the ability to play ogg vorbis fils which tend to sound nicer with a smaller filesize was nice. As were automatic sidescrolling album titles and the like in the menus, something I very well miss with the iPod given that some of the albums I uploaded have long and at the beginning if them similar names. I'm as well annoyed by the lack of gapless playback and crossfading in the iPod as well as a decent equalizer. And yes, I bought an iPod a week ago. It does miss some features I'd like to see, but has overall less reports of failing hardware. Unlike with karmas it's also possible to get the battery replaced, something I haven't seen offered from anyone for the karma. The iPods controls are certainly nicer to use yet the Karmas are nice as well, yet the iPod certainly is smaller, another point for it.
So, in total I'd go for the iPod on reliability and ease of use although other players offer features which are sadly missing from the iPod.
 
depending on how much music you havve and in what format a samsung yepp could be good. plus they're tiny. the two i have are a sony md player (actually i recently sold it) which fits 5 hours of music on 1 disk and disks are like 1-2 bucks each and the player cost me 100 dollars. the downside of course is teh atrac 3 business. the reason i sold it is of course i got an ipod. couldnt be happier with that. 😀 😛 😎
 
But really, though...Everyone here loves Apple..But it doesn't take an Apple lover to see that iPod's are #1. Rio, Samsung, iRiver, Sony, etc. are fine but just don't seem to come close to the simplistic design, nature, ease of use, and usefullness of the iPod. Nothing can touch it right now. NOTHING. But the market is growing and something else might take the cake and rule over the iPod...Let's just hope that that something is from Apple.
 
i have quite a bit of music that i would be able to put on a device. I know that i will get a biased oppinion in these forums. what do u guys think of the dell digital jukebox? is the ipod still a better device?
 
nikeballa09 said:
i have quite a bit of music that i would be able to put on a device. I know that i will get a biased oppinion in these forums. what do u guys think of the dell digital jukebox? is the ipod still a better device?
Click to expand...
well, if you have lots get the ipod. and im a pc user. 🙁
 
Buy the iPod, or the hPod. You can get one from Buy.com (yes, that Buy.com, of Buymusic.com) for about $260 with a deal they have going on right now. The interface and ease of use is the best. Plus it looks good, if you care about stuff like that. DON'T buy the Dell DJ. I have heard nothing but bad things about them. Look for some reviews on them and you'll see what I mean. I've heard the Creatives, Samsungs, and Rios have gotten better since I've last used them, but they all still look ugly and don't seem as simple. If price or battery life is more important to you, there are some other options out there for you, but I like my iPod.

Whatever you decide, I'd buy this extended warranty for about $40 just in case.

Edit: Places like PowerMax sometimes have older and refurb iPods for sale cheap. You can get a 3rd Gen 15GB for $250 and a 30GB for $300 right now.
 
I have a 3G ipod, love it... will upgrade only when i need to.

A while ago I had a 128MB flash based MP3 player - worked great and was unbelieably tiny (half the size of an iPod Mini) but the constant refreshing of the song list made it a bit annoying. One day I cracked and got an iPod, don't regret it at all...

buy one now.
 
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