Explain audio players (zune, ipod, etc)
- Thread starter clones_jer
- Start date
Wow... now I'm not confused anymore :wacko::biggrin:
Apparently most people like whatever they have - those the consensus seems to be that flash drives are the only way to go for active use.
Keep the opinions coming ... I may have to do some hands-on research this week at Best Buy - unless there are better places to shop for them?
Tell you what. Take a look at ..
MP3 Players - Zen, MuVo, Digital MP3 Player
You cant go wrong with any of them. Do some comparisons. They have very affordable and reliable options. I have had great experience with their customer support team as well.
Here is my opinion and I'm a person that has bought about every single tech item in the last 10 years.
I lean towards the Ipod family of MP3 players. A lot of non-Ipod owners slam the Ipod but the truth is that it's #1 in sales for a lot of reasons. There are MP3 players that can do something better but I think as a total package, it's hard to beat the Ipod family.
For example, in the last 5 years I've had an Ipod mini, and normal 30gb Ipod, and my wife has a shuffle. We use the same Itunes for all 3 of these products. All 3 Ipods have worked flawlessly and they do everything I need them to do (I would like to see an FM tuner). I will admit that my Ipod acted up a little after I left it in my car and it was -20 but after a few hours indoors it was fine again.
The itunes software allows me to use either MP3 or AAC format, allows me to burn CD's, back-up songs, create playlists, buy songs, convert CD's, etc. I've used both Windows XP and Vista with Itunes. If I get my songs from another source I just drag and drop them into Itunes and everything works like it should.
I guess I can't really think of any downsides to the Ipod besides them being a little more $$$.
BTW-Before the Ipods I had 2 other players. One was a Rio and the other was from some other company that went out of business. These were before the Ipod was even out so it wasn't a fair comparison.
I lean towards the Ipod family of MP3 players. A lot of non-Ipod owners slam the Ipod but the truth is that it's #1 in sales for a lot of reasons. There are MP3 players that can do something better but I think as a total package, it's hard to beat the Ipod family.
For example, in the last 5 years I've had an Ipod mini, and normal 30gb Ipod, and my wife has a shuffle. We use the same Itunes for all 3 of these products. All 3 Ipods have worked flawlessly and they do everything I need them to do (I would like to see an FM tuner). I will admit that my Ipod acted up a little after I left it in my car and it was -20 but after a few hours indoors it was fine again.
The itunes software allows me to use either MP3 or AAC format, allows me to burn CD's, back-up songs, create playlists, buy songs, convert CD's, etc. I've used both Windows XP and Vista with Itunes. If I get my songs from another source I just drag and drop them into Itunes and everything works like it should.
I guess I can't really think of any downsides to the Ipod besides them being a little more $$$.
BTW-Before the Ipods I had 2 other players. One was a Rio and the other was from some other company that went out of business. These were before the Ipod was even out so it wasn't a fair comparison.
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I like the Ipods but I feel itunes is crap. Its bulky and slow. As I have said before, I like the accessories that the Ipod can connect to. Very good expandability. Never liked the price on the Ipods though. Seems like a limited machine for the cost. It apple so people buy part of the name. The usability is nice. Nice interface etc. Im torn on the product honestly.
I'm actually anti-Apple but i like their Ipod.
You're correct about Itunes. If you don;t like Itunes than don't buy an Ipod. If I was looking for my first MP3 player I would play around with Itunes for a few weeks to see how you like it. It's free.
I actually ended up going with the Creative Zen.
I wanted some flexibility in the file format and it appears the Zen is compatible with just about everything including AAC files. In general I think my wife wants all of her cd collection available - so Itunes may not be in the picture right away.
I've never actually used one of these things nor has my wife, so we'll see how it goes.
Thanks for all of the comments.
I actually like iTunes. It works good for me.
The great thing about the Zune's software is that it can automatically find all compatible files and automatically sync them with your Zune (even iTunes). The Zune does have an FM tuner as well.
The great thing about the Zune's software is that it can automatically find all compatible files and automatically sync them with your Zune (even iTunes). The Zune does have an FM tuner as well.
I know you already bought yours, but I'll throw in what I had
I have a 4 gig Cowon D2... good stuff, like the software it came with, though I cracked my touch screen so that makes using it a bit harder now...
If you get something with a touch screen I recommend finding somethign that also has hard buttons in case you have an accident like I did (not even sure what I did to crack it), otherwise My cowon is decent.
I heard good things about the Zen when I was looking into those too, I may look into one of those next
I have a 4 gig Cowon D2... good stuff, like the software it came with, though I cracked my touch screen so that makes using it a bit harder now...
If you get something with a touch screen I recommend finding somethign that also has hard buttons in case you have an accident like I did (not even sure what I did to crack it), otherwise My cowon is decent.
I heard good things about the Zen when I was looking into those too, I may look into one of those next
