POLL: What is your favourite MP3 player

[ResidentWeevil2077]

Personally, I prefer Creative's Zen family of players, simply because they're BY FAR the best players today. I currently own a Creative Zen V 4 GB player, and I paid roughly $210 CDN at Best Buy. For those that haven't seen one before (as they've only been around since September in N. America), here's a pic:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1b/Zen_plus_v.JPG

It's slightly larger than an iPod Nano, and weighs just a tad heavier, but overall I find it is a much better player than an iPod Nano, AND I can also rip music directly from my portable CD player (something NO iPod, or any other player as far as my knowledge, can do).

 

What sold me on this player was the fact that it was cheaper than an iPod Nano (compare $210 CDN to $240 CDN for the same storage capacity), and it offers more features than an iPod Nano.

[Marxist ßastard]

while grep ^/ < $PLAYLIST | ~/bin/unsort | mpg321 -@ -;
 do;
done

[Dark0ne]

I started off with a Creative Zen since it was far cheaper than the iPod alternative with 20GB of space. I found it a tad clunky and cumbersome to use. I had an...unfortunate accident with the Zen and decided to look for a new player..

 

..I stumbled across dirt cheap refurbished iPods on Amazon and have had my 4th Gen iPod (20GB, £30 cheaper than the Zen) ever since.

[General_Crespin]

You're missing an option for "To the previous question, what sold you on the MP3 player you CURRENTLY own?": Features

 

I have an iRiver H340. I got it because it has OGG support and all of my music is in OGG. :) I'm running Rockbox firmware on it as well- awesome firmware.

[cactoblasta]

I've got an ipod nano. I like it cos it's thin and small and fits into the coin/emergency pocket of all my jeans. It also lets you choose the song, something the shuffle doesn't allow. In addition it syncs properly with itunes, which I started using when i got a mac laptop to go overseas.

 

In totally irrelevant news, it's also hella shiny. And who isn't attracted to shiny things?

 

EDIT: What does MB's post mean? I don't speak code.

[VaanicOne]

I've got a Samsung something-or-other. It's nice.

 

I don't really need anything better.

[ResidentWeevil2077]

EDIT: What does MB's post mean? I don't speak code.

Neither do I... :P

 

You're missing an option for "To the previous question, what sold you on the MP3 player you CURRENTLY own?": Features

 

I have an iRiver H340. I got it because it has OGG support and all of my music is in OGG. :) I'm running Rockbox firmware on it as well- awesome firmware.

Oh yeah, I forgot iRiver supported Ogg Vorbis. Of course, while I do find Vorbis to be a robust format for encoding audio files (the major difference between OGG and MP3 is OGG is OPEN SOURCE AND FREE, something I strongly support), a majority of media players (WMP 11, for example) don't have support for Vorbis. I DID d/l WinAmp (which supports Vorbis) before, but I find having dozens of media players on my HD is kinda redundant. And I feel quite content with WMP 11.

[tmx]

Short answer: My favorite mp3 player is going to be a device that has the most features possible. (but not at the same time big and clunky).

 

I'm a user at headfi, a place where headphones enthuasist are. I'm away from home most of the day so i use portable a lot. Some people spend almost $1000 on a single portable setup, ie: DAP -> headphone amp and/or DAC-> Canalphones (in ear monitors), and expensive cables to connect between the devices. At the same time low quality mp3 and not good sounding recordings, or not spending more time on finding good music. If I post this there they'll be pissed off. Instead I spent less on a good sounding speakers system and have much more enjoyment. The sound quality of digitla audio player today aren't going to be comparable to a vintage sony portable cd player or the more expensive ones, but I think most of them sound good enough for portable use. Just have a decent earphone, I recommend Sennheiser MX500 or AKG K14P (my new favorite earphone, lack some bass, but extremely clear and detailed). I'm more interested in features than sound when it come to these digtial audio players.

 

My first Dap was the Iriver Ihp120, which I still think is one of the greatest portable device, if you're going to put it into "history of portable music players". It has so much features for the time. Even came with a free clipp-on microphone. But in all honestly Iriver sound is okay, nothing great. (Maybe Rockbox improve it, but I dont know since I sold it before there was even Rockbox for it.) It has digital ouput, which is a very sought after feature, I think very few dap, if any, has this. I'm not a fan of Iriver anymore, everythign they make today is just for look. If you ask me for recommendation of mp3 player I would not recommend this brand. There is nothing that other competition brands can't offer and probably at lower price, such as Creative Zen.

 

I also used the Archos Gmini400, which is my all time fav portable device. It can play near dvd resolution divx videos and hook up to the tv, at higher resolution than the current ipod video. There are also hacks to allow playing nintendo, sega and gameboy games. Unfortunately the color screen for this device is not very nice. I broke the screen while opening up the player to do cleaning.

 

My next mp3 player is the Archos 604 Wifi. It's probably the most feature packed device to date. It has a screen as big as the PSP, except it play dvd, divx, mpg. There is a $20 online plugin that allow it to play AAC and MP4 also. Since aac format sound better than mp3 at lower bitrates. It's also a touchscreen device, with wireless internet connection for either webbrowsing or file server. So theoriectically I can transfer music between my computer and the device wireless. Also can record videos, but you have to buy a docking station which is $80. Removable battery. Can act as camcorder, but you have to buy a $150 clip-on camera. It's actaully pretty small for all that 5x3x.7". I heard the webbrowsing is alittle sluggish but I can probably live with it, will be a good thing to have if I'm away from home 12-15 hours a day. Haven't has it yet, I've been waiting for it for two weeks and one more because the place I ordered ran out of stock.

 

About the Zune. I don't even understand why some people is entice about it. And it wants to challenge the Ipod. If you think realisticly, first it has little advertising campaign. Ipod is sucessful because it is fashionable and hip, Microsoft is not. A teen would not buy a microsoft product and try to be act hip in front of their peers. The wireless feature is very restricted and with DRM for "cross players" transfered files is annoying. Beside the big screen and the limited wireless there isn't any other good features. I don't think it will be very sucessful. I can't believe it use the slogan "welcome to the social", it won't even be popular. But let's say its a good price, $200 or under, and you want to buy it for movie and mp3, then not a bad deal. But wmv video format isn't great.

 

I never was a Ipod fan because they don't have much useful features, but I admit is one of the best music device and has excellent sounding headphone output. I had a 2G once, that was a very nice player. I bought a 3G on ebay to use during the waiting period for the archos, even a Pocket dock and new battery for it. Going to have to walk 1.5miles to the postoffice tomorrow morning to pick it up, what a pain in the butt. Probably just resell on ebay when I get it.

 

About ogg vorbis. It cost more cpu power to process (lower battery life) and at higher bitrates it isnt much different than mp3. But let say if you use 128kbs, which say is comparable to 192kbs mp3, and will drain less battery. At the same time save space since it is small. I would like to back up my music with 500kbs ogg, but too bad it is not a widely supported format.

[ResidentWeevil2077]

About the Zune. I don't even understand why some people is entice about it. And it wants to challenge the Ipod. If you think realisticly, first it has little advertising campaign. Ipod is sucessful because it is fashionable and hip, Microsoft is not. A teen would not buy a microsoft product and try to be act hip in front of their peers. The wireless feature is very restricted and with DRM for "cross players" transfered files is annoying. Beside the big screen and the limited wireless there isn't any other good features. I don't think it will be very sucessful. I can't believe it use the slogan "welcome to the social", it won't even be popular. But let's say its a good price, $200 or under, and you want to buy it for movie and mp3, then not a bad deal. But wmv video format isn't great.

 

About ogg vorbis. It cost more cpu power to process (lower battery life) and at higher bitrates it isnt much different than mp3. But let say if you use 128kbs, which say is comparable to 192kbs mp3, and will drain less battery. At the same time save space since it is small. I would like to back up my music with 500kbs ogg, but too bad it is not a widely supported format.

I don't understand why MS is wanting to compete with Apple when it comes to portable music players. Sure, yes, I'll take Windows ANY day of the week over OS X, but to use a player made by MS just takes the cake.

 

And about Vorbis, I'd use it in a game, but not to listen to my music with. I like that it offers more for less, but I agree it isn't widely supported, being Open Source and all.