MP3 Player Reccomendation

[RoxStar]

Hey Swampies. So my Zune died a few weeks ago and I've tried to fix it. It appears to be a battery issue but I swapped in an iPod lithium ion battery (same manufacturer and everything) and still no dice.

 

So!

 

I appear to be in the market for a new MP3 player. As many of you know I love music and the last couple of weeks have been a real drag not having my trusty music/ video device. Does anyone have any recommendations? I was looking at iPods and I like the iPod classic but the iPod touch is also very intriguing. I searched around online but most sites came up with a toss up between the Zune and iPod. I like iTunes better than the Zune software but I still would like some good old fashioned swampie feedback.

 

Thanks!

[IG-64]

I bought a Sansa e280 off of Woot awhile back. I haven't used it a whole lot, being new, but I like it so far, so I guess I would recommend it. It's pretty adaptive storage-wise, since it has a microsd slot. I also got a 2 GB microsd card off of woot the other day, just in case I ever need more space (if not I can use it for my camera). I think the battery might be removable too (unlike ipods) but I haven't looked into that yet. The mechanical click wheel is nice, but I have yet to see how it will stand up to the test of time. I heard some older ones had problems with the click wheel with a lot of use, but we'll see. Also, Window's Media Player is much easier to use than itunes for syncing playlists. I've had an ipod shuffle (old kind) and an ipod mini before, so I think the sansa either lives up to or surpasses the ipod name.

 

[edit-after-achilles'-post] It has an FM tuner too

[Achilles]

If you're looking for non-iPod, I highly recommend the iriver Clix. It has a FM tuner which you may have had on your Zune, but you won't find on an iPod.

 

If you need more than 8gb of storage, then I'd probably go with one of the iPods. When my Clix died I finally broke down and bought an iPod. I've been pretty happy about the purchase although I still miss many of the features that the Clix had.

 

Of course, I tend to avoid making any electronics purchase without first checking out cnet.

 

I hope that helps.

[Kjølen]

It's not cool to recommend the iPod.

So get the iPod Nano.

[MrWally]

Buy another Zune.

 

Unless you're going to get a mac in the future . . . in that case I guess I'd suggest the ipod touch. But if it comes between the ipod classic and the zune, I'd go for the zune any day.

[BongoBob]

Had I not found out the monitor I just got was on sale, I was seriously about 2 minutes away from buying this. The audio quality is damn near unbeatable as far as portable devices go, it plays mp3, wma, ogg, and flac (not sure about Video files), and even better, requires no software or specific OS.

 

That's my reccomendation.

[Boba Rhett]

I'm usually not one to condone the purchase of an Apple product but dangit, I love my Touch. There, I said it.

[Jeff]

I'm usually not one to condone the purchase of an Apple product but dangit, I love my Touch. There, I said it.

I have one too, it is quite sexy.

[TiE23]

Old Zune 30G. Kinda fat, really cheap, you've already used it, Zune Software has really shaped up lately, and it's pretty rugged. Meh, I used to be a Creative guy, but they haven't released anything nearly as good as the Vision M when it first came out.

 

Maybe one of those mini Zunes? Meh.

[leXX]

I've always owned iPods, so I can't really comment on any others. I've had an iPhone since day of realease and I love it, and seeing as the Touch is just the same without the phone bit, I'd highly recommend it.

[SkinWalker]

I use an iRiver Clix (the 4GB version) and a Nokia N800. When I just want music or possible a television show and portability, I load up the iRiver.

 

If, however, I plan to be somewhere with WiFi (like my Uni campus), I bring the N800 since it's an internet tablet and plays tons of mp3/ogg/avi. I have an SD card with several movies loaded for long trips and a card with a bunch of ebooks, audio books, and music. I can swap 4GB cards on the fly and its surprising how much they hold.

 

Still, if I were in the market for a new player, it might be the iPod touch. Or perhaps a new Blackberry with A2DP bluetooth for wireless head phones. I have an adapter for my other players that lets me secure the player in a pocket or backpack & play thru headphones without the wire.

[Pho3nix]

Buy the iPod touch.

 

You won't be disappointed.

[Darth Groovy]

Buy another Zune.

 

Unless you're going to get a mac in the future . . . in that case I guess I'd suggest the ipod touch. But if it comes between the ipod classic and the zune, I'd go for the zune any day.

 

No lie, I like my Zune a whole lot, I use it every day. My only gripes, is that it's not as sexy as some of the other mp3 players out there, the lack of available accessories, and the inability to put digital copies of purchased movies on it. My sister and brother in law have owned ipods, and they HATE the software. I have never had an issue with Zune software. My other advantage is being able to buy microsoft points at discount where I work, and buy loads and loads of music.

[MrWally]

No lie, I like my Zune a whole lot, I use it every day. My only gripes, is that it's not as sexy as some of the other mp3 players out there, the lack of available accessories, and the inability to put digital copies of purchased movies on it. My sister and brother in law have owned ipods, and they HATE the software. I have never had an issue with Zune software. My other advantage is being able to buy microsoft points at discount where I work, and buy loads and loads of music.

 

Yeah, I agree completely. Even the sister and brother in law part O.o

 

My friends call my Zune 30 and "iBrick" because of it's size. Oh well.

 

But I gotta say, I think that my next mp3 player will be the iPhone purely because I just discovered that it has a Pandora app. And I've wanted a portable Pandora FOREVER.

 

=]

[TiE23]

No lie, I like my Zune a whole lot, I use it every day. My only gripes, is that it's not as sexy as some of the other mp3 players out there, the lack of available accessories, and the inability to put digital copies of purchased movies on it. My sister and brother in law have owned ipods, and they HATE the software. I have never had an issue with Zune software. My other advantage is being able to buy microsoft points at discount where I work, and buy loads and loads of music.

 

You can convert those movies you know. I'm very sure there are better free programs out there, but this piece of crap program called Super is surprisingly effective at converting strange video formats to other strange formats. http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html (First link is at the very bottom, second link is near the top, download is at the bottom of third page) As far as I can tell it's clean.

 

But yeah, say you got an iPod digital copy, just convert that MP4 (I'm just assuming it's an MP4, I have never gotten a digital copy before) to Zune wmv, drag and drop onto the video library and sync.

 

BTW: I don't see you on my Zune Friends list (XBL=Zune), what the hell?