Which mp3 player to get?

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lishaldschic

1 post

Wannabe Geek

#22143 18-May-2008 02:56

I just graduated college and my parents wanted to buy an mp3 player for me for graduation. I have adamantly resisted the iPod, so my husband counseled them to get me something that wasn't an iPod--instead, I got a Zune.

Well, cute little pinkness and nice hardware aside, I was really unhappy with my Zune because I hated the Zune software, I was definitely not going to use it as my main media player on my computer, and even with hours of hacking it with the ZAlternator, I still couldn't sync playlists on to my Zune with WMP, which is what I normally use for all of my music listening.

So I returned it, and now I'm looking for a replacement. I have done some looking into iTunes, which seems to have all sorts of problems that I am not really excited about--after all, that would be a whole switch to a new media player and I want to like the software that I have to use. But maybe WMP is equally annoying and I'm just used to it.

I want to be able to organize my music how I want to, rate it how I want to, have playlists and sync those to whatever device I end up with, and be able to listen to music easily. I am really concerned about files being changed and unable to be used on another computer (ex--when I upgrade someday from my 2005 Gateway laptop) with iTunes, although I know that there are similar protected rights associated with Windows-purchased music.

Does anyone have any advice or insights to share? I want something not terribly complicated, and I want to be reasonably satisfied with iTunes if I do switch from WMP. Apple seems to do music right (unlike Microsoft, who made a product that doesn't work with OTHER Microsoft software), but I don't want to think that and have another Zune disaster.

hellonearthisman

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#131546 18-May-2008 04:36

The Ipod touch is really nice, but if he can wait, the iphone does mp3.
Maybe a car with an mp3 player. YOUR OWN ISLAND PARADISE - PAKATOA ISLAND Im sure it plays mp3.
Or a PSP, I think they do mp3 too. Still a $30 1G dse one and some money off the student loan.

tonyhughes

Hawkes Bay
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#131548 18-May-2008 07:49

I have several iPods - wonderful devices, and super easy to use.

iTunes - before you import any music just set it to import CDs as your choice of AAC (default) or MP3. If you have WMA files they WILL NEED converting (automatically by iTunes which asks your permission first), but there will be a (pretty much imperceptible) drop in quality of those files.

iTunes is very easily customisable, you can tell it exactly which playlists to sync, and you can even make playlists that select their own songs based on when you played them last, how many times they have been played and more.

I have used WMP and standard MP3 players (cheapie things, nothing "good") and it was a dismal experience.

iTunes + iPod is not perfect, but its *brilliant* if you ask me, and given your disappointment with Zune, I can only suppose that you were born an iPod lover, and simply haven't come out of the closet yet.

Hope this helps, happy to answer more questions etc.

bigal_nz

635 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#131550 18-May-2008 08:23

I have to agree, though not an apple fan I love my ipod. My car stereo supports iPod direct so I can control the iPod from the head unit - its pretty nifty, even displays Album art!!

I am in the process of getting myself a touch even. So yeah they are good.

Anyone know if with the ipod touch you can encode video at a higher res that the ipod is capable of playing but output to a external source in full res?

jmcollis

36 posts

Geek

#131720 19-May-2008 10:50

So, from your post - perhaps the question is more to do with how do you want to manage your media and what hardware players can you use from there.

I deal with my media on a Mac now, however in my Windows days I used to use J R Media Center for media management. It supports a range of media players, including iPods and other players.

garvani

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#131729 19-May-2008 11:18

I have an iriver and a creative zen (just doint use the creative mediasource software!) Both are very good players.

kiwitrc

4123 posts

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Inactive user

#131734 19-May-2008 11:38

I use my Sony Ericsson K850i mobile with an 8GB mem card and just sync it to Media Player. I guess if you want more than 8GB then it wont be enough, but I have a heap of music on it, it does both MP3 and AAC ( MP4), is dead easy to set up and use and I only have to cart one device around with me. I also have a stereo bluetooth adaptor ( http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/products/accessories/overview/hbh-ds205?cc=nz&lc=en ) which means I can just put the phone on my desk, in my backpack or bag at the gym and listen to my music.