What mp3 player?

Forums › Gadgets, robotics, home automation, electronics (including wearables) › What mp3 player?

twotravelbugs

27 posts

Geek

#36057 18-Jun-2009 18:11

Before anyone says that I should just go out and have a look and buy what I like...

...having just read that ipods are over 50% of what mp3 users have, but that Sony are better, I am not sure what would be a good portable music playing device to get.

I'm still thinking one of those 8GB ipods. The 160GB would be great as I could store photos on it while travelling as well, but I'd rather get a small laptop with dvd writer for that (thats another post in another forum though!).

I assume I can still download and listen to podcasts on a smaller ipod?

Its just that all my friends have ipods, and I like being a little different now and then.

Can anyone recommend another type of mp3 player?

Thanks heaps,

K

andy123

9 posts

Wannabe Geek
Inactive user

#227084 21-Jun-2009 06:26

Go for ipods they are the best. Sony mp3 player are not that great you have to convert your songs to .acc before they can play on sony players.

boby55

1539 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 38

Trusted

#227100 21-Jun-2009 10:29

IMO I think ipods are the best pick, due to many things such as sony formats etc, there is also alot of support for ipods on google (thanks to so many people having them)

What ever you do DON'T go for the cheap nock offs on trademe as they sound like cr@p, when it comes to sound gear you get what you pay for

WaxerNZ

69 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 9

#228111 24-Jun-2009 21:55

Dont know if you have picked something up yet but....

The reason people say to try them out for yourself is that each player has very different sound signitures. If your not all that bigger audiophile though as long as you stick with one of the better(well known) brands you will be ok.

Oh and sony mp3 players do play mp3s you wont have to convert to another file type. You also wont have to have Itunes open to drag and drop files to the player.

I would probably look at features such as

- How you prefer to organize and transfer your music

- File types supported. mp3, flac etc

- Battery life

- Bookmarking. Can be handy for longer files, podcasts or audiobooks.

- Equalizer options.

- Storage

I personally like the sound of sony players over what ipods I have heard (an older one and a nano) which both, to me sound terrible and muddy in comparison.I have never used the higher end models though. I personally use a cowon s9, but Cowon are much more clinical sounding players. Great battery life though. Especially the Iaudio 7.

vexxxboy

4336 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2072

#228153 25-Jun-2009 07:41

maybe to late but i have had both, and for sound and ease of use and price i would go for the sony , i have had it for a year and still love it , takes me 2-3 minutes to add new songs , movies etc and has never given me trouble.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

loicsydney

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#232447 8-Jul-2009 14:14

I would go for the iPod touch 16GB to get the Internet access. At the same time, if you listen to podcasts, want to stock some pictures, put a lot of music : go for the iPod Classic(160GB). I got one and I'm hugely satisfied.

tonyhughes

Hawkes Bay
8476 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 6

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#232492 8-Jul-2009 14:47

I have had several iPods, and love them to bits. SOOOOooooo convenient to use.

Geekzone

Want to support Geekzone and browse the site without the ads? Subscribe to Geekzone now (monthly, annual and lifetime options).

dickytim

2514 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 537
Inactive user

#232560 8-Jul-2009 15:56

I have a Sony, I liked it except for the fact that you cant alter your playlists on the palyer itself, but it has awesome battery life and nice sound aswell, if a little quiet.

All that being said, I am using my windows mobile Glofiish at the moment as an alternative and have given my Sony to my partner.

jamma

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#233886 10-Jul-2009 21:18

i was in the same predicament.

i wanted something pretty compact for the gym, but with a decent gui for ease of use.

was looking at a nano or sony

ended up getting the below 8gb sony. main deciding factor was it has radio, for those times when im bored of my playlist. and has built in noise cancelling which is quite good on the bus (not quite the same as premium NC headphones, but still good )

http://sony.co.nz/products/product/mp3-walkman/s-series-video-noise-cancelling/nwzs738fn.jsp

the main thing drawing to an ipod was all the available ipod speaker systems. but hey so far im really liking the sony, esp

alasta

6889 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3363

Trusted

Subscriber

#233890 10-Jul-2009 21:31

I'm using an iPod now mainly so that I can interface it with my Bose wave system, but I find it a bit more pleasant to use than the (admittedly low end) Sony Walkman that I was using last year.

The most irritating thing about the Sony is that whenever I put it on random it would always play back the songs in the same order until I erased and reloaded it.

TallndThin

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#233930 10-Jul-2009 23:29

Go for a psp, good for gaming, music, photos and its quite cheap. I say, -quite- cheap because it is $300 but ipods are more.

zaptor

745 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 39

#234711 13-Jul-2009 14:12

I got a 4GB Sony Walkman mainly because it produced the best quality sound - apparently. However, it does have a few annoyances, like the playback order.

The radio is a nice-to-have feature though.

Finally getting video onto it made it more of a complete media player for me.

Apple TV

Stream your favourite shows now on Apple TV (affiliate link).

lyonrouge

1993 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 20

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#236204 16-Jul-2009 18:04

I chose Sony for bluetooth and I didn't want to fight with itunes (my wife has a ipod and I have to load songs for her).

ps. it plays mp3 and you can copy files directly to the storage.

con: proprietary power plug

honem

194 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

#236759 18-Jul-2009 21:35

Like someone said above do a little bit of research into what you want from your music player.

Personally I've had a few Creative Jukeboxes over the years but have finally settled on an iPod Video.

On my Creatives it was a nightmare to keep it updated. On a Mac so everytime I got a new one I had to make sure I could find a itunes plugin/softare to keep it updated. Half the time it would update properly - songs would either not copy or copy with the wrong tags on it. I swear I would spend half an hour finding the music to put on it and 2 hrs to make sure the dang songs copied !!!

On my Ipod it's much easier. Itunes. Buy . Sync. Done :D

Battery lifes not bad either.

==================================
- Hone , Often accused of Excess Verbosity
==================================

Ragnor

8279 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 585

Trusted

#236761 18-Jul-2009 21:39

1: Decide how much you want to spend
2: Research best option that will fit within that budget
3: Profit

dawnraid

100 posts

Master Geek
Inactive user

#236775 18-Jul-2009 22:31

iPod, still have my 5th gen from 2005 works like a charm does everything I want, and iTunes integration is perfect. Plus they are relatively inexpensive.