Harddisk MP3 Players recommendations

[Ingafgrinn Macabre]

Hiya all.

Well, it'll be me birthday soon, and I hope to get 'nuff money to buy me an mp3 player, with a harddisk. Minimal capacity should be 20gig's for music and data, and besides that it should be immediately recognised by windows as a harddrive when plugging it in, without software or drivers needed (can't install that shit at school, but the data i need to transfer is often too large for a cd, and it takes to long to upload over my home network)

Sooo.... what are the options and what would you recommend me?

And ohw, NO apple ipods please... hate the damn things cos of the hype around 'em

Would love to hear some experiences of people having, or have worked with one of these gizmo's

Thanks in advance

 

[Darksword]

sony nw-hd3 is what i got, u can get the sound thing taken off, i did i like it, 20gigs and stylish etc t'is what i got theres a new one out now tho

 

[Ingafgrinn Macabre]

sony nw-hd3 is what i got, u can get the sound thing taken off, i did i like it, 20gigs and stylish etc t'is what i got theres a new one out now tho

what do you mean with "sound thing taken off?"

and I've also just looked at the philips... looks sleek, and that mp3 voice recording function would be very handy I think for backup on meeting minutes etc.

 

[Darksword]

wellity EU regulations means theres now a sound cap on new devices like ipod, walkmen etc, but this can be removed on most of them since its programming and just need the instructions to get to the settings thing, a quick google, or search on ebay (its usually there for sale BUT alot of people have it up for free because its free information and u shouldnt have to pay for it tbh).

link to philips one pleasies?

sony one has 30hrs playback which is nice aswell, only complaint i have with mine is that theres a little charger adapter which is also used to connect to via usb to ur comp and it feels a little flimsy, if that part breaks u gotta order a new one which isnt too hard just anoying (u cant buy the part directly, not even from the sony site u gotta email them and they will put u in contact with a company that will, but like one ocmpany in the UK distributes it etc but its ok coz the comapny is good and efficient ;D)

 

[Ingafgrinn Macabre]

philips linky
and oohw, that sound cap, I don't mind that being on it, since I've already got a slight hearing damage due to me used to have my discman way too loud so some technique to prevent it from getting worse would suit me just fine

 

[Darksword]

hehe kk well personally id go for the sony one, the sony one looks sturdier aswell, i.e. ive dropped mine loads and its still fine. the sound quality etc is great altho id invest in some better headphones (tho thats nto a must, been using the ones i got with mine for about 3 months now until i can be bothered to get new ones). a major anoyance i found with my mp3 player is the fucking program sony insist on making you use, but thats just coz my musics all messed about and i need to go through it all and give everysone its title etc but once thats done the whole system comes into its own and is amazing to use . if you put everything on straight it only takes a few minutes but if you convert everything to ATRAKS 48kbit coding thing (which i did and tbh there doesnt seem to be any sound quality difference, just as good as using 128kbit mp3 playback or even higher) it takes quiet a while, i.e. about 3,000 songs took about 6-7 hours, but that again might be coz my old comp was screwed.

The sony nw-hd3 really is something great once you get to use it and experience it, id never want an ipod now its just such a great device and looks good to. (no play lists is a bit anoying buy can bookmark etc and use that as one, once you get all your shit set up like everysong titled, album, track number etc its amazing (aparantly you need to do this on hte ipod aswell so not a big deal apparantly), but i personally cant even be arsed to do that at the mo, i just have everything set in folders but even that is easy to use and works great)

 

[Himse]

ibeads are overall pretty good in my experience, i had one from ages ago, was only 128meg but recently i upgraded to 1gig and its all good they are pretty small, and lightweight, with good playback times, a digital radio, etc and are delivered really fast which is a good bonus. There are plenty more features but i wont go into too much detail.

They might not be the biggest, but they are well worth the money imo

try this link : http://www.tmode.co.kr/coding/eng/products/products_2.asp

wops sorry, didnt read you wanted 20gigs ++

well the creative ones are nice imo. but Ibead is still worth a look etc

 

[Tilda]

i <3 my creative zen micro, best thing since sliced bread imho.

 

[Ingafgrinn Macabre]

i <3 my creative zen micro, best thing since sliced bread imho.

Well, it's a nice little thing, but the capacity just ain't enough I'm afraid....

 

[soze]

Have a look at iriver ones i have the 5 gig and it dose everything you have mentioned including the voice and hard drive usb fuction.
http://www.iriveramerica.com/prod/hd/h300.aspx

 

[Darksword]

Have a look at iriver ones i have the 5 gig and it dose everything you have mentioned including the voice and hard drive usb fuction.
http://www.iriveramerica.com/prod/hd/h300.aspx

hehe true irivers are nice but they are quiet bulky, my friends got a 20gig one and its easily double the size of my mp3 player, altho ofc irivers have the image thing and colour screen which is nice aswell

 

[Xeanor]

These are really nice:

http://www.archos.com/products/prw_500669.html ~210 €

http://www.archos.com/products/prw_500637.htm ~270 €

 

[DocWolfe]

surely this should be in Off-Topic?

 

[Feyd]

There should be only 1 recomendation - Apple Ipod's - they look very cool, works like a charm ect. etc. ect.
Also - with Apple Ipod's you can get them in lots of different HD sizes, and the latest with a color screen for picture viewing.
I got 1 of the early models - and i love it.

 

[Eeben]

http://www.archos.com/products/prw_500637.htm ~270 €

Just me or does this one look like a gameboy

 

[Ingafgrinn Macabre]

surely this should be in Off-Topic?

Aye, true... but I only saw I posted it in General after I posted it.. and making another post in off-topic well, makes it double posting, and I don't know what's worse

There should be only 1 recomendation - Apple Ipod's - they look very cool, works like a charm ect. etc. ect.
Also - with Apple Ipod's you can get them in lots of different HD sizes, and the latest with a color screen for picture viewing.
I got 1 of the early models - and i love it.

Ipods are out of the question. Sorry, but I hate 'em, truely truely hate 'em

Just me or does this one look like a gameboy

Well, apparently you CAN play games on it of a certain type

These are really nice:

http://www.archos.com/products/prw_500669.html ~210 €

http://www.archos.com/products/prw_500637.htm ~270 €

I do like them both, the first a little over the second, because it's smaller, but I do think I'll miss that voice recording off the phillips and the iriver.

Have a look at iriver ones i have the 5 gig and it dose everything you have mentioned including the voice and hard drive usb fuction.
http://www.iriveramerica.com/prod/hd/h300.aspx

Aye, it's a damn sweet item love that it also plays Ogg-vorbis

So far, I really like the

 

[Ingafgrinn Macabre]

Forgot a little part, and couldn't edit in time anymore, so after this section comes:

Aye, it's a damn sweet item love that it also plays Ogg-vorbis

I'm a bit torn though between the H320 (not on their webby, but apparently it is out there somewhere.) and the H10 20GB

So far, I really like the iriver, philips and archos. still looking around though. Thanks a million for all the replies and suggestions so far, but I haven't decided yet so keep 'em coming

 

[Jaem-]

I've been looking to get a Nokia n91 when their launched, basicaly a phone, mp3 player and 2mp camera in 1.

Has 4gb of space for everything from mp3 to pictures to ring tones.

 

[eggy]

Ipod Colour 30gig - tried most and this was the best choice for me.

The new colour screen is brilliant, even just for normal song playing etc.

 

[Ingafgrinn Macabre]

I wanted to thank you guys all for the input on this.

I finally settled on a Cowon iAudio M3 Longplay version. It has an enhanced battery lasting for over 24 hours continues play with the remote control backlight permanently on .
Audioquality is perfect, it has ogg-vorbis support and there is absolutely no need for software at all. There is some delivered, but I haven't installed it yet, and it works just perfectly okay without anyway, just drag 'n drop the files to the removeable harddrive, and you're set

anyway, just wanted to let you guys know what the outcome was