iPod Alternatives

[Wazzerphuk]

Been thinking about getting an mp3 player, was wondering what viable alternatives there are to the iPod?

A quick look around and I've only seen two decent ones, the Sony 32gb one and the Cowon S9. Anyone familiar with these, or can recommend anything else? The Cowon S9 looks bloody ace, has anyone used one?

 

[old.user4556]

When is your phone up for renewal? Get an MP3 + phone combo thingy?

 

[Wazzerphuk]

The only decent phones are on plans that are unnecessarily expensive, plus I don't want an iPhone so that only leaves the N97 since Sony/LG/Samsung make awful phones that try to do everything but do nothing well.

 

[Embattle]

The Zune HD is most intersting to me but they seem to be taking time releasing it in UK.

 

[Vae]

The Zune HD is most intersting to me but they seem to be taking time releasing it in UK.

I've been quietly impressed with one of these: Sandisk MP3 Player Sansa Clip 2Gb Black With Radio feature included

Think I got it for about £20 though. They're tiny, nothing fancy and just work.

 

[Bodhi]

The only decent phones are on plans that are unnecessarily expensive, plus I don't want an iPhone so that only leaves the N97 since Sony/LG/Samsung make awful phones that try to do everything but do nothing well.

Pretty sure you've got your phone manufacturers arse about tit there, Nokia are the experts in feature packed yet generally sucky phones. They did give us the N-Series after all.

Anyway as far as the mp3 players go, Walkman X looks nicer and is much better to use, but the Cowon counters that by playing more formats. If you use FLAC's etc I'd would be very tempted by the Cowon, if not, Sony all the way. Both are excellent players however, and whichever you get you won't be dissapointed.

 

[Hawkwind]

Creative Zen craps all over iPod for sound quality and shock horror you can plug in a SD Card! Credit card sized but 1 cm thick it is very easy to carry around.

Plus the best benefit of all no Apple iTunes!

 

[MYstIC G]

Until you try and use it in say 2/3 years in the future with say Windows 8 or Mac OS XI and Creative go "meh, buy a new one"

 

[Wazzerphuk]

Anyway as far as the mp3 players go, Walkman X looks nicer and is much better to use, but the Cowon counters that by playing more formats. If you use FLAC's etc I'd would be very tempted by the Cowon, if not, Sony all the way. Both are excellent players however, and whichever you get you won't be dissapointed.

Yeah, the Sony looks nicer but the Cowon is edging it for me at the moment as every review I've read raves about the quality of the sound (and video) is far better than anything else out there. The codec capabilities are also making it an interesting option. I think I'd be able to forgive a slightly poorer interface for better quality.

 

[Bodhi]

Yeah, the Sony looks nicer but the Cowon is edging it for me at the moment as every review I've read raves about the quality of the sound (and video) is far better than anything else out there. The codec capabilities are also making it an interesting option. I think I'd be able to forgive a slightly poorer interface for better quality.

Just to muddy things further the sound quality of the Walkman player is top notch as well, so much that if they played FLAC's it would be my unreserved recommendation. But it doesn't so...

 

[yaruar]

Creative Zen craps all over iPod for sound quality and shock horror you can plug in a SD Card! Credit card sized but 1 cm thick it is very easy to carry around.

Plus the best benefit of all no Apple iTunes!

Yeah, but aren't all the current Zen's a bit economical with the truth about the sd card slot as the music on it doesn't actually integrate at all with the music on the player and it's only really there for transfer of music. And i'm saying this as a creative fanboy, they really need to sort their ideas out with the next gen of player.

Personally i need a non apple player as i smashed my ipod to bits after the headphone ribbon cable gave out twice after warranty was out and i'd had enough. I'm quite facinated by the archos android based internet tablet/media player though, shame they cost more than i can be bothered to pay right now.

 

[Bahumat]

I have a creative Zen and you cant charge the fucking thing without installing all the shitty software. Means when I plug it into my work pc, it charges about an hours worth of 'play time' even though it's been charging for 8+ hours.

Seemed to be alot of Creative MP3 players were doing this so maybe google some reviews before purchasing.

p.s. at teh time our work pc's had no cd drives lol. Was long overdue an upgrade!

 

[Embattle]

My Sony was great until I noticed I couldn't get it to do something my 6 year old Creative Zen had been doing, Gapless playback.

The Cowon S9 for example is very nice but last time I checked it was a mixed bag with some raves and some people thinking it was over rated.

A good website tends to be Anything But iPod - MP3 Player Reviews & News which has some extensive forums on most players.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

Thinking about it, the S9 is nearly a year old so there must be something good on the horizon, anyone know of anything coming soon that should be good?

 

[SheepCow]

I've seen a few Creative ones with hard drives go kersplat after about a year. I have an iPhone and that's lived longer, however I have a Mac and use iTunes - I wouldn't dare install iTunes in Windows, it'd probably explode or something (Apple s/w is shit).

 

[cHodAX]

Will probably go for a Zune HD myself although those Cowon players are tempting, I have heard great things about the sound reproduction.

 

[Ch3tan]

meh, never had an issue with itunes in windows.

 

[PLightstar]

Never liked iTunes myself its a bloated piece of software always used Winamp with its plugins you can do almost anything with it. My last MP3 player was a Zen Vision M 60Gb which was fantastic but after too many drops and bumps its seen better days and only works when it wants to. If you do get an expensive MP3 Player buy a shock proof case. I tend to use my Nokia 5800 at the moment, but its a pain to get music on there the music player will recognise. The new Creative ones look good and alot of people are saying good things about the Sony versions.

 

[yaruar]

Will probably go for a Zune HD myself although those Cowon players are tempting, I have heard great things about the sound reproduction.

Shame microsoft aren't going to release the Zune over here which would make support a pain in the bum.

Personally i'm gettign rather tempted by the Archos android based internet player thing, if they bring out a 64gb flash version i may well be sold.

 

[Embattle]

Shame microsoft aren't going to release the Zune over here which would make support a pain in the bum.

Personally i'm gettign rather tempted by the Archos android based internet player thing, if they bring out a 64gb flash version i may well be sold.

Actually the line is slightly softer:

for the time being the Zune HD device will remain US only.

 

[yaruar]

Actually the line is slightly softer:

The official line is that they won't be doing it for a long time because they don't have the distribution channels outside of the US and aren't willing to put them in place unless it becomes a real success. The unofficial line is that they don't really give a monkeys about the Zune but see it as a stepping stone to building their own mobile phones (allegedly) I can't see the zune HD ever coming to europe as it will be too much of a loss leader and will flop.

 

[soze]

I use an ipod with Sharepod my current ipod has never met itunes, accessory support is what sold it for me a Dock on my Desk at work a very tidy dock for it at home a cheap waterproof one for the bathroom and a Road Trip FM transmitter in the car. No other players have that level of accessories.

 

[Bodhi]

I use an ipod with Sharepod my current ipod has never met itunes, accessory support is what sold it for me a Dock on my Desk at work a very tidy dock for it at home a cheap waterproof one for the bathroom and a Road Trip FM transmitter in the car. No other players have that level of accessories.

A quick scan on Google indicates that all of these are available for Sony's Walkman range. This means you donlt have to use Beezelbub's contribution to User Interfaces, the infernal iPod fucking scroll wheel.

GIVE ME AN UP AND DOWN BUTTON YOU HERPES RIDDEN FOOLS! IT WASN'T BROKEN SO STOP TRYING TO FIX IT YOU DESIGNER *****.

*and breathe*

 

[nath]

How in God's name is up/down better than the scroll wheel? With up/down you either have to keep tapping (ballache) or hold down the button so you have no control over how fast it scrolls and quite possibly overshoot what you were aiming for.

I'm about as far from an Apple fanboy as it gets, but it's pretty obvious that the scroll wheel is a very clever and efficient way of navigating through lists.

You suck, John .

 

[Wazzerphuk]

It also does more than scroll lists.

 

[cHodAX]

Shame microsoft aren't going to release the Zune over here which would make support a pain in the bum.

Personally i'm gettign rather tempted by the Archos android based internet player thing, if they bring out a 64gb flash version i may well be sold.

Could have sworn I read somewhere that they changed thier minds and the UK would see a launch in 2010.

 

[cHodAX]

GIVE ME AN UP AND DOWN BUTTON YOU HERPES RIDDEN FOOLS! IT WASN'T BROKEN SO STOP TRYING TO FIX IT YOU DESIGNER *****.

*and breathe*

LOL! Too fucking right!

 

[soze]

Could have sworn I read somewhere that they changed thier minds and the UK would see a launch in 2010.

Last thing i read said they were looking for a UK Partner like Amazon to be the Zune Store over here but were no where near a deal but that was a while ago now.

 

[DaGaffer]

A quick scan on Google indicates that all of these are available for Sony's Walkman range. This means you donlt have to use Beezelbub's contribution to User Interfaces, the infernal iPod fucking scroll wheel.

GIVE ME AN UP AND DOWN BUTTON YOU HERPES RIDDEN FOOLS! IT WASN'T BROKEN SO STOP TRYING TO FIX IT YOU DESIGNER *****.

*and breathe*

Er, the iPod Touch doesn't use a scrollwheel. And multitouch is much better than an up and down button.

Bottom line is the Cowon and the X-series are both good players, and sonically a bit better than the iPod, and worth a look if you have lots of high-quality lossless audio, but otherwise the iPod kicks them both in the nuts. For most people you'd be buying them simply because they're not an iPod.

I'm no Apple fanboi, but the iPod is (for once) market leader for good reason.