iPod is pants, please recommend me an MP3 player

[Jonny_Darko]

OK I've had two iPods die on me in the last fortnight, much as I love the look and feel of them I'm not trusting them again. And the news that the battery lasts merely 500 charges (so, what 18 months - 2 years?) is appalling.

Can anyone recommend me one which is as good as the iPod at its best but actually has some reliability (and lifetime) to boot? I have a 40 gig photo and can't seem to find anything else which has that much memory let alone a photo option. And I don't really like the idea of Sony ones if they don't use MP3, tbh.

Please help!

 

[sibanac]

http://www.iriver.com/html/product/prpa_product.asp?pidx=42

 

[oblimov]

cant beat the iriver

Ive had a H140 for about a year and its so good

I love the fact that i just plug it into any pc with usb and it just pops up and lets me drag and drop files, also its supports nearly ever possible audio compression and also it looks cool

 

[PLightstar]

Creative Zen NX horaah! 30Gb of musical bliss cheaper and more robust than a iPod.

But I don't think they sell it any more its been replaced by the iPod-esque Zen Touch not as good as the old versions, they got rid of the scroll wheel for some reason.

 

[Jonny_Darko]

I think I'm gonna go with the Archos Gmini 400 thingy

http://www.archos.com/products/overview/gmini_400.html

Unless anyone knows any reason why me and it should not wed?

 

[sibanac]

I think I'm gonna go with the Archos Gmini 400 thingy

http://www.archos.com/products/overview/gmini_400.html

Unless anyone knows any reason why me and it should not wed?

Archos is nice havent heard any bad things about them.
I am just an iriver freak because they support .ogg and lets me connect my digital camera to the player and copy the pictures over without needing a computer.

 

[Poag]

Got a Creative Zen myself..great thing 20Gb, love the interface, easy to build new playlists whilst walking along...joy

 

[Gray]

Got the Creative Zen Micro jobbie, miffed that a week or so after paying for it they went down in price.

Bastards.

 

[Bullitt]

My brother just bought one of them (Creative Zen Micro), in fact it was delivered ths morning. He's off training for the RAF so I get to play with it for a while before sending it to him. I jsut have to transfer all his music files onto it first.

 

[leggy]

iriver is an ugly bastard though.

The new sony 20Gb jobbie is the dogs if it wasnt for the shit software and substandard ATRAC compression (which is compulsary)

Sony link http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INT...audio&INT=sstyle-audio-deptfeature-NWHD3BLACK

 

[Tom]

Jonny, few batteries will last 500 charges. You can replace them quite easily though.

 

[Yaka]

i river H340 is not bad

 

[Cynical]

Archos seems really nice, mate at school has one, he said he's had no problems with it at all.

 

[oblimov]

iriver is an ugly bastard though.

I actually quite like the look tbh, its less flashy than some mp3 players but without the leather case it actually looks really cool imo

Also with the iskins that are now available u can really spice em up

 

[sibanac]

iriver is an ugly bastard though.

The new sony 20Gb jobbie is the dogs if it wasnt for the shit software and substandard ATRAC compression (which is compulsary)

Sony link http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INT...audio&INT=sstyle-audio-deptfeature-NWHD3BLACK

sony gave up on their ATRAC thingy, they now play straight mp3's aswell i believe.
That beeing said, anything that doesnt play ogg and flac isnt getting my cash

 

[leggy]

I actually quite like the look tbh, its less flashy than some mp3 players but without the leather case it actually looks really cool imo

Also with the iskins that are now available u can really spice em up

I actually take it back. I was looking at some the other day as I sold my ipod to stay alive a few months ago.

The iriver h10 (red one) is actually really pretty. I think I may be buying one this weekend.

 

[Earl]

I have a Sony HD3, it's great, very pleased with it

 

[xane]

My sister got me an iPod for my birthday, along with all the gadgets like the InMotion, iTrip, etc. I was forced to use it out of respect

Both iPod and iTunes have been difficult to get along with, the latest moronic problem with the iPod is using the inMotion cradle, if you don't switch on the separate power supply the damn thing discharges the iPod even when it just sits there as the communications are going all the time.

iTunes is a complete nightmare in itself, I have just been getting to grips with Windows Media Player 10 for my girlfriend and her MP3 Player and its much better, I wish it was compatible with the iPod, with WMP 10 I'd say any other MP3 Player is worth it now.

Safe to say, I wouldn't buy one myself and can't really recommend it either.

 

[slashjunior]

My brother got an iRiver and it broke within a couple of weeks. I've had my trusty iPod almost 2 years now. Must be bad experience on your part, but they can last if you treat them good.

 

[oblimov]

My brother got an iRiver and it broke within a couple of weeks. I've had my trusty iPod almost 2 years now. Must be bad experience on your part, but they can last if you treat them good.

thats very rare, u really cannie break these things unless u drop em out a high rise or go swimming with one, ive dropped mine countless times and its been fine.

 

[Nazgul]

got an iRiver HP-140, its awesome and comparing it to my sisters iPod i think it's much better value for money, the bad point is it's a bit bigger than the iPod

 

[leggy]

I have looked, I have played, I have touched and I have penetrated every hard disc player available now. I still ended up buying another ipod. That'll be a 2nd, 3rd and 4th gen to date.

Despite how common they are I still rate them above the rest. I almost bought an iriver and the sony I mentioned earlier. The iriver was just far too plastic and toy like. The sony only lost because of the price at the time.

The only thing that does piss me off about the ipod is the lack of line in and mp3 encoding hardware. Saying that it's something I would probably have little use for.

 

[Natswoo]

I've had my ipod since they were first released, had no problems with it yet, Also if you're driving i'd reccomend getting an "Monster I-Car play." works very much as the I trip does, just it has multiple frequencies and it plugs into the cigerrette lighter and keeps it charged... well worth the money, though you'll need to get it sent from America

 

[Embattle]

I've had my Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen USB 2.0 since they first came out, I use it a lot and have only had one slight problem come up recently to do with one button sometimes activating a function of another. What I did do was ditch the creative software in favour of one called Notmad Explorer made by Red Chair Software, who also do software for the other makes of MP3 player.

 

[Chilly]

if it doesnt come by default as a regular external hard drive when you plug it in to windows it can fuck right off. those nomad zen things suck more nuts than a nut sucking thing and the transfer is slow as shit, even over usb2. And when you copy loads of files it copies them first a fucking temp directory THEN to your destination, so (as i doscovered) after copying about 4,000 tunes off one there was 1 error and the whole lot got lost and I had to do it again. Piece of rubbish it is. iRivers are great!

 

[TdC]

Red Chair Software

cheers Emblet

 

[TdC]

trial version is pants though

 

[TdC]

ephpod for the shining winnar!

 

[Kari]

Silly question as I currently havent used any of these before

The missus uses Itunes & seems to like it, but she thinks zen are sexier than ipods & wants one of them. Possible to download from itunes to a zen or do those mac folk use a weird file format etc?