[vtdemon]

I'm thinking of jumping on the portable music player bandwagon. Just after some opinions from people on their recommendations on what to look for and which brands and styles are the best.

I'm after something from the 4gb-10gb range or 1000-3000 songs.
My brother has had iPods and two of them have failed on him just outside of warranty. Plus I hate the iTunes and iPod layouts, I don't like having iTunes on my computer, so I want to steer clear of iPods.

I'd prefer something with a separate/replaceable battery if possible, and one that can easily be hooked up to a car/home stereo or anything like that.

Post up what you have and rough price range etc. Any help would be appreciated. I don't want to spend more than $400-ish

[Pub247]

LOL i was going to say don't buy an ipod. I bought my nano brand new and it was broken i couldnt even get it to link up with the pc. I got it replaced but this one still does some wierd thing where it won't work. Couple of my mate has have creative zen's and i river's and they're pretty good if you ask me none of them have had problems

[mischa]

i use my PSP, it isent the most compact but its got alot of other features. i got a 2gb card in it now but last i heard you can now get 6gb ones.

[Dufus]

Ive got a Gigabeat X30 30gb Portable Mp3 / Video Player and its really good. I have had it for well over a year now and have not had a problem with it yet and they are now well less than $400, way better than an ipod IMO.

[candyman]

my recos are the creative zen vision m, or the toshiba gigabeat range,

both high quality and good value, the toshiba one uses a version of windows to operate it

[vtdemon]

Cool, yeah a few people have said good things about iRiver and Creative, I've heard Creative are the loudest and best sounding ones which makes sense seeing as they make computer soundcards I guess. I consider myself somewhat of an audiophile, even though I will put up with the loss of compressed music files. I still need a somewhat loud and crystal clear sound, at least the best I can get from MP3/WMA etc.

I've never heard of or seen the Gigabeats, I'll be sure to check them out.

[arrow224]

iriver H10. Great stuff there. Can even put Rockbox on it.

[vh-holden]

The creative zen touch pad is a pain to get used to.

[drewins]

I have a 4gb Creative Zen P3 player. Bought it 3 years ago. I hate Ipods. I would recommend Creative. Heres a new one in their range that I would seriously consider if I were you: CREATIVE Zen Vision W 30GB 4.3" LCD MP3 / MP4 Player - eBay Zen Vision, Creative Labs, MP3 and Digital Players, Electronics. (end time 14-Sep-07 00:07:05 AEST)

Good price too. I payed the same price for mine 3 years ago.

[br14nh]

Give the iAudio 6 or 7 a look; they're made by Cowon.

[TTRMC]

Originally Posted by mischa

i use my PSP, it isent the most compact but its got alot of other features. i got a 2gb card in it now but last i heard you can now get 6gb ones.

+1 ive got a psp as well... gr8 cause u can store photos, videos mp3z/music AND it plays actual movies and games...... only thing is there pretty damn big but ive never had a prob with mine

[sganro]

I agree that ipods are gay. I got one and it crapped itself. And having to use itunes is more trouble than its worth. And i didnt try this when i had one, but apparenty you can only use YOUR version of itunes to put music onto YOUR ipod. So you cant get a few beats off one of your mates who had itunes cos their itunes wont work with your ipod. Whether or not thats true im not sure, but even if its not true i still think ipods are ****.

[Emackulation]

Hmm, ive never had any issues with iPoods. I think they are good, but the price isnt as good.

[minux]

Its a no brainer, go creative

[hingo1983]

When I was searching for MP3 players and I wanted something with a lot of storage but didn't want an Ipod. I looked at every possible option and in the end I GOT A 30GB IPOD!

For high capacity hard drive MP3 players, the Ipod can't be beaten on value for money. Not to mention they have so many accessories. Mine sits in my glove box and I can search music through my head unit. I use it so much, I haven't even put a CD in my headunit yet! Highly reccommended.

Mine has never had any problems. Remember, you only hear the bad experiences people have with Ipods and never the good ones. Don't be put off, its an excellent product.

[goVZ]

Originally Posted by sganro

I agree that ipods are gay. I got one and it crapped itself. And having to use itunes is more trouble than its worth. And i didnt try this when i had one, but apparenty you can only use YOUR version of itunes to put music onto YOUR ipod. So you cant get a few beats off one of your mates who had itunes cos their itunes wont work with your ipod. Whether or not thats true im not sure, but even if its not true i still think ipods are ****.

If you turn off auto-sync, you can use other machines to transfer songs to your iPod, i've done it on mine, with auto-sync turned off, and it works fine...i'm pretty sure that your problem was that you had auto-sync turned on (its turned on by default)

For the record, not everyone who has an iPod has a bad experience with it. My 4th generation 40GB iPod is coming up to 3 years old, and its been nothing short of excellent, i've never had any problems with it whatsoever...i find that if you look after them, and treat them with respect, like you would any other expensive and delicate piece of electronic equipment, they'll look after you.

[pow3rslave]

my bro had an iriver, an older one where the face kind of looked like carbon fiber, worked fine until he messed with the firmware a few times, and killed it. now he and my sister both have red ones. he's less happy with the usability of it, but not really sure how, also it needs windows mediaplayer10 to load songs.

so i'd say iriver are good, but older models perhaps

[arrow224]

Originally Posted by pow3rslave

so i'd say iriver are good, but older models perhaps

Your brother would have had a H320 or H340. Great players they are. Upgraded hard drive (up to 80GB), and a new battery (up to 2200mah, 24 hours battery life), and they are a great unit. No longer made, so you will have to source second (or third or fourth) hand.

[ProphetVX]

I had an ipod mini, shat itself after 3 weeks, stupid me didn't register it or keep the receipt.

Gave up on ipods for like 2 years.... Bought a 30gb Ipod video about 6 months ago and absolutely love it now. Ended up going with an ipod just because it has the best compatibility with head units and accessories at the moment. Even though I use an FM modulator to connect it to my stereo, I still wanted the option for integrating it with a head unit.

[azzfox]

I own a second generation iPod Nano. This is the only ipod I like because it has flash memory so no hard drives that **** up after a while like the other ipods are known for and no skipping. Only problem is that the largest Nano availible is the 8gb model. I have owned it for a while now and I couldnt be happier with it.

Btw, I hate iTunes and use winamp instead for managing songs.

[vh-holden]

Originally Posted by Mack

Hmm, ive never had any issues with iPoods. I think they are good, but the price isnt as good.

is that a subtle message?

[xlr8_87]

2 simple rules to follow:

DO NOT buy iPod
DO NOT buy cheap stuff

get something like an iRiver or whatever else is out there, had nothing but problems with iPods and cheaper mp3 variants (i.e. a 4gb mp3 for $97)

[vy_storm]

I went for an iPod for the fact that it is the only (that I know of) out of sight (hideable), mass storage device that is controllable through several brands of head units.

[veclubby]

dont buy an ipod! had one of my friends give meone to put songs on and he ended sum having to send it back to apple twice coz it was faulty thats before hed even used it! and it screwed up my computer! and dont even get me started on wat itunes did to my comp! grrr i hate apple haha

yeh thats my opinion

ryan

[sganro]

Originally Posted by goVZ

If you turn off auto-sync, you can use other machines to transfer songs to your iPod, i've done it on mine, with auto-sync turned off, and it works fine...i'm pretty sure that your problem was that you had auto-sync turned on (its turned on by default)

Ah righto, yeah well i never tried it myself that is just what people had told me so i just assumed it must be true.