30 replies to this topic

[Dutchygamer]

As I've broken all Mp3 players I ever had in my life, I won't use any MP3 players anymore, including iPod. Besides, who needs MP3 players when you have a PC with a good collection of music and good surround system (I know it ain't portable, but I don't care ).

[TheDR]

I use my 8GB Sony Walkman when I'm walking places and i use it just for music, it has a great menu system, which is simple and clean and i just drag and drop my music onto it using windows. I got it over an iPod because the battery life was a lot better, it was a lot cheaper and i preferred the style (its red and black and its nice and small Pic). Before that i used a 1GB Samsung MP3 player which did the job without complications and it also had a nice battery life.

I always though about getting an iPod as they seemed to be "good" and "better" than the rest, but then realized i couldn't find any bonuses for the extra price compared to all the others on the market, so i just went with the alternatives and never looked back.

[Ghostrider]

One area where I think Apple has done very right is in the small capacity MP3 players. My iPod shuffle gets well over 20 hours battery life, holds more than enough songs to last through a week's worth of workouts (this thing is ideal for using at the gym), and has a built in clip. The shuffle also does not skip because it's basically a flash drive, so running with it is fine too. Although, it lacks an interface of any kind, which can make it a little hard to find songs, I'd take a smaller size over an interface any day. Plus, it only costs $50.

[Slightly Wonky Robob]

I have a Creative Zen X-Fi 16GB, battery life of 36 hours for music and 5 hours for video, has built in wifi for transferring and streaming content, SD Card slot for extra storage (not that I really need more) but good for viewing pictures off of your camera for example, and a built in speaker that can get quite loud considering its size. All in all a superb player with amazing sound quality.

[BeefJeRKy]

I don't like iPods only because they are ubiquitous and so prefer to stand out but I will admit they are fine if overpriced devices. However I'm liking the looks of the latest Zune HD and will likely snap one up come Christmas. My 8GB Samsung with Bluetooth is overcapacity.

As for the music player debate, I have found that iTunes is as mentioned far too bloaed compared to at it used to be back in the days of version 6. WMP is getting continually worse and Winamp is alright. I use Rythmbox when in Ubuntu as it has the iTunes style interface with the lightweight feel you get in OSX and more. On Windows, I'm using Songbird for more or less the same reason. Of course I use VLC for any exotic codecs as Chyros mentioned. I've never found the open codecs like Vorbis or FLAC to be common. Hopefully the Zune software will be rid of retardation by the time the HD is released. Or else I may consider a Cowon or new gen Samsung. Those will let me keep my BT headphones.

[NergiZed]

My general motto is: for those who can, they can make an educated decision in what MP4/PMP they buy, for everyone else there's iPod.

I've been using my Cowon O2 for about 2 years now and have been very satisfied with it. I don't think I could get one tenth the the enjoyment if I got an iPod. My system (like most others) has a simple drag-and-drop interface, and it's got a complete enough codec to play almost all files I encounter (including stuff like mkv, which is important to me 'cause a lot of stuff I get comes in that format) and all resolutions under 1024x786.

Now, my system is not like an iPod Touch or iPhone, it's simply a dedicated media player and that's it. So for those who like other functions, then maybe a high-end iPod or some other system would be for them.