Best non-IPOD MP3 Player

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(etyler88 @ Sep 25 2006, 12:42 PM) [snapback]324829[/snapback]</div>

If people don't want to buy an iPod, at least do it for the right reasons. I'm trying to dispel the misconceptions that some people have like the notion of "proprietary-based formats". The Fairplay DRM w/songs purchased from iTunes Store is not any more propietary nor more open than the DRM used w/WMP on "Playsforsure" stores.

I don't understand why you WOULDN'T want the computer and mp3 player synced provided the player is large enough to hold your entire collection? There's no reason to screw around w/subsets of files and copying pasting. If you owned an iPod and used iTunes, you'd understand. It's easiest to keep your entire collection on your computer (and on your iPod) and you just make playlists (and/or smart playlists) for the times when you want to just hear a subset/certain songs and you don't want to just limit to an artist, genre, composer, etc.

I used to use an old Diamond Rio PMP500 flash based player that held a whopping 128 megs w/a Smartmedia card. It WAS a pain to have such a tiny subset of music and to manage deleting songs from the player, copying songs to the player, etc. Now, I don't bother, whenever I hook up my iPod (in the morning), it's all synced. I usually hit the Update button to update my podcasts before I got to sleep and when I wake up, so when I hook up my iPod, I've also got up to date podcasts.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(cwerdna @ Oct 1 2006, 08:41 PM) [snapback]326713[/snapback]</div>

Every store has a proprietor. Can't have one without the other.

 

I don't know. Maybe the Microsoft Zune? I think retailing price is $299.99 and is coming Nov 14. Sandisk has a bunch of stuff too.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(orionll @ Oct 1 2006, 09:24 PM) [snapback]326719[/snapback]</div>

Price has been announced at $249.99 (putting it at the same price as the 30 gig iPod). It's heavier and larger than an 80 gig iPod but it's only 30 gigs. It does have a larger screen though and WiFi. It will NOT support Playsforsure (www.playsforsure.com). Jury is out on the UI (and navigation controls) until I get my hands on one.

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2...labilityPR.mspx
http://news.com.com/Zune+details+unzipped/...ml?tag=nefd.pop

I love the click wheel on iPods. Most other MP3 players I've picked up have underwhelming UI. The Zen Vision:M for instance has somewhat illogical UI. The touch pad works poorly, you also have to keep lifting your finger once you get to the top or bottom, placing the finger at the other end, etc. I've found the touch pad problem to be an issue when I first messed w/the Zen Micro.

Back to the other person who talked about the Zen: which one? From http://www.creative.com/products/welcome.asp?category=213, notice that there are 16 different models w/the name "Zen" in them?

 

FWIW, current gen 30 gig iPods can be had for $219 after rebate:
http://www.pcconnection.com/ProductDetail?Sku=6816916
http://www.pcconnection.com/ProductDetail?Sku=6816924

 

And secondary to which is the best MP3 type player to get.....My 2007 (package #2 I think), looks like it just has an old fashioned audio type plug for the MP3 player - like you plug headphones into on a plane.

The MP3 players I was looking at online seem to have USB connectors - does one need to buy a special cable to play the music through my Prius? If so - what is the cable called?

I was already looking at the Creative Labs MP3 players since it also appears they play movies too. How are the movies through those, other than a tiny screen "

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Armature @ Sep 24 2006, 04:33 PM) [snapback]324437[/snapback]</div>

Did you have to buy an additional jack or cable to plug it into the Prius?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mulie @ Oct 15 2006, 10:42 AM) [snapback]333019[/snapback]</div>

All MP3 players have standard headphone out jacks (I believe it's 1/8" or 3.5mm) which is identical to the audio input jack that you see in the center console cubby. You just need a stereo male to male cable which should cost you <$8.

The USB connector is irrelevant.

 

While I certainly don't drink the Apple-flavored kool-aid, I do like my Ipods (and my DICE!). However, I found this article for the rest of you:

Ipod killers

 

May not be a direct answer to your question, but I just burn my MP3's to CD. OP said he had a pack 5, which I think has the 6 disc changer. That's ~4.7 gigs of music. Then you can interact with your MP3s via touch screen.

Pros:
don't need external player
See all your music listed on the MFD- easier to change music in traffic

Cons:
File listing is slow
Can't do playlists
limited to 4.7 gigs on 6 disc changer or 700 megs on single disc player
probaby other cons too

 

the Microsoft Zune comes out in November. I'm waiting for that.

 

This questions makes me ask you. What is the best hybrid that isn't a Prius?

 

He, He

Interesting discussion. For better or worse I've moved my music collection onto WMA as both the MP3 formats I tried and Apple's format sounded worse in my reasonable competent stereo at home.

I would love to have DICE (i.e IPOD integrated with the display), but the IPOD doesn't support WMA (no suprise) and doesn't seem to be able to convert WMA's "on the fly".

So I'm looking for a none-IPOD integration that would give me access to my music through the built in screen.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Soylent @ Oct 16 2006, 12:27 PM) [snapback]333655[/snapback]</div>

The Zune's out now. I haven't seen one in person but will soon.

For me, its unique features (bigger screen, WiFi, FM radio and subscription service support) are not a compelling enough for me to want to buy it over say a video iPod.

It's not cheaper (you can get a 5.5 gen video iPod from PC Connection for $219 after rebate), it's much larger, it's heavier, doesn't have the nice scroll wheel, doesn't have podcasting support (I listen to several podcasts a week in my car) and I hear the software doesn't have user submitted playlists (very useful for finding music that you like). Although I don't care much about this: the Zune Marketplace has no video or movies available for purchase yet unlike iTunes Store.

 

I looked at the Zune instore yersterday (and I'm playing with the market place sw at home) and walked away impressed. I compared it to an ipod in the store and to me they where both equally easy/hard to use (neither of them that impressive).

Much have been made about the ipod scroll wheel but to me (none ipod user) it's neither that intuative nor the cool. I also found the ipod sluggish when responding to commands compared to the zune (especially when paying video). The ipod looks better then the zune, but I think the zune is not ugly. The size of screen also don't make that much difference but the ipod plays video "laying down" which gives a better screen ratio. My experience with the ipod is that the sound quality is relatively low. The zune us supposed to have high sound quailty. All in all I think the zune is on par with the ipod. What it lacks in cool design it makes up for with bigger screen, radio and (so far limited) wireless

If I where an ipod user I wouldn't switch, but for people that are not this is the best alternative since the zune marketplace seem the best alternative to itunes.

The Zune marketplace SW also looks better then itunes. Itunes simply gives long lists of your album where zune presents it with more flair. Zune currently only has 2 million songs (seem to be the same as music.msn.com used to have), it doesn't have video support yet and currently lacks POD casts. But it has a lot of music and playlists etc that are quite easily accessible.

PodCasts are only halfway supported so far. They can be listened to if you first save them to your zune folder (kinda clumsy). You can not yet use RSS subscription service to get them. I'm sure that will be fixed.

All SW issues will be worked out by MS (I'm sure) as they alwaus tend to relase weak version 1.0. I think the podcast thing is probably one of the first things that will be added.

So to me they the zune seem to be at least as good hw wise, while still lacking in SW. But the zune sw is still good and will get better

Zune's market place seem as bad as the ipod when it comes to jazz/classical. I still don't find the recodrings I want in either.

So I'm considering a zune. mainly because it integrates better with my media center (think MS Tivo) and my xb360 (used as a media center extender). The three together works better then what apple can supply currently even if individually apple things are cooler.

Another reason for me is that the zune (of course) supports WMA. To me this format sounds better then ACC or MP3 so I picked it when I ripped my CD collection. (I might have been tricked here as I judged ACC, ripped ob very high format, but played through the ipod hw. This didn't impress me).

I also like the subscription model zune has for $14.95. This gives access to all music in their collection. It's a tempting model for me as it allows me to listen to a lot of new music. I'm sure itunes will do the same soon

So I will wait a little longer and see where things goes, but would I buy one today I would buy the zune (also the ipod just isn't cool anymore)

Car relate the is a new device out next year called the iME dock, that is supposed to be a general docing station for most MP3 players Can be seen at http://www.imedock.com/ and seems pretty cool

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SomervillePrius @ Nov 16 2006, 04:12 AM) [snapback]350057[/snapback]</div>

As an iPod user for about 1.5 years, I do find that iPod UI to be very intuitive. Until I actually owned and iPod and used iTunes, I really didn't "get it". I just put it in the bucket of yet another MP3 player w/appealing styling. Now I'm a true believer.

It is too bad that the video iPod UI is a bit sluggish compared to the older black and white models (I have a 4th gen black and white 20 gig). I'd imagine it might be related to them having many more bits to push around (320 x 240 x 2 bytes/pixel vs. 160 x 120 x ? bytes/pixel (maybe 1 - 4 bits/pixel?)). That's ~150K vs. somewhere between ~2.4 - 9.6K?

Your definition of podcast support is essentially non-support. It's also important that the player rememeber where you left off in the podcast instead of always starting from the beginning. Also, shuffle (all songs) should automatially ignore and not play podcasts. The iPod does these both.

 

Hey. The Zune is looking good.

 

Ign has the most complete review of the unit so far.

http://gear.ign.com/articles/746/746470p1.html

From playing with it in the store, I agree completely with their assumptions. My basic beef with both are the way they handle DRM and lock you into an service. If you sign-up for either you are basically stuck for the rest of your life. To me that is bad on the edge of unacceptable.

I'm really looking for a way of not having to buy CDs but to download music but I don't want to be locked into a servic they way itune and zune does right now.

There must be a better solution, maybe something like http://developers.sun.com/learning/javaone...ty/TS-3326.html

Until then both MS and Apple will not gain my CD buying money

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jrfaris @ Sep 23 2006, 01:34 PM) [snapback]323939[/snapback]</div>

Going in a direction like this is absolutely the way to go.

If you have a smartphone with (at least) an EDGE connection, there's no reason you should use that. Right now I have a 1GB card in my Nokia 6620, and about 700MB of MP3s on it (the rest is apps and empty space). While that's pathetic compared to an iPod (well, a regular iPod), it does a few things no iPod can do.

Play podcasts. Live. Streaming.
Plays streaming audio. As I drive.
Plays any RealPlayer station. As I drive. Live.

Listening to live music from the net or streaming podcasts on the go is the way to go. Why be stuck with syncing?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jonnycat26 @ Nov 17 2006, 07:18 PM) [snapback]351292[/snapback]</div>

Using a phone and being able to stream sounds ok in practice, but have fun going to the next podcast after one is over or playing a series of them.

At least w/an iPod and iTunes, I can easily setup a Smart Playlist by criteria of say Podcast is true and Recently Added (by syncing) within the last N days or say Podcast is true and Album = [podcast name, say Diggnation]. The Smart Playlist is automatically updated and podcasts are automatially be added or removed from the playlist when the podcast file itself goes away (iTunes lets you set how many episodes you want to keep) or when you pass the N day boundary.

Also, navigating thru playlists and songs on a phone and PDA isn't that easy/straightforward as using a scroll wheel.