What is your Mp3 player of Choice?

[2Nu]

Since this is a forum frequented by techie posts and Blir made it clear his bias towards the ubiquitous iPod, I figured it would be safe to post this. Personally, I find iPods to be waay overpriced for the GB storage capacities offered.
Mind you #1 & 2 were purchased as factory refurbs from ComputerGeeks.com (each with a 180 day warranty).
#3 was purchased new on e-bay.
Why refurbed?, well both are known reputable brands with 180 day no nag warranties and after doing some background research on both, I found each has its own particular virtues in the form, functionality and storage capacity value for the price paid. Additionally, they both have a dedicated (rabid)O/L user & hacker following.
(Just google each model and see for yourself!)

1) <a href="http://www.digitalnetworksna.com/shop/_templates/item_main_Rio.asp?model=261" target="blank">Rio Karma (20gb)</a> $180
<IMG SRC="http://www.digitalnetworksna.com/images/rio/report/Karma_main_prod.jpg">
2) <a href="http://gear.ign.com/articles/435/435657p1.html" target="blank">RCA Lyra (Mini Jukebox 1.5gb)</a> $100
<IMG SRC="http://gearmedia.ign.com/gear/image/rcalyra_082103_160.jpg">
3) <a href="http://www.itsupplier.net/ITT-3020mp3.htm" target="blank">Pocki Mp3 (256mb)</a> $55.00 w/Built in FM receiver, Vox recorder, & 512mb SD add on flash memory
<IMG SRC="http://www.itsupplier.net/ST-3020-Blue.jpg">

#1 Is my primary music storage (3000+ songs) small ergonomic and very nicely integrated with provided music library software. I have yet to run the L-ion battery completely down after 10 hours of continual play time. The sound quality (w (3)separately adjustable 5 band digital EQ settings)is clean and potent enough to drive any line input device that I've hooked it into w/o sounding clipped and ragged. It also features it's own docking station with integral http server so you can use it as a network device! Only caveat is the file system software is proprietary and does not allow you to assign it a drive letter nor retain original file extension info.(I'm sure someone will hack that eventually)

#2 Is my everyday pocket mp3 player which holds over 250 songs which is plenty for me. Beauty is, this gem can accept all types of files (music, data and pix) in their original format and can be assigned an external drive letter. L-ion Battery life is pretty decent (about 5 hours)

#3 Got it for my tech challenged SO and I found it to be quite similar to #2 in form and functionality. What sets it apart is the built in stereo FM tuner and Vox recorder that gives it additional versatility. But best of all, it plugs DIRECTLY into any available USB port for instant file transfers and battery recharging. It also is PnP recognized by your OS as an external storage device and gives it a drive letter. FYI: Plenty of similar 'stick' type mp3 players of various capacities (128mb, 256mb, 512mb, etc..) can be found on e-bay.

Well that's my speil on non-iPod mp3 players. Your thoughts?

[Frank_Chickens]

My main MP3 player is the I-River H120 20gig player.

It's a nicely-styled player and apart from MP3 playing, also has a
FM radio, voice recording and the ability to encode MP3s from CDs, Ipod eat your heart out! [:D]

I also have the original Sony DCJ-01 CD MP3 player that Sony naively released before realising that allowing people to create their own MP3 CDs was a bad idea and forcing them to use ATRAC was the way to go until declining sales put a stop to that folly.

[tiger_mn]

I've got both a Dell Digital Jukebox (20GB) and a 3G iPod (15GB.)

My first choice is the Dell - space consideration and portability mainly. But while driving, I like the iPod for it's ease in navigation. The only things negative I can say about the iPod is that (1) it feels rather toy-ish, and (2) I hate having to work with iTunes to upload music to it. I haven't had any luck with vPod.

[trekds947]

[quote][i]Originally posted by tiger_mn[/i]
<br>I've got both a Dell Digital Jukebox (20GB) and a 3G iPod (15GB.)

My first choice is the Dell - space consideration and portability mainly. But while driving, I like the iPod for it's ease in navigation. The only things negative I can say about the iPod is that (1) it feels rather toy-ish, and (2) I hate having to work with iTunes to upload music to it. I haven't had any luck with vPod.
[/quote]

Just curious, what is the dilemma with iTunes you're facing?

[Ollie Stench]

I am in the minority on this subject (there were 4+ pages flaming me on another board).

I bought a Sony MP3 compatible discman. It plays MP3 cds as well as regular discs. It cost me under $50. If I drop it I don't lose my music as it's burned to a disc. If the disc gets scratched I buff it out and make a new copy.

Portable HD based players are just too expensive for me. When they get down to the $50-$75 range for the 2gig I'll consider one. Until then I'll stick with my discman.

However, I've always been intrigued with these:

<IMG SRC="http://www.digisette.com/en/images/duo-dx.jpg">

<a href="http://www.digisette.com/en/products/DUOdx.asp">DIGISETTE</a>

[trekds947]

Have you looked at Apple's iPod Shuffle, at $99 for the entry-level mode (which stores approx. 110 songsl you might be off to a good start

[tiger_mn]

<br>[quote][i]Originally posted by tiger_mn[/i]
(2) I hate having to work with iTunes to upload music to it.
[/quote]
[quote][i]Originally posted by trekds947[/i]
Just curious, what is the dilemma with iTunes you're facing?
[/quote]

Probably relates more to ease of use, iTunes vs MusicMatch Jukebox. And familiarity. I use MM 90-95% of the time with my Dell, and haven't forced myself to learn iTunes. The library organization and playlist creation is, IMO, better with MM.

And all things Apple are the work of the devil. [:D]

[geoffolehane]

I don't know if it's my MP3 player of choice but I have an Emerson that I picked up fairly cheap. I'm happy with it.

[Klaus Von Konrad]

I have an IRiver IHP 40 gig model and one of the new 6 GB Ipods. I like the Iriver better. Ipods have the styling but the Iriver has everything else. The best feature is that the Iriver is seen as a external hard drive on Windows computers. ITunes sort of pisses me off.

[trekds947]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Klaus Von Konrad[/i]
<br>I have an IRiver IHP 40 gig model and one of the new 6 GB Ipods. I like the Iriver better. Ipods have the styling but the Iriver has everything else. The best feature is that the Iriver is seen as a external hard drive on Windows computers. ITunes sort of pisses me off.
[/quote]

Three things:

1 I don't know what tiger_mn has against Apple but, get over it! If it wasn't for the "revolution" the iPod started, the digital music and player market wouldn't be as prominent as it is now. Don't knock Apple because they've done us a service of starting a new cool era of music access.

2-to, Klaus, there is a setting in iTunes that allows you to have the iPod mount as an External HD.

3 iTunes allows you to use a wide variery of third-party MP3 players such as Rio-branded players among others.

Matt A.

[Frayo]

I have a 40GB Ipod that I got last year (saved up a month to get it).
I got the cigarette adapter charger thingie.
I also got the casette thing that plugs into anything and goes into your tape deck.

Its a pretty shnazzy machine.
A bit of a biatch at times. I like it overall.

Its my anti boredom device. In that, when I get bored-
I put it on.

[trekds947]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Frayo[/i]
<br>I have a 40GB Ipod that I got last year (saved up a month to get it).
I got the cigarette adapter charger thingie.
I also got the casette thing that plugs into anything and goes into your tape deck.

Its a pretty shnazzy machine.
A bit of a biatch at times. I like it overall.

Its my anti boredom device. In that, when I get bored-
I put it on.
[/quote]

Casette adapter thingy?! Good choice. Perfect! Having it plug directly into the car stereo ensures crystal-clear sound; lots better than an FM transmitter. WAY TO GO!!!

[DayGloJo]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Ollie Stench[/i]
<br>I am in the minority on this subject (there were 4+ pages flaming me on another board).

I bought a Sony MP3 compatible discman. It plays MP3 cds as well as regular discs. It cost me under $50. If I drop it I don't lose my music as it's burned to a disc. If the disc gets scratched I buff it out and make a new copy.

Portable HD based players are just too expensive for me. When they get down to the $50-$75 range for the 2gig I'll consider one. Until then I'll stick with my discman.

[/quote]

Ollie,
I have to agree with you. I have a JVC anti-skip sport model CD player since I do most of my mp3 listening while walking. Also who's going to bother mugging me for a $60 CD player? I'd hate to spend several hundred on an iPod just to have it get ripped off.

I probably would have purchased the iPod shuffle had it been on the market last year when I bought my CD player, but it wasn't. I might consider it as a future replacement, but for now I'm satisfied with the mp3 compatible CD player it works for me. [:)]

DayGloJo

[jaybag]

I like my iPod a lot but there are of course things I don't like. The worst thing about it is the lack of gapless playback between songs. This is really distracting when you have a live album or one where the songs flow into one another. The gap between songs is very noticeable too. The only way to get it is to burn a disc as one continuous track, though this pretty much kills off "shuffle" mode. Does anyone have an MP3 player with gapless playback, or at least a very minor (almost unnoticeable) gap?

[goutroy]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Klaus Von Konrad[/i]
<br>I have an IRiver IHP 40 gig model and one of the new 6 GB Ipods. I like the Iriver better. Ipods have the styling but the Iriver has everything else. The best feature is that the Iriver is seen as a external hard drive on Windows computers. ITunes sort of pisses me off.
[/quote]

That's exactly how I feel too. I've had my iRiver for 6 months and love it so far (although 40 gigs filled up a bit faster than I had anticipated...) The only thing the iPod has on the iRiver is the navigation wheel; iRiver has better sound, ease of use, and plays more types of files (including .wma, .wav, and .ogg), and as an added (but superfluous) bonus can display pictures and text files.