OT: MP3 players

[Ozz]

time to gear up for indoor training! sheesh...how optimistic does that sound?

anyway....I need (want) a new music player for making the stationary boredom device more tolerable...any recommendations?

I can get an ipod 2G Nano for $140 and a 4G for $187 thru a work deal...yay or nay?

Any others worth looking at?

much obliged....

[Hysbrian]

IMO,
You are either shopping for an ipod, or something else. I've had great success with my 60g gen 5. There are plenty of programs out there that are better than itunes, that allow you to take music on and off, and do other thing..snyc with outlook..
Youre more or less looking for a reason not to buy an ipod.

[Ray]

time to gear up for indoor training! sheesh...how optimistic does that sound?

anyway....I need (want) a new music player for making the stationary boredom device more tolerable...any recommendations?

I can get an ipod 2G Nano for $140 and a 4G for $187 thru a work deal...yay or nay?

Any others worth looking at?

much obliged....
Sound likes a good price if you want an IPOD. The upside of IPODs is they're slicker than greased ***** and work well. The downside is that Apple has been HIGHLY proprietary about what'll play on them, so you pretty much have to buy all of your music either on CDs or from Apple's ITunes store. There are a bunch of other players out there that will take various formats of music, allow you to buy it from any one of about a zillion online sites, and can fit much more on the same size hard drive (or flash drive in the case of the little guys). I've been really happy with my Creative machine. IRiver, SanDisk, and several other makers also make good ones. Better sound than the IPod, more capacity for the bucks, more battery life, etc, etc, etc. But the IPods are cool - no denying that. The irony here is that Apple is acting like IBM/Microsoft used to when they were sort of the big bullies on the block in the early days of PCs. Nobody ever got in trouble for buying IBM in those days - it's sort of like that with IPODs now. Its the safe choice but not necessarily the best choice.

-Ray

[SoCalSteve]

Sound likes a good price if you want an IPOD. The upside of IPODs is they're slicker than greased ***** and work well. The downside is that Apple has been HIGHLY proprietary about what'll play on them, so you pretty much have to buy all of your music either on CDs or from Apple's ITunes store. There are a bunch of other players out there that will take various formats of music, allow you to buy it from any one of about a zillion online sites, and can fit much more on the same size hard drive (or flash drive in the case of the little guys). I've been really happy with my Creative machine. IRiver, SanDisk, and several other makers also make good ones. Better sound than the IPod, more capacity for the bucks, more battery life, etc, etc, etc. But the IPods are cool - no denying that. The irony here is that Apple is acting like IBM/Microsoft used to when they were sort of the big bullies on the block in the early days of PCs. Nobody ever got in trouble for buying IBM in those days - it's sort of like that with IPODs now. Its the safe choice but not necessarily the best choice.

-Ray

I will respectfully have to disagree with this as I have over 200 gig worth of music. None of it was purchased through itunes. I know some of it came from the internet and some from CD's. As long as it is an MP3 file....It all works through itunes which means that it works on an ipod. Oh, some CD's are copy protected.

The 8 gig is now out and for $249.00 retail, this is really hard to beat.

Good luck,

Steve

[scrooge]

time to gear up for indoor training! sheesh...how optimistic does that sound?

anyway....I need (want) a new music player for making the stationary boredom device more tolerable...any recommendations?

I can get an ipod 2G Nano for $140 and a 4G for $187 thru a work deal...yay or nay?

Any others worth looking at?

much obliged....

I'd check out the refurbished section on the apple website. You might find a better deal (I got a 20 gig with color (4g?) earlier this summer for 169)

[Ray]

I will respectfully have to disagree with this as I have over 200 gig worth of music. None of it was purchased through itunes. I know some of it came from the internet and some from CD's. As long as it is an MP3 file....It all works through itunes which means that it works on an ipod. Oh, some CD's are copy protected.

The 8 gig is now out and for $249.00 retail, this is really hard to beat.

Good luck,

Steve
If you have music that was ripped from CDs or gotten from free internet sites, it should work on an IPOD. But, AFAIK, you can't use music you've purchased from Napster, MSNBC music, Yahoo music, Rhapsody, etc, etc, etc. If I'm wrong, I'd be VERY interested to know this, but I've been told this by more than a lot of people. Also, you can't use WMA files, which is a common format when ripping from Windows Media Player, which is the default for lots of folks with Windows machines. They also compress a good deal smaller than Apple's format, which would theoretically mean lower sound quality, but if you can hear it, your ears are better than mine.

-Ray

[SoCalSteve]

If you have music that was ripped from CDs or gotten from free internet sites, it should work on an IPOD. But, AFAIK, you can't use music you've purchased from Napster, MSNBC music, Yahoo music, Rhapsody, etc, etc, etc. If I'm wrong, I'd be VERY interested to know this, but I've been told this by more than a lot of people. Also, you can't use WMA files, which is a common format when ripping from Windows Media Player, which is the default for lots of folks with Windows machines. They also compress a good deal smaller than Apple's format, which would theoretically mean lower sound quality, but if you can hear it, your ears are better than mine.

-Ray

Well, I'll disprove this right now...

http://www.gomusic.ru/

$.09 downloads per song with a 10% discount when you purchase an entire album and they work perfectly with itunes.

Steve

PS: A whole lot cheaper than $.99 a song on itunes.

[Grant McLean]

If you have music that was ripped from CDs or gotten from free internet sites, it should work on an IPOD. But, AFAIK, you can't use music you've purchased from Napster, MSNBC music, Yahoo music, Rhapsody, etc, etc, etc. If I'm wrong, I'd be VERY interested to know this, but I've been told this by more than a lot of people. Also, you can't use WMA files, which is a common format when ripping from Windows Media Player, which is the default for lots of folks with Windows machines. They also compress a good deal smaller than Apple's format, which would theoretically mean lower sound quality, but if you can hear it, your ears are better than mine.

-Ray

The iPod isn't proprietary, some windoze downloads are. But you can import
anything into iTunes even if you have those stupid windoze encrypted files,
just burn them to an audio cd, and import them into iTunes as an mp3, they'll play fine.

You can choose whatever compression program or file bit rate size you want
with iTunes, there's no need to stay locked into any "default".

g

[swoop]

i love my ipod nano!!!!!

[SoCalSteve]

i love my ipod nano!!!!!

Word! 8 gig rules!!!!!

[Serpico]

...

There are plenty of programs out there that are better than itunes, that allow you to take music on and off, and do other thing...


can you post the names of some programs to use instead of iTunes?

thanks

[SoCalSteve]

iTunes 7.0 is amazing!

Check it out, if you havent already.

Steve

PS: It just came out about a week ago.

[mflaherty37]

I bought a 2G Sony and I like it. I chose it over the Nano because it has an FM tuner.

[Grant McLean]

I bought a 2G Sony and I like it. I chose it over the Nano because it has an FM tuner.

I bought a nano so i don't have to listen to fm.

and then there is:
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=MA070G/A

g

[Hysbrian]

can you post the names of some programs to use instead of iTunes?

thanks

I think that the best one I've found so far is called igadget. It can transfer music to and FROM your ipod. Sync with outlook, any RSS feed, has a weather program, and one for driving directions among other things.
http://www.ipodsoft.com/site/pmwiki.php?n=igadget.Homepage
There is a free trial of 15 days so you can download it and try it. I really don't use I tunes that often.

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . you guys are arguing about how many MP3 angels can fit on the head of a pin. The new Shuffle is the size of a box of matches and holds 1 gig. Easily enough for 3 or so hours of decent music--and anyway, anyone who would ride rollers or a trainer for more than an hour has FAR more serious problems, atmo, than simply not haveing the "right" music player . . . :rolleyes:

BBD