MP3 player opinions

STGRule · 03-18-2006, 08:44 AM

I want to get hubby a MP3 player for him to use at the gym. Seems like everybody has one these days so I have a couple questions.

iPod vs. others:
I have iTunes, but also buy music from other places. Is it better to have a choice? Or am I miss-construing that iPods only can use iTunes?

Is it better to have replicable batteries or internal USB recharging? I'm leaning towards batteries so he can take it hunting and use it on vacation.

How much storage do you really need? I'm having trouble thinking you really need more than one Gig.

Hard drive or flash memory?

Is expandable memory a needed thing? I like the idea of removable cards to switch up the music without having to purge and re-load.

I'm liking the SanDisk, but the reviews say the case is a little chintzy. Any other brand to look at? Any other things to consider?

Drachir · 03-18-2006, 09:25 AM

We are very happy w/ our Dell DJ Ditty. It holds a ton of songs, and is USB rechargable. It is very small and light, and has an FM Radio as well, and a lot less $$$ than I-Pod. :grin:

wthr4d · 03-18-2006, 10:19 AM

To answer your questions, ipod can play various types of music from various sources, however only ipods can download music from your Itunes software. with my MP3 player you have to use Itunes to convert their file to MP3 then copy it onto your player using its included software.

The ipods battery is very stable and you dont have to worry too much about memory or battery life (I dont own one but thats what I have heard from owners)The convenience of being able to switch out a battery anywhere is a big bonus. the key here is to seriously think about the whens and wheres of it use. how long will your camping/hunting trips last? how long will you be away from a power source?

for the expandable memory question it does revert back to use. I chose the MP3 player also for the fact that is used SD cards. why? everything else I own uses them as well. the PDA, digital camera, printer and now the MP3 player. I can swap cards. I have had occaison to need it as well. I had my MP3 player and camera with me on a day of vacation. left the laptop at the hotel. filled up the memory card on the camera and the day was only half done...pulled me MP3's card and put it in the camera. the camera reformatted the card and voila! I had room for about 900 more pictures. when I got back to the hotel I uploaded all my pictures onto the laptop and put the card back in the MP3 player and put new music on it.

be advised that some players cant just swap cards like you would swap a cd and have new music. mine will sometimes but its not reliable in that mannner. never had a problem with it otherwise.

I have a Rio Cali Sport and like it. it comes with arm band, uses very common and cheap SD cards and a single AAA battery will last 8-10 hours of music play. oh yeah and it has am/fm radio built in. you'll pay about $100 for the 512 model and then another $45 for the optional/additional 512 md SD card that can be usd in lots of other devices as well. that would give him about 80-100 songs (usually lasted me 2 weeks of random listening)

Paul

Reel_Big_Fish · 03-18-2006, 10:32 AM

Quote:

I have a Rio Cali Sport and like it. it comes with arm band, uses very common and cheap SD cards and a single AAA battery will last 8-10 hours of music play. oh yeah and it has am/fm radio built in. you'll pay about $100 for the 512 model and then another $45 for the optional/additional 512 md SD card that can be usd in lots of other devices as well. that would give him about 80-100 songs (usually lasted me 2 weeks of random listening)

Paul

I have the Rio Cali also and have had good luck with it. I haven't had any problems and use the heck out of it. With that said I am getting an Ipod Nano (4Gig) but I'm one for getting cool new gadgets! :grin: Also because I can direct connect the Ipod to my car stereo and be good for music on long trips. I like the flash memory compared to the hard drive as I think it would be more durable in case of dropping.

brshooter · 03-18-2006, 02:45 PM

My wife and I each have 30 gb ipods. We love them. We have about 26gb of music on our pc that we can choose from. Can also store & view pictures & video, or use it as a portable hard drive. I wouldn't buy anything else.

Fish_N_Russ · 03-18-2006, 07:14 PM

How do you hook those up to play in your car radio? or can you?

brshooter · 03-18-2006, 07:20 PM

They have wireless or hardwired fm modulators. A hardwire modulator will reduce some of the static from your antenna.

Herring Impaired · 03-18-2006, 07:54 PM

If you are using it in the Gym, get a solid state MP3 player like the IPOD NANO. Hard drive based players were not designed to take the abuse of treadmills and other rigorous activity.

I use a NANO when working out, and the Video IPOD for more sedate listening/viewing.

Valley-Boy · 03-19-2006, 06:35 PM

I bought a 2gig i-pod nano for my wife for christmas.
Its awesome, verry easy and intuitive to control.
You can allso get add on batteries, if that is an issue.
I can whole hartedly endorse the i-pod nano.

BigFishFever · 03-20-2006, 06:42 AM

My family has 2 different ones, one is the 4gb NANO, and it is awesome works great, easy to use etc....havent had any problems with it.

Just bought a Sandisk Sansa 2gb model yesterday, so far it has been great, and it was a lot cheaper than the NANO...it is easier to load MP3's on, as it it comes up in your PC as a thumbdrive and you just drag/drop onto it (also can be used to move files back and forth) Has the built in FM radio, and a Microphone for recording voice on...dont see that I will ever use that function though.

for my use the Sandisk appears that it is going to be the ticket, as it has the replaceable battery, armband for the gym and all the bells and whistles that I need....and it was a hundred bucks cheaper than the nano...but that NANO is a lot thinner..

Both of em are good devices.....but if you are truly going after sound quality I would say that the NANO definetly has better sound.

Reel_Big_Fish · 03-20-2006, 08:35 AM

Quote:

How do you hook those up to play in your car radio? or can you?

The Alpine car stereo I just got has a direct connection wire to plug into the ipod and you can use the deck to control the ipod. The Alpine also recharges your ipod.

Most newer car stereo's have some similar connection that you can get but they don't have the recharging capability. Also there are other accessories that you can get to connect an ipod to an older car stereo.

fish_on · 03-21-2006, 08:42 PM

Check out the creative labs Zen M 30gb, it plays music, video, has a planner, stores files, and much more. I even ripped some DVDs and watched them on the airplane last week.
http://us.creative.com/products/prod...;product=14331

**busyfishin** · 03-22-2006, 02:37 AM

I have a 30 gig Ipod video and my wife has a 40 gig video. We would not trade them for anything else. It is the only way to go. I would not spend my money on anything else.

OregonHuntress · 03-27-2006, 12:09 AM

I own two one is an older RCA Lyra its biggest draw back was trying to scan through music and its lack of ability to increase memory it was limited to 128mb internal and external SD. I am a music freak so it just didn't cut it plus I wanted a new toy.

My new toy is a toshiba F20. The F20 is a 20 gigabyte HD that can play mp3, and windows media player files. The main draw back I have found so far is trying to switch artists while driving and it isnt very condusive to exersizing. Anyway I like it even has a picture of my puppy dog. It will act as an external hard drive and will show pictures. It has a few quirks when used with windows media player. But I still like it far better than the Sony I tested for one evening. The cost was about $200 at christmas.

Chinookjinxd · 03-28-2006, 12:38 AM

I have the Nano and hate it with a passion, Doenst have enough space, only charges on PC and not on wall (Unless you buy the part), headphones blow out quick and I dont like I-tunes.