OT - Anything But Ipod

[bluejeangirl76]

i guess i got lucky with my iPod. i've have my 2nd gen iPod since 2002. i use & abuse it for several hours a day, everyday & it's still going strong with the original battery. it's nice that i can use a standard firewire cable to connect & drag/drop files. someday, when it dies, i'll probably replace it with another iPod.

Since 2002!? This is good to hear - I'm about to get the 60GB iPod... although... I might just say hell with it and get the 165... not that I will ever even own enough music to fill it but... the only con I've heard about them is that the screen scratches easy... okay, so screen protector, no big deal. If they last the way everyone says they do I have no problem to fork over the extra hundred for the 165.

I have satellite radio in the car and I can log on and listen on the pc at home, so I never really cared about having an mp3 player before. Satellite radio is kind of like having a player because there's a channel for anything you want to hear!

[Rip Rokken]

CompUSA is going out of business (nationwide, I believe), and they had all iPod acessories 30% off today. If you have one in your area, might want to check it out.

[(Crazy)Dulce Lady]

CompUSA is going out of business (nationwide, I believe), and they had all iPod acessories 30% off today. If you have one in your area, might want to check it out.

some stores are closing and some will be kept opened but reorganized by the new buyer. (who is it???)

[Rip Rokken]

some stores are closing and some will be kept opened but reorganized by the new buyer. (who is it???)

Ahh.... Don't know about the new investor. I've talked to some of the staff, and man, what a sucky way to go. Right before the holidays, one day you think everything is cool, the next you start hearing rumors, and the next you find the store has been bought and you won't know day to day if you have a job. Right now they are just liquidating everything, selling even the fixtures. Still, though, they haven't had any absolutely killer deals... For a few weeks it stayed in the 5%-15% range. Not much more than your average sale. They have products that they are unable to reduce by much at all, like the Macs -- those are owned by Apple, not the store.

I have yet to buy a single thing in there since they started liquidating, and not sure if there will be any deals hot enough for me to bite at. Still, if you are going to buy something specific anyway, might be a good chance to grab something up at a discount, if you keep in mind the inability to make returns.

[StyxCollector]

Well, currently I own:
Kenwood HD60GD9EC - Just got this. Audiophile quality sound player. No real opinions yet.
Sony NW-HD3 - Nice little player no bigger than a deck of cards and thinner. Will most likely sell it at some point.
Sony NW-HD5 - Later gen Sony player and just as good if not better in some ways. The NW-HD3 is better hardware from a looks/design standpoint. Will most likely sell it at some point.
Toshiba Gigabeat F40 (with Rockbox) - Got this cheap as an interim before buying the Kenwood. Rockbox is way too homebrew for most people. The Gigabeat isn't a bad player, though.

I have owned:
Cowon M3 - highly overrated in sound quality, no gapless, etc.
iPod Classic 160GB - Hated the iPod. Bought it because it is still one of the few players that does gapless and has high capacity but hated iTunes, hated the UI of the player, and hated the stupid wheel thing (give me real buttons). Went back after 2 weeks.
JVC XA-HD500 - didn't like this one and no gapless; small capacity
Rio Karma - died (as most Karmas did ... bad HD)
Sony VGF-AP1L (better known as the Vaio Pocket) - best player I've ever owned but the OS was buggy; ahead of its time

[StoneCold]

If you use something other than an iPod, post what and why.

Easy for me... I wanted a device that acted as a removable storage device (like a flash drive) that I could drag and drop whatever I wanted to, whether it be MP3's, data files, etc. I looked at iPods but never could get past the proprietary design, and wasn't about to be tied down to iTunes. No way, no how.

My current player is an Insignia (brand made for Best Buy) 2GB player. Looks pretty much like the one below, and does everything I need.

Hey Rip, few know that this model's groundbreaking. On the very next version, its one of if not the 1st to have built in Bluetooth. I think the only iPod that can do that is the Touch and we're talking 300 bones for it.

I think these are up to 4 or 8gb by now. Nice one.

[StoneCold]

I have 8 mp3 players


ipod 30gb dont know the generation, bought new 4 yrs ago never even turned it on, its like a new car ,once you take it off the lot its worth about half of what you paid for it, im sure one day i'll actually hook it up(i personally believe any mp3 that is hard drive driven is not really a portable device--doesnt take much to break these type players)

my diva mp3 player....got this off of ebay years ago for about 40 bucks great little player about the size of a pager, with a clip had an open slot to put an upgrade of cf memory and used 1 AA battery still have this, its solid state and has been trashed, dropped, had 45 lb weights dropped on it and it still plays!

okay im done ,i have to go to my mp3 players annonymous meeting

8 players! I like your style man.

You're like the guy that buys out a sports team so he can do whatever he wants with them. Can't believe you haven't turned on that 30gb iPod yet!

That diva sounds cool, I've never heard of it but something that durable's worth checking out.

[strangegrey]

That's the Vision:M 30 and 60g. Creative's been making excellent daps since before the iPod.

This is what kills me. At least 5 years before the ipods became a big thing, I was using an mp3 player...I remember back to 1998/99, walking to work in manhattan listening to Slaves of the New World on my diamond rio. Shortly after that, I got a creative.

For some strange, I cant figure out, reason...apple came out with a product that Creative had out for several years (in imho, Creative's was a superior prioduct) and ipods exploded onto the public. Fucking strange.

Today, I use a creative Vision M:30g...when I bought it, 30 gigs was pretty much the top of the line. It was either this unit or a 30g ipod. At the time, the 30gb ipod was at least 30-40 bucks more expensive...however, the creative was capable of 4-5 times as much color on it's screen than the ipod was.

I'm not sure if creative's screen still blows away the ipods, but at the time it did. You could notice a distinct difference in the screen apearance between the two.

[StoneCold]

That's the Vision:M 30 and 60g. Creative's been making excellent daps since before the iPod.

This is what kills me. At least 5 years before the ipods became a big thing, I was using an mp3 player...I remember back to 1998/99, walking to work in manhattan listening to Slaves of the New World on my diamond rio. Shortly after that, I got a creative.

For some strange, I cant figure out, reason...apple came out with a product that Creative had out for several years (in imho, Creative's was a superior prioduct) and ipods exploded onto the public. Fucking strange.

Today, I use a creative Vision M:30g...when I bought it, 30 gigs was pretty much the top of the line. It was either this unit or a 30g ipod. At the time, the 30gb ipod was at least 30-40 bucks more expensive...however, the creative was capable of 4-5 times as much color on it's screen than the ipod was.

I'm not sure if creative's screen still blows away the ipods, but at the time it did. You could notice a distinct difference in the screen apearance between the two.

Ah, the Rio. That's evolutionary stuff there.

Apple took it for a few reasons. Design, simplicty and good marketing. That wheel for navigating was genius. The smooth coupling with iTunes another advantage. Then as mentioned before, marketing. iPod became the "it" possession for coolness.

But the menu system was Creative's. Apple had to pay them off in a lawsuit.

[WalrusOct9]

I had a Nomad Zen for a few years, loved it. Creative labs makes great players but why do they continually lag behind Apple as far as hard drive sizes? To me that's the most important thing.

Even if you think you'd never fill up a 160 GB mp3 player, someday, you will, either by getting more music over time or by re-ripping all your CD's to much higher bitrates for better sound quality. I wish Creative would catch up so I could buy one of their players again.

[yulog]

some stores are closing and some will be kept opened but reorganized by the new buyer. (who is it???)

Ahh.... Don't know about the new investor. I've talked to some of the staff, and man, what a sucky way to go. Right before the holidays, one day you think everything is cool, the next you start hearing rumors, and the next you find the store has been bought and you won't know day to day if you have a job. Right now they are just liquidating everything, selling even the fixtures. Still, though, they haven't had any absolutely killer deals... For a few weeks it stayed in the 5%-15% range. Not much more than your average sale. They have products that they are unable to reduce by much at all, like the Macs -- those are owned by Apple, not the store.

I have yet to buy a single thing in there since they started liquidating, and not sure if there will be any deals hot enough for me to bite at. Still, if you are going to buy something specific anyway, might be a good chance to grab something up at a discount, if you keep in mind the inability to make returns.

Comp U.S.A has been liquidating for over a year, i know several phoenix stores shut down over a year ago, and when i moved to san diego , the comp usa was already out of business...in other words this is old news, they have been in trouble for years, i'm suprised any are still left standing.

[Rocker Chic]

The all in one does have its appeal. I've heard a some peeps don't travel w lappys anymore since they can do so much with their iPhones now.

For the last few years (upgraded to a newer model once during this time), I've been using my PocketPC as my cell phone, MP3 player, Internet/email access, text messaging, photo/file storage, GPS unit, voice-dialing, as well as other functions that I have downloaded programs for and many I'd like to load sometime. It has a nice big screen, built-in speaker phone, and a slide-out keyboard. Although the iPhone looks neat and does a few more things, mine is much more cost-effective to keep it and has all the bells and whistles that I need right now. If I don't need to, I can load as many photos, maps, files, and MP3s onto my 4 GB SD card and not have to carry around my Zen.

Yet another piece of technology that I don't feel the need to iRun out and get just because everyone else does.

Debbie

That sounds like sweet lil' unit. Which model is it?

It's already a little old by some people's standards (about a year and a half), but you still may find it around: It's the Siemens SX66 (or sometimes refered to as a "MDA III / PDA2K [HTC Blue Angel]" by other manufacturers).

Debbie

[Rocker Chic]

This is what kills me. At least 5 years before the ipods became a big thing, I was using an mp3 player...I remember back to 1998/99, walking to work in manhattan listening to Slaves of the New World on my diamond rio. Shortly after that, I got a creative.

For some strange, I cant figure out, reason...apple came out with a product that Creative had out for several years (in imho, Creative's was a superior prioduct) and ipods exploded onto the public. Fucking strange.

Today, I use a creative Vision M:30g...when I bought it, 30 gigs was pretty much the top of the line. It was either this unit or a 30g ipod. At the time, the 30gb ipod was at least 30-40 bucks more expensive...however, the creative was capable of 4-5 times as much color on it's screen than the ipod was.

I'm not sure if creative's screen still blows away the ipods, but at the time it did. You could notice a distinct difference in the screen apearance between the two.

Hey a Vision:M *and* Steelhouse Lane??? Two great choices there, Frank!

I was originally going for the 30GB myself, until I saw that NewEgg had the 60GB for about $50 more. Was a no-brainer there. The M/W displayed over 260k colors, but new Zen now displays over 16 million colors, so I'd say iPod is still lacking in the screen department.

Unfortunately, it's all about marketing. No one even knows that Creative exists, but after I show them my unit, they say they wish they bought that instead of their iPod. More and more I find people sitting next to me with an M (even saw a couple of Ws!). I went to J&R's big promo thing for the M soon after they came out and was smitten ever since. Despite all of the accessories available, I wouldn't give my Zen up for anything... Well, except for another new Zen.


Debbie

[Rocker Chic]

Apple took it for a few reasons. Design, simplicty and good marketing. That wheel for navigating was genius. The smooth coupling with iTunes another advantage. Then as mentioned before, marketing. iPod became the "it" possession for coolness.

I prefer the design and navigation of the Zen M than the iPod. Instead of a wheel, there's simply a vertical slide touch/button control (far more comfortable than making circular motions with your thumb), and a customizable button, back button, options/tools button, play/pause button laid out on each side of it (and let's not forget that handy on/off/lock switch on the top ). I can perform many functions without even looking at my unit.

Psst... If I'm in a particularly snooty mood, I put my "Fuck Your Macintosh" wallpaper on.

Debbie