MR

If you use something other than an iPod, post what and why. Even if its a 2nd player to your iPod.

For on the go I want a replaceable battery so I use two things.

A Sansa m240 that takes a AAA battery and my Treo 650 phone with pTunes software.

I don't have one, but heard good things about the new Zune.

StoneCold wrote: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.

Every once in a while I see peeps carrying around portable cd pplayers.

These folks must not realize you can get daps for 20 bucks now. Maybe they don't wanna mess with a pc?

The new 80gb Zune's gettin rave reviews.

The iPhone's awesome but who needs a dead phone cuz they listened to music all day? Non replaceable battery.

StoneCold wrote:The iPhone's awesome but who needs a dead phone cuz they listened to music all day? Non replaceable battery.

Boy would that suck!

I went with Zune,,,, 30G
Its great, both music and vids and pics, for around $200

http://www.amazon.com/Wolverine-MVP-906 ... 751&sr=1-5



I've not had that many cons with this system except that I keep forgetting to shut the damn thing off, but I can charge it easy enough and the battery is easily replaceable when I need one. It uses the same kind of battery that wireless home phone units use. I haven't had to switch to a new one yet but it's good to know that I don't have to send it to some service center to switch.

You can store thousands of photos and hundreds of hours of music and video on the 60 GB hard drive. It's compatible with MP3, WMA, and AAC music files, as well as AVI (Motion-JPEG), MOV (Motion-JPEG), MPEG- 1, MPEG-4 and DivX-5.x video formats with sound. It's also compatible with JPEG, TIFF, and BMP. It connects to PCs (Windows, Linux, or Mac operating systems) via a USB 2.0 connection.

The high capacity 1800 mA/h rechargeable and interchangeable Li-ion internal battery allows up to 20 GB of memory card data transfer, eight hours of music playback, 3.5 hours of photo or video playback on a single charge.

StoneCold wrote:Every once in a while I see peeps carrying around portable cd pplayers.

These folks must not realize you can get daps for 20 bucks now. Maybe they don't wanna mess with a pc?

The new 80gb Zune's gettin rave reviews.

The iPhone's awesome but who needs a dead phone cuz they listened to music all day? Non replaceable battery.

I use my iphone! No problems,no battery problems. I love my iphone,can't put the sob down.. I have a 3rd generation ipod I rarely use,I just use my iphone now..

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.

Journey69 wrote: I use my iphone! No problems,no battery problems. I love my iphone,can't put the sob down..

Between youtube, tunes and the web, that's what would happen to me. My brother has one and he docks it at work for tunes but I'd wanna have it on the go.

An extra Treo battery in my pocket and I'm good for 4-5 days without an outlet.

That's about the only thing keepin me from switching.

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.

A friend of mine has the Creative equivalent to my 30Mb iPod. It does everything mine does @ lower price and is more friendly to the user. If that helps? Only prob is the larger the gig, you have to go online to purchase not available in the stores.

StoneCold wrote:

Journey69 wrote:An extra Treo battery in my pocket and I'm good for 4-5 days without an outlet.

i have a treo as well, but i haven't spent much time figuring out the best method for syncing music. it seems to take an excruciating amount of time to load songs & podcasts onto it. maybe it's because of a slow memory card? i must explore.

cyndy! wrote: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.

Had one of those and firewire's cool. Another reason I didn't like the newer gen iPods.

Ever tried moving music on an older iBook to a new iPod via USB? Hours and hours if you have a big library. I helped a friend do this. Never again.

SacredEyes wrote:A friend of mine has the Creative equivalent to my 30Mb iPod. It does everything mine does @ lower price and is more friendly to the user. If that helps? Only prob is the larger the gig, you have to go online to purchase not available in the stores.

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

The one I like by them is the Vision:W widescreen music & vid player with replaceable battery but now we're talking bulk too.

I already use a non-iPod player: a 60GB Creative Labs Zen Vision:M and I absolutely love it!

It does everything I need it to do:

Display: 2.5" High Resolution Color Screen (320 x 240 pixels) that displays over 260,000 colors

Battery Life: Up to 17 hours of continuous audio playback; Up to 5 hours of continuous video playback

Battery Charge Time: USB 6.5 hours; Power Adapter 2.5 hours

Audio Playback Format: MP3, WMA, WAV and Audible

Photo Format: JPEG (GIF, TIFF, PNG and BMP)

Video Playback Format: MPEG1/2/4-SP, WMV9, Motion-JPEG, compatible DivX® 4 and 5, XviD and AVI

A/V Output: 3.5 mm mini-jack composite TV-out (NTSC and PAL) with stereo audio

Organizer: Syncs with and views Microsoft Outlook® Contacts, Calendar & Tasks

Features:

-- Album Art
-- USB Host Feature
-- FM radio w/ 32 station presets
-- Voice recorder
-- Contacts, calendar and tasks
-- Repeat, resume, and random play
-- Sleep and wake timers
-- Customizable main menu
-- Functions as an external hard drive
-- 8 Preset EQ settings (Acoustic, classical, disco, jazz, new age, pop, rock and vocal) and 1 Customizable EQ setting

I have a long commute to work, so I am able to take my Zen with me for hours of video, radio, and music that uses many different formats. I can also just drag and drop items to my Zen! No special formatting or conversions necessary.

I have also been eyeing the new Zen that Creative came out with that is available in 2, 4, 8, 16, and (now) 32 GB versions that is flash based (no more hard drive freezing up for you iPod'ers). The screen is a sharper TFT display and can display 16.7 million colors (take that, iPod!). This Zen is smaller (about the size of a credit card) and has the ability to accept SD memory cards for expanded memory. If my Vision:M wasn't just a little over a year old, I wouldn't hesitate to buy this baby, but I can't justify another player right now... Unless I buy it for my husband.

I am so amazed that the majority of the population is unaware of all the other alternative choices out there to the iPod (and many of them better). I'd much rather have a superior product than purchase something just because everyone else has one.

Sales pitch over...

Debbie

StoneCold wrote:

Journey69 wrote: I use my iphone! No problems,no battery problems. I love my iphone,can't put the sob down..

Between youtube, tunes and the web, that's what would happen to me. My brother has one and he docks it at work for tunes but I'd wanna have it on the go.

An extra Treo battery in my pocket and I'm good for 4-5 days without an outlet.

That's about the only thing keepin me from switching.

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.

Depending on where you are..You can charge it using a computer,your car an outlet.. Where are you all day you couldn't charge it..It only takes about 15 mins for a full charge..

cyndy! wrote:i have a treo as well, but i haven't spent much time figuring out the best method for syncing music. it seems to take an excruciating amount of time to load songs & podcasts onto it. maybe it's because of a slow memory card? i must explore.

I use a portable reader (mine takes SD cards up to 2gb), some Treos use micro or minis. Card becomes removeable drive. Just drag and drop to load.

pTunes can read mp3 & wma files and its relatively cheap. $30 bucks, stereo headphones can be had for less than 10 bucks on ebay.

StoneCold wrote: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

StoneCold wrote:The one I like by them is the Vision:W widescreen music & vid player with replaceable battery but now we're talking bulk too.

Stone Cold, that's the one I originally wanted (because of the bigger screen for viewing video), but I couldn't justify the price at the time. It cost at least $100-$150 more. A real sweet player though.

Journey69 wrote:Depending on where you are..You can charge it using a computer,your car an outlet.. Where are you all day you couldn't charge it..It only takes about 15 mins for a full charge..

That I didn't know. 15 min to full charge? The Treo takes longer than that.

Not that I won't ever be near an outlet. Just wannna travel light, the less cords the better.

I regret buying into the hype and getting the Ipod. Already spent $60 on a replacement battery after two years use. Maybe that's fair, but honestly I wish I'd waited for another MP3. And call me simian, but I hate the fact that there's no on/off switch.

Apple really knows how to market though, I'll give em that.

infinityplusone wrote:I regret buying into the hype and getting the Ipod. Already spent $60 on a replacement battery after two years use. Maybe that's fair, but honestly I wish I'd waited for another MP3. And call me simian, but I hate the fact that there's no on/off switch.

Apple really knows how to market though, I'll give em that.

The only thing is, if you get anything BUT an iPod there's just not the support products for it. Like docks and covers/cases and stuff like that. I have two 30 Gig iPods, one is a Gen 4 and the other is the Gen 5.5, and neither of them have even hiccuped. I charge the battery every evening, same with my cell phone, and the batteries are just about as strong today as the day I got them. The iPod shuts off when you hold the bottom of the dial, sortof, but I agree, a nice REAL on/off switch would be great.

Nothing but Mac and particularly my ipod. As a longtime MacUser anything pc based is just a pile of shite. IMHO.

I unfortunately had to buy an ipod. No one else at the time (about a year ago) was making 80 GB players. I did however, replace the shitty Apple firmware with Rockbox, which I highly recommend.

Really, I just want a player that supports Ogg Vorbis. It's free and open source, and sounds better than any other compression format. Why is this asking so much from these fucking companies?


Since then, I guess there's an 80 gig zune, but then Apple upped the ante by making a 160 GB player. So now I just have to wait god knows how long for everyone else to catch up. [/url]

Rocker Chic wrote:

StoneCold wrote: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?

ttango1 wrote:http://www.amazon.com/Wolverine-MVP-9060-Portable-Storage-Multimedia/dp/B000BYU63Q/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1199557751&sr=1-5



I've not had that many cons with this system except that I keep forgetting to shut the damn thing off, but I can charge it easy enough and the battery is easily replaceable when I need one. It uses the same kind of battery that wireless home phone units use. I haven't had to switch to a new one yet but it's good to know that I don't have to send it to some service center to switch.

I read about these but never saw one. Good to know you like it.

Duh duh double post.

Marc S wrote:Nothing but Mac and particularly my ipod. As a longtime MacUser anything pc based is just a pile of shite. IMHO.

I'm caught in the middle. Love Macs but certain programs I need Windows.

I know the intel based can do it all but I'm hard on equipment. A Macbook Pro is like a work of art so I couldn't see draggin it around everywhere.

Kept it at home, drug my ultralight Dell c400 around and what did I find?

I almost never used the Pro. Sold it.

Apple's design wins every time but I'm not biased. It depends what your needs are.

I have 8 mp3 players
archos jukebox---6gb(to big and heavy, only has just under 5gb available)wouldnt recommend this brand...as big and heavy as it is one drop and its shot

Rca 40 gb lyra jukebox....okay never buy refurbed electronics they either wont work when you get them or will be broke 2 months down the road(just as big and bulky as the archos)

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!

Sansa 280 8gb san disk player----just bought this a month ago, 100 bucks at costco
its easy to use very small, plays music radio, video ,records voice has an equalizer--nice player. so far sound quality is very full but very often it sounds like a scratched record playing also periodically 1 channel goes out and you oonly hear out of i side of your headphones(its not the headphones--i checked)---verdict is, this will be returned(too bad i like the player --much smaller than an ipod but similar function)


ipod shuffle 2gb(knockoff) bought on ebay 30 bucks 2 weeks ago---this is the perfect size mp3 player with a clip built in great for the gym--only problem it doesnt shuffle only plays in alphabetical order and doesnt have memory for where you left off last(means every time you turn this on you will have to start from the beginning song, this sucks when you fill it with 500 songs,)--heres the key-do not buy any of these from hong kong dealers they are all not functioning properly either bad battery, no shuffle,etc. stick to an american dealer in the U.S...this protects you and the US dealers seem to be looking for better quality ones
verdict--this will be sent back



ipod shuffle 4gb(knockoff) 30 bucks another ebay purchase---this one was a U.s purchase, got this yesterday and can notice the difference already--came with 2 sets of earphones(usually these are crap) both earphones are actually pretty nice, memory works holds about 1000 songs nice player so far especially for 30 bucks, rechargeable battery

audiovox 64mb mp3 player--this was my first great little small player with a clip but only holds about 12 songs, i had this about a month and started looking for bigger players( i was so psyched when i got this, i knew i would never have to carry around a big ass walkman again)i literally used this maybe 5 times


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

cyndy! wrote: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.

me too cyndy. but mine won't hold a charge long enough to update. is it shot? I've had it forever!