Can you convince me to not get a 30GB iPod video

[duragezic]

Alright so I really need a mp3 player for walks to/from school, as well as times like now where there's tons of annoying CS majors in the lab. The video functionality is secondary but I may use it for TV episodes.

The refurbs do come with a 1yr Apple warranty... and I've heard mostly good things about them.

So for $180 (it's funny that the same refurbs sell on ebay for $200+) from Apple, I'm looking at the 30GB Black 5th gen Ipod.

Is this pretty much the best choice out there, if it MUST be under $200? I will probably spend $10 for a case/protector for it, and if the earbuds really do suck, I'll try and find some a hot deal on a lower-end Shure or something.

Sansa seems cool in that there are good deals on them, FM tuner and voice recording (very minor, but additional features nonetheless), expandable, and most importantly not POS iTunes, but OTOH I hear the audio and video quality isn't as good, they are flash based (I would kind of like this, but I'll treat a hard drive based player well) so I don't really have the $$ to get 8gb+.

So just trying to get some final opinions before I plop down $180 on something I'm not too sure about.

 

[imported_Trippin315]

no, but I would wait for the WS iPod.

 

[sniperruff]

no i cannot convince you not to. i think it's a great deal comparing to anything out there.

 

[duragezic]

Yeah WS would be tight for videos... but I'd imagine they will be quite expensive when released, and there won't be any refurbs for a couple of months after that. The only reason I can get a 30gb is since its a refurb, otherwise they are too expensive.

Basically I need to get this thing soon, since my money is going quick, and now that winter is hear, gas bill will be out the ass, meaning I won't have money for a mp3 player in a couple of months!

 

[IBuyUFO]

don't care what you do man. It's your money. You're cheap anyway since you're buying a refurb when for a few dollars more you could have bought a new one.

 

[jadinolf]

Go ahead. Get it and don't come crying to me when it breaks.

 

[Aimster]

Archos AV700

but seriously an Ipod refurbished is good.

 

[wazzledoozle]

If you dont have a problem with being locked into Itunes and extremely limited format support.

 

[Brackis]

Originally posted by: duragezic
Yeah WS would be tight for videos... but I'd imagine they will be quite expensive when released, and there won't be any refurbs for a couple of months after that. The only reason I can get a 30gb is since its a refurb, otherwise they are too expensive.

Basically I need to get this thing soon, since my money is going quick, and now that winter is hear, gas bill will be out the ass, meaning I won't have money for a mp3 player in a couple of months!

This logic scares me

 

[manly]

Originally posted by: IBuyUFO
don't care what you do man. It's your money. You're cheap anyway since you're buying a refurb when for a few dollars more you could have bought a new one.

$180 is just a few bucks less than $249?

 

[rockyct]

Ok, I'll take a stab at it.

Right now Dell has the Creative Vision: M for $211 plus a 20% coupon that you can find off of Ebay. http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/prod...tail.aspx?c=us&l=en&cs=19&sku=A0610325

The Vision:M has an much, much nicer screen than the Ipod, has the same hard drive space, but it also has an FM tuner and voice recording. It plays divx (4,5 and xvid)and wmv videos, which the Ipod does not. It also has a better battery life playing videos and has an overall better sound quality. Plus, WMP 11 finally has almost seamless integration between your music library and the Vision:M.

So, for the same price you can get a new Vision:M with more features than an Ipod with the main negative being that it is thicker than an Ipod.

 

[Perknose]

Originally posted by: Brackis

Originally posted by: duragezic
Yeah WS would be tight for videos... but I'd imagine they will be quite expensive when released, and there won't be any refurbs for a couple of months after that. The only reason I can get a 30gb is since its a refurb, otherwise they are too expensive.

Basically I need to get this thing soon, since my money is going quick, and now that winter is hear, gas bill will be out the ass, meaning I won't have money for a mp3 player in a couple of months!

This logic scares me

Werd. :shocked:

 

[simms]

I paid $249 for a new Ipod from bestbuy here in Canada... 30GB ipod video as well.

 

[Koharski]

i've had an ipod for ever. My headphones are worth more than the player now (HD650s with a portable amp, also have some etys) but its still the best MP3 player i've used.

if you don't really need the vido function try rockbox.

 

[potato28]

Ask yourself: will I ever use the video function? Will I need a FM radio? What about this that and everything else? I like my iRiver H10, even though it is a little chunky and no video, it uses the same processer as the 4th Gen iPod(pictures). Plus it's damn near impossible to break

 

[fleshconsumed]

If you up your budget to $225 you can get iAudio X5 30GB at newegg. No f*cking itunes necessary, can be used as portable HDD which can come in handful at cs labs and can be used to record lectures. If your battery is almost dead you can always listen to radio if you want to. I don't know about audio quality, but iPod audio quality does suck big time, it has a very nasty operating hum which increases as you increase volume.

 

[ed21x]

reasons to not get one:

1. There are 8 GB flash players out there that ditch the oldschool Harddrives, are smaller, lighter, and have better battery life.
2. The Cowon iAudio x5 can do everything the iPod Video can do + have voice recording, FM Tuner, direct line encoding.
3. Every other player out there has USB Mass Storage compliance for uploading Music/Movies, etc... so that you won't have to go through iTunes in order to create an Index file.
4. the Phillips HD6330 is sexier as well.
5. Most other HD players in its class also have USB host capabilities for backing up your Digital Camera Cards on the fly.
6. It's heavy.
7. It uses a proprietary USB Connector, so try not to lose it
8. Other Specialized Movie players by companies like Archos have a wide screen, rather than having half the real estate of the player be taken up by the controls. You can also use them to stream videos directly to your TV.
9. Other PMP's don't require movie conversion software- so you can run movies in native MPEG3, Xvid, Divx, etc...
10. If you're looking for a Music player with Video/photo capabilities second, take a look at the Sandisk e200 series.
11. You need to look into iRiver, Cowon, Phillips, Archos, Sony, Microsoft. iPod is not the only music player out there.

That is all.

for more info, refer to sites like http://www.dapreview.com , http://www.engadget.com , and http://www.gizmodo.com .

 

[0roo0roo]

nope, 8gb isn't enough for many.

just get it.
and some protective film to keep it scratch free
bestskinsever.com
like the invisible shield but cheaper apparently

 

[duragezic]

Ok... thanks for the opinions. After checking out a couple of the recommendations, I'm not ready to get that refurb Ipod just yet.

The Zen Vision looks awesome. So I'm really considering that one from Dell. The iAudio x5 looks great, but out of my price range. iRiver h10 looks okay but I'll have to research it more. I might be able to swing a Zune from Dell after a 20% off coupon. Doesn't look like the Zune plays divx or xvid though. Also, wouldn't I still have to convert my videos since almost all are in 16:9 720x480? And if they are stored at 320x240 on the Zen or Zune, wouldn't it look kinda crappy if I streamed it to a TV? The Zune screen looks WS though.

I really don't think I would be able to afford a flash-based one and still have a decent capacity. At best I could get a 8GB Sansa, and I have about 12GB of music right now. Even with prices continuing to drop on flash-based media, an extra 1-2GB doesn't seem very significant. Weight, battery life of hard-drive based models isn't a big concern for me since they are still good. Reliability I'm not sure about, but I'd just do my best to treat it well, given the benefits of cost, space, and screen size over flash-based ones.

So, as of now, it's between the refurb Ipod 30gb video, Zen Vision:M 30gb, and Zune 30gb!

edit: Looks like the Ipod 30gb videos are all gone from Apple's refurb site! They seem to change often though, so they might pop up there again. So I guess it's down to Zune vs. Zen for now, but I'm having trouble finding a 20% coupon, and both of those absolutely depend on getting a 20% off Dellc oupon.

 

[Koharski]

I can't comment on the zen, since I havn't used one but the zen is a fine piece of hardware. Personally, I prefer the iPod (I sold my zen and bought an iPod) but you might want to look at it before you buy.

 

[RossMAN]

Does anyone else miss Gurck?

 

[Ika]

wtf, the X5 is still $230?? I thought it came out like two years ago... damn Cowon!