Help Me Choose a HD MP3 Player

[hyperActive]

Hey Guys,

Sorry if this is in the wrong forum, didnt exactly find a audio-specific forum, so I placed it in General.

Anyways, birthday coming up and for once I've decided on a present; a HD MP3 Player.

Ipod (20GB, Fourth Generation)
Everyone's caught up in this ipod craze and thats probably its most appealing selling point, its "reputation". The click-wheel is great also. On the other hand, I just read a review saying that one can only transfer files from an Ipod to a one unique computer. This is gonna be a problem for me as I use two different computers for my music. Also does anyone know what happens if lets say your hard drive breaks down (or you reformat it), can you transfer the files from the ipod back to the computer?

Link

iRiver (20GB H320)
From what I've read, this has a huge amount of features and a nice true colour screen for pictures. Battery life is apparently great too. The only downside is the bulky look and the slow start up time. Close contender to the ipod.

Link

Creative Zen Touch (20GB)
Less features than the iRiver but the estimated battery life is 24 hours!. Also has the touch pad with rivals that of ipod. Design's not bad either.

Link

Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra (30GB)
A bit bulky looking and lacks some features (still comparable to the ipod) but the main pro here is the price - 200$ USD for 30GB!

Link

Right now, I'm leaning towards - well really I don't know. Each player has its pros/cons.

Any suggestions are appreciated. (Explanations too (No "IPOD RULES"))

hyperActive

 

[ddviper]

i love my ipod, and use itunes as my default player neways, but yes you can only hook up to one comp. i tried and it deleted all my tracks from my ipod, but i just retransfered and all was well.

if u can consolidate ur music to one comp, definatly get the ipod

 

[hyperActive]

So lets say, you reformat your HD and reinstall windows, does Apple expect you to backup all your music on CDs/ DVDs ?

 

[mwmorph]

I-River is a GREAT player.(i truthflly dont know much about iriver)
good sq, good controls.

the ipod still has bad sound quality. big pause between songs(4-6 seconds sometmnes but is usually 2-3)
sexy though. has some simple games, but unfortunately now with the price cuts, yuo need to buy a ac adapter, dock, etc. only comes with a usb cable to transfer data and charge.

zen xtra is big and has bad control.
good sq though(as all creatives have great sound quality.)

zen touch is a great and semi sexy player.
with good sq

ALTERNATIVE: Rio Karma
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=90124553&loc=111&sp=1
cheaper, comes with a dock with audio out(connected permenantly into my lan and my stero system)(and dc in, ethernet and usb connection[trust me, once it's hooked up to your network and you transfer 20gigs at something alike 50mb per second, you wont go back] ), parametric eq, 15hour battery life, flac, ogg, mp3, wma support, gapless palyback on the fly playlists, good controls(provided you dont have freaking stubby fingers like me) etc.{Build quality is VERY solid}. RUBBER GRIP(for butterfingers like me)

i bought 1 form buy.com. the quality has been getting a lot better. No problems at all. the eopinion guy(s) reported[im suspecting that 1 (rio hater)guy posted many of those reviews(notice same problem, same grammar and syntax useage and same writing style in many reviews)].

cons:ugly compared to other players(according to some, personally, i got no problems with it.), kinda thick (though it's about 2/3 the hight of a ipod so it makes up for it). quality complaints(though new ones have vastly improved quality.[dropped mine about 3 feet onto carpet 3 times already with no problems. Hell, the music didnt even skip when dropped.]). Irreplaceable battery.(technically but check riovolution froums to find a easy way to take it apart.{easier to replace battery on the Karma than the ipod. Hell, i modded it to 60gb in 20 minutes.}) NOT NICE FOR LEFTIES



go to
www.dapreview.net
riovolution.com

 

[imported_bum]

It would be nice if someone who has used both could say something...

Personally I don't care much for the look of the iPods (plus I really don't like to use iTunes either). I would go with the iRiver because of the FM tuner, in-line recording, and color screen (or...maybe not). You won't have any trouble with multiple computers because it doesn't require software and can play mp3, wma, and ogg.

"As did the phased-out H120, the H320 will attract those who value features as well as superior audio playback and recording quality over style."

 

[w33bo]

Get the karma! It's the only one that has gapless and you'll come to love it's form factor.
It's dock is one of the coolest that exist too. You won't regret it! check out www.riovolution.com if your up for some reading 🙂, but don't be put off by the hard drive issues, I haven't had any problems (just in case though 😉 get the replacement plan)

w33bo

 

[mwmorph]

Originally posted by: w33bo
Get the karma! It's the only one that has gapless and you'll come to love it's form factor.
It's dock is one of the coolest that exist too. You won't regret it! check out www.riovolution.com if your up for some reading 🙂, but don't be put off by the hard drive issues, I haven't had any problems (just in case though 😉 get the replacement plan)

w33bo

actually, with the replacement plan, it will still cost less than a ipod and it comes with all the accessories you have to buy seperate. too bad they dont make karma skins though.

 

[Alex]

i own a flash iriver player and despite the fact thats its served me well i hate it. its one of those with a crappy analogue stick that gets messed up after a while, im on my 2nd (RMA~d the first) and its already gettin sketch...
im not sure about the HD players though...,. my bro has a 20gb DELL jukebox and its pretty awesoem! if u can afford it, be like everyone eklse and get an ipod tho! 😀

 

[Zugzwang152]

20GB Ipod with Click Wheel checking in. No complaints here, but I only load music from 1 computer...