iPod or other?

[Pandamonium]

I want a large capacity MP3 player with as small a footprint as possible, so AFAIK, my options are the Dell Digital DJ and Apple iPod.

Are there any options I'm overlooking?

I'm looking at a ~$300 budget after student discounts. (Refurb = used = new if the LCD is unscratched and the player is functionally operational as far as I'm concerned) What would you get, and would you purchase from the manufacturer, 3rd party, eBay, FS forums, other?


Now for the off topic part of this: I reasoned that I will get an MP3 player or Doom 3. Since Doom 3 would consume my life for ~1-2 weeks and probably hurt my grades, I figure the extra money on an MP3 player is a reasonable substitute for jeaperdizing (sp?) my grades. The perk to an MP3 player is that I could listen to music during study stints at the library. Anyone care to comment on this logic?

 

[abracadabra1]

ipod

student discount through your university store should work fine

 

[loup garou]

You are overlooking the Rio Karma.

 

[TitanDiddly]

I've bought 2 MP3 players: An Archos jukebox and my current, a Creative Nomad.

Archos: Ebay. Fairly small footprint. Wasn't bad, but not exceptional for the time that it worked. Then it started getting random hard disk errors... aggrivating. Stopped working altogether. Now sits in a box. Avoid Archos.

Nomad: AT FS/T. Humungoid footprint, almost as big as a CD player. I like it though, the interface is actually quite nice once you understand it and I find the physical build quality to be of good quality.

Spiteful as I am against Apple, I don't think you'll find anything that will have anything on the iPod. The logic with Doom 3 seems to make sense. I'd go for an iPod over D3.

 

[FungusFeet]

Have you checked out the Nomad Zens? I don't know about buying an iPod used...batteries aren't immortal. Speaking of iPod batteries...

 

[Xionide]

Originally posted by: abracadabra1
ipod

student discount through your university store should work fine

even with that discount the nomad zen is cheaper. And has better sound quality. Oh and dont bitch to me about the size. There is such a small difference it ridiculous.

 

[dartworth]

iPod > *

 

[zimu]

Originally posted by: Xionide

Originally posted by: abracadabra1
ipod

student discount through your university store should work fine

even with that discount the nomad zen is cheaper. And has better sound quality. Oh and dont bitch to me about the size. There is such a small difference it ridiculous.

not about size. its about the navigation. ipod is #1 for a reason; there is really nothing thats more intuitive and comfy than the ipod. and size does matter.

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: zimu

Originally posted by: Xionide

Originally posted by: abracadabra1
ipod

student discount through your university store should work fine

even with that discount the nomad zen is cheaper. And has better sound quality. Oh and dont bitch to me about the size. There is such a small difference it ridiculous.

not about size. its about the navigation. ipod is #1 for a reason; there is really nothing thats more intuitive and comfy than the ipod. and size does matter.

Have you ever used a Karma? It's interface is so much better than the iPod's.

 

[dartworth]

iPod > *

 

[upsciLLion]

Originally posted by: dartworth
iPod > *

 

[UncleWai]

Originally posted by: werk

Originally posted by: zimu

Originally posted by: Xionide

Originally posted by: abracadabra1
ipod

student discount through your university store should work fine

even with that discount the nomad zen is cheaper. And has better sound quality. Oh and dont bitch to me about the size. There is such a small difference it ridiculous.

not about size. its about the navigation. ipod is #1 for a reason; there is really nothing thats more intuitive and comfy than the ipod. and size does matter.

Have you ever used a Karma? It's interface is so much better than the iPod's.

it's about the look.
The karma looks like a roided up hockey puck.

 

[misle]

iRiver iHP 120 is another choice in the $300-400 range... which is a little out of range, but maybe your school discount will apply to it as well.

 

[Dacalo]

Ipod is great, but you have to pay premium for it.

There are lots of 3rd party accessories to go along with it and it is very user friendly.

I love my Ipod.

 

[Koing]

Originally posted by: Xionide

Originally posted by: abracadabra1
ipod

student discount through your university store should work fine

even with that discount the nomad zen is cheaper. And has better sound quality. Oh and dont bitch to me about the size. There is such a small difference it ridiculous.

Size is important. The 2nd Gen iPods were too big for me. I sold mine on.

My bro might be gettinga 3rd Gen iPod so I'll see how that fairs. At the moment I am on my MD of 2.5yrs. It is SO sweet. The only draw back is the real time recording but the sound is fantastic. Battery is great and lasts 20hrs on it's own or 80hrs with an AA attached to it (nice option to stick in the bag when the main battery dies I stick this on until I can get home and charge). The battery is also cheap to replace at £15 and lasts 200 or 300 charges.

BUT the remote is THE BEST I have ever used on my MD's. No other remote compares imo. The iPod remote is crappy but I think the 3rd Gen are about small enough in size.

Koing

 

[LS20]

my personal round-up of the leading players:

ipod - prettiest, smallest, most trendy player... worst playlist... for the average top 40 person.. wants something flashy, doesnt play too much songs

rio karma - awesome playlist management, long battery life, cool networking feature - big musicheads with a large archive should consider this.. bit bulky tho

ihp120/140 - good compromise between karma + ipod.. small size, great casing, oodles of features.. cool remove, and new price-break (on amazon) makes it a terrific deal

nomad zen - getting a little old.. but dollar for dollar the best deal. absolute best sound quality, and tons of storage... more flexible playlist than ipod... for serious listeners


i have the zen. if i had to buy one all over again... probably the i-river for its remote, 2nd pick is zen, 3rd is rio karma. i would not buy ipod. anyways, run a search... tons of threads on this

 

[flxnimprtmscl]

Originally posted by: upsciLLion

Originally posted by: dartworth
iPod > *

 

[WinkOsmosis]

iPod may be the best but it's also overpriced!

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: FungusFeet
Have you checked out the Nomad Zens? I don't know about buying an iPod used...batteries aren't immortal. Speaking of iPod batteries...

i know people who are still using first gen ipods without any battery issue

besides, if the battery goes bad, you can pay $50 for a new one and replace it yourself

i personally tested many mp3 players before i pruchased and i liked the ipod the best

 

[flxnimprtmscl]

Originally posted by: WinkOsmosis
iPod may be the best but it's also overpriced!

That's a matter of perspective. It's certainly expensive when compared to other mp3 players, no one is arguing that. Overpriced though? Not in my opinion. I've said it a million times in these threads; Other than my dog, (love my dog ) my iPod is the best money I've ever spent. I use it 10x more than any other toy I've ever bought. It may be spendy but I still consider it a value.

 

[Trevelyan]

Originally posted by: flxnimprtmscl

Originally posted by: WinkOsmosis
iPod may be the best but it's also overpriced!

That's a matter of perspective. It's certainly expensive when compared to other mp3 players, no one is arguing that. Overpriced though? Not in my opinion. I've said it a million times in these threads; Other than my dog, (love my dog ) my iPod is the best money I've ever spent. I use it 10x more than any other toy I've ever bought. It may be spendy but I still consider it a value.

 

[WhiteWonder]

Originally posted by: flxnimprtmscl

Originally posted by: WinkOsmosis
iPod may be the best but it's also overpriced!

That's a matter of perspective. It's certainly expensive when compared to other mp3 players, no one is arguing that. Overpriced though? Not in my opinion. I've said it a million times in these threads; Other than my dog, (love my dog ) my iPod is the best money I've ever spent. I use it 10x more than any other toy I've ever bought. It may be spendy but I still consider it a value.

yeah, but wouldn't it have been even sweeter if it was cheaper?

 

[Tetsuo]

Originally posted by: flxnimprtmscl

Originally posted by: upsciLLion

Originally posted by: dartworth
iPod > *

 

[flxnimprtmscl]

Originally posted by: WhiteWonder

Originally posted by: flxnimprtmscl

Originally posted by: WinkOsmosis
iPod may be the best but it's also overpriced!

That's a matter of perspective. It's certainly expensive when compared to other mp3 players, no one is arguing that. Overpriced though? Not in my opinion. I've said it a million times in these threads; Other than my dog, (love my dog ) my iPod is the best money I've ever spent. I use it 10x more than any other toy I've ever bought. It may be spendy but I still consider it a value.

yeah, but wouldn't it have been even sweeter if it was cheaper?

Sure, but you can make that argument with everything whether it's a bottle of soda, a new house, car, etc. It's a pointless argument, though. What something costs is what something costs. You, as a consumer, decide whether to take it or leave it. In the case of the iPod, I'll take it.

If you're spending a couple hundred dollars for an mp3 player picking one you don't like quite as well as another to save a few bucks seems sort of foolish to me. If your honestly like the feature set of a Karma, iRiver HP, Zen, Dell DJ, etc better than an iPod then that's certainly what you should get. The iPod suits me best however so I didn't worry too much about the price. It is what it is.

 

[Chau]

Originally posted by: dartworth
iPod > *