**** What Are Some Ipod Copies Out There? ****

[kLezViruS]

I was looking for a hard drive based mp3 player. And two that really caught my eye was the Ipod and the Archos Juke Box.

I'm leaning torwards the Archos Jukebox because the 20gig model is around $250 on ebay, and the 5GB model of the Ipod goes for around the same price. I mean you get 20GB vs 5GB for the same price.

Any other people can think of other hard drive based mp3 players that would be similar in size etc to the Ipod & Archos JukeBox?

Thans In Advance.

 

[kLezViruS]

Bump!

 

[ripthesystem]

creative Nomad has a 20gig one for around the same price too I believe- thought I personally try to stay away from Creative as a company.. but that's just me.

ripthesystem

 

[MrBond]

With the Archos Jukebox, you're stuck with USB connectivity. If it's not USB 2.0 (I doubt it is) then it's going to be slloooow when you put songs on it. You're also not going to get the beautiful screen that the ipod has. It's also larger then the ipod (4.5" x 3.2" x 1.3" vs 4" x 2.4" x 0.78") and weighs about twice as much (12oz vs 6.5oz).

Of course, the ipod is quite a bit more expensive too. If you can live with the slow speed, the archos jukebox might be ok.

 

[nord1899]

Well there are four main options right now:

Apple iPod. Comes in the 5, 10, 20 gig sizes and uses firewire.

Creative Nomad 3. Comes in 20 and 40 gig sizes. Has USB 1.1 and firewire.

Rio Riot. Comes with 20 gigs and has USB 1.1.

Archos Jukeboxes. Comes in 6, 10 or 20 gigs. The 6 and 10 are USB 1.1, the 20 is USB 2.0.

Personally, the best two are the iPod and Nomad 3. I don't like the form factor at all for the Rio Riot, and the Archos is just too basic. The biggest problem with the Nomad is that its a Creative product, and people are really soured on them because of the whole Live vs. Via fiasco. And of course the iPod is damn expensive.

I'm considering getting one of those two, but I haven't seen anyone with the Nomad 3 who can comment on it. Anyone out there got one of these?

 

[CZroe]

There's a DIY HDD-based player in an old issue of Popular Electronics. Probably cost more to build yourself though...

 

[nortexoid]

the ipod might only be 5gb vs. other 20gb players, but it's a FARRRR better player...

besides, do u really need to take more than 5gb of music w/ u at a time?....take 5gb of your favorite tracks w/ u....switch them up once in a very little while.

personally i'm eyeing the slightly slimmed down 10gb w/ remote....god damn ipods are sweet as hell.

the new toshiba player looks cool too, but it's probably bigger than the ipod due its removable hdd interface - which, if you ask me, is utterly retarded....who wants to switch out these small 5gb drives that will cost a fricken fortune...just get a 10gb or 20gb version for a hell of a lot cheaper...not to mention the player will be smaller...toshiba's player is nice, but they should'nt have went removable - idiots.

 

[kLezViruS]

Originally posted by: nord1899
Well there are four main options right now:

Apple iPod. Comes in the 5, 10, 20 gig sizes and uses firewire.

Creative Nomad 3. Comes in 20 and 40 gig sizes. Has USB 1.1 and firewire.

Rio Riot. Comes with 20 gigs and has USB 1.1.

Archos Jukeboxes. Comes in 6, 10 or 20 gigs. The 6 and 10 are USB 1.1, the 20 is USB 2.0.

Personally, the best two are the iPod and Nomad 3. I don't like the form factor at all for the Rio Riot, and the Archos is just too basic. The biggest problem with the Nomad is that its a Creative product, and people are really soured on them because of the whole Live vs. Via fiasco. And of course the iPod is damn expensive.

I'm considering getting one of those two, but I haven't seen anyone with the Nomad 3 who can comment on it. Anyone out there got one of these?

I think the best size / price ratio would be the Archos juke box because it has USB 2.0, but thing is, my computer doesn't even have a USB 2.0 port. I only have a firewire port which leaves me the Nomad 3. From the looks of it, I'll be looking more into the Nomad 3. Thing what im worried about is Battery Life, and connection it has for transfering mp3s.

Thanks.

 

[nord1899]

Well the Archos has two advantages over the rest: its cheaper and it doesn't need special software to access the drive. It just acts like a USB hard drive, meaning any computer with the appropriate ports can access it. It does have two huge disadvantages though: uses rechargable AA batteries and it only has a 2 meg anti-skip buffer. All the others have Li-Ion type batteries and have loads more buffer. The batteries are supposed to last somewhere around 6 hours (could be wrong here though).

The Nomad has the two sets of ports (but why USB 1.1, why not 2.0?) so it works with pretty much everyones machine. It has 16 megs of buffer so its pretty much resistant to skipping (note: iPod has 32 megs). And it has a slot for a second battery. One battery is supposed to give 9-11 hours of usage. Of course, its a Creative product and some people hate Creative. And it needs PlayCenter to work for music or you could buy Notmad to access it instead. I've heard really good things about Notmad.

The things that I am looking for are how it handles playlists on the fly (album/artist/genre) and the sound quality (S/N ratio and the like).

 

[dpopiz]

I just got a treo10. for $150, it's the best deal out there...and it's good, but you have to put up with a terrible song selection interface, a stupid required file organization, and very buggy firmware. However, if you can't pay $400 for an ipod, it's a pretty good player for the money:
10gb space
the smallest hd player next to ipod
good batt life and fairly fast usb

 

[nord1899]

Heh, pay $150 for something that has really bad quirks and bugs? I don't think so.

I'd rather save up for something that works.

 

[dpopiz]

okay, well I'm perfectly happy with my treo for $150, but if you can easily afford it, by all means go for the ipod (I've heard that other hd players are no better than the treo10)

 

[kLezViruS]

Thanks, guys, I'll look more into the Ipod and and the Nomad 3.

 

[Zukatah]

A good thing about the Ipod is that you can store some data on it and it transfers really fast. I've heard of a guy (a story on Firingsquad) that was caught copying the new Apple OSes on his Ipod in a Best Buy. It's stupid to steal things but a portable HD that's fast can be very practical.

I don't know if you can use the other players as a portable HDD, but the lack of Firewire interface really hurts them IMHO

 

[nord1899]

I know that the iPod, Nomad and Archos can all do data storage as well. The Archos is probably the best at it since it needs no special software at all. Too bad its the worst in about every other category.

 

[kLezViruS]

Originally posted by: nord1899
I know that the iPod, Nomad and Archos can all do data storage as well. The Archos is probably the best at it since it needs no special software at all. Too bad its the worst in about every other category.

But 20gigs for 299 RETAIL. hmm. =)

 

[jonmullen]

If you want an Ipod be sure to wait and get one of the new ones. That way you can have out of the box windows compadibility. an in-line remote. Solid state scroll wheel and a case. I personaly have a Nomad 3 and I love it. It does every thing and more.