What's the good geek mp3 player right now?

[KingGheedora]

The iAudio I have was good while it lasted. But ultimately it was too heavy, and too bulky. What[s the player true geeks and portable audio connoisseurs are using these days?

I don't care much about watching video at all. There are three musts though:
1. The most important thing is good sound quality (am using Shure e3c's)
2. Player is small and lightweight, but with at least 20gigs space, so I'm guessing hard drive based.
2. I can use the player as a portable hard drive, I want to be able to plug into a usb port on any computer and have it recognized as an external drive, and be able to transfer music freely to and from the mp3 player.

Good battery life would be nice but not a must have.

EDIT: typo in title

 

[memories2002]

Creative Zen Sleek Photo 20gb.

 

[imported_bum]

For an audio-only player (no color, videos, etc) I think the old school iRiver ihp-120 + rockbox firmware is great.

 

[KingGheedora]

What about the Toshiba Gigabeat S MES30VW? It looks like it's pretty nice except for the fact that it can't be used as a USB hard drive. I run windows on pretty much all my PC's so I might be able to overlook that if it is good in all other categories.

How's the sound quality on it?

 

[MrChad]

An iPod fits those criteria.

/runs and hides

 

[loic2003]

iPod hating is sooo 2005... just grab one and stop whining.


/ducks.

 

[KingGheedora]

Hahahha. funny you guys should mention that. I just came back to ask whether or not iPod's are any good these days. So I can use an iPod as an external hard drive? Just drag and drop my mp3's onto it?

And how is it the audio quality on ipods?

 

[Gooberlx2]

Originally posted by: bum
For an audio-only player (no color, videos, etc) I think the old school iRiver ihp-120 + rockbox firmware is great.

ihp-120 + rockbox is great, but I was tired of not having enough storage for all my music, having to manually transcode (lossless -> lossy), equalize (replaygain via foobar),and transfer the music (even with irivum manager from redbox). Rockbox's firmware is great, but it's easy to mangle the tag-DB and having to reconstruct it from scratch. Lack of color, album art, etc.. etc.. It's a great player, just outdated now.

Originally posted by: KingGheedora
What about the Toshiba Gigabeat S MES30VW? It looks like it's pretty nice except for the fact that it can't be used as a USB hard drive. I run windows on pretty much all my PC's so I might be able to overlook that if it is good in all other categories.

How's the sound quality on it?

I just got the 60gb version last week. So far so good. As far as my ears can tell, the sound quality is just as good as my old ihp-120. If you search google a bit, you'll find a lot of gripes about Toshiba no longer supporting the player (www.mygigabeat.com). So I don't know if this will be a problem in the future, but for now, it seemed the best value in terms of storage space, features (Zune was based off it) and convenience (syncing with WMP11).

I though I remembered reading about a registry hack that allows the Zune to be used as a mass storage drive. Who knows, it might work with the gigabeat since they're so similar.

I still have a week left, so if something drastic happens then I'll return it. Another player that gets rave reviews is the Zen Vision:M...I looked into that but I've never liked the touch pad since the original Zen Touch.

 

[ForumMaster]

grab and ipod and run roxbox on it. lots of file format support. best interface and sound quality and it looks really good.

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: KingGheedora
Hahahha. funny you guys should mention that. I just came back to ask whether or not iPod's are any good these days. So I can use an iPod as an external hard drive? Just drag and drop my mp3's onto it?

And how is it the audio quality on ipods?

You can use your iPod as an external HD. Drag and drop of music is not supported out-of-the-box, but there is third party software available to do that if you're opposed to using iTunes.

As far as sound quality goes, from what I've read iPods have fairly neutral sound quality, but low end frequencies are attenuated a bit to preserve battery life. The stock earbuds are terrible, but my 4th gen sounds great with my Shure E2Cs.

 

[mercanucaribe]

Originally posted by: bum
For an audio-only player (no color, videos, etc) I think the old school iRiver ihp-120 + rockbox firmware is great.

iRiver sucks.

 

[lobbyone]

Might as well settle for the iPod video, or the Creative Zen

 

[KingGheedora]

Other opinions on audio quality of ipod? IPod gets a low user rating on CNet... Are they just bandwagon haters?

 

[broon]

Look here for all your MP3 needs. They have reviews on just about everything.

 

[Maleficus]

http://www.sandisk.com/Products/Item(22...024K-Sansa_Express_MP3_Player_1GB.aspx

Everything an mp3 player should be, no frills, no crap, just usability

 

[Ktulu]

Originally posted by: KingGheedora
What about the Toshiba Gigabeat S MES30VW? It looks like it's pretty nice except for the fact that it can't be used as a USB hard drive. I run windows on pretty much all my PC's so I might be able to overlook that if it is good in all other categories.

How's the sound quality on it?

Another vote for the Gigabeat S

 

[NinjaGnome]

ive got the latest ipod video with anapod explorer software. The stock earbuds are crap but im too poor for the E2C's. Hopefully i will have some in my stocking this christmas.

 

[AnyMal]

For the money, you can't beat Zen Vision :M, iPod doesn't even come close. Head on over to FW and read up on a deal you can get in on right now for ~$165.00

 

[Patt]

Creative Vision: M 60GB here ... I love that thing, although it doesn't get as used as it could ...

 

[FreshPrince]

iRiver Clix :thumbsup:

 

[KingGheedora]

Zen Vision would have been perfect, if it weren't for the dongle required to charge and transfer data. The iAudio X5 I have right now has this and it's such a pain. I don't know how many times I've been at someone's house and we start talking about music and we're like "we should trade" and get all excited, then I realize that I didn't bring the dongle. Weaksauce.

So far it looks like the Gigabeat S is winning over the iPod because it's not an iPod, and the sound quality is better, and it supports voice recording (which I plan to use for work). Minuses for the Gigabeat that still have me hesitating are the poor battery life, and inability to use as portable HDD (it forces you to use Media Center/Media Player to transfer). Also I read a lot of user complaints that the player often wipes out all your data. Come to think of it, I decided last night against this player because of that... damn.

 

[Ktulu]

Originally posted by: KingGheedora
Zen Vision would have been perfect, if it weren't for the dongle required to charge and transfer data. The iAudio X5 I have right now has this and it's such a pain. I don't know how many times I've been at someone's house and we start talking about music and we're like "we should trade" and get all excited, then I realize that I didn't bring the dongle. Weaksauce.

So far it looks like the Gigabeat S is winning over the iPod because it's not an iPod, and the sound quality is better, and it supports voice recording (which I plan to use for work). Minuses for the Gigabeat that still have me hesitating are the poor battery life, and inability to use as portable HDD (it forces you to use Media Center/Media Player to transfer). Also I read a lot of user complaints that the player often wipes out all your data. Come to think of it, I decided last night against this player because of that... damn.

Really? Any links? That would suck bad if that happened.

 

[CKent]

Originally posted by: KingGheedora
Hahahha. funny you guys should mention that. I just came back to ask whether or not iPod's are any good these days. So I can use an iPod as an external hard drive? Just drag and drop my mp3's onto it?

And how is it the audio quality on ipods?

You can use it as a pnp drive, but can't drag & drop music onto it to play (though it will store music as it will anything else). Try Ephpod to put playable music on it if you don't like itunes. Sound quality leaves a bit to be desired, and as always, your money is paying half for the electronics and half for the television advertisements.

 

[KingGheedora]

What about the Zune? No one has mentioned that yet.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Originally posted by: KingGheedora
Zen Vision would have been perfect, if it weren't for the dongle required to charge and transfer data. The iAudio X5 I have right now has this and it's such a pain. I don't know how many times I've been at someone's house and we start talking about music and we're like "we should trade" and get all excited, then I realize that I didn't bring the dongle. Weaksauce.

So far it looks like the Gigabeat S is winning over the iPod because it's not an iPod, and the sound quality is better, and it supports voice recording (which I plan to use for work). Minuses for the Gigabeat that still have me hesitating are the poor battery life, and inability to use as portable HDD (it forces you to use Media Center/Media Player to transfer). Also I read a lot of user complaints that the player often wipes out all your data. Come to think of it, I decided last night against this player because of that... damn.

I've read those complaints as well. Some users suggest it's a result of not having the unit plugged in during sync. Why this would be a problem beats me...but it's why Toshiba is getting flak from its consumers since they're not supporting the product. Microsoft should be able to support it as well...but who knows. I haven't tested out the extent of battery life, but many users report between 10 and 12 hours, which is fine by me (though falls short on my ihp-120's consistent 16 hours). I have not experienced the player wiping any tracks. I have had it screw up on album art though, but I think that was my fault.