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Posted: 9/29/2005 5:30:25 PM EDT
[#1]
nano or mini for the gym. my 40gb is too big for the hour at the gym
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Posted: 9/29/2005 5:33:22 PM EDT
[#2]
Just got an ipod mini 4gigs, hold 1000 songs ($199). It's fantastic. I recommend the ipod because it seems to be the industry standard, so if you're thinking about any accessories, you'll be able to get them. Itunes & their music store sync seamlessly with the ipod, which is endlessly convenient. I just downloaded an audio book and listened to it through my car stereo on the ipod.
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Posted: 9/29/2005 5:35:19 PM EDT
[#3]
Two basic choices: Flash player, or hard drive based player? Hard drive based players hold lots of music, but they don't react well to being bounced around on a treadmill at the gym. They also tend to be rather large and heavy, too heavy for gym shorts and the like. Flash players, while they do not hold as much music, are just fine being bounced around. No moving parts controlling the flow of tunes, you see. Of the hard drive based players, the iPod is popular, but I prefer the Dell Jukebox myself. No proprietary crud to deal with that way. Of the flash based players, my favorite is the Jet Audio I5 player . I have the exact model mentioned in the link and it is superb. Small, light, easy to use, fast, and you can run it on normal AAA batteries. (No battery memory to worry about...) Cool display, and you can fully adjust the equalizer which you cannot do on many MP3 players. As an added bonus, it costs under 150 bucks, which means you can also replace the stock headphones with something more gym appropriate, like the Sony MDR-J10 earphones which sound good and stay in place even during vigorous activity. I use my Jet Audio player and those Sony earphones while spending hours waxing my cars. They also make the Jet Audio players in 2 Gig capacities, but they are a bit more expensive. The Jet Audio software is also easy to use. |
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Posted: 9/29/2005 5:36:24 PM EDT
[#4]
The iPod has drawbacks like battery issues and the proprietary iTunes stuff that you have to deal with. Personally, I don't like them very much. |
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Posted: 9/29/2005 5:37:40 PM EDT
[#5]
"Proprietary iTunes stuff that you have to deal with" Really now, have you ever owned one? Personally, I /PREFER/ to use iTunes |
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Posted: 9/29/2005 5:38:57 PM EDT
[#6]
iPods will play any of the Billions and Billions of MP3's out there ....
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Posted: 9/29/2005 5:39:52 PM EDT
[#7]
I work in IT full time. I buy about 100 thousand worth of Apple products every year. That means freebies. I still prefer other players. |
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Posted: 9/29/2005 5:41:00 PM EDT
[#8]
But they can only be managed through iTunes. (Using the third party utilities out there is a big no no according to Apple) iTunes' purchased music stinks. |
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Posted: 9/29/2005 5:41:15 PM EDT
[#9]
wow, thanks guys. That was quick, i love this forum!
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Posted: 9/29/2005 5:41:36 PM EDT
[#10]
Uh, yeah. No shit....that's why they call them "MP3" players. Question is, what OTHER formats will the Ipod play? Will it work as a mass storage device? Will it work on a computer where Itunes isn't installed? Will it work when the battery goes dead? These are the good questions about Ipods. |
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Posted: 9/29/2005 5:43:02 PM EDT
[#11]
It sounds like you need a flash-based player. Avoid the Apple shuffle, as there is no display on the darn thing. The Nano is cool-looking, but also new, and you don't want to be one of the first adopters of new Apple stuff. Sometimes it still has bugs to work out. It is better to buy one after they have been out for about a year, as they have fixed most of the issues by then. Players without all the Madison Avenue media glitz sometimes have some better features than the iPod. They just don't have the "cool" factor. |
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Posted: 9/29/2005 5:43:47 PM EDT
[#12]
Creative Zen Micro 5 GB player is nice. I've got their 256 MB flash player, works great, sounds great. Uses AAA batts. I rotate 4 rechargeables.
They make a nice 1GB that is just a bit bigger than a Zippo. |
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Posted: 9/29/2005 5:45:10 PM EDT
[#13]
Bingo. Other MP3 players are treated like additional drive space by PCs, meaning you can put anything on them. The player I mentioned includes a voice memo function, an FM tuner, and you can lock out button function by flipping a switch. A better deal in my opinion. Being able to replace batteries and have options on how you manage your music is important to some. |
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Posted: 9/29/2005 5:48:21 PM EDT
[#14]
Lets see: AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Music Store), MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3 and 4), Apple Lossless, WAV, AIFF You mean do you need iTunes to load the iPod ... yes you do ... it's one of the best pieces of software to organize, listen to, convert or burn music with ... oh yeah ... and it syncs your ipod too .. as well as album art and loading pictures if you iPod supports photos. Its a free download ... it allows you to purcase music from Apple, it allows you to view movie trailers and music videos. It also transmits music to all other computers on your network from a single library or to your stereo using an Airport Express. It runs on Windows or Mac. So what exactly is wrong with iTunes? Ipod batteries that last twice as long as the original cost about 20 bucks and are user replaceable ... the original will last a couple of years ... It is also a huge USB 2 or Firewire Hardrives as well .. |
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Posted: 9/29/2005 5:50:47 PM EDT
[#15]
I tend to disagree.
Ever tried to put iTunes purchased music on a non-Apple device? Ever tried to share a purchased song between multiple machines? No fun at all. |
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Posted: 9/29/2005 5:59:25 PM EDT
[#16]
iTunes purchased music will work on up to 5 computers and unlimited iPods ... read the directions .... can also be burned unlimited times as a Standard CD ... not MP3 CD.
iTunes purchased music will only play on iPods or in iTunes ... thought this was common knowledge ... |
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Posted: 9/29/2005 6:24:50 PM EDT
[#17]
I've gotta agree with John_Wayne777. Don't be fooled into getting an ipod just because everyone else that fell for Apple's marketing has one. There are far superior players out there. Do some research. I'll also reccommend the iAudio5 mentioned above, or any Cowon iAudio product for that matter.
My iAudio5 is not restricted to use on a certian number of computers, connects to any computer with a USB port, doesn't need any propritary software for music managment, and has a lot more features than an ipod with the same memory size/format.. |
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Posted: 9/29/2005 6:31:31 PM EDT
[#18]
I am considering getting this: www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=904349&sku=L61-4038 It seems like a good other option if you have a lot of $ in flash drives. It also makes it easy to double as two things. Anyone have one of these?
-Sorry about the hijack - you may be intrested, I don't know. 
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Posted: 9/29/2005 8:48:22 PM EDT
[#19]
Still some formats they don't play....quite a few that I download every day. I guess I could convert them, or not. Nothing wrong with Itunes I guess, but what blows is you can't just hook the Ipod up to any USB machine (like I can, including macs) and copy .mp3's or whatever right onto it. You HAVE to have the software on the machine. Stupid Mac shit....been that way for 20 years. Know how easy it is just to see the thing pop up as a hard drive and drag what you want onto it? How can you beat that? Why did Apple insist on a stupid app to load and manage it? It's like an asswiping machine....why not just grab something and wipe? No need for a machine. Another point. You're out working in the yard. Battery dies. What now? Nothing.....thing is dead, until you recharge. That sucks and as you use it the battery life will get shorter and shorter until having it crap on you in the middle of something is a real inconvenience. I just pop another rechargeable batt in mine, whala I'm back in business. If I don't have one charged up, I go to the quickie mart and buy a batt. What do you do? Nothing. Wait for a recharge. |
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Posted: 9/29/2005 8:57:24 PM EDT
[#20]
I have a 60BG iPod with around 55gb of music around 11,500 songs and full length albums. I LOVE it. I bought a Glo-skin for it and a pelican case. Probably one of the smartest decisions I have made. It's the size of a pack of smokes and compared to the CD stack it replaces about 1000% smaller. I'm sending my CD's home to my parents and have the library saved on a external hardrive.
Buy one and don't look back. BTW: I paid $350 for it NIB. |
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Posted: 9/30/2005 1:17:40 AM EDT
[#21]
I've been quite happy with my IRiver 1GB flash player. 16 hours of music@192kbs, thereabouts. With it's arm strap, I wear it bicycling. The strap is sturdy enough to use in vigorous activitites. It's light, and uses an AA battery (I use the rechargeables). No way would I want an Ipod; too heavy, and frankly, too much capacity for what I need (4GB worth of MP3s would be ALL of the mucic I own).
The Ipod Shuffle turns me off because of no display, and random play. I like random play, but have my music organized in folders according to type. Sometimes I want random play of a certain type only. Shuffle won't do that, from what I've heard. |
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Posted: 9/30/2005 3:35:22 AM EDT
[#22]
One of the reasons I don't like the entire Apple setup. If I own the song, then I own the song. I have more than 5 computers that I might want the song to go to. Thankfully others feel the way that I do about the situation and programmed converters that will strip out Apple's proprietary nonsense and will render the file into a standard MP3. Being locked into using their device forever to keep your music might be ok for some folks, but I won't have it. |
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Posted: 9/30/2005 4:02:50 AM EDT
[#23]
I can certainly see the step of burning CD's as a niusance, but as someone who came within a hair of losing his entire collection not long ago (hard drive failure), the ability to burn a standard CD should be standard practice for backups.
It is annoying... 
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Posted: 9/30/2005 4:15:52 AM EDT
[#24]
iTunes SUCKS head! It doesnt let you back up your musice because they're afraid you'll download it all to another iPod. A lady at work told me she had laptop troubles, so she took her laptop to a fixit guy, he ended up reformatting the harddrive and reinstalling everything. BUT, when she plugged her iPod back in, iTunes erased her iPod because there were no songs in iTunes. Use Xplay and/or Ephpod. I ONLY use iTunes for transferrinf photos. Unfortunately, that's the only program that can transfer photos (as far as I know).
That being said, the iPod is the way to go. I've have problems with mine because I hook it up to a PC w/ Windows ME, but I can fix those issues. |
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Posted: 9/30/2005 4:46:37 AM EDT
[#25]
iPod. The Betamax of MP3 players.
Superior design and technology, yes. In the long run mass will buy cheap, iPod will go the way of the Betamax. Come on...anyone remember Betamax? 
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Posted: 9/30/2005 9:09:14 AM EDT
[#26]
Oh contrare. Apple has been peddling kludgy, ghey, overpriced devices for over 20 years. Still going strong. You can't discount people buying looks and trends over value and function. If Betamax had a cool commercial where people danced like retards, they'd rule the world. Rule the WORLD I say. |
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Posted: 9/30/2005 9:14:00 AM EDT
[#27]
I guarantee you more people will remember the iPod than will remember the Betamax. Apples and oranges comparison IMO (pun intended) |
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Posted: 9/30/2005 9:15:28 AM EDT
[#28]
I like my Nano.
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Posted: 9/30/2005 9:18:45 AM EDT
[#29]
iTunes rocks... Let's take your issues in order: You cannot transfer music from the iPod without external software. But it costs $20 and you can buy it at Best Buy. Also the only reason iTunes reformatted her iPod is because SHE didn't have iTunes set up right... Preferences--> iPod --> turn off the option to import playlists every time the iPod is connected. Voila. |
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Posted: 9/30/2005 9:19:55 AM EDT
[#30]
Uh, "kludgy?" if it were so bad nobody would be copying them... Function too... |
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Posted: 9/30/2005 9:30:52 AM EDT
[#31]
I have an iPod and I love it. When I ripped all my CD's, I used Windows Media Player since I didn't have the iPod or iTunes yet. Once I installed iTunes, it happily imported all the music from the folders created by media player, and didn't re-copy them into it's own folder (although it will if you want it to). To me the mountain of accessories available for the iPod is an advantage, although I can definately see the merit of having a non-proprietary interface (and the ability to drag stuff to dump on the player). IMHO, it's really just a personal preference thing.
That said, the most important thing is if you're going to be bouncing it around (working out, etc.) get a flash player - the biggest capacity you can get without the device becoming too large physically. Just shop around before buying. |
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Posted: 9/30/2005 9:34:39 AM EDT
[#32]
Did betamax ever control 70-80% of the market share?? Ipod is the standard by which other players hope to achieve. In the long run that will be a good thing for everyone. Wait till Apple puts out a 20 gig player like the NANO. I will be the first in line for that one. |
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Posted: 9/30/2005 11:47:48 AM EDT
[#33]
Beta vs. VHS is a great study in marketing and advertising dynamics, and how a superior format, with a hefty dose of technical savvy can still go south over looks and bells and whistles. Perhaps it's not the best parallel, but I have found Apple products to become orphans in a short time. Lisa? Anyone ever own a Lisa? I did. When I moved my studio into the digital world, the three big players were Apple (there wasn't much Mac at that time), Digital (Rainbow system I think) and the IBM XT - AT (and clones) platform. Heck, DOS was at 1.0 or something around there. There were some special apps around but that was on the printing end. I recall going to MicroCenter in Columbus, Ohio and the the PC side was huge, the Mac side was only one small room. It was there I planned my efforts around the PC platform, and I didn't look at Apple again. Apple to me was high industrial design but weak on software. I just didn't think at the time they would hang on as long as they remained proprietary about their hardware and software. At that time, to add insult to injury, I passed on buying Microsoft stock for nothing.  You're correct, Betamax once dominated recordable video. I think the Super Beta (or is it Pro-Beta) is still strong on pro side. I was told that what killed the consumer Beta format was the introduction of a VHS machine with a programable clock.
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Posted: 9/30/2005 11:48:52 AM EDT
[#34]
I am not aware of any music service that lets you purchase and download and MP3 and you can then do anything you want with it. If there is a music service like this it is probably 99% indies and you wouldn't have bouhgt the song anyway. Most of the other online stores you are just renting the song. |
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Posted: 9/30/2005 12:04:00 PM EDT
[#35]
Sheesh. You'd think the guy was asking about buying a Glock or something.
 iPods rock for the simple reason that you don't really have to fuck with them. You can actually listen to music, instead. They're really easy to setup and sound good, especially if you invest in decent headphone/earphones. I dig the etymotics... The interface is simple and elegant, a no-brainer to use. People who love to geek around with their gear get other players, but most people just want If I was buying one today for the gym, I'd get the bigger (6gb?) Nano. No moving parts, very slick and small, nice little screen. Plug it in, push play, and Bam! Bob's your uncle! The only advice I would give otherwise, is don't buy mp3s online. Instead, buy your music on CD and go to the trouble of converting them to mp3 for hard disk storage and player use. I like the redundant backup, I can choose the compression, and I have the ability to have the best sound (from the cd) when I want to hear it at home or on the road. FYI, EAC |
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Posted: 9/30/2005 12:39:23 PM EDT
[#36]
Agreed - this is one of the major flaws of the iPod -- the battery is not hot-swappable. That said, you can fix the problem by spending $50 and buying a Belkin battery pack. The downside is that the Belkin pack significantly increases the size/weight of the iPod (and costs $50 to boot). This is rather silly given that most other non-Apple mp3 players have hot-swap capability (and it costs you nothing extra). The battery, as noted above, is user replaceable. You just need to shell out another $30 and buy a user-replaceable battery. iPods are popular but Apple is milking people for all they're worth. I mean $50 for hot swap capability, $20 for an armband (which comes free with most non-Apple mp3 players) -- they nickel and dime you at every turn. |
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