I admit it - I want one. They are cool colors - I never had a walkman - I would walk it and feed it every day - okay, so I just want one.
But I really can’t imagine paying $150 for the thing when there’s so much else I need.
So does anyone have any first-hand recommendations (as in you own one and like it) for something that’s not an iPod? And perhaps a little more economically priced?
Ideally I’m talking about the iPod Nano here - but the iPod shuffle is also under my personal review.
Thanks in advance for your first-hand observations
(not that knowing that your roommate’s best friend’s dog’s pet walker’s cousin has one isn’t fascinating. It’s just a couple links away from the first-hand brain of information I want to pick here.)
Like most things Apple, there’s a 30% “cool” charge tacked onto the price.
In my opinion, for every product Apple sells (with the possible exception of the iPhone), there’s a just-as-good product on the market that is less expensive. (But your friends might not think you as cool for owning the off-brands.)
I use a 4GB e260 Sandisk Sansa that I paid around $40 for. I’ve been very happy with it. I installed a third party roxbox firmware on it, so it has a lot of functions and games that didn’t come with it originally. Not that there was anything wrong with the base software. Plays video on it’s small screen. It’s fairly popular, you can find some accessories for it easily. Cases, speakers etc.
Almost exactly what I was going to post, but would also like to add that as opposed to an ipod the Sansa has a pretty nice FM radio which is a big bonus for me.
That’s what I was gonna say - including the aftermarket RockBox software. I picked up my 8Gb for $50. It also has a microSD card slot. I’ve got another 2 gigs in there.
I had an iPod classic that got destroyed in a car crash (driven over by emergency workers after it flew out my window somehow). My phone at the time also needed replacing, as it got blood all over it (nothing serious - I had a cut on my palm that bled like crazy).
So I decided I wanted a multi-device, since when I go on the road I hate having multiple devices, chargers and USB cables hanging around. I got a Blackberry Pearl - it’s a nice small form factor and it has a surprisingly decent media player - I daresay, it’s better than some dedicated media players I’ve had.
While its internal memory is not much, it takes MicroSD cards, which are pretty cheap (8 GB run about $15-25). There’s even a media sync application that lets you pick iTunes playlists to sync to your phone. Plus, it uses standard mini-USB cables, which I’ve got about 10 of.
If one of those other things you need is a phone, this might be a good solution - they run about $75-100 with an activation, depending up your carrier.
I disagree that the only thing that makes the iPod worth the price is the cool factor. It actually has some of the best user interface on the market for music playing. And, they are sturdy and well put together.
But, I do have to say. The ipod shuffle sucks and is not worth the price compared to the rival brands. It’s the larger Apple iPod products that are worth the money. Because, if you have 100 gigs of music it’s nice to have a really good user interface.
Sansa makes great stuff.
I bought my mom a no name player from Toys R Us and it holds 8 gigs. The user interface isn’t great. But, for 15 dollars who cares? (I think it is usually 30.) The sound is perfect and you can fit a bunch of stuff on there.
I have an Archos Gmini and love it. I have had it for about 3 or 4 years so I don’t know if they still make it. Maybe a newer version with more bells and whistles. Again, the user interface leaves something to be desired. But, you are able to copy your songs over to it directly. I like that option.
Word, except I have the Curve. The music player is surprisingly good (at least in OS 4.5 or better.) I got mine for free from work, but with a new activation and data plan, my local carrier is selling either a GPS or a Wifi model for $50.
The nice thing about the Curve vs. the Pearl (besides the keyboard) is that the Curve has a standard headphone jack while the Pearl (at least my old one) had a little 2.5mm one that required an adapter.
About this 30% cool charge. I don’t mean to hijack. But, is there any MP3 player out there that holds 120 gigs and is less than $225.00? This is an honest question. I don’t really agree with the 30 percent thing, perhaps my perception is off. But, I don’t really know of any comparable large hard drive MP3 players. The Zune costs pretty much the same.
Depends a lot on the specific product–the Shuffle is way over-priced for what you get relative to its competitors. Sansa Clip is a much better value, and is demonstrably superior in almost every practical manner.
The iPod Classic is reasonably priced; the rest of the iPod lineup is not. I may buy an iPod 120GB some time but I can’t even understand the attractiveness of the Nano or especially the Shuffle.
Another option to consider is to use your phone as your music player. You can get 8GB microSD cards for under $20 and taking calls is very convenient if you are listening to music on your phone.
I got a little one (512mb? 1gb? one of those) with an emusic subscription that bricked itself within six months. It turns on, but now never gets past the welcome screen. So, when my folks asked me what I wanted for Christmas, an mp3 player was one of my suggestions.
Now I have another RCA mp3 player, an Opal, which works decently - when it doesn’t freeze, need to be rebooted, and lose all its settings. It does that, wasting 15 minutes to “rebuild the database” a couple of times a week. I was told that updating the firmware would solve the problem, and it did, for a few days.
The companion question is just how much music do you have? I have 500 CD’s ripped to my hard drive and God knows how much Yo-ho-ho musiic and I think I total only 30G or so.
At 5MB/song (give or take) and 3.5 minutes per song, that’s 1400 hours of music, enough to play for 2 months with no repeats.
Sure, you could by a 120 GB iPod but why?
At 120GB, yes, your choices are limited. At smaller sizes, though, there’s many more choices and usually the Apple stuff will be at the top of the price curve.
Agreed on the keyboard - if and when I get a Blackberry to replace my crappy HTC slider-keyboard with Windows Mobile, I will get either the Curve or the Bold. But my personal one isn’t used for texting a whole lot, so I like the size.
As for the headphone jack, this may vary by carrier, but mine has a standard sized jack - I’ve got a pair of Shures plugs right into it. And the sound quality is quite nice, - I plug it into the AUX on my Bose car stereo for the commute every day, and it sounds just as good as the CD player (maybe with a smidge less bass), and much better than the sat radio.
In case the OP doesn’t want a phone, I just spoke with my brother, and he’s got a Sansa flash-based (an e200-something) player with 8GB that also takes microSD cards, and he loves it.
