What is your mp3 player of choice?

netkid · #1 (**permalink**) 08-18-2009, 03:40 PM

I got the ipod touch when it first out as a gift for christmas and I really like it. However, I noticed I never really bother about using apps from the store, maybe except scrabble when I'm in transit and the lack of multi tasking, and limited ram makes the device seem so much slower than my zune. (I also had the first 30gb zune when it came out, but had in my back pocket and sat through a movie...the screen didn't survive).

Now I know apple usually refreshes their ipods in September,rumor has it, the ipod touch is getting a camera, though my phone has one and I'm always with my phone so I don't really need a camera and I am sure apple is going to put a crappy cmera in anyways. The new ZUNE HD looks amazing with its tegra guts and Oled screen. I'm waiting on a hands on experience between the two, before I upgrade and gave my ipod touch to my cousin.

So which mp3 player on the market do you use? Which syncing software you like and does th zune HD stand a chance in an ipod dominated market?

#2 (**permalink**) 08-18-2009, 04:00 PM

I have an early Touch but am just now looking at the Blackberry Tour. I don't think I will be buying any Apple gear until at least 2Q next year.

ThisIsNot · #3 (**permalink**) 08-18-2009, 04:03 PM

I had a 1G 16GB iPod touch but ended up selling it. I used the iPod touch to surf the internet on a near constant basis but the 16GB internal storage wasn't near enough for my media. I have over 300 GB worth of media and it was hard shrinking everything down to fit 14.7GB.

So I sold that and purchased a 120GB iPod classic. I can now fit almost all of my lossy media, music videos, movies, and a handful of TV shows. I use iTunes for my syncing needs as that is the only application that allows me to copy music, music videos, movies, photos, and applications to my iPod.

I will be looking to see what Apple does with the iPod touch. I would buy one if they release a 64GB model at a reasonable price. The new Zune HD looks interesting as well but the 32GB capacity is pretty ho-hum. Granted, the price is nice but I have a feeling that Microsoft will come out with a 64GB Zune HD in a few months (either in time for the holiday season or early next year).

My main issue with Zunes is that the Zune PC software kind of sucks and I still have some iTunes Store DRMed content that will work only with iPods. I don't feel like paying $100 to upgrade the few songs and music videos that I purchased from the iTunes Store.

JesterEric · #4 (**permalink**) 08-18-2009, 05:41 PM

I rebelled against the idea of DRMed content and got a 8GB Cowon D2. The touchscreen takes some getting used to, but not much. The interface isn't as nice as the Ipod, but the sound is great, and for its size, the screen is awesome. I wouldn't recommend watching a full length film on it... but I have done so on a long bus ride.

Like ASUS, Cowon's products are great, while their corporate customer service is sometimes...not so great. What that means though is an *amazing* Cowon virtual community for tweaks and fixes.

As for syncing and drivers, the Cowon is recognized with no issues by my EEE running Xandros linux and also my HP Pavillion running Vista. Transfer of data is seamless.

netkid · #5 (**permalink**) 08-18-2009, 07:36 PM

I also like the fact that the zune plays radio. I had a sansa mp3 player that allowed me to listen to and record songs off the radio. It was awesome.

The new zune software is actually very nice and streamlined compared to itunes. Plus I like their music subscription plan i think its $15 a month for unlimited songs and you get to keep 10 tracks. Not a bad deal at all.

ericinboston · #6 (**permalink**) 08-18-2009, 08:39 PM

I am on my 2nd iPod Classic (160gig now) and still like it a lot...I just wish Apple would release a Classic that is Flash technology and not the old hard drives...I would be happy with a 100GB flash based unit and lose 60gigs of space (I only store music)...it wouldn't cost that much more to stick a couple 32GB or 16GB chips inside the current-sized unit. I'll pay the extra $50 if that's what it takes to go all flash...I am a song flipper...the hard drive is slow compared to even my wife's 4 year old 4GB Nano. Of course a flash based Classic would be lighter, too, which is nice.

Apple will be releasing new iPods this Sep...they do it every Sep.

I hear the new (or upcoming) Zune is supposed to be excellent...I love my iPod but if someone else releases a quality flash unit first, I'm abandoning Apple.

Too much for me to write here but I've written long arguments for my request on Macrumors.com

-Eric

ThisIsNot · #7 (**permalink**) 08-18-2009, 09:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by netkid

The new zune software is actually very nice and streamlined compared to itunes. Plus I like their music subscription plan i think its $15 a month for unlimited songs and you get to keep 10 tracks. Not a bad deal at all.

I just can't get over the Zune's clunky interface. Those three panes give me way too much information. All I want to do is view my music in a list (ala foobar2000), create playlists with a pane on the left (just like foobar2000 and iTunes), and view a clear separation between my music and movies. I think that the Zune software is a step in the right direction and iTunes keeps becoming more resource hungry despite not adding new features. However, I have been using iTunes since 2003 and Microsoft hasn't done anything for me.

I also hate subscription programs. Sure, I can have "unlimited" music all I want. I can pay $180 over a year for all the music that I want. Then, as soon as I cancel my subscription, the thousands of songs that I downloaded no longer work. That is why I hate subscription services. It has nothing to do with Microsoft (I have a 30GB Halo 3 Zune but hardly ever use it) but rather the whole subscription setup.