MP3 players: a question to the experts of mp3 players
a question to the experts of mp3 players
by samoo1 - 6/15/05 3:34 PMHi
I dont know If I should buy the Sony NW-E505 or an Apple Ipod Mini?
Or am I looking in the wrong direction, Is there any other mp3 player which I should be looking at to buy?
Thanks
neither...
by napsterlover2375 - 6/15/05 7:35 PM In reply to: a question to the experts of mp3 players by samoo1I'm not sure you want to buy either. I'll start with Ipod Mini first, yes it is very cute and works well, it should not be used for working out (hard drive), has no radio, and can only play music from the iTunes site, MP3's and WAV's. If you want to be limited to those formats get the iPod Mini. As for the Sony NW-E505, looks cute, but I would not buy it. It only plays ATRAC format (Sony specific), mp3's and WAV's. The ATRAC format is stupid because it is used for the sony connection music store, which no one uses. Sony blew it a long time ago, and will probably not make it in the mp3 player market. Try an mp3 player from Rio, Creative, iRiver, Samsung, etc., which support protected WMA's, mp3's, WAV. Protected WMA's are sold through MSN Music, Walmart.com, Buy.com, and a few other places, which is good because if one site does not have the song you want you can go to another site, not so with iTunes, if they don't got it, you are sunk. Get a flash player, if you don't have a lot of mp3's and use it to work out, micro hard drive player if you use it for causal (non-impact) uses and you have a lot of music. Ex. Creative Zen Micro, Rio Carbon, etc. Do alot of research before you buy, rechargeable batteries?, hard drive size?, FM radio? Hope this helps.
couldn't be wronger.
by Bredd - 6/16/05 9:30 PM In reply to: neither... by napsterlover2375Ipods will play lots of formats, not just mp3 wav and wma. They'll play ogg's and others too. Same with the sony. And atrac was used with mini disc players too. It has a history and sony's pulled it forward into mp3 players. It compresses and doesn't sacrifice sound quality like other formats do, or just changing the bitrate.
The sony has great sound quality, and better battery life.
Sure you shouldn't drop your mp3 player. Duh. But you really shouldn't drop a flash player either. The real concern with working out is just don't sweat into the innards. They should be water resistant, that's what sport models do, they have rubber seals, so if you work out and you want a microdrive player, stay away from the metal cases, they aren't sealed as well as the plastic/rubber one, and ipods have pretty good seals.
The sony has a feature which prevents serious damage to the hard drive when you drop it, which the ipod doesn't, just check out the video on the sony 20 gb on cnet. Besides, people who work don't drop their players they sweat on them.
And rios will break if you drop them too.
But i think the sony is the better of the two.
YOU are wrong
by - 6/16/05 9:43 PM In reply to: couldn't be wronger. by Bredd"Ipods will play lots of formats, not just mp3 wav and wma."
I-Pods do not play WAV or WMA!
"They'll play ogg's and others too."
No, they won't.
"It compresses and doesn't sacrifice sound quality like other formats do"
Yes, it does sacrifice sound quality. ATRAC is "lossy", not "lossless".
"The sony has great sound quality, and better battery life."
You're right about that.
"Sure you shouldn't drop your mp3 player. Duh. But you really shouldn't drop a flash player either. The real concern with working out is just don't sweat into the innards."
The issue with working out isn't dropping the player. The issue is that the player is getting shaken, and this will eventually kill a hard drive.
ANY one who says you can only use itunes on an ipod is wrong
by keabler - 6/21/05 11:05 AM In reply to: neither... by napsterlover2375i dont like ipods but im sick of ppl saying that you can only use itunes yes you have to use itunes to put music on it but all you have to do is jsut transfer all your files into itunes i dont have an ipod because i dont like apple but i konw many people that do and they jsut transfer their files into itunes
Sony is good too i mean idk why you wouldnt jsut play stuff in mp3 or wav being as mp3s is what you mostly download and wavs are smaller but can be a hastle to convert
unless you run i dont think working out is hard on an mp3 player i have an archos gmini 400 and it works fine its a hdd player and donsent skip
a try to help ya
by pikel - 6/17/05 2:26 AM In reply to: a question to the experts of mp3 players by samoo1you try to compare two complete different kind of players
so it's very hard for me to the a peer into you needs
let me give you some general infos about the market first
A)
there are 3 kinds of ways around a player stores data
) a harddisk
+ cheapest way
- needs more power
- contains mechanical parts ->
) it is possible that the head (the device that reads the data from the disk) connects with the disk (can happen when u drop u player during usage) which is lethal for u player
) when u use the player during workout u get effects similar to cd-players
) a memory card
- most expensive
+ can be used with other devices too sometimes (e.g. camera)
+ no mechanical parts
) a flash memory
- costs more then a hd player
+ no mechanical parts
+ smallest of all
B) the next big question is about energy source we have
) normall cells 1.5V (AA)/(AAA)
+ cheap
+ can be replaced easily
+ yes u can uses rechargeable accus (1.2V) for them
) lithium-ion or lithium-polymer accus
+ more power (3.6V)
- very expensive
- can't be replaced that easy (e.g. Ipod: u need to send it to apple on own cost to replace the accu)
C) plug & play - i know every device comes with a usb
connector, but not everything is plug & play able - that means u need a program to be installed, can be troublesome sometimes
pure plug & play devices can hold data too (normaly)
D)
are u planning to use it as recording device too?
E)
there is a pile of codecs around, every player only plays a limited selection of those
u choose
sony nw-e505
+ small & light build
- build in lithium-based accu
- needs software
apple ipod mini
- needs harddisk
- bigger & heavier
- build in lithium-based accu
(not sure about software i must say)
(well all +/- are my personal oppinion, but are not outside of the standard of the community)
)i've an samsung yp mt6-z and i'm totally happy with it
)a friend of me owns a cowon iaudio 5 which is significent better, but for a price beyond my pocket
)my beloved one (thinks and smiles) owns a noname one;
when u don't hear differences between 128kbit and 192 kbit then u will love a cheap one too
Re: try to help ya
by - 6/17/05 7:10 AM In reply to: a try to help ya by pikelNote that hard drive players are actually the most expensive of all MP3 players. At the same time, though, they're the cheapest *per MB of storage*.
(A hard drive player being $200 for 5GB compared to a flash player being $120 for 1GB... that's $40 per GB compared to $120 per GB if you do the math)
your awsner form a small expert
by hardyraz15 - 6/18/05 11:22 AM In reply to: a question to the experts of mp3 players by samoo1HI
I am a type of person who seeks good sound quality i would highly recomend the i audio g3, iaudio 5, iaudio u2, iriver ifp-790, 795,
all these mp3 have best sound quality ever
the thign with iriver is that it gives really goo soround soudn which makes the sound 100percwnt clear really nice sounjd.
with i audfio the sound is clear also but the bass is more powerful.
out of all i would choose either i audio 5 or g3 cuz i audio 5 gives ncie backgorund color and g3 gives 50hrs of battery time
reply..
by samoo1 - 6/20/05 10:51 AM In reply to: a question to the experts of mp3 players by samoo1Hi
Thanks for the replies, as some mentioned iRiver is good for mp3 players, how do you go about in deciding to get the ifp795 or ifp895?
So are Sony flash players no good? Like the E105 OR E405?
And I have decided not to go for the apple ipod mini.
I dont know anything about Samsung players.
Do you think I should go for iRiver,Samsung,Sony or what other good makes of mp3 players are there?
Thanks I hope all my questions can be answered by the experts.
yes sony is good
by keabler - 6/21/05 11:15 AM In reply to: reply.. by samoo1id have to agree sony now adays is good and sonys have sound great
apples have crapy sound
my archos gmini 400 has great sound
iaudio's have good quality
Creative's have good sound too
idk how much sweat would get into an mp3 player if u had it in your pocket
my sister has a mini ipod and runs alot and the hdd never crashed its jsut teh sound quality isnt up to par.... i dont think sound quality to me is my biggest concern when i work out
well, it's not all that defiunite but...
by Bredd - 6/25/05 7:51 PM In reply to: yes sony is good by keablerSure people take their ipods to the gym, and do all kinds of active things with them. But there are better mp3 players out there for this purpose.
The first thing they tell you about sport models is that they're water resistant. An important feature for keeping out sweat. Your sister's might not break overnight, or even in a year, but a sport model will survive longer because they're made for this purpose.
But go ahead and take that mini on a run. You'll be fine.
Keeping it in the pocket isn't as good as having an armband, for that reason.
All the brands you mentioned are good...
by Jasmineflower
- 6/21/05 2:24 PM
In reply to: reply.. by samoo1
It really depends on what you're looking for in a player. If you want a really sleek-looking player with an unbeatable battery life and great sound, definitely keep the Sony NW-E400 series (http://reviews.cnet.com/Sony_NW_E407_Network_Walkman_1GB/4652-6490_7-31343273.html) or NW-E500 series (http://reviews.cnet.com/Sony_NW_E507_Network_Walkman_1GB/4652-6490_7-31303102.html) in mind. The latter includes FM. Note the difference between this player and the iPod Mini is that the Mini is a microdrive player (with a little mini spinning hard drive) and the Sony is a flash player (no moving parts).
The problem with both Sony's players and Apple's iPods is that they are very proprietary: they play only MP3s and then their own format -- AAC for Apple and ATRAC for Sony (iPod's also support AA files from Audible.com). Also, these players require that you erase all the content if you try to sync with a secondary computer (i.e. not the same one all the time). This may not be an issue for you if you always use one computer, though.
In the case of players from iRiver, Creative, Samsung, Rio and the like, you get support for MP3 and WMA. Support for protected WMA gives you even more options if you like to purchase music online. Better yet, if you're interested in the new ''to go'' services from the likes of Napster and Rhapsody, check out the following Janus-compatible players, all of which are solid devices with above average audio quality:
iRiver H10 - http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6450_7-6226180.html
Creative Zen Micro (also available in 6GB) - http://reviews.cnet.com/Creative_Zen_Micro_5GB_black/4652-6490_7-31151919.html
Samsung YH-820MC - http://reviews.cnet.com/Samsung_YEPP_YH-820MC/4505-6490_7-31278885.html
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