MP3 players: Help deciding on MP3
Help deciding on MP3
by lemon_lime - 1/12/06 9:52 PMI need an MP3 player and would appreciate some help.
The main use will be for a university dance club, we will be hooking it up to our existing amp (which is now playing songs off my cd player which is skipping like mad, since I got the CD player about 7 years ago).
I'll also probably borrow it for jogging, seeing as i'll be taking care of it probably for the next year and a half anyway.
Basically, I want good sound quality - most important thing. Long battery life is good, has to withstand my relative klutziness when off the dance floor, cold winters and the usual such stuff. A lot of storage is good, but I don't really need ridiculous amounts of space. Of course, I don't mind it, if it's included in whatever option is the best for me/my club.
I don't need any super extra special features like video play. It's really mostly to play music.
It's coming out of the club budget, so price isn't anything super important. Mostly, as long as it's good and will last (you can tell it's important by the fact that I actually *have* a CD player from 7 years ago still in use). Can anyone recommend something good?
Two choices
by Glorybox3737 - 1/13/06 1:02 AM In reply to: Help deciding on MP3 by lemon_limeOkay so I'd either say an ipod nano. Flash player, no moving parts so it's not easy to break and great for working out. 14 hours battery life. 2gb $199 and 4gb $250
Also Sandisk has a new player coming out that sounds really good. The e200. I think the battery life may be longer than the nano, I heard 20 hours???? Also Sandisk has a 6gb version (the nano only goes up to 4gb)so that means more storage space. Also a flash player. This doesn't come out till March. 2gb $199, 4gb $250, 6gb $300
The sound quality on all DAP's are the same, depends on what you are using to hear it with that matters. But if your a klutz and plan to jog with it, go with a flash player. Right now those are the only high storage flash players out there. Can't comment on the quality of the Sandisk player since it's not out yet, it's suppose to have a metal body. I know the nano is solid quality. In one test they ran over it with a car twice and it still played.
Noooo
by alext - 1/13/06 5:48 AM In reply to: Help deciding on MP3 by lemon_limeThe niaivity of some people is quite charming.
All players do not sound the same. iPod is mid range, not top quality.
iAudio is currently king for sound quality (very powerful, lots of equalizer effects, fantastic signal to noise ration), though Creative and iRiver are also good.
iAudio also have the widest codec support.
iAudio U3 is the obvious choice for you. Flash player, small, up to 2Gb, even plays video, though that's not important for you.
The clincher is it plays FLAC (lossless CD quality files, at roughly 65% size). On a 2Gb player you could load up something like 5 hours for a club set in true cd quality).
It's not cheap, but if you're not paying I'd go for the extra quality
You don't give sound advice
by Glorybox3737 - 1/13/06 3:25 PM In reply to: Noooo by alextOkay. I'm not naive first off. I am aware of the excellent audio quality of the iAudio line. The reason why I recommended the two players I did where: For one she wanted storage space. The nano and the sandisk offers 4gb and 6gb (Sandisk only) Which can hold a great deal more songs. It comes down to 500(2gb) songs or 1000 (4g) to 1500 (6gb) songs. Seeing that she's in a dance club I believe, from my personal past experiance in being in a dance club, that they will have a decent collection of music. If the iAudio offered a flash player over 2gbs that would have been the amongst the player suggested, and I would have also mentioned that the iAudio has a better power output. But 2gbs isn't a good amount of storage.
If she use FLAC then she'd be able to hold fewer songs, 5 cd's as you suggested and her battery life would go down considerably. Perhaps no more than 3-5 hours battery life. If she took your suggestion she may as well buy another cd player and carry five cd's with her. There is a reason people use lossy on DAPs instead of loseless.
Also instead of going overboard and using FLAC why not just use 192kbs or 225 kbs mp3 VBR. Most people can not tell the differeance between those bit rates and the original cd. Just try a blind ABX test and see for yourself.
The sound quality of the speakers played through is a very big issue not to be undermined. Todays line of DAPs have around the same audio quality. You can nit pick at specs but really in the end as long as it meets the standards of most of the DAPs out there it all boils down to your speakers.
Also I notice you only picking on the ipod. I recommended TWO audio players. Don't use this as a situation to pick on the iPod. Use this as a situation to give somebody some practical quality advice. The Sandisk player also offers the same support of audio formats and the iaudio. The sandisk plays movies too!
I'm not niave and you sure don't know how to give resonable advice.
OK ...
by alext - 1/14/06 12:16 AM In reply to: You don't give sound advice by Glorybox37372Gb isn't enough to hold a decent sized collection, but neither is 4 or 6. You would need to swap music in and out, whichever of these players you had.
I still say FLAC is fantastic. I think most people can tell the difference between it and high quality mp3 on a quality stereo.
FLAC was designed specifically to be easy to decode, making it very suitable for portable players, as it does not drain the battery too badly.
Does one of the Sandisk players play lossless? I had a look on their website, couldn't see anything. I would genuinely be interested to know.
FLAC is great but...
by Glorybox3737 - 1/14/06 10:00 AM In reply to: OK ... by alextYes but with 4gb and over there will be less swapping out than with two. There is more conveinance. So why not go for more songs and less swapping out.
Also no one is saying FLAC isn't a fantastic format. All my cd's have been converted to FLAC and then onto mp3 Lame alt standard preset. In a blind abx test most people can not tell the differance. Yes you can tell the differance on a quality stereo but here we are talking about DAPs. FLAC has it's place, it's just not on portable music players as of this time. Any file over 9mb isn't recommended for portable players due to the battery drain issues. My smallest Flac file is 21mb. The average size of my FLAC files are 34 mb. That's three times over the recommended size. The battery drain is significant. For people who plan to use their DAPs more than three hours a day FLAC isn't reasonable.
None of the Sandisk support loseless at this time, the includes thier new players. If they do it's some majorly hidden information that only the makers know about. We'll soon be seeing more players that support loseless as batteries improve and storage gets bigger. I can see it happening hopefully within two or three years. I hate having to manage two separate formats on my computer. It would just be easier to have the loseless format.
a digital player with FLAC and APE
by Blue_Max - 10/25/07 7:56 PM In reply to: Noooo by alextAlext is right. A lossless format such as FLAC is essential for best sound quality. I have nearly 500 lossless CDs ripped to a hard drive that I stream through into hi-fi system. Quality is just as good as from CD player, if not better, thanks to jitter free chacteristics!
I am looking for a compact portable player for active use. Files on my HD are in FLAC or APE. Converting to MP3 take too much time and tagging get messed up. Besides quality is the no. 1 criteria. So I am on the lookout for a model that will play both FLAC or APE. Does anyone know of one?!
Thanks.
Cowon D2
by fliv - 1/22/08 8:38 PM In reply to: a digital player with FLAC and APE by Blue_MaxYes,
The Cowon D2 plays flac files and comes in 8Gb with support for an additional 8Gb with an sdhc card (16 total). APE support is supposed to come with a future firmware upgrade. I have a D2 and love it. It is the only choice for a flash player for someone who has their cds ripped in Flac.
| Forum legend: | |
 |
Locked thread |
 |
Moderator |
 |
CNET staff |
 |
Samsung staff |
 |
Norton Authorized Support team |
 |
AVG staff |
 |
Windows Outreach team |
 |
Dell staff |
 |
Intel staff |
