MP3 players forum: Buying my first MP3 player, advice needed!

Nancy, It really is not just about the player, but the software you use to get your music into the player has a lot to do with it as well. In this regard, the choice by far for most people is iTunes. It has a great interface, works really well, and is fun to use. It uses the QuickTIme engine to play not only mp3's but just about any other type of audio and video it runs across. The reason the the iPod became the defacto choice for players is because of the attention to detail that apple used to develop the whole system. I have a 3g (third generation) iPod that my wife gave me for Christmas in 2005, I just recently had the battery replaced (beg deal- $54!) and now it's like brand new again. It has been with me on all my travels throughout the world and continues to "just work". And that, in a nutshell, is why the iPod is the best choice for most people- it just works.

This is going to be short, but to the point. Ipod, and any apple mp3 players are good. I can't really say anything bad about them, EXCEPT they monopolize their players to use Itunes music or system to play on their units. I myself will never use their system because you have to use their system to play music from another source. I'll give you any example. I have over 5k songs and a friend of mine wanted a few songs. They would not play on his ipod without first d/l to his computer and then running it through his itunes first, before it would play. I would get ANY ( I say "any" in regard to freedom ) player so that I can choose to get what ever song from what ever source to play, without going through a monopolized program ! There are plenty of excellent mp3 players that are out there to choose from. Some are Archos, Toshiba Gigabeat, and others. With them, you load on the things you want and go have yourself a good time. You won't have to go home and run them through itunes to get it to work.

Whether to buy an MP3 player or Ipod apparently depends on what you wish to use your new equipment for. When I bought my MP3 player a year and a half ago it was because I found out that the Pima County Arizona library system now allows a library card holder to download audio books to their computer and then to the their MP3 player. As I was preparing for a many month motor home trip I wanted to be able to do that because I love listening to audio books as I drive.

When I queried the Pima County library I was told that only MP3 players would have this access and was warned that if I bought an IPOD I would not be able to access this service. At the time I did some surfing for information and selected a recomended IRIVER MP3 player and have been successful in downloading an audio book to my computer. I haven't yet subsequently
downloaded it to my MP3 player because my planned trip has been delayed and I still have access to picking up the audio books at the library. I have been happy with my MP3 player though for listening to FM radio when I take my walks or use the treadmill at the YMCA. It appears to be adequete for me. But I'm sure there has probably been a lot more sophisticated MP3 players developed since I bought mine.

Bill Carroll, Sr., Oro Valley AZ
billcarroll2004@mindspring.com

I have an iPod...but I regret it. If you download music from iTunes, you can't put it on a cd and put it in your car or put it on a travel drive to put in your stereo. I just don't recomend an iPod for the reason. If this doesn't make sense to you, I think someone else will also talk about this, too.

Illegal file sharing has damaged the music industry? Baloney! Its the labels who have ruined the music business!

You can burn a cd! Just make a playlist of the songs you want to burn!
Then insert a CD-RW or a CD-R and click Burn in the lower right hand conner. You will need a compatable CD burner installed on you computer! Every computer has one these days!

I have an older computer that I bought 4 years ago. While it still runs like a top, I can't get the Itunes software to cooperate long enough to put any songs on the Ipod I recieved as a gift last year. It's just an Shuffle player which would've been ok for me, but I don't know if it's the computer that's holding me up or what. I did buy a cheapie on Ebay. It is a Perception Digital that only holds about 25 songs but that's long enough for a nice walk. It also lets me record voice which is a nice feature. I paid only about $20.00 for it then but I'm sure you could get twice the memory for about the same price now. The nice thing is I can drag and drop my music files using Windows Explorer so there's no confusion for this old lady! I'd love to be able to figure out why this Ipod won't work for me but will for someone else using a Mac, so if anyone has a reason, I'd love to hear it. Good luck to you Nancy. It really isn't a difficult choice. Just go with what suits your wallet.

Nancy is not the only reader who is flummoxed by the MP3 player isues: the IPOD or what else debate. I am up to speed on other digital technology, but am clueless on MP3 and related tech. Inasmuch as Beratles, Stones and Motown tunes also ring a bell with me, I hope this doesn't sound like complaints of lame boomer tech-phobes. That isn't me-- and probably isnt Nancy, either. Thnx for discussion.

I don't have an Ipod but I have purchased several Sandisk MP3 players. I have a 6G and 3 of my children have the 4G and the 512MB. I also purchased one for my mom and she can use it just fine. They are fairly inexpensive and the Sansa e series players can hold pictures and video. There is also a slot for a memory disc which lets the player hold even more video and music. The sandisk is easy to use. We use ours with Windows Media Player which is probably already on your computer. These players are flash players which means there is no hard drive in them so there is no chance of the music skipping. The players are fairly small although not as small as the Ipod nano. I had a problem with the 4G player but eventually Sandisk technical support helped me fix it and it has worked fine since then.

Hi Nancy.

There've been two consumer revolutions since the early 1950s: the advent of clothing that is ready-to-wear. And the advent of clothing that is ready-to-read.

The hidden label that once testified to the provenance of the clothing has become the overt label that testifies to the provenance of the wearer.

Many wearers think that's great. "Look at me, folks. Look what I can afford because of the amount of money I've available to spend." Or: "Look at what I've got, folks. I'm exactly the person all those glossy ads were desperate to attract." (Insert: rich / discerning / sophisticated / young / attractive.)

There's just one word missing. Sheep. As in: "Look at me, folks, I'm a sheep that will follow any other sheep anywhere."

(Or even 'sheepish': because that's how you'd feel, were someone to insist you spent your life walking up and down Main Street in a sandwich board.)

To what extent the iPod's massive success is due to the number of sales to sheep is impossible to fathom. But sheep purchasers there most certainly are -- people who really are naive enough to think they are asserting their individuality through the adoption of ready-to-read clothing and consumer items.

When in fact, they've just lost their identity in the herd.

So: don't be a sheep. Don't be a sandwich board carrier. Don't buy anything because its advertising is glossy and the people in those ads, even glossier.

Buy an iPod for what it actually is, not the lifestyle-statement-of-a-sheep.

But only do so after identifying your specific individual requirements. And only after trying out, if possible, as many short-listed players from as many shortt-listed manufacturers as possible.

Me, I can't say if an iPod is good or bad nowadays. All I know is that when I looked for my first MP3 player, the iPod was out-matched by several rivals. And so I and my family plumped for a brand to which we've stayed loyal because we've stayed happy:

Cowon / iAudio.

It doesn't have the dubious cachet of iPod ownership. It doesn't have the $millionsworth of advertising the iPod has (advertising, ironically, that is funded from the excess profits Apple takes from the pockets of purchasers content, for whatever reason, to pay a price much, much higher than the darn things are actually worth.)

What the Cowon / iAudio range offered us was play-back file versatility, superb sound quality, radio reception infinitely better than anything Sony ever managed, and unfailing reliability.

I don't know if it still does because we've no reason to junk our existing equipment. (And certainly, we've no interest in looking at still or moving images on tiny screens. Not in the era of 50" TVs.)

Best thing, then, would be for you to Google for Archos, Creative, Zen, iPod, Cowon and iAudio (though the products are the same, the Cowon name only appears in some markets, only the iAudio name in others.)

Read the reviews. Don't rely on 'em exclusively though, rather view them as road signs along the route you're travelling to your hoped-for destination.

And if at the end of your journey, you settle on an iPod, then all well and good.

Because you'll know you really did follow your own star -- rather than the posterior of that big dumb sheep in front.

Good luck.

One of the biggest mistakes most people make in getting portable entertainment systems (units that do more than just play mp3's) is to buy features that they will never use. Before you jump into the pool of options on mp3/video/internet etc units, make up your mind all the features that you want to address and then shop for the best deal. Also be aware that in all probability whatever you choose today will be
surpassed by the next model in 3-6 months so just be prepared to put your stake in the ground and have the unit meet you needs now and what you project you will need in the future.

IPODs are great. I have one and I love it but there are less expensive solutions. You mentioned that you want to listen to mp3 music and watch photos as well as hold your entire Elvis and Beatles collection. That last item could push you into the IPOD family on storage alone. There are several products with large capacity storage but when combining ease of use with that, IPODS are going to probably come out on top. It doesn't sound like you are a real techo gadget person so the IPOD classic is probably your best choice. Depending on the size of your music collection you can go with the 30g or larger. The other units might be too small for your storage needs.

But look at the future. Will you want to browse the internet as well as play music, look at photos and maybe even watch a video? Then consider the IPOD touch. The limiting factor here is that largest one only has 16g of storage. For just music and photos that might fit your needs but if your going to consider carrying some videos around with you 16g can go kind of fast.

There are other products like Zune, Archos, etc and each has its strong points and weak points. But the major key is what are you going to use it for now and what do you anticpate using it for in the future (+3yrs if that long because everything will have changed by then).

I wish you luck in your choice..

You should get the new zune. It has the same review rating as the ipod but it has a much higher average user rating than ipod. the zune has a bigger screen, fm radio, podcast support, wireless sync, wieless music sharing, and more. If you get a zune through zuneoriginals.net you can get a picture with text, picture, or text laser engraved for free. And it's the same price as ipod.

Apple does make it easy. Any MP3 player is going to require some type of program to get the music into it in your case either by converting from your CD collection, or downloading purchased music from the net. For the iPod, Apple utilizes iTunes, a simple (and free) set up program - you can download it now and see if you like it before you ever purchase an iPod!. iTunes will take your CD and automatically convert to MP3 tracks which will then automatically load onto your iPod. This program is also wonderful for creating playlists (a collection of songs that you select from your larger collection) you can pretty much create a playlist for every mood! You can also use iTunes to play your music/ playlists on your computer. Other conversion software for other players will do this, but Apple has brought it together into a very simple, intuitive format. You would also use iTunes to download your picture files (in JPEG format).

Some people have indicated that iTunes will not allow you to share your music (or at least allow a minimal number of copies). This is true for tracks purchased from iTunes (copyright protection), but has NOTHING to do with your own CD collection you are the owner, so there is no copyright applied through iTunes. You can make unlimited copies from your collection to CDs, and copies of the MP3 files that you have ripped from your own CDs.

Battery life has not been a problem - my oldest iPod is three years old and still going great - it lives permanately in my vehicle.

Other players may offer radio listening, voice recording, blue tooth wireless (stereo), interchangeable SD card memory these are things the iPod was not designed for. If any of these features are important to you, then the iPod is not your choice. I personally have not found any of this to be a problem.

As it sounds like your music collection is not large, you can probably get away with the iPod nano the midsized version of the group. It has a small screen for pictures and enough space to hold (conservatively) 60 albums worth of music. The iPod shuffle
is the smallest, excellent for walks and other activity, but no screen. The iPod "Video" give you plenty of space for just about any quantity of music/ video/ pictures you may care to download. If showing off pictures of the kids is really important, then try out the Touch (or even the iPhone) which undoubtedly has the coolest picture viewing ability, and would still probably be more than adequate for your music collection. Good Luck.

Nancy, first of all, you are right to be suspicious that the iPod is something of a 'trend'. Like many things, they sell primarily based on name/image, as they are very well marketed and therefore are the first MP3 player that pops into the average buyer's head.

iPods these days are actually quite good (although there is some debate as to how reliable they are - you get lots of reports of premature breakdowns, but this could be a law of averages thing due to the sheer amount sold). They are very easy to use, as per your requirement, and they do look attractive. The main issue is that there has always been better out there for roughly the same price.

The new kid on the block is the 2nd generation Zune, which offers better performance on pretty much all counts (battery life, sound quality, picture & video quality). The main gripe with us gadget geeks is the lack of an EQ feature (in which you can adjust the levels of bass, treble and mid-range to suit your tastes), although this may not be a major concern for you if you will be using your MP3 fairly casually.

My personal advice would be to go for the Creative Zen Vision, which pretty much since its earliest incarnations has had the upper hand on the other MP3 players, and particularly the iPod. It has the best sound quality on the market (although you may want to consider upgrading from the stock headphones to make the most of that), a far superior screen to the other players, and better than average battery life, more than enough for your usage.

The clincher for you, though, is going to be the sheer ease of use - whereas the iPod and Zune tie you down to their own software for transferring music, the Zen gives you the option of supplied software, synchronisation with various Windows-based music players (Windows Media Player, Winamp etc.), or you can even drag and drop files, so long as you are careful to keep them in organised folders.

It's perhaps not as attractive as the iPod or Zune, but that is really the only negative, and I very much doubt that will matter to you. It shouldn't.