Investing in an Mp3 Player

I highly recommend an iPod. I've got a 15gb 3rd generation one, and I love it. It's so compact and I love the interface and the way it works with iTunes. Highly recommended.
 
I think the iPod is the first product that dominates its market and deserves its place at the top. You can't go wrong with an iPod. Its small, has a lot of space, has good battery life, looks sleek, and all that.
 
Those 2.5" harddrives are cool, I read about them a few months ago. Seem kinda overpriced right now though. Perhaps one day they'll become mainstream and not so expensive.
 
GaleForce said:
I think the iPod is the first product that dominates its market and deserves its place at the top. You can't go wrong with an iPod. Its small, has a lot of space, has good battery life, looks sleek, and all that.
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Or you can get the iRiver which comes with a leather case, remote, FM tuner, NO software (plug and play), has better file support, and has a larger battery life.
 
Thaddy said:
Or you can get the iRiver which comes with a leather case, remote, FM tuner, NO software (plug and play), has better file support, and has a larger battery life.
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I chose an iRiver H120 over an iPod for the above reasons. :)
 
Thaddy said:
Or you can get the iRiver which comes with a leather case, remote, FM tuner, NO software (plug and play), has better file support, and has a larger battery life.
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Don't need a leather case, mine came with a remote, FM tuners suck, iTunes rocks you, have no file support problems, have no gripes with the battery life.

You can go with the iPod and get a smaller, sleeker, ligher, and better made product.
 
GaleForce said:
Don't need a leather case, mine came with a remote, FM tuners suck, iTunes rocks you, have no file support problems, have no gripes with the battery life.

You can go with the iPod and get a smaller, sleeker, ligher, and better made product.
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FM Tuners suck? What sucks about them...some people like to listen to the radio.

iTunes rocks you? Once again, the iRiver doesn't need software. It doesn't get easier than that. Plug it in and transfer your music, that's it, no middle man.

Battery life? Agreed, there is nothing wrong with the iPod's battery life, but it's still on the bottom of the totem pole compared to the competition. It took Apple four generations to finally break the 10 hr. barrier while iRiver, Rio, and Creative have been doing it for years.

Smaller? I've put the two back to back. Yes the iPod is smaller but it's not small enough to make a difference. Basically, they leave the some footprint in my pocket.

Sleeker? This is an opinion, some might consider the iRiver to be sleeker.

Lighter? Once again, yes it's lighter but not enough to make a difference.

Better made? This is also questionable, as I feel it's an opinion. The iRiver's build quality is excellent, and feels just as solid as the iPod when you are holding it.

Now, I'm not trying to bash the iPod, but I feel that if you are going to spend the time to research the DAP market, then go with the one with more features. The iRiver also has recording capability, does the iPod?

In my opinion (note: opinion), the iPod is the sort of DAP the average consumer would buy. Open it, charge it, load the songs and forget about it. On the other hand, the iRiver is for the more technical savvy user who wants the most out of his/her DAP and is willing to spend the time researching.
 
For me its all about settling for the smallest and lightest player. People will say "Its not that much bigger" and maybe by numbers it isn't but after carrying an ipod around with a wallet, phone, and keys, I can honestly say any bigger would be no good. iTunes still rocks you. I find the interface very convinient instead of managing my ipod like a windows directory. The iPod's success isn't luck, theres a reason for it, and theres a reason its beating all the other DAPs in reviews.

By the way, it isn't that hard to integrate a longer battery life and more features when you deisgn a larger unit. iPod decided to give you what you need most; an MP3 player. When I go buy something I buy the best I can afford, I don't buy all in one devices that try to do too many things. Its not surprising the iriver has what it has, theres more room for the designers to play with.
 
GaleForce said:
...The iPod's success isn't luck, theres a reason for it, and theres a reason its beating all the other DAPs in reviews.
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M-A-R-K-E-T-I-N-G

By the way, it isn't that hard to integrate a longer battery life and more features when you deisgn a larger unit. iPod decided to give you what you need most; an MP3 player. When I go buy something I buy the best I can afford, I don't buy all in one devices that try to do too many things. Its not surprising the iriver has what it has, theres more room for the designers to play with.
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It's also not that hard to integrate longer battery life when you use a better quality battery. Plus, you'd think that with Apple's genious engineering department, they would design a unit that actually shuts off. Yeah, the iPod really never shuts off, it just goes into standby mode, which still wastes the battery.

And what does this statement mean? "I don't buy all in one devices that try to do too many things."
 
You got a lot of good points, until...
Thaddy said:
Now, I'm not trying to bash the iPod, but I feel that if you are going to spend the time to research the DAP market, then go with the one with more features.
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Maybe less is more. The iPod has a simple and very intuitive interface, and that came from several generations of refinement. Besides, who are you to say that someone who did their research should necessarily come to the conclusion that more features means better?
The iRiver also has recording capability, does the iPod?
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Again, it's an extra. You said it yourself, a "DAP" is a digital audio player. Besides, give it a generation and Apple will have it too. I don't care either way.
In my opinion (note: opinion), the iPod is the sort of DAP the average consumer would buy. Open it, charge it, load the songs and forget about it. On the other hand, the iRiver is for the more technical savvy user who wants the most out of his/her DAP and is willing to spend the time researching.
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:rolleyes:

Sounds like nonconformist rubbish to me. Many people, educated or not, will arrive at the iPod as their top choice. That's what happened to me. I was in love with the interface and extremely clean look, plus it was a better deal for me than the iRiver equivalent. The technical nuances weren't an issue to me, because face it, every "DAP" on the market today only does well with lossy source material anyways. Will others see it the same way? Sure. Of course, there's G-Unit and company that will dig it for the chrome or whatever, but the iPod is a favorite of many people that fall outside that status quo you seem to resent.

Again, even if you don't agree with my choice, understand that "less is more," even for some hardcore, tech-savvy consumers.
 
Xonix that sounds like the same kind of attitude you'd hear from someone buying Bose.
 
emorphien said:
Xonix that sounds like the same kind of attitude you'd hear from someone buying Bose.
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The fact is that he is trying to point out people don't all share the same point of view. I did my research, and bought an iPod. True, there was nothing else out then, but right now with the 4gen out I would repeat the same decision. Last time I checked, the ihp120 was more expensive than the 20gb iPod. And in fact, I do like the design of the iPod better. Is there something wrong with that? The iriver records, which may be nice for some people, but I never would have a practical use for it. I guess I could carry around an expensive microphone along with the iriver, but that kind of defeats the purpose. The digital output of it is a nice feature, but since all my music comes from CDs anyways I can't think of when it would be useful. Still more argue that the iriver has better sound quality: I have tried the 2gen iPod, ihp120, and Karma and can say in actual use the difference is negligable. Especially if you are using it as a portable device. One final note, I think the iPod would be a better investment because the used market seems larger.

Oh, and iTunes sucks. If you buy music from them it is low bitrate, and I found ephPod superior for transfering music.
 
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