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Ipod substitute

D

Dark Assassin

Gawd
Joined
Apr 10, 2003
Messages
605
I want to be able to carry tons of MP3's around, but I'm not looking to feed the garbage company that IS Apple. Does anyone know of any cheaper substitutes or any links that might shed some light on the subject?

Dark Assassin
 
I'd say the best unit out there is probably the iRiver. My experience has been that the sound quality can match and sometimes edge out the well regarded Creative. It also is compact like the iPod and crams in a load of features including recording abilities with optical inputs and outputs, which I have found really handy. It costs the same as the iPod however, but given all it can do it's the more cost effective device anyway.

If you want to spend less than what the iRiver costs, the Creative products are really good. They are larger, and not as nice to look at as the iRiver iHP-120 (there's also a 10gig and 40 gig is coming) or the iPod, but it's got better sound quality than the iPod and a better battery. You can also get it in massive storage sizes up to 60 gigs.
 
i've been thinking about picking up the Nomad Jukebox Zen. i've heard a lot of good things about it, and its cheaper that an iPod. comes in different sized drives as well
 
If you want tons of storage for a low price, look at the Nomad Zen Xtra. I got my 40GB player from Newegg for around $325 w/shipping. I thought about the iRiver, but got thinking that it is only 20GB and costs almost $50 more than the Zen...hmm. Admittedly, the iRiver looks damn sexy (especially that remote), but the Zen was more practical (cheaper and twice the storage). I like the Zen. Great sound quality, accepts tons of different audio formats, and has a replaceable battery that anybody can replace, and it's nice and small. I only wish for better ear buds (a set of Shure ear bud's are in my future).

Mr.Dearthian
 
The Zen is Ipod's biggest contender right now probably...You are a pimp if you have an Ipod though; Just ask 50 Cent:D ...
 
I like my RCA Lyra Jukebox. It holds 40GB and plays both mp3 and mp3pro. Battery lasts a while too. Not too bad for $300, bought it 6months ago and havent had a problem with it since.
 
for those huge mp3 players, might i suggest ebay?

out of curiosity, exactly how many mp3's do u have?
a 20 gb mp3 player can hold like 5,000 songs or so
 
I have the iRiver iHP-120, the 20 gig model. Probably the closest competitor to iPod given its size, but nobody knows about it.

I don't even have 5 gigs filled and I have like 15 albums ripped at 320 on it.
 
Right now, I have about 21GB on my 40GB Xen. All of these are things I've ripped from my CD collection and I'm not done yet. :D
I rip between 192-360kb sample rate.

Mr.Dearthian
 
I've got a Nomad Zen for sale...USB 2.0 version...the one with the good scroll wheel and not that flimsy joystick type thing. Let me know if you're interested. Battery life and sound quality are absolutely amazing.
 
Originally posted by lopoetve
What's wrong with Apple?
Click to expand...
I'm guessing that it has to do with the IMB comp / and MAC riverly.
I think it is funny, Apple seems to becomming a music company.
 
Originally posted by lopoetve
What's wrong with Apple?
Click to expand...

Nothing really, except that the iPod really isn't that good.

It was king for a while but they need to make some changes to get it back to the top... longer running time per charge, better sound quality (both those are key issues) as well as perhaps some robust input and output abilities and expanded format support both in playback and recording. An FM tuner wouldn't be bad either.

Its up against a lot of newer products, the iRiver is the iPod that includes all these at the same price and size. The Rio Zen has basically all of it as well but it's less expensive (and bigger) and there's others that float around in between.
 
I don't even use the FM tuner on my CD player. What 8 hours isn't enough for you? What other inputs/ out puts do you want? What other formats do you want? The only one I wish it played was OGG, I have no use for crappy WMA encodes. The sound quality is fine (if not great) on my friend's model.
Personally it sounds like you've already made up your mind as to what player you're going to get so why don't you just get a Rio Zen?
 
Why doesn't anyone ever look at the nomad jukeboxs? Sure there a little bit bigger than the ipods and such but you get a lot more space for your dollar. In my expierence they have a lot better amp in them then the other players but I haven't listened to too many. All I know is that one can resonable power my grado sr-80's and there one of the hardest set of headphones to drive. There at least worth a look I guess. I love mine.
 
Originally posted by CrimandEvil
I don't even use the FM tuner on my CD player. What 8 hours isn't enough for you? What other inputs/ out puts do you want? What other formats do you want? The only one I wish it played was OGG, I have no use for crappy WMA encodes. The sound quality is fine (if not great) on my friend's model.
Personally it sounds like you've already made up your mind as to what player you're going to get so why don't you just get a Rio Zen?
Click to expand...

Seems I've offended you. I don't own the Zen, and don't plan on buying one.

As far as FM tuners, they're handy to have at times, and considering some of the iPods competition has them, it's a possible selling point.

Additionally, 8 hours is on the short end, and that's a generous estimate. I don't know anyone with an iPod that get's 8 hours for long with it. Other formats that would be nice do indeed include OGG.

As far as sound quality, I'm picky, I've got a whole system in the living room set up just as I like, and I'd pick an MP3 player primarily based on sound quality. The iPod isn't the best, but it's good enough for most people, however I wouldn't say it's the best player.

I don't like the zen for it's size, however the fact that the user can get at the battery with the flick of a latch is pretty nice. Regardless, I have an iRiver and my new sennheisers are on their way.

The iPod has gone the way the Nikon coolpix cameras went, legacy kept them afloat for a couple years when they were clearly inferior products. The iPod isn't clearly inferior, but it's no match for many of the other units available now.
 
Originally posted by rally9x
Why doesn't anyone ever look at the nomad jukeboxs? Sure there a little bit bigger than the ipods and such but you get a lot more space for your dollar. In my expierence they have a lot better amp in them then the other players but I haven't listened to too many. All I know is that one can resonable power my grado sr-80's and there one of the hardest set of headphones to drive. There at least worth a look I guess. I love mine.
Click to expand...

Made by Creative, that's why.
 
Seems I've offended you. I don't own the Zen, and don't plan on buying one
Click to expand...
No since I don't even have an iPod why would I care? But it does sound like you want a Zen and IMO some of those "features" are repugnate. Like I said it sounds like you would want something like a Zen. I'm writing these rather quickly so I'm sorry if they sound, well like an ass.
 
Originally posted by CrimandEvil
No since I don't even have an iPod why would I care? But it does sound like you want a Zen and IMO some of those "features" are repugnate. Like I said it sounds like you would want something like a Zen. I'm writing these rather quickly so I'm sorry if they sound, well like an ass.
Click to expand...


I shop to get the most possible power, performance, quality and capability for my money. I did a lot of research and found that the iPod clearly did not embody those qualities.
 
You buy an iPod to get the "Cool factor" the Zens are the only real competion for it though, and they have more features for less price. Find the best looking player with the best features and then hit up ebay for some deals. I have a few people with Zens and they perform rather well.
 
Originally posted by lopoetve
Made by Creative, that's why.
Click to expand...

I think this does have a lot to do with it. Not because creative makes bad products...but because of poor marketing. I mean this and the archos were out long before the ipod yet when the ipod came out it WAS A FRIKKEN REVOLUTION. More like an overprice evolution. The creative software does suck though. Notmad is cool though I hear.
 
Originally posted by rally9x
I think this does have a lot to do with it. Not because creative makes bad products...but because of poor marketing. I mean this and the archos were out long before the ipod yet when the ipod came out it WAS A FRIKKEN REVOLUTION. More like an overprice evolution. The creative software does suck though. Notmad is cool though I hear.
Click to expand...

I avoid it due to the software interface and all the trouble that I have had with them in the past...
 
I've played extensively with the iRiver iHP-120, the Nomad Zen Xtra, and the iPods, both 1st and 3rd gen@5GB,10GB, and 40GB.

Out of the three, the Zen ranks third in terms of usability. The iRiver is an excellent and feature filled player - if it had the scroll wheel of the iPod, it would be the perfect player. The iPod lacks features and requires proprietary software to run, as opposed to the iRiver which is detected as an external harddrive in the newer plug and play OSs.

The iRiver remote is also excellent - although I hate the joystick on the player, I don't actually have to USE it because I can use the remote. The iHP-140 IS out, for the record, and the iHP-100 has been around. iRiver=the win.

edited to add - the iPod battery sports very short life compared to the others

Originally posted by CrimandEvil
You buy an iPod to get the "Cool factor" the Zens are the only real competion for it though, and they have more features for less price. Find the best looking player with the best features and then hit up ebay for some deals. I have a few people with Zens and they perform rather well.
Click to expand...

The Zen and iPod are not direct competitors. They are not playing on the same field. It is like comparing a 325i to an Accord. Yeah, the Accord has more horsepower, but which would you rather have? The iPod is the ultra-player and the ONLY competitor in the same class is the iRiver.
 
Originally posted by emorphien
Nothing really, except that the iPod really isn't that good.

It was king for a while but they need to make some changes to get it back to the top... longer running time per charge, better sound quality
Click to expand...

I agree the ipod should have longer battery but better sound quality?! Which mp3 player has the best sound quality then?
 
You just need to encode in a better format/ higher rate. I don't encode in anything lower then 192 for AAC/ mp3/OGG.
 
The main problem that most iPod competitors have is that they're neither stylish nor necessarily all that user-friendly. Style might only really matter to fashion-conscious types (i.e. not most of the people here), but user-friendliness really makes a difference.

Take a look at the Tom's Hardware review of the Dell DJ as an example. That kind of initial experience might end up with an inexperienced user becoming frustrated and returning the DJ, not jamming to their favourite tunes. I know that the UI for the hardware and software of a Sony MD player killed its being used by the daughter of a family friend.

The iPod is pretty easy to use. I only ever actually used one last year, but it's not hard to get used to at all. Can't say that for most other players (the fact that there's an alternate UI for the Nomad called "Notmad Explorer" says a lot). And while you're pretty much stuck using iTunes with an iPod, I'd say that it beats having to use Musicmatch or some funky Windows Media Player plug-in.
 
I hope Apple makes an Ipod which supports Wav files for PC. They only have it for MAC :(
 
I've compared the iPod, Creative Zen and the iRiver all with MP3s encoded at 320 and as high as they'll go and the iPod consistently sounds worse, it's not just a matter of the encoding, I wouldn't make such a stupid statement as to say the iPod didn't sound as good only to tell you later I used an MP3 encoded at 96 on crappy sony headphones.

No sir, using the same Sennheiser cans, and a variety of high quality MP3s the iPod does not sound as good as the Zen or the iRiver. Between the Zen and iRiver it's tough to say which sounds the best, sometimes its one, sometimes it's the other.

But if you say the iPods sound quality is the same you're fooling yourself. It's perfectly acceptable for many people, but it's just clearly not as good regardless. To those who expect the best sound quality they're going to get, the iRiver or the Zen are far better choices.
 
I bought Notmad last night. Got my USB 2.0 Nomad Jukebox Zen 20gb last night as well in the mail.

Bought it used for 135.

I gotta know, what is so hard about this player? I navigated through my songs just fine. I have no idea what the problem is really. Maybe Notmad makes the difference? Worth the 25$ if so.

It was hard enough to spend 135 for this mp3 player and then 25 for the program...how can you people justify the purchase of a little box that cost 300-400 bucks? That, my friends, is where creative takes the cake. Not to mention they have great sound quality at that price. 14 hours of battery life too.


Anyway, when it comes down to price, Creative takes the cake.

I guess, though, if you can afford and blindly justify the purchase of an Ipod or Iriver, then by all means go for it.
 
For some it's about the stupid software that you have to use, I don't know because I've played with that and the iPod and I like them both.
 
Yeah, some have terrible software. I don't like how iTunes looks so much, but it does much better at getting the job done than most other managers (like musicmatch for example, yuck).

Thats one thing I like about the iRiver, it suits my style. No manager needed, just plug it in and drag and drop. This lets me manage it like any of my other physical drives. This approach doesn't work for everyone though, and the automatic management of iTunes is good for some people I imagine. :) I know some people who would be lost without it.
 
Originally posted by emorphien
Yeah, some have terrible software. I don't like how iTunes looks so much, but it does much better at getting the job done than most other managers (like musicmatch for example, yuck).

Thats one thing I like about the iRiver, it suits my style. No manager needed, just plug it in and drag and drop. This lets me manage it like any of my other physical drives. This approach doesn't work for everyone though, and the automatic management of iTunes is good for some people I imagine. :) I know some people who would be lost without it.
Click to expand...
I'm like you, I don't want anything fancy. just let me copy and be done with it.:cool:
 
Even iPod's use of iTunes to synch music collections to the device can be lost on some. I had a lady come over to the tech bench in my store saying her ipod wouldn't download any songs. We had iTunes installed on one of our PCs and I plugged into the 1394 port. The ipod downloaded some Beatles tracks that I had on the PC just fine. I still don't like not being able to drag and drop tunes in Windows Explorer to the ipod because since Winamp5 got released I'm not impressed with iTunes.
 
Nah, that doesn't bother me any. I just don't like the "cold" look of iTunes. It's... drab (?) I'm searching for the word. :)

I am somewhat partial to the Harman/Kardon theme I use in Winamp however, because my computer is so far away from my H/K receiver in the living room. lol

My desktop is somewhat cataclysmic in nature. ;)
 
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