mp3 player......$150 max

[Killa_2327]

Well you can get your Ipod, or you can go with a superior and cheaper MP3 player made by Creative (EAX for sound quality anybody?). Not to mention how easy they are to repair. I decided 30gb's wasnt enough for my mp3 player so I opened it up and what is that? A laptop hard drive, swap, install the OS and I have double the space now. My mp3 player is about 2-3 years old and the original battery still gets about 14 hours of playing time on a full charge. Oh & if the battery dies for good, I buy a new one and open the cover (no screws) and pop a new one in.

 

[Lighthammer]

Well you can get your Ipod, or you can go with a superior and cheaper MP3 player made by Creative (EAX for sound quality anybody?). Not to mention how easy they are to repair. I decided 30gb's wasnt enough for my mp3 player so I opened it up and what is that? A laptop hard drive, swap, install the OS and I have double the space now. My mp3 player is about 2-3 years old and the original battery still gets about 14 hours of playing time on a full charge. Oh & if the battery dies for good, I buy a new one and open the cover (no screws) and pop a new one in.

WTF!?! Comparing Creative to Apple is like comparing Ford to BMW. Apples and Oranges also comes to mind considering the only market either company competes in is the portable MP3/VIDEO sector.

[SARCASM] Oh and guess what, if the battery dies in my sisters 3rd Gen IPOD, I buy a new one for less than $15 shipped and pop open the cover (no screws) and in she goes! Real tough job! [/SARCASM]

 

[Killa_2327]

I wasn't comparing both companies in general if you know how to read. I was comparing them in the MP3 player market, as this isn't the Creative's PC (wtf?) vs. Apple's Mac thread.

I dont know what your trying to say with the second one, but I wasn't lying about my Zen. Go ahead and change your Ipod battery and get scratches and knife marks all over it.

Here, lets compare them again.

The Ipod wins in:
Portability
Tv Ads

The Zen wins in:
Sound Quality
Value
Battery Life
HD Space
Useability (OPINION ON MY BEHALF! Drag n' drop ftw!)

And the reason I say HD space is..how much is a 60 gb Ipod? $400? You can get a Zen Xtra 60gb for $200ish. Not only that but Creative makes so many more MP3 players. Zen Neeon? Zen Nano? Zen Micro? Zen Sleek? More? Nothing against apple but in the MP3 player market, Creative wins hands down. Ipod is popular because of its tv-advertising and its size.

 

[Rofl-Mic-Lofl]

I personally would go with Creative. I was actually surprised at how the sound quality was significantly better.

 

[garrettgjb]

I dispise ipods with a passion, they are clearly worse than Creatives mp3 players, yet because of the commercials and the fact that everyone has one, everyone has or wants one. Every time I'm asked "I'm thinking about getting an ipod for my kid", I stop them and tell them to get a creative mp3 player. I tell them ipods arent as good, they are just flashy. My friends and I all think that they look worse than the zens but reviewers usually say that zens are less sleek than ipods.

My sister got an ipod and she had to use itunes, wow what a peice of crap.Gotta love drag n drop.

At this point if I was to buy an mp3 player, I would choose the New Zen Vision M, looks awesome and has a better screen than the video ipods, its just a little thicker.

I dont know if Im allowed to do this but since the original poster talked about the zen micro 4gb, I have my 6gb on ebay at buy it now for $140 free shipping and $125 bid.. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120004326304

Im selling mine cause I never use it, its the best mp3 player ive ever used.

 

[Chris_Morley]

Keep it civil or I close the thread.

 

[osalcido]

I was looking at those Creative zen neeons.. theyre pretty. Theyre hard disk based though
Anyways,
I picked up a Creative Zen Nano Plus 1 gb For 60 bucks. I'll let you know how it is when I get it
edit:
I just read that theres a new version of the Neeon about to come out (flash based)... any one know when those are due?

 

[garrettgjb]

Heh, im a little confused, whats bad about hard drive based player?

 

[Darakian]

Heh, im a little confused, whats bad about hard drive based player?

Prone to Damage, high power draw, seek time, and maybe some more. The up side is storage space

 

[Grap3S0da]

I have a 30GB Video Ipod and I cannot live a day without it (because I love music..not necessarily the player)..but I am not 100% sure if I should recommend it to you. iTunes and the interface/clickwheel is excellent...but the battery life is HORRIBLE. Of course you have probably heard this from other people and you might not think it is that bad..but coming from a CD player that uses AA batteries that last months to an ipod will have dissappointed.

For example I went on a week trip to the Bahamas and barely used my ipod on the airplane ride..and only got 2 days at the beach before the "Your ipod is low on battery" message popped up..and I was left without music. I was too "cheap" to cough up the (ridiculous) $40 for the AC adapter/wall charger and there was no USB port for me to charge my ipod. If you are planning to watch movies just eliminate the current video ipod because you will probably only get an hour or 2 max with the backlight being on that long.
PROS:
Interface
iTunes (preference)
Aesthetics
Clickwheel
Large support from 3rd Party Companies
CONS:
Horrendous Battery Life (the battery meter is not that accurate either and once it starts dropping you will be so worried when iit will run out
Ridiculous pricetags on accesories (a good case is necessary and the headphones that come with it are also pretty bad if you are an audiophile)

Right now the video ipod is ok for me because (other than when I am on vacation) I have time to charge my ipod..but I don't know how long this battery will last. The Creative players look good but I have no personal experience with them..and I might go with them for my next mp3 player or hopefully the next gen ipod improves battery life (I don't really care about the video that much! Just improve things that music listeners need!)

Conclusion: Don't go with the current gen video ipod (unless if it is free .
The nano is pretty good and seems to have better battery life but you are limited to 4GB..

 

[garrettgjb]

That stinks, the zen micro has really good battery life, they say it lasts 14 hours, but I've only used mine for about 4 hours straight.

 

[Robizzle01]

I'm not going to bother entering a debate about why ipod users like ipods so much and why the converse is equally true but I can share my experiences.

iPods used to have lots of battery problems. Lots of pre-video pods started to die after about a year of use. I don't know if this is still a problem with the video ipods, shuffles and nanos.

I bought my mom a shuffle for when she walks the dog and she loves it. Now she uses it when she goes biking and maybe even at the gym. She has not complained about any battery problems and I know she places it on a charger after every use.

I have owned a 5gb, 10gb and now a 60gb video ipod. I bought the 5gb iPod from best buy and got the BB warrenty. The trusty thing has been sure to fail me before the warrenty ever ends and so I get a free upgrade (since apple comes out with new models so often and best buy cant not replace it, they give me the cash to spend elsewhere in the store -- I always chip in any difference and get the latest ipod at the time.) I plan on doing the same when my video ipod breaks.

What I like about this is that the lifetime of the product is very similar to it's usable lifetime (for me at least.) Just when the storage is starting to become insufficient or there is a new feature that I really want (video isn't that great except for plane trips), I get to exchange/upgrade it. Of course I have to pay for a new BB warrenty but I can't complain about that. I'm not so sure that the video ipod will be in the same boat as the others, but time will tell. I think i may have gotten a 2 or 3 year warrenty but i should look that up.

 

[Direwolf]

Work at bestbuy as an agent and let me tell you I hate Ipods. Sure the majority buy them and thats why I might see one or four every day. 80% past the 30 day store return policy have to be sent to the manfact for repair jobs. I see "way" to many of the buggers to recommand one unless your rich. I might see a creative once a week or two at the most, thats what I would recommand.

As for the video players, the creative has better quality/clarity in video... battery life is better but the unit is a descent bit thicker. As for the micro's ect I usually never see them. Ipod nano's I rarely see as well.. maybe 4 a week. The screens very easily broken/brittle though.

my opinon

 

[RoffleCopter]

I'm getting the Zen Vision : M, hands down. It's loads better than the ipod, and it comes in GREEN! Yes, the Zen Vision : M is teh sexy

 

[garrettgjb]

I'm surprised no one has talked about the irivers yet, I've owned two of them, I thought they were pretty cool.

 

[General Crespin]

I <3 H340