which mp3 player is better ?

[sachintendulkar]

which of them has better music clarity
1.apple ipod mini (4 GB) of 250$
2.creative muvo 2 (4 GB) of 184$
3.creative nomad zen extra (30 GB) of 200$
4.apple ipod 20 gb for 300$
also suggest some other mp3 players in this range.

 

[darkpark]

when it comes to portable mp3 players it is really a toss up when it comes to sound quality. what you can do for better sound quality is to replace the headphones that come with the units. although, i have heard that some of the iRiver (www.iriver.com) mp3 players come with a decent pair of headhphones.

 

[compslckr]

i have a first generation dell jukebox 20gb and it is great. i have not had one problem with mine yet, and i use if for about 2 or 3 hours every day. 20gbs of space is nice, even though my music collection is closer to 35gbs. The unit is very durable feeling, and has a nice rubber strip around the outside edge so it stays in your hand when your a running with it, or just carrying it around with you.

I paid $139 shipped for it with one of those 10% off coupons that someone on these forums posted. for that price it is awesome, but now dell upped their prices and introduced the gen 2 and pocket sized units.

 

[mohammedtaha]

the iRiver mp3 players have really good head phones ... I was amazed when I heard the sound coming out of the head phones ... I switched them for the sony ear clip things because the small head phones don't stay in my ear .. they always fall out ..

BUT the sound quality is too damm amazing .. I must admit .. i couldn't believe the quality .. it just didnt make sense ...

Don't get ipod .. they're too expensive and aren't that great .. you can check the reviews .. i would say get the iRiver before gettin and ipod ... they have a seperate controller on the head phone wire and they have better sound quality and cheaper

 

[schapman]

The iRivers are also more open about what they play. They support MP3, WMA, ASF
and OGG which is a nice option to have.

 

[rayman2k2]

eh I used the iRiver, and I'm not a fan of it, i'll stay with my trust 15GB 3rd gen iPod.

 

[MrWoot]

i've heard the quality in iPods, and i must say they are really impressive. I'll be getting a new 20Gig ipod for christmas.

 

[E4g1e]

Also, you have to know that most of the MP3 players require their own proprietary jukebox software just to transfer songs from your computer to your MP3 player. iRiver is one of the few which doesn't require special software. However, that brand suffers from a not-so-intuitive jog control that's sized for small fingers and requires some fiddling to use correctly.

The current iRivers actually cost more than equivalent iPods right now. But the extra price buys you a color LCD display, which isn't really needed for MP3 player operation (a black-and-white or greyscale LCD display is more than adequate, IMHO).

The software which comes with Creative Nomads - the Nomad Explorer - is one of the most unstable, crash-prone software programs that I've encountered recently, right up there in infamy with Sony's SonicStage. Fortunately, third-party programs like Notmad Explorer can circumvent such bug-ridden OEM programs on the Creative models. However, the Zen Xtra is a slightly old-school design: It's bulkier and a tad heavier than most recent players. And the Creative-branded players suffer from a rather cumbersome player interface which may require many hours of learning just to even use the basics.

The iPod and iPod Mini are rather ubitiquous - the current generation pretty much sets the standard for ease of use (convenience). However, Apple went with AAC support instead of WMA; the other brands don't support AAC at all. Moreover, only the iPod and iPod Mini officially support the MacOS (in addition to Windows XP/2K); the other brands are officially stuck with Windows-only support (with their current software and firmware versions).

Note that all of these HD-based players deliver better sound quality than most other portable audio players. (Have you noticed how much crappier portable CD players have sounded in recent years?) And what about the line-out feature? Well, currently only Apple and iRiver offer one (though Apple buries that feature within the dock connector).

Thus, different horses for different courses.

 

[jaffy]

I have a Dell DJ, best player IMO. I have a 15gb model, and the battery lasts 23hours playing at medium volume through a pair of Grados. Dell uses a software called "DJ Explorer" which is very simple to use. Plus, the DJ has a voice recorder and you can get an attachment to listen/record radio.

 

[GodsMadClown]

Rio Karma.

- Plays Ogg, FLAC, MP3, WMA.

- 20 Gb HD, in a small form factor with long battery life.

- Dock comes with RCA output, and Ethernet for OS-independent, java-based network management.

- The audio quality of the headphone jack is superior to that of my friend's Ipod.

My wife loves hers.

 

[SilverMK3]

I <3 my iRiver H320.

20GBs; iRiver/Sennheiser ear buds, Color screen; MP3, OGG, WMA support; Direct ripping to mp3 from line-in, mic, or Radio; Display JPEGs; Shows up as USB HDD on any computer, no drivers necessary;

Also consider Red Chair Software's 3rd party software to manage your collection rather than the Bundled apps from Creative, iRiver, or Apple. I'm very happy with their Irivium Explorer.

 

[zachary80]

4

The new iPods even make the iRivers feel like bricks, and the weak bass people complain about has been supposedly fixed

 

[jerb]

e4g1e you said, "The current iRivers actually cost more than equivalent iPods right now. But the extra price buys you a color LCD display, which isn't really needed for MP3 player operation (a black-and-white or greyscale LCD display is more than adequate, IMHO)." there is a reason to this.. because black and white lcds arent truely black and white but more black and green, it is much easyer to read text on a screen that actually shows white.

i have an apple 40gig gen 4 and i think its ok. it lacks enough power to power most of my headfones but i think most of the portable mp3 players will. the sound on it is nice but it does use itunes. i use foobar2000 to transfer my music to it because it works much better. i love how it has selectable equalizers but you cant assign an eq to a song(very annoying if you have a mix of diverse music). the batterie life on it is great and i love the touch sensitive wheel.

 

[Ricedaddy]

I recently purchased a Rio Nitrus. I love it.

It holds 1.5gb of music, which really isn't that much compared to current players. I also wish is played ogg files.

Now to the good stuff. This thing is tiny. The unit rides the line of miniscule. I love it because I can put it in my back pocket and carry it around descreetly to anywhere I go. It really has the form factor of a flash player. The small size definately makes up for the rather small memory.

Speaking of capacity, I was actually amazed at how much music it would hold. I have more than a dozen full albums on there now with some room left over. I don't really need to card 20 gigs around with me in one day.

Battery life is awesome. Over 20 hours for me on a charge.

Sound quality is good. With a portable mp3 player, generally you're not using the best headphones (I use Sony MDR-EX71SL earbuds) so the quality of the music is still important, but less so than if you are, say, at home. The unit has an excellent signal to noise ratio, and the unit is powerful enough to drive the buds I use as well as full-size headphones I use at home.

It can be had for less than $150 too.

But the ipods are damn pretty...

Long winded...hope it helps.

 

[Decibel]

I recently aquired a Rio Carbon.

5 gigs and SEXY. Definatly worth a peek.

RiceDaddy, what compression are you using? WMA, mp3? 64k, 128k?

-dB