Any good alternatives to the IPOD? Part 2

[stereoptic]

A revisiting of this thread from December 2004:
Any good alternatives to the IPOD? (http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=44980)

I am very happy with my 30G iPod and using iTunes to manage it (Apple lossless). Life is too short to be jiggling around with FLAC files, rockerboxes, etc. in my daily schedule.

So without any Apple or iPod bashing (or Mac or Microsoft for that matter), which portable music device do you use, how do you manage it, and why do you use it rather than an iPod?

[BooYaa!]

Rio Karma (still available secondhand.)
HeadRoom Total Bithead (for those of us that need to take digital files to the office, but don't necessary need the portability of a DAP.)

[flattie]

I currently use a Cowon iAudio U3 flash based player. Quite honestly I bought it because it's primary use is for during exercise so the flash based memory vs hdd was important AND I didn't want an ipod...

It supports lots and lots of file types including FLAC so this was a selling point.

It supports drag and drop - forget the protocol name - but your computer sees it as a detachable drive (E:/ for example) and I can drag and drop audio and video files to it so no need to use iTunes or Windows media or some other program. I tend to listen to albums in their entirety so playlists aren't a big deal to me though the unit internally allows for the creation of playlists.

As I digitize more and more of my collection I'm sure I'll want a larger DAP but maybe not - I kind of like going in and deliberately selecting what music is on the unit at a given time.

[biggerdog]

I'm using the Cowon iAudio G3, another flash player, only 2G. But it sounds good, has the UMS (drag and drop detachable drive method of loading files), and runs off one AA battery (can be NiMh if you like) forever.

It's very cute. I showed it to my wife, and let her listen, and she instantly wanted one. So I bought two more (I liked it so much, I wanted a spare).

I had bought a couple of the inexpensive Chinese players ($30 with rebate), but they had reliability issues, and one of them sounded really bad.

[stereoptic]

I like the design of the Cowons, and the interface looks easy enough to manipulate.

[Dillydipper]

Still tethered to my Creative Zen Micro - 5 gigs almost full!

[lv70smusic]

Given everything I've read about the Cowon brand, I think my next player will be one of those. I'm waiting for the A3 to be released to see how much it costs and what the reviews say. I'll keep my Sansa E280 for gym workouts and use the Cowon for other purposes (unless it turns out that using a hard disk based player doesn't present problems while exercising heavily).

I have a lot of good things to say about my Sansa but also some bad things: There are definitely bugs in their firmware that still aren't fixed. More importantly, while the sound quality is decent it could be better.

[Chip Z]

I have a Creative Zen Micro. My wife has a Nano. Although, the Nano clearly has more cache -- it's just incredibly cool little gadget -- I prefer my Zen. I'm not a big fan of the itunes software.

I should point out that I am on my second Zen as the screen on the first one crapped out after a little more than a year.

[Jim Rakowiecki]

About two weeks ago I picked up a Sansa Rhapsody E260 4 gig player which I listen to through a pair of PX 100's.

I use either Real Player or the Best Buy/Rhapsody software to manage it.
The interface on the player is a little clunky but usable. I have big fingers and find that the buttons are a little small. All in all the operation is OK but the sound quality leaves something to be desired. It is like listening to music over the phone.

This is my first MP3 player and sound qaulity aside it is an extremely convenient way to take my music with me.

[benintune]

Minidisc. I have the latest Sony MZ-RH1 and it is not only great for mobility but it is good for archiving and recording. It can record in and play wav files as well. This new model adds no drm or copy control so you can send tracks back and forth to your PC with no problems. If you like or can deal with compressed files then sony's ATRAC codecs are superior to mp3 IMO. But, you can use either and wma...I think.

[semidetached]

I finally bought an iPod - an iPod video, because it was the first one I saw that I felt had it right. I was an iRiver man - I liked the drag and drop functionality - made it simple. The fact that it had a color screen and a picture viewer (iPod didn't at that time) was an added bonus.

Having said that, I still felt the iPod (even as my player of choice now) was lacking some great features. Rockbox turned it into the player I really wanted - very close to what I liked about the iRiver.

[Walt]

I own a Creative Zen Vision: M (http://creative.com/products/product.asp?category=213&subcategory=214&product=14331) (30gb w/ video). I'm happy with it. I owned a 30gb iPod a year ago for about two weeks and i must have purchased a dud, 'cause it stopped working (tried resetting it and other things). I've uploaded a few of my favorite films and compressed the heck out of them - and the results are surprisingly good (about 250mb/film). The only thing is accessories aren't as readily available.

[Frumious B]

I currently have a 60GB Zen Xtra that is my primary music source everywhere I am except for home. Ipods have come down in price, but at the time I bought the Xtra it was about $100 cheaper than the 60GB Ipod. I was also a little antsy about reports of reliability and battery issues with Ipod at the time. Those seem to have been largely ironed out by Apple. If I were in the market today then I would probably go for the 80GB Ipod, but I'm hoping the Xtra holds up until a player with even more memory (100GB plus) than that comes along. I have read that I could upgrade the Xtra's hard drive quite easily. I rip most of CDs (1013 on the player at present) with the Creative Mediasource software that came with the player. In the sort of environments where I'm listening 128kbs mp3s are just fine (not quite as good as a CD, but better sound than the radio) so that is what I use, although I would eventually like to archive my entire collection to an external drive in some sort of lossless format like FLAC. That will be a mammoth undertaking and I am procrastinating. I did purchase Notmad Explorer to better manage the library and I have all my mp3s, except for my most recent acquisitions, backed up to an external drive.

[CraigVC]

About two weeks ago I picked up a Sansa Rhapsody E260 4 gig player which I listen to through a pair of PX 100's.

I use either Real Player or the Best Buy/Rhapsody software to manage it.
The interface on the player is a little clunky but usable. I have big fingers and find that the buttons are a little small. All in all the operation is OK but the sound quality leaves something to be desired. It is like listening to music over the phone.

This is my first MP3 player and sound qaulity aside it is an extremely convenient way to take my music with me.


I have this player too, and I generally agree with you on the pros and cons. They are pretty cheap right now (seems like Buy.com advertised them around $125 recently?).

The frequency response on these is a slight disappointment, but okay for my needs (listening while walking to the bus, riding the bus, walking downtown to work, walking home from the bus, listening on airplanes, etc.). With all the ambient noise around me during those times, critical listening is impossible anyway.

I will point out that a big selling point for me that caused me to buy the Sansa was that you can set the mode ("MSC" iirc) so that it won't use Rhapsody or Media Player or Real Player or anything else to manage it.

Basically, it works as a 4GB portable hard drive at that point, and any MP3 formatted files you drop into the "Music" folder will be cataloged and available for listening.

I avoid any "music management software" like the plague; I want to manage the files how I want to!

Craig(VC).

[coopmv]

I have managed to fill only 12GB of my 60 GB Creative Zen Ultra. But I also realize 6000+ recordings will not fit on a 60GB device.

[stereoptic]

thanks for the replies!

[trucker]

I have a 30 GB iPod video, which I love. This past winter, I slipped on a patch of ice, and my iPod went into an icy puddle and came out none the worse for wear.

I don't mess around with iTunes though. I've actually switched over to Linux, but in my Windows days I used EphPod. Among other advantages, it lets you copy stuff from any iPod onto your computer.

[wkohler]

I actually fell for iTunes 7, but it's a ram hog. I have a 40gb iPod - bought it the day before they announced the photo. It sounds much better than the new ones IMHO, and I found out why - better DAC.

[lv70smusic]

I assume by the "like listening to music over the phone" comment you mean that the quality is similar to a cell phone that also plays mp3s? If you actually are saying that it sounds like music being listened to on a standard land-line telephone, hopefully you can admit that your comment was not meant to be taken literally. If your Sansa player and PX 100's actually do sound like that, something is seriously wrong with one or both of them. The Sansa isn't the end-all in terms of audio performance, but it's decent -- certainly much higher quality sound that listening to music "on hold." :)

About two weeks ago I picked up a Sansa Rhapsody E260 4 gig player which I listen to through a pair of PX 100's.

I use either Real Player or the Best Buy/Rhapsody software to manage it.
The interface on the player is a little clunky but usable. I have big fingers and find that the buttons are a little small. All in all the operation is OK but the sound quality leaves something to be desired. It is like listening to music over the phone.

This is my first MP3 player and sound qaulity aside it is an extremely convenient way to take my music with me.

[Larry Johnson]

I actually fell for iTunes 7, but it's a ram hog. I have a 40gb iPod - bought it the day before they announced the photo. It sounds much better than the new ones IMHO, and I found out why - better DAC.

Better DAC???

I'm in the market for a portable player and want optimal sound quality. Which ipods have a better DAC?

[Dave D]

I really like my Sandisk Sansa. It's only 512 mB, but it's pretty sturdy and sounds excellent.

[jkauff]

I really like my Sandisk Sansa. It's only 512 mB, but it's pretty sturdy and sounds excellent.
Along the same lines, you can pick up older models of Pocket PCs pretty cheap (I bought an HP iPAQ on clearance at Staples) and add an SD memory card. Even the 2GB cards are really cheap now, so you can buy a few of them and swap them out.

Pocket Player is a shareware app that plays FLAC files, so you can easily go lossless. I tend to listen to full albums, and I can fit 3 or 4 on a 2GB card. Plus, you have a real computer instead of a music player. I play a bridge game on mine while I'm listening to music. If they had Internet access on the bus, I could surf the Web, too. :winkgrin:

[johmbolaya]

I found this website to be of interest:
http://www.anythingbutipod.com/

The latest instellment includes a look at a new VW (as in Volkswagen) MP3 player created with LG.

The website gets technical, so it's not just a bunch of graphics and brief blurbs.

[Jim Rakowiecki]

I assume by the "like listening to music over the phone" comment you mean that the quality is similar to a cell phone that also plays mp3s? If you actually are saying that it sounds like music being listened to on a standard land-line telephone, hopefully you can admit that your comment was not meant to be taken literally. If your Sansa player and PX 100's actually do sound like that, something is seriously wrong with one or both of them. The Sansa isn't the end-all in terms of audio performance, but it's decent -- certainly much higher quality sound that listening to music "on hold." :)

No, It is not literal. It does sound much better than a phone. I am a little dissapointed but since that post I have spent some time with the equalizer and have tweaked it to a place I'm pretty happy with.

[Vic]

Iriver HP140, I have three of them:edthumbs: .
Is the only one who has a digital output, so I use it just at transport with lossless FLAC for my rig at work:
FLAC>iRiver>Lavry DA-10 DAC>Original Master headphone amp>Audiotechnica W5000.
Great rig!
I cannot believe the have discontinued this beauty (the only one AFAIK than can be used as a transport with an external DAC). Infact on the second hand market it goes for much more than the original price and is practically impossible to find:cry: