mp3 player that is not an ipod

K

kb12

Active Member
Hi, I am thinking of getting an mp3 players but do not want an ipod. I am usually very against mp3s and wont be using it for anything but headphone listening. Ill probably get a nice pair of shure's or something. What is a good priced and good sounding player that is not an ipod? Thanks!
 
If you are willing to spend that much for earphones (which I recommend) why not an Ipod? I had a Dell which I gave to my father. Then bought a pod. I like the Ipod much better and they are similar in price. Creative is close as well. I have used one and prefer the Ipod.
 
FWIW: I've played with almost all of them, including the Philips, Creatives, Sonys, etc. The iPods (all of them) are better-sounding, have a more intuitive interface, seem to be more rugged and reliable, and have good battery life.

If you don't want an iPod because of the stigma of the white box, get a black one. And IMHO, the Etymotic earphones are better than the Shures.
 
If you find a rio karma on ebay you can load it with flac's. That way your music will be lossless instead of the lossy mp3's.

Or you can see if rockbox.org has a firmware for another player that will allow you to play flac's or wavpacks.

I use a karma and I love it.

My opinion of IPODS is they are #1 because of marketing and form and not sound. Just my $0.02
 
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I bought Hi MD and love it. It records even in PCM (redbook) or using Sony's new attrac3 plus records for hours. The quality non PCM setting I can put a dozen albums on the removeable 1 gig disk and the headphone listening is very impressive.
You can also super compress to put "a hundred" albums on if you do not mind the mp3 sound.


Carl
 
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My niece gave me her ipod because she upgraded to the ipod video. I have been using for almost 3 years now an Archos Jukebox player. I have never replaced the batteries on my Archos (they are user replaceable with standard AA recharchables), I have upgraded the hard drive from the OEM 20 gig to an 80 gig (they are user replaceable), I have mishandled the unit by dropping it many, many times and it still works (gotta love the little blue rubber corner bumpers on the unit). It is not the most stylish, smallish, or lightest MP3 player out there, but I've gotten more than my money's worth - and continue to do so. The ipod? Well, it's so scratched and scuffed with only 4 month's of use that I'm embarressed to show it (the shiny surface scratches very easily). Oh yeah, another reason she gave it to me was because the battery died - after only 4 MONTHS!!! I replaced the battery and compared the sound of the Archos and ipod. They sound similar at high bit rates with good earphones. They are both easy to use. But the ipod costs twice what the Archos costs and failed way too soon. iPod ain't worth crap in my book - pure marketing at the younger and hipper audience.
 
CarlV said:
I bought Hi MD and love it. It records even in PCM (redbook) or using Sony's new attrac3 plus records for hours. The quality non PCM setting I can put a dozen albums on the removeable 1 gig disk and the headphone listening is very impressive.
You can also super compress to put "a hundred" albums on if you do not mind the mp3 sound.


Carl
Click to expand...


Carl, I like your taste in music - Ayreon rocks. Are you a progger?
 
The iPods (all of them) are better-sounding
Click to expand...
I have heard plenty reviews stating an opposing opinion. I think the Shuffle is the best sounding that I have heard, though.

I have a Creative Zen Micro and it does have a few limitiations compared to the iPod. The main issue is the sensitivity of the buttons. This can be very annoying if you want to select an artist/album quickly. I still use it more than my iPods because it is Rhapsody-to-go compatible and the iPods are not. Also, the battery on the Creative player is removable and the iPod (in theory) is not.
 
I have a Iriver h10 20 gig.
Aside from having to restore some system files once it is a great player.
Battery life in excess of 12 hrs.

I personally like the sound of the iriver better than the Ispod and I've listened to the same music, with the same headphones, ripped off of the same files, off the same laptop with both and the iriver has it over the ipod in all areas (i admit it was only an ipod shuffle) but thats why I have left the features comparison out of my addressing the differences betwixt the two.

The looks are another...eww are all ipods ever ugly.... the Iriver I have has a nice dark blue brushed aluminum case.
YMMV

Tal
 
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I have a Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen. I got it about 3 years ago and I really like it. I chose it over an I Pod because, at least at that time, it was a good deal less expensive.
 
I'd second the iRiver product line. Have it installed in my car ahd it holds over 3000 songs at 200kbps+ which is considered very high. Battery lasts 12-14 hours.

Visit www.misticriver.net to get more user input.

sdz
 
I had an Ipod and liked it's intuitivenes and thought it sounded great. Didn't like the short battery life and hated the iTunes software you must use to load it. Can't do any sharing and so fourth. I have a Muvo TX 1GB player and love that it shows up as a hard drive on your computer and you just drag and drop files into it. I think it sounds great. I use mine mostly for portable listening with external speakers, for camping, canoeing and tailgating and such. I like the fact it uses AAA batteries that last about 10 hours...I also have an MPIO FL-100 that that you can expand it's memory with MMC cards. I have several 512MB cards and some 128 and 256MB cards. On any given trip, or outing I go on I have over a hundred albums to choose from, or I have made custom playlists. The players will go until the batteries die, and you don't have to keep changing CD's or tapes. I like that. I'll bring them along to parties with an RCA audio cable adapter, plug it into the home stereo tape inputs and plenty of tunes non stop for everyone. Using WMA's at 96KPS or higher is pretty good fidelity for me.
 
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First of all, what will be its main use - working out, car/plane rides, etc? If you want something to work out with, don't go with a hard-drive based player. Would you pick up your computer and shake it around? Didn't think so. If you won't be working out with it, Creative makes some of the best MP3 players out there, with the most powerful headphone amps and highest quality sound. I had the Nomad Zen Xtra and it was a great MP3 player. For flash based players, the options are nearly endless. I like the iPod shuffle because of how simple it is and it plugs into a USB port directly, but you can find others in that price range that do more. Do your research and determine what it is you want it to do.
 
Hmm, well the iPod Nano is the only one that is not a hard drive if I understand correctly. If you asked me, I'd say the spinning hard drive and any battery technology is incompatible.

The other aspect is that it apears that MP3 player manufacturers are avoiding the superior removable camera media on purpose in a marketing ploy.

Therefore, the Korean CF card player NEX-II is my suggestion. Sound is very highly rated among the likes of iRiver and others when it first came out, sounds as good as the better players to me. I stared with 128Mb, then 500, and now use a 2 gig CF card (which maxes out the original model for power consumption). With the new model NEX, next year, maybe 4 gigs or more? Then you can have multiple cards..... -sf
 
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