i-Pods Without i-Tunes
- Thread starter El Jefe
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hiraethified
I'm not really up with the Zen range (I think the Zen Stone is the one), but this cheapo player got a rave review in the CNet article:
It's as cheap as chips in the UK - £18 upwards.5. SanDisk Sansa Clip
SanDisk Sansa Clip
Like the Insignia Pilot, we were not expecting much from the Sansa Clip. Why on earth would SanDisk pack one of their best sound chips into an MP3 player costing less than $50? The Clip's -1.36dB frequency response deviation average is slightly better than the iPod Classic, and a closer inspection of the graph reveals absolutely no frequency dips between the audible range of 20Hz-22kHz. A total harmonic distortion score of -65.25dB and an SNR of -84.78dB makes the Clip a top pick for budget audiophiles who have already put themselves in debt with their $500 headphones.
Reviews: http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/index.cfm?reviewid=1582
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/07/25/review_sansa_clip_mp3_player/
Looks good... but only 2GB, nowhere near enough for me.
The Zen looks too big to be the equivalent of the Nano.
There's one called the X-Fi, which looks about right. Same price as the new Nano for the 16GB. I'll have a look, but the interface is going to have to be pretty special to make me want to change.
Oh, and my in-car kit is all Apple specific.
editor
hiraethified
I like the look of that. And it has a radio!I think it is the Creative Zen.
iirc they usually undercut Apple by around £20 for the same capacity.
editor
hiraethified
That's just rubbish, really.
I couldn't disagree more. Which shows that at best, it's subjective. In which case you and tarannau need to tone down the rather absolutist propaganda.
Sunray
Its sunny somewhere.
I've tried literally 100's of MP3 players over the years, including most of the creative line and loads of other now defunct models. Had a go a the Zune recently, which is pretty decent I must say. Nice and bold.
They all do the job they play music. This argument is really about form and function and none of them have that nailed down quite as well as the iPod series.
I like my gizmos to work brilliantly and I am the most unforgiving critic if they don't. The iPod not only works really well but looks good too. If it was shit I probably wouldn't own one and if I had got one I wouldn't let go about how shit it was.
They all do the job they play music. This argument is really about form and function and none of them have that nailed down quite as well as the iPod series.
I like my gizmos to work brilliantly and I am the most unforgiving critic if they don't. The iPod not only works really well but looks good too. If it was shit I probably wouldn't own one and if I had got one I wouldn't let go about how shit it was.
I disagree. Wholeheartedly
Sunray
Its sunny somewhere.
Hmm, this is interesting. I like my iPod nano a lot - easy to use, small, sounds okay, plenty of capacity - but iTunes is starting to get on my nerves. It gobbles up memory, for a start. This thread might even induce a complete luddite like me to have a go at changing software...
Apple irks Sunray #1 : You often need to use iTunes simple because Apple keep fiddling about with the iPods database on a firmware update and it takes a bit of time for the alternatives to catch up. Thats cost me the entire music database once or twice already and because its not sync'ed to iTunes I can't resync it.
Well you may be genuinely of the very rare opinion that the ipod's UI isn't class leading, with most of its competitors using largely similar, often derivative, menu systems, only without the patented scroll wheel or multitouch gestures for convenience. But you'd be highly unusual.
Or you may just be being stubborn.
What's so different about Creatives in use then - I found them not dissimilar to ipods if I'm honest (we used to have one as the work jukebox) only with buttons that didn't work as swiftly as the more logical scroll wheel?
Your opinion seems to differ from the vast majority of people I've encountered, and of the UI experts that I've read, but I salute your singlemindedness.
I think most would agree that the ipod scrollwheel was both iconic and highly practical. Same goes for the success of multitouch on the iphone and ipod touch.
I think most would agree that the ipod scrollwheel was both iconic and highly practical. Same goes for the success of multitouch on the iphone and ipod touch.
Silva
This went well.
I've played a bit with an iPod Touch a few weeks ago - it's very nice looking and works pretty well, but the thought of having something worth that much in my bag scares me, and for that price, I'd rather buy a Netbook.
Bought a cheap 1GB Samsung player a few weeks ago, and works well in the purpose of keep me in company during commutes, and is cheap enough for me to don't care about being mugged. If I was to buy a better player, I'd probably settle for a larger Samsung model. In other words, buy what feels right, not what everyone else is saying
Bought a cheap 1GB Samsung player a few weeks ago, and works well in the purpose of keep me in company during commutes, and is cheap enough for me to don't care about being mugged. If I was to buy a better player, I'd probably settle for a larger Samsung model. In other words, buy what feels right, not what everyone else is saying
editor
hiraethified
The Apple interface is excellent, but some people may find other ones superior. And that's not an act of singlemindedness. That's a personal preference.
End of.
Silva
This went well.
Well... it's not that dangerous. I was mugged only once (plus a freak encounter when a couple of guys with a gun approached me, but then saw my face and ran away... I think they were trying to scare someone) in many years. It's just that if I'm mugged again, I'd rather not be carrying a €250 MP3 player and more gadgets of the same price, and the kind of costumers that appear on the store are mostly of dubious morals, and I'd bet many of them willing to "wait" if they felt they were mistreated by me. And it's not just that - I had my sunglasses broken twice in public transport and my cellphone is terminally damaged after getting some rain over it.
Plus, it's not like I need a large capacity, video-playback capable MP3 player. If I had, then I'd consider something more expensive. As I said, if something feels "right" with me, then I'm fine with it.
I've got a 30GB one of these, me:
Creative Zen Vision M
The sound quality's absolutely lovely but I've long since outcapacitated it so I think I'm going to need one with a much bigger capacitator and only the iPod Classic fits the bill, really. Which is a shame cuz I rly love my Zen and have an instinctive dislike of iTunes and anything Apple, even though the iPod's navigational controls are second to none. No, they really are. imo. ime. etc. I have to give them that. I suppose I could just keep swapping stuff on and off but I really like the idea of having all my music on the one gadget and playing whatever takes my fancy. I wish Creative would just upgrade their capacitors and make me a very happy man.
Anyway, organisation tip, doing away with much needless scrolling. If you don't make much use of your collection's Genre tags and tend not search by them, why not: load your player into Winamp or your preferred device manager and change the Genre tags to match the first letter of the artiste's name (or surname if appropriate) - A for for Air, Arthur Askey and The Adverts; B for Tim Buckley, The Birthday Party and the Barron Knights; etc.
I do this on the player only, leaving the tags on the originals unotuched, and I use Winamp because it retag's the player files fast and well.
Basically what you end up with then when you select to search by genre is an A-Z of artistes organised in the way you want. I expect more modern players already have this facility but this works well for older players that don't and cuts out much of the endless scrolling.
You're welcome.
Creative Zen Vision M
The sound quality's absolutely lovely but I've long since outcapacitated it so I think I'm going to need one with a much bigger capacitator and only the iPod Classic fits the bill, really. Which is a shame cuz I rly love my Zen and have an instinctive dislike of iTunes and anything Apple, even though the iPod's navigational controls are second to none. No, they really are. imo. ime. etc. I have to give them that. I suppose I could just keep swapping stuff on and off but I really like the idea of having all my music on the one gadget and playing whatever takes my fancy. I wish Creative would just upgrade their capacitors and make me a very happy man.
Anyway, organisation tip, doing away with much needless scrolling. If you don't make much use of your collection's Genre tags and tend not search by them, why not: load your player into Winamp or your preferred device manager and change the Genre tags to match the first letter of the artiste's name (or surname if appropriate) - A for for Air, Arthur Askey and The Adverts; B for Tim Buckley, The Birthday Party and the Barron Knights; etc.
I do this on the player only, leaving the tags on the originals unotuched, and I use Winamp because it retag's the player files fast and well.
Basically what you end up with then when you select to search by genre is an A-Z of artistes organised in the way you want. I expect more modern players already have this facility but this works well for older players that don't and cuts out much of the endless scrolling.
You're welcome.
) gen one in the car & the sound quality from it is fucking dreadful. I mean seriously awful. Direct line in as well.Similar threads
