Help me choose a non iPod music player

pilonv1 · Post by **pilonv1** » 05 Nov 2006 12:47 pm

I'm not buynig an iPod because I want an FM tuner and I hate itunes. I was looking at Dick Smiths and JB today and saw some nice Creative ones. I'm looking for something small, 2GB+, no stupid software (drag+drop) with a decent screen so I can read the tracks.

I liked the Zen V+ and the Zen Neeon. Dick Smith had a 4GB Zen V+ for $270 (same price as the 2GB interestingly) and the Neeon 2gb was $220.

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The big negative for the Zen V+ is that stupid joystick that brings back horrid memories of my K700i. I saw the Sandisk Sansa e200 one and it looked nice too. Any other suggestions or advice from people who have used them?

AgOnNy · Post by **AgOnNy** » 05 Nov 2006 06:20 pm

You've already made a great choice with Creative mate. I'd stick with one of them.

Timbo · Post by **Timbo** » 05 Nov 2006 08:14 pm

What about your phone??? I reckon in 5 years time seperate music players will be extinct. Especially when you can buy a 4 gig mem stick for 200 bucks.

selfish · Post by **selfish** » 05 Nov 2006 08:39 pm

lol @ mp3 players without a touch wheel to scroll

jizzlobber · Post by **jizzlobber** » 05 Nov 2006 09:06 pm

I had a zen touch, loved it!
sold it to buy a cheap multimedia player, sound quality isn't near as good

Megaman · Post by **Megaman** » 05 Nov 2006 09:13 pm

I have a Zen V+, it's great, get one of them.

luro · Post by **luro** » 05 Nov 2006 09:56 pm

the cowon iaudio u2 and u3 are pretty cool. i think they had FM

westical · Post by **westical** » 05 Nov 2006 10:00 pm

My Zen Touch hasn't missed a beat so far. Can't go wrong with Creative.

lestat · Post by **lestat** » 05 Nov 2006 10:08 pm

Timbo wrote:What about your phone??? I reckon in 5 years time seperate music players will be extinct. Especially when you can buy a 4 gig mem stick for 200 bucks.

Yep that's what I've done. K750i + 4gb memory stick duo. All up cost me $480 and I'm one happy camper.

pilonv1 · Post by **pilonv1** » 06 Nov 2006 09:14 am

K700i turned me off the Sony range, even though I know they don't have those flimsy joysticks anymore.

Zen V+ it is

Do you have to use the software for it MM? And what's the battery life like?

t0mby · Post by **t0mby** » 06 Nov 2006 10:15 am

The Sony w800i is an awesome phone/walkman with built in radio and presets as well as an mp3 player. 4gb stick and you are sussed.

Seraph · Post by **Seraph** » 06 Nov 2006 01:05 pm

My Iriver has served me faithfully since I got it, though it's a lot bigger than you would require (at 40gb). It's drag-n-drop, has a nice FM tuner, all those other features etc., etc. You'd just have to find out if their newer models support the same "acts as a hard drive/flash drive when connected to a PC" behaviour.

pilonv1 · Post by **pilonv1** » 06 Nov 2006 02:01 pm

The DSE near where I work has it for $329

. I'll have to check back with the store in Newcastle where I saw it for $269 to make sure they have some or that the store here will match it.

Megaman · Post by **Megaman** » 06 Nov 2006 06:29 pm

pilonv1 wrote:Do you have to use the software for it MM? And what's the battery life like?

I use Windows Media Player to put music on it. The battery seems to last forever, it charges when you have it plugged in via USB.

BOOMY · Post by **BOOMY** » 06 Nov 2006 11:38 pm

I'm not buynig an iPod because I want an FM tuner and I hate itunes.

Testify!

lol @ mp3 players without a touch wheel to scroll

lol @ misguided apple love.

AFAIK virtually all the iRivers have drag and drop/hd styles, voice recording and fm tuner. There are a couple of (unfortunately uglier than the zen) smaller models than the 40gb mentioned in this thread.
Commodore(as in c64) also has a 1GB player out, dunno anything bout it but I just think its nifty they are releasing products under the commodore name with the c64 logo.

Madmya · Post by **Madmya** » 06 Nov 2006 11:48 pm

the problem i have with mobile phones as mp3 players is the headphone sockets. Do they have the normal headphone jacks or are they their own gay one where you have to buy their own, shitty headphones?

Cos that's a pretty friggen big issue.

Darwi · Post by **Darwi** » 07 Nov 2006 05:21 am

I am loving my Zen Vision:M

The only piss me off thing is that you can only recharge it via USB... and I can't install the software at work... so I'm stuffed if it goes flat until I get home.

But anyway... a good resource for true-believers...

http://www.anythingbutipod.com

pilonv1 · Post by **pilonv1** » 07 Nov 2006 09:02 am

I got the 4gb Zen V+ last night for $270, and it's awesome. I didn't need to use the software to put files on it which was good. However coming from a player that listed my albums/files in a normal directory structure I'm tearing out my hair trying to find tracks since I can only list them by artist/album/genre etc. I'll need to get some playlists set up I think.

lestat · Post by **lestat** » 07 Nov 2006 10:16 am

Madmya wrote:the problem i have with mobile phones as mp3 players is the headphone sockets. Do they have the normal headphone jacks or are they their own gay one where you have to buy their own, shitty headphones?

Cos that's a pretty friggen big issue.

There are lots of adapters you can find now that converts the mobile phone headset socket into a standard 3.5mm headphone connector.

For example.

Currently i'm just using the default headphones that come with k750, i find they're pretty decent and the handfree comes in handy for making/receiving calls while I'm on the train listening to music.

Talez · Post by **Talez** » 07 Nov 2006 11:27 am

Or to take lestat's idea one step further

3.5mm socket and you still get access to a remote.

selfish · Post by **selfish** » 07 Nov 2006 08:18 pm

lol @ mp3 players without a touch wheel to scroll
lol @ misguided apple love

well what's a better way of quickly going through a list as long as your arm on a portable device? buttons?

intuitive acceleration = speed *and* accuracy

mech · Post by **mech** » 07 Nov 2006 10:58 pm

pilonv1 wrote:I got the 4gb Zen V+ last night for $270, and it's awesome. I didn't need to use the software to put files on it which was good. However coming from a player that listed my albums/files in a normal directory structure I'm tearing out my hair trying to find tracks since I can only list them by artist/album/genre etc. I'll need to get some playlists set up I think.

Do your MP3s not have ID3 tags or something?

selfish · Post by **selfish** » 08 Nov 2006 12:08 am

i concur
as far as i can tell, people's primary objection to itunes is that it relies on your music collection being organised i.e. properly tagged

pilonv1 · Post by **pilonv1** » 08 Nov 2006 09:06 am

mech wrote:Do your MP3s not have ID3 tags or something?

They do but a lot of them are named differently, and for some reason certain ones aren't coming up under the right tags. I'll sort it out on the weekend when I get some time.

mech · Post by **mech** » 08 Nov 2006 09:18 am

selfish wrote:i concur
as far as i can tell, people's primary objection to itunes is that it relies on your music collection being organised i.e. properly tagged

I know...

Never been a problem for me, but I don't pirate nearly as much music as most people