New MP3 Player Recommendations?
 

My old Creative Nomad Zen Jukebox 30gb is on it's last legs. I'm looking at a new MP3 player and was curious if any of my fellow FOFCers had strong feelings about either the Zen Vision M 30gb or one of the new IPod 30gb's?

I am a PC-user and I own pretty much all the music I will put on the machine (i don't see ITunes Music Store as a positive feature of the IPod then).

Any opinions here?

dola

i've done the epinions route and read a whole bunch of reviews on the web, i'm looking for more personal endorsements / comments from folks here

A quick question, do you currently use most of the 30GB of space? If not, one of the flash memory models might be a good option to look at.

i use a good deal of it (~15 or so) and I like the idea of having the extra space for future albums I will buy, or pictures/video/applications.

loved the zen nomad 60gb model i had and would highly recommend it, love the ipod 60gb (video) because of ease of use. Thought i don't download anything through the itunes music store, i use itunes to organize all my music, because i think it's a fantastic program. It's nice having the synergy between player and home setup.

Same here with the iPod video (30gb).. although I do use iTunes for purchasing much of my music these days, so it is an added feature for me.

The ease of use of both iTunes->iPod and the iPod itself is incredible...

If you don't use iTunes, then selecting an MP3 player purely becomes a price issue. There really aren't that much in feature differences between the various models.

I have an iPod and am still in love with it, will definitely get one of the new video ones when mine goes out. Everyone I know who has one seems to love it.

I recently bought a new Zen Vision M for myself and another for my wife, I even bought one for my neighbor as a gift.

I started using WMP 11 beta instead of the Creative software and although initially I needed to cleanup my database of 40+ gig I couldn't be happier. The sound is great, the few videos I made looked good as well.

I personally find ITunes to be restrictive and cold, but obviously millions love it. when I purchase music, I use to buy a lot of real CD' or from ITunes and then burn a CD. Lately I have been using URGE - which is the MTV tie in with WMP 11.

I guess this is a bass-ackwards post, seeing as though I already placed my order, but I'm purchasing an iAudio U2 2GB flash player from Cowan. I read great things about it...a bit on the expensive side ($130 with "free" armband and AC adapter), but i'ts small, has nice features, and is near the top in audio quality, which matters a great deal to me (I need to be deaf by age 40).

The main reason for the purchase is to replace my iRiver 512 MB player that I use for working out. It still works great, the sound is terrific, but the software no longer works with any of my computers, so I'm stuck with what I've had on there for about 6 months. I did enough research to conclude that it is an iRiver problem they ain't worried about fixing, so I'm moving on. The 2 GB should give me enough room for a far wider selection of music to listen to, and the U2 is small enough that it will be good for workouts.

Anyone have one or have any comments about it?

Can I be your neighbor? Geez, from my neighbors I'm lucky to get the snarky comment of the day, and some cigarette butts on my front lawn.

since this thread is bumped let me shamelessly post-whore in my own thread by stating that i LOVE LOVE LOVE my zen vision M.

I also have a Nomad 30gb and it's great for a 2 1/2 year old MP3 player. But people always get a good chuckle when they see how big it is compared to today's players, and it is strickly black text, nothing fancy at all. At this point it is very much outdated, and the battery is slowly starting to go. I used to get 14 hours on a full charge and now I'm lucky to get 7.

I'd probably buy an iPod 80GB with video these days if I was going to upgrade. I'm constantly at the 30GB limit right now, and if I could put videos on my player it would be a lot higher than that.

The new Apple Shuffle thats coming out looks very nice.

http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/

I just got my 2GB iAudio G3 in the mail today (it's currently on sale at $105 on Amazon, it cost me $80 with a gift certificate I applied to the order). I was toying with returning it for a U2 or U3, because they look sleeker. But, I will probably keep this one since I am swayed by the fact that ithe G3 runs on AA batteries...

It's my first mp3 player, so I'm pretty excited to try it out.

Yeah, I wasn't thrilled with the fact that the U2 has an integrated rechargeable battery, since I assume that means at some point in the future the unit will become useless when the battery goes. But if it's 2-3 years, I guess I can live with it being semi-disposable at $130.

I guess in the end, the rechargeable battery shouldn't be that big a deal for most people--I guess that many tech savvy people will just buy the next greatest thing when the battery finally gives out.

For me, I tend not to replace my technology very frequently, plus I do take really long international flights a few times a year where even a 15-20 hr charge wouldn't cut it. So, the G3 was the best choice for me.

Since I never had an mp3 player before and have no point of comparison, the G3 still looks pretty tiny to me. People say that it is zippo-lighter small, while the U2 is bic-lighter small. The only potential deal-breaking quirk to the G3 and U2 is that there is a 650 file maximum--which probably isn't a big deal if you encode at high bit-rates. The U3 does not have the file capacity problem, plus has a higher output (30+30w); so a lot of people seem to suggest that if you are looking at the U2, you should also seriously consider the U3, since the latter is also starting to come down on price.

I looked at the U3 and decided I only needed the U2 for what I'm using it for. I've still got a 5GB Zen Micro that I use for long trips; the U2 is pretty much going to be for working out only. And yeah, I encode at 192, so the file limit isn't going to impact me.

Very nice.

I'm pretty happy with the G3 so far--sound quality and functionality are as advertised. Being that the G3 and U2 are virtually identical other than the battery and casing, I would suspect that you will be pleased with the U2.

He did my refinance for free which saved me about 8 grand, so a $400 Mp3 player seemed like a bargain.