PSP over Ipod?

[pk500]

Re: PSP over Ipod?

Now to contradict PK...
Based on my own bad experience with the 40GB Creative ZenXtra player, I actually will tell anyone and everyone who will listen to avoid Creative products like the plague. I am biased to be sure, however, if you do get one you should seriously consider picking up a protection/replacement warranty because Creative's warranty and product support is b-a-d BAD.

You are clearly the exception, rather than the rule. I know a lot of people, both on forums and in "real life," who have Creative players and love them.

The Creative players also get consistently high ratings from review sites and consumers. By far the best player on the market for the money. IPods are quite nice, too, but terribly overpriced. No question the ergonomics and easy navigation are worth a few extra bucks, but you're paying at least an extra $100 for the "cool factor," which does nothing to deliver better sound or increase capacity.

Take care,
PK

[pk500]

Re: PSP over Ipod?

Now to contradict PK...
Based on my own bad experience with the 40GB Creative ZenXtra player, I actually will tell anyone and everyone who will listen to avoid Creative products like the plague. I am biased to be sure, however, if you do get one you should seriously consider picking up a protection/replacement warranty because Creative's warranty and product support is b-a-d BAD.

You are clearly the exception, rather than the rule. I know a lot of people, both on forums and in "real life," who have Creative players and love them.

The Creative players also get consistently high ratings from review sites and consumers. By far the best player on the market for the money. IPods are quite nice, too, but terribly overpriced. No question the ergonomics and easy navigation are worth a few extra bucks, but you're paying at least an extra $100 for the "cool factor," which does nothing to deliver better sound or increase capacity.

Take care,
PK

[b_assassin]

Re: PSP over Ipod?

You are clearly the exception, rather than the rule. I know a lot of people, both on forums and in "real life," who have Creative players and love them.

The Creative players also get consistently high ratings from review sites and consumers. By far the best player on the market for the money. IPods are quite nice, too, but terribly overpriced. No question the ergonomics and easy navigation are worth a few extra bucks, but you're paying at least an extra $100 for the "cool factor," which does nothing to deliver better sound or increase capacity.

Take care,
PK

I know, I am in the minority when it comes to hating on Creative's players, but I won't let that stop me A little background: I had a first-run 40gb Creative Nomad ZenXtra and the headphone jack failed after the warranty expired, rendering it pretty much useless. This made me sad

If one equates "value" to lower cost and more storage capacity, then the ZenXtra wins hands down, no argument here.

The iPod is more expensive, but after being burned by the "value" of the ZenXtra, my definition of value in portable music players has changed a bit. To start off, the iPod comes with higher quality headphones, a longer warranty (1-year compared to 90 days) and arguably superior product support. After you add up the cost of a better warranty (~$40) and a decent set of headphones ($20-$40?), the ZenXtra's only real edge is in storage capacity IMO. My ear isn't sharp enough to discern much of a difference in sound quality, but having listened to both I feel the iPod sounds better out of the box (mostly due to the headphones I'm sure). Additionally, if you want to tweak the sound quality by turning on the ZenXtra's EAX equalizer feature it cuts the battery life in HALF. That leaves with an average battery life of 6 hours on one charge with the ZenXtra, compared to 10-12 hours with a newer 20gb iPod. And most importantly, people that own iPods are cooler, period. Ok, I'm kidding about that last part.

I'm not trying to start an argument over music players, as I know that PK and many others will vouch for Creative's products. I'm just trying to point out that you are getting a little more than ergonomics and "cool factor" when you decide to invest in an iPod. In general, I encourage people to do some research and always consider getting additional warranties when investing in things like MP3 players and game consoles. In most instances, the extended warranties are a rip off, but with products that get a lot of use, they can be a worthy investment.

Ok, thats enough from me, back to our regularly scheduled programming... Peace.

[b_assassin]

Re: PSP over Ipod?

You are clearly the exception, rather than the rule. I know a lot of people, both on forums and in "real life," who have Creative players and love them.

The Creative players also get consistently high ratings from review sites and consumers. By far the best player on the market for the money. IPods are quite nice, too, but terribly overpriced. No question the ergonomics and easy navigation are worth a few extra bucks, but you're paying at least an extra $100 for the "cool factor," which does nothing to deliver better sound or increase capacity.

Take care,
PK

I know, I am in the minority when it comes to hating on Creative's players, but I won't let that stop me A little background: I had a first-run 40gb Creative Nomad ZenXtra and the headphone jack failed after the warranty expired, rendering it pretty much useless. This made me sad

If one equates "value" to lower cost and more storage capacity, then the ZenXtra wins hands down, no argument here.

The iPod is more expensive, but after being burned by the "value" of the ZenXtra, my definition of value in portable music players has changed a bit. To start off, the iPod comes with higher quality headphones, a longer warranty (1-year compared to 90 days) and arguably superior product support. After you add up the cost of a better warranty (~$40) and a decent set of headphones ($20-$40?), the ZenXtra's only real edge is in storage capacity IMO. My ear isn't sharp enough to discern much of a difference in sound quality, but having listened to both I feel the iPod sounds better out of the box (mostly due to the headphones I'm sure). Additionally, if you want to tweak the sound quality by turning on the ZenXtra's EAX equalizer feature it cuts the battery life in HALF. That leaves with an average battery life of 6 hours on one charge with the ZenXtra, compared to 10-12 hours with a newer 20gb iPod. And most importantly, people that own iPods are cooler, period. Ok, I'm kidding about that last part.

I'm not trying to start an argument over music players, as I know that PK and many others will vouch for Creative's products. I'm just trying to point out that you are getting a little more than ergonomics and "cool factor" when you decide to invest in an iPod. In general, I encourage people to do some research and always consider getting additional warranties when investing in things like MP3 players and game consoles. In most instances, the extended warranties are a rip off, but with products that get a lot of use, they can be a worthy investment.

Ok, thats enough from me, back to our regularly scheduled programming... Peace.

[cooldude]

Re: PSP over Ipod?

I'd go with the IPod. For some reason the PSP doesn't appeal to me at all.

[cooldude]

Re: PSP over Ipod?

I'd go with the IPod. For some reason the PSP doesn't appeal to me at all.

[pk500]

Re: PSP over Ipod?

The iPod is more expensive, but after being burned by the "value" of the ZenXtra, my definition of value in portable music players has changed a bit. To start off, the iPod comes with higher quality headphones, a longer warranty (1-year compared to 90 days) and arguably superior product support.

I won't deny the better warranty and possibly product support, but the IPod headphones are crap.

The Zen Xtra also has superior sound quality than the IPod, mainly due to the better headphones and Creative's long history of building sound cards for PC. Creative knows sound. I've listened to identical tracks on the IPod and Creative, and Creative wins. But I'll still take third-party 'phones over those that come with the Creative and the IPod. Then again, you never see anyone using third-party headphones with IPod's because then you lose your visual calling card that you're an IPod owner, with the white headphones planted in your ears.

Also, you're limited on transfers back and forth from the IPod and PC due to Apple's f*cked up DRM. Yes, there are third-party programs to circumvent this, but it shouldn't have to be this way.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming ...

Take care,
PK

[pk500]

Re: PSP over Ipod?

The iPod is more expensive, but after being burned by the "value" of the ZenXtra, my definition of value in portable music players has changed a bit. To start off, the iPod comes with higher quality headphones, a longer warranty (1-year compared to 90 days) and arguably superior product support.

I won't deny the better warranty and possibly product support, but the IPod headphones are crap.

The Zen Xtra also has superior sound quality than the IPod, mainly due to the better headphones and Creative's long history of building sound cards for PC. Creative knows sound. I've listened to identical tracks on the IPod and Creative, and Creative wins. But I'll still take third-party 'phones over those that come with the Creative and the IPod. Then again, you never see anyone using third-party headphones with IPod's because then you lose your visual calling card that you're an IPod owner, with the white headphones planted in your ears.

Also, you're limited on transfers back and forth from the IPod and PC due to Apple's f*cked up DRM. Yes, there are third-party programs to circumvent this, but it shouldn't have to be this way.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming ...

Take care,
PK

[b_assassin]

Re: PSP over Ipod?

I won't deny the better warranty and possibly product support, but the IPod headphones are crap.

The Zen Xtra also has superior sound quality than the IPod, mainly due to the better headphones and Creative's long history of building sound cards for PC. Creative knows sound. I've listened to identical tracks on the IPod and Creative, and Creative wins. But I'll still take third-party 'phones over those that come with the Creative and the IPod. Then again, you never see anyone using third-party headphones with IPod's because then you lose your visual calling card that you're an IPod owner, with the white headphones planted in your ears.

Also, you're limited on transfers back and forth from the IPod and PC due to Apple's f*cked up DRM. Yes, there are third-party programs to circumvent this, but it shouldn't have to be this way.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming ...

Take care,
PK

Huh, maybe they started packaging different headphones with ZenXtra cause the ones I got were pretty much crap. I'm not saying the iPod's headphones are of Bose-like quality, but they are certainly more comfortable and at least sound better to me than the gameboy-quality ear buds that came with the ZenXtra. I know I felt less cool wearing Creative's headphones But whatever, it all boils down to preference and comfort I suppose.

Since my entire music collection is in mp3 format, and I have a Mac at home, the PC/DRM thing isn't really an issue for me. I'm probably unique in that I don't expect to purchase much music from the iTunes store, as I mostly interested in the music I already own (from CDs and such). I can see the Mac/PC/DRM snafus being a much larger problem for someone that has purchased a lot of music online and spreads it across multiple devices. So far managing my music collection on my Mac and iPod has been pretty painless.

Anyway, for those that have portable music players, here's hoping you enjoy them and they remain functional. Cheers.

[b_assassin]

Re: PSP over Ipod?

I won't deny the better warranty and possibly product support, but the IPod headphones are crap.

The Zen Xtra also has superior sound quality than the IPod, mainly due to the better headphones and Creative's long history of building sound cards for PC. Creative knows sound. I've listened to identical tracks on the IPod and Creative, and Creative wins. But I'll still take third-party 'phones over those that come with the Creative and the IPod. Then again, you never see anyone using third-party headphones with IPod's because then you lose your visual calling card that you're an IPod owner, with the white headphones planted in your ears.

Also, you're limited on transfers back and forth from the IPod and PC due to Apple's f*cked up DRM. Yes, there are third-party programs to circumvent this, but it shouldn't have to be this way.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming ...

Take care,
PK

Huh, maybe they started packaging different headphones with ZenXtra cause the ones I got were pretty much crap. I'm not saying the iPod's headphones are of Bose-like quality, but they are certainly more comfortable and at least sound better to me than the gameboy-quality ear buds that came with the ZenXtra. I know I felt less cool wearing Creative's headphones But whatever, it all boils down to preference and comfort I suppose.

Since my entire music collection is in mp3 format, and I have a Mac at home, the PC/DRM thing isn't really an issue for me. I'm probably unique in that I don't expect to purchase much music from the iTunes store, as I mostly interested in the music I already own (from CDs and such). I can see the Mac/PC/DRM snafus being a much larger problem for someone that has purchased a lot of music online and spreads it across multiple devices. So far managing my music collection on my Mac and iPod has been pretty painless.

Anyway, for those that have portable music players, here's hoping you enjoy them and they remain functional. Cheers.

[Pared]

Re: PSP over Ipod?

The PSP is many, many things .... but an iPod replacement it isn't. The capacity simply isn't there.

However, the iPod won't play Lumines.

Or movies.

Or connect to the internet.

Or... ah, you get the picture...

[Pared]

Re: PSP over Ipod?

The PSP is many, many things .... but an iPod replacement it isn't. The capacity simply isn't there.

However, the iPod won't play Lumines.

Or movies.

Or connect to the internet.

Or... ah, you get the picture...