I want an MP3 player...opinions?

Question

I know nothing about mp3 players. Are ipods just all hype or are they really woth the money? What are some pros and cons? What are some other good brands that I could get and not spend an arm and a leg?

Answer 1

I believe that the SanDisk Sansa e200 series is the standard for mp3's to come.

FM TUNER
Voice recording
FM recording
Video Playback
Photo Playback

The flash memory is a big plus, no skips. Subscribing to musical serives is a synch even for a tech newbie like me.

The microSD expansion slot is also great. You can add up to 2 extra gigabytes of memory onto your player with the expansion card.

FM TUNER, is awesome. Great reception, 20 presets, and easy to access, plus you can record the radio!

Also voice recording, great for recording speeches, lectures, or a funny burp.

NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY!!!
With the new SanDisk Sansa e280 coming out all of the rest of the players have dropped prices. Can you believe that you can buy an 8gb e280 for $249? That is the price of a 4gb iPod Nano, and with the sansa you get fm tuner, fm recording, voice recording, and you can play videos plus the expansion slot, beat that.

The Sansa is a great choice for an mp3 player. One of the things that it beats it's closest competitor the iRiver Clix is that you can use the sansa with one hand, as opposed to the Clix needed two hands. Also the Sansa has the portability factor something really great if you are a runner.

SanDisk Sansa, remember the name.

Answer 2

Question, how much music?
I've had a Creative, Rio & 2 iPod hard drive players.
3 of these have had hard drive failures because I take them everywhere & don't take the best care of them. That's why extended replacement warrenties are so nice.
(when the flash players get larger, that will solve that problem)

The Creative & Rio both had a much better operation / navagation and book-marking. Say that I'm listening to my favorite Brittany Spears song and I want to listen to the new Slayer album next. On my iPod, I have to wait until 'Oops, I did it again' is over, then select slayer ... or I have to have the foresight to make an on-the-go playlist whenever I play anything. The Rio & Creative both made had the 'now playing' as an editable playlist. Very easy & natural.
They both had better battery life as well.

The iPods have continued accessory availability thoguh. You can still get car chargers and speakers & such for iPods that are 5 years old where you're screwed for most other brands that are constantly changing to compete. Thus, when my ipod died, I got another (The new creative zen video that I was considering wasn't yet out and is now, 1/2 year later is off the market. It was better rated but couldn't compete with the ipod's popularity.)

If you want to store lots of music, the iPod for me is the best. Not because it is the best (It's pretty darn ok) but because it has market support. 5 years from now (if it lasts that long), I'll still be able to get a charger for it.

Answer 3

You should be able to get a decent mp3 player for under $150, and you have several choices at that price. I wouldn't just rush out and get an Ipod though, as their system is a little different that other players. You will be working with iTunes, and can't really transfer music to your computer due to license issues.

Don't get me wrong, I think Ipod has a nice product, but I have over 800 cd's, and don't ever buy music online, so I purchased a Creative Labs Vision M. It was $250, but it has 30 GB of storage, and I currently have almost 600 cd's loaded on it. It also has an FM tuner on it, which is a nice feature, and a nice color screen for video.

You can get a Creative Labs Zen 1GB for under $100, which also has FM radio, or a Creative Labs Zen V 2GB for under $150, an iRiver T10 2GB for under $150, just to name a couple. I do know a couple of Ipod owners, and they prefer the larger capacity Ipods, which are more expensive. I included a few links that may help.

Good luck, and don't be afraid to listen to different ones before you buy, so you can get a feel for the player. Also check the reivews to see what others have to say about the different players.

Answer 4

If you're considering on buying an iPod, I'd think you're wasting your money. Or, rather-they're trying to get even more money than what you waste. I mean, you have to buy everything separately for it. If you want radio, you have to buy another device, which is about $20 or so dollars. If you want a microphone for it, more money for it as well. You also have to buy the AC charger for about $39.00. If you're traveling, you'd probably HAVE to buy it.

I'd suggest something from the Creative labs. The Vision M is awesome. I bought it-and it includes just about everything else the iPod doesn't. It has a built-in radio, microphone, comes with it's own pouch(although when it gets dirty, it doesn't look to pretty since it's leather), AND it comes with the AC adapter so you can charge it at home, or where ever so you don't have to rely on a computer to charge it.
I also heard that it has better video quality than the iPod.

The only cons about it is that if you get the black one, it scatches too easily (same goes for the iPod). A solution to that is to buy a different carry case for it. The other thing I didn't like(nonetheless I still love it) is the thickness. iPods are slim, I've got to point that out, but other than that, the Vision M has it all. Plus, 30GB storage.

And you know what I almost forgot to mention? Pictures of course(you can create slideshows too), but it can also be used as a Removable Disk. Which can be used simply to back up files-like a memory card. A USB device so you won't have to buy one of those little things that you can loose. You can set it to a 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. GB of storage so you can store other things on there, like documents, more videos, music, more pictures...it goes on. I have mine set to 4GB and I still have LOADS of more room for my music. It also has a reset button at the bottom so if something goes wrong, you can always reset it.

It's a bit expensive, but it's definately worth every penny. :D

Answer 5

Th ee250 is awesome.It costs less than an ipod 2gb nano,(200$) plus it comes wih fm tuner and voice recorder and video capabilities (which the nano series don't come with). Since I don't have a lot of money, I would buy this one.

However, there are advantages to going ipo

For instance you can attach all of the following: remote control, bluetoth headsets with bluetooth adapter exteranal battery pack, special boomboxes, special speakers and lots lots more.

Sound quality is awesome.
Most other MP3 players, you need to send the sound information to speakers via the headphone jack. That method of sending the information is not the beast for quality. You know that data connection on the ipod? It is a more effective method of sending the audio information and so the sound sounds better. Thats why you see so many speakers that are made specifically for the ipod

Answer 6

ipods pfft yah right poeple! do some reaserach. listen if you want a quality mp3 player the ipod just wont do as its a rip off. beliv eme i know. creative now has better ones. the creative zen vision m is the best so much more better than the ipoop. oh yah people say the ipodsking because its poplualr i mean even if somehting is so popular doesnt mean its the best. creative zen vision m is better becuase one it has 262,000 colors onthe screen vs ipods 62k menaing the pics and videos will look cisper adn clearer, also its liek watching hi-def tv on a small screen. the sound quality is better to and you can ask anyonme thats compared the two like i have. also it has a 4 hour video life compared to the ipods 2 hours. also it comes in 5 colors pink white black blue green. igot the green one its sooo awesome!!! and i mean seroisly the only pro of the ipod is that is pretty and thin???? and so what the zen vision m is thick as the 60 gb ipod and well if feels so much more sturdier. it also is gorgoes to just not sleek adn shiny well its shinmy but not sleek . kinda. oh yah it has an fm radio mic and recordingfrom the radio is possible to. creativ emakes other mp3players to that are awesome too. but heres the link to the zvm(zen vision m) oh and pictures tohttp://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=213&subcategory=&product=14331

pics http://images.tomshardware.com/2005/12/08/creative_zen_visionm.jpg
http://www.winsupersite.com/images/reviews/ces2006_3_11.jpg
http://xataka.com/archivos/images/review%20zen%20vision-thumb.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e162/kickenchicken360/whitwvisionm.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e162/kickenchicken360/greenvisionm.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e162/kickenchicken360/blackvisionm.jpg

Answer 7

If you have a cell phone... forget the IPOD and get a cell phone that has an MP3 Player built into it! That way your MP3 Player is ALWAYS with you, you don't have to worry about one more expensive electronic. I just bought the LG CU500 by CIngular and it's GREAT! The phone cost me $79.99 and you can buy a San Disk Memory card 2 GB for about $75. you have to look around though. I just bought the memory card off of BUY.COM. it works great and it's so easy to get songs from the computer to the phone. I can download around 1000 songs! With the IPOD, you have to buy each song off of ITUNES for 99 cents a piece or figure out some hard way of getting around it on the computer... lots of moving of files and so forth.... NOT WORTH IT! For the price of the cheapest IPOD you could get a GREAT camera phone and mp3 player all in one. You don't have to buy speakers with it, the music plays right out of your phone and it sounds great too! and there is a place to plug in your headphones! You don't have to go with cingular though. I know Verizon has the CHOCOLATE phone that just came out and Nextel has the MOTOROLA I870. Just look into it!

Answer 8

Hi, You should look at RCA MP3 players. I have an older one. it does a good job. plus I can put in any size SD memory stick. I don't know if any of the newer ones have the slot for the SD. look at Yahoo's main web page in shopping. in the search type MP3 on the left side look for RCA. click on RCA. there you can look at all the MP3's RCA has out there to buy. and it as all the info. on them. you don't have to buy there. I would look at Wal-Mart or other places like them. plus RCA there are other brands you can look at. you would be paying for the name of IPOD. nice thing about IPOD is they have the biggest memory space for tons of songs. watch out for MP3's that don't do just MP3. a few have viedos, you can have pics. on the MP3s too. I hope this helps out on buying a MP3 player. esrock21

Answer 9

I have 2 ipods.

I still like my MyMusix MP3 Player from Radio Shack for $50.
Uses regular SD cards which you can use like CDs!
It uses one AAA battery.

Also, look at the SanDisk's Sansa e100 ($80) which comes with an FM tuner

No driver or special software required. You can download music directly to the SD card from your computer!

Answer 10

i think the brand name ipod is so huge that anything with it is way overpriced. i agree, ipods are useful and cool looking, but i would get a scandisk or zen. they are much cheaper and it doesn't have as many hidden costs (i think). for example, with an ipod you have to get a dock to charge it, most people want speakers too (another $100) and a protective case which is $25. all because of the brand name ipod.