Ipod or an mp3 player

[LUDELVR]

Hey guys, just wondering about what to get. I was gonna buy an mp3 player just the other day, but then was given the suggestion to buy an ipod. The mp3 player I saw as a 512 mb one and I can get it for around 140 bux. I want the 1 gb one but it'll prolly run just under 200 bux. Anyway, I'm new to the ipod things so what are some benefits to going with an ipod over the mp3. Also, what are some of the negatives?

Mind you, the size of the mp3 I'm looking at is smaller than a lighter so this is a bonus for me. I'm simply just going to use it for traveling since I hate lugging around all my cds and shit! Besides, I only use cds in my car. Some bonuses to the mp3 are that it's freaking tiny! Also, I can line in record, it has a built in mic, and did I mention it's tiny!! haha, it's seriously 1/10th the size of the ipod mini!

What do you think is a better buy for my inteneded uses. Also, how much are ipods going for now? :dunno: Thanks for the input. :thumbsup:

[Carfanman]

An Ipod is an mp3 player so saying Ipod or mp3 player doesnt make sense. Quite fittingly, an mp3 player, plays mp3 music files, which an Ipod does, making it an mp3 player. I'm going to answer this on the assumption that you meant an Ipod mp3 player or some other less popular mp3 player.


Ipods can be quite expensive, the cheaper ones can be several hundred dollars, even more.

Ipods supposedly have better sound and an easier to use interface. They are also a hella bigger (storage wise as well as size wise) than a 512mb or a 1gb Mp3 player, so it depends on how much music you have. If you have like 10,000 songs, then you'll want an Ipod, or something equally as big.

A 512mb mp3 player can hold aprox. 150 songs and obviously, a 1gb player can hold about 300 songs. So just judge it based on how much songs you need, and make sure that the mp3 player that you want has good ratings and reviews. One place to check that out is www.cnet.come
If you do need alot of storage, there are cheaper mp3 players that are good quality and have just as much space as some of the bigger Ipods.
Check out www.creative.com and go to their mp3 players. specifically, check out the creative nomad zen which has alot of storage and a low price. The zen touch has a touch dial, much like the Ipods. Its a bit more expensive than the regular zen, but cheaper than the ipod. For only 5gb, check out the zen micro. Also check out mp3 players at www.Iriver.com and http://www.digitalnetworksna.com/shop/_templates/cat_list_Rio.asp?cat=72


This is just the begining, and remeber, check each mp3 player out at www.cnet.com



Hope that helped.

[seer_claw]

Try this I-Pod Shuffle (http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/canadastore.woa/71403/wo/YH3i4MjUg8kF2tE9QIZbdvPtbBm/2.0.0.11.1.0.6.9.1.1.1.1.0.0.0.1.0) . I-Pod Shuffle. Small yet under $200, if you are a student I can show you how to get a larger discount on apple products.

I have a friend who has one and loves it. Plus its not as expensive as the other full size I-Pods. :thumbsup:

[LUDELVR]

Originally posted by Carfanman


Hope that helped.
Yah man, that helped a lot. I know that the ipod is an mp3, haha sorry, I shoulda phrased my question better! Anyay, I was told that it can also hold other files and stuff and for me, I don't really need that. I'm also really digging the size of that one mp3 only player, the lesser name. LIke I said, it's smaller than a lighter!! haah :rofl:

[Mad$ella]

I just got a SONY 512Mb MP3 and its really nice. It weighs soo little and its waaaaay smaller than an Ipod. And hes right it holds about 150 songs... which is ok....
I got mine at Wal-Mart for $134

[LUDELVR]

Those apple ones are cool, but really man, I'm after the convenience of it. The smaller the better! haha, and frankly, I'm just gonna use it for music. I have not problem only being able to have 200-300 songs, I also have no real qualms with having to download the new ones onto the mp3 player. Thanks for the help, I think I've solved my dilemna. I think I just sold myself on the mp3! haah :rofl: I'm most likely gonna go with the 1gb mp3 player. This is what it looks like:

http://www.e-alltec.com/new_img/avit_kim_new_eng.jpg

Thanks again for the help guys. :thumbsup:

[Gondi Stylez]

^^ i want one of those! can u get them here?

[LUDELVR]

Originally posted by Gondi Stylez
^^ i want one of those! can u get them here?

haha, I have no idea man! All I know is that my buddy and went down to the electronics market and he picked up a 512mb one for around 140,000 won which is roughly 140 cad. The thing is so freaking light and small!! I'm picking up two of the 1gb ones in about 3 weeks The size puts the ipod to shame! haha, but still, it's mostly just for the songs and doesn't have even half the features of that the ipods have...oh well, just need it for music while I travel!!:thumbsup:

[Carfanman]

I'm not %100 sure what the features on the Ipod are, but I'll bet whatever free cell phone your service provider is offering, it will have all those features.


I found the website for the mp3 player you showed, but when I searched it on cnet, it didn't show up, which means it really isn't that popular, and there is no way to know how good it is.
If you want to get it anyway thats fine, it may very well be a great mp3 player, but if you want help finding a more popular one, so you know what to expect, let me know and I'll give you links to some great ones.

[LUDELVR]

Originally posted by Carfanman
I'm not %100 sure what the features on the Ipod are, but I'll bet whatever free cell phone your service provider is offering, it will have all those features.


I found the website for the mp3 player you showed, but when I searched it on cnet, it didn't show up, which means it really isn't that popular, and there is no way to know how good it is.
If you want to get it anyway thats fine, it may very well be a great mp3 player, but if you want help finding a more popular one, so you know what to expect, let me know and I'll give you links to some great ones.

Yah, I think it's a korean brand to tell you the truth! haha, but in any case, I went shopping here in Korea and honestly...it's completely overwhelming! They have so many mp3's kicking around. I did some searching and most of the shops said that it was decent one, but of course there were still some other better brands. Again, I'm still looking for something small, 1 gb and around the 160-180 dollar price range. If you do find something comparable, by all means post it up! Thanks dude. :thumbsup:

[GTS Jeff]

Originally posted by Mad$ella
I just got a SONY 512Mb MP3 and its really nice. It weighs soo little and its waaaaay smaller than an Ipod. And hes right it holds about 150 songs... which is ok....
I got mine at Wal-Mart for $134 I had a new Sony mp3 player, but I returned it when I realized it forced you to convert to openmg format, even though it kept the mp3 encoding. It doesn't work for large files and takes forever to convert. I went and got an iRiver instead, which I am very happy with.

[Ed the SOHC]

Are u listening to Korean music now?

BTW, I picked the ipod because of all the accessories they have for it.... but the one you're picking up looks cool.

[Carfanman]

Umm, your only able to listen to Korean music in Korean mp3 players dude...

LOL j/k



Here are some other 1 gb players.

http://reviews.cnet.com/Cowon_iAudio_5_1GB_Noble_Black/4505-6495_7-31303876.html?tag=pdtl-list

http://reviews.cnet.com/Creative_MuVo_Micro_N200_1GB_Black/4505-6495_7-31212090.html?tag=pdtl-list





Here is a page with a ton of different players from 256mb to 2 gb

http://reviews.cnet.com/4502-6490_7-0.html?tag=pick&orderby=&qt=&100021id=&1000036id=&500891id=5414570&500411id=12376&501823id=

[Shaolin]

if I was to do it again I wouldn't of bought an IPOD.. paid way too much for an mp3 player.. It looks better than the other mp3 players, but it does the same thing as all the other mp3 players except it's more expensive.

[Carfanman]

I think Ipod has better marketing, as opposed to better quality. It has good quality, no doubt, but there are other mp3 players that are very close to it, cheaper, yet much less known. Everyone knows what an Ipod is, whether or not they have it, and no other mp3 player is as popular as it.

[LUDELVR]

haha no no fuckers, I can listen to anything I want, not just Korean music! :rofl:

But yah, I think I'm pretty sold on the smaller mp3's. It's funny man, cuz riding the subway, every korean person has two things: a cell phone (they call them hand phones here) and an mp3 player around their necks...sometimes their handphones are both!

Anyway, I've seen the iriver ones and those are fucking pimp! A bit more expensive than the one I'm looking at but it's a nice one. Two of my american friends here have ipods. One is a 20gb one and the other is a 5 gb one. They love it but the size is still a bit too big for me (even though it's like 10 times smaller than the cd player and all my cd's I'm currently carrying around in my traveling pouch!!)

[1badPT]

Personally I like the MP3 players that you can plug a jump drive into. You can use the jump drive for any type of file, and the MP3 player it plugs in to will play any audio file you have stored on it. If you're not familiar with jump drives, they are a small usb device that plugs directly into your computer and it appears as a new drive - then you just copy stuff over to it, plug it into your mp3 player and its good to go. Plus if you buy another jump drive, you can store one set of songs on one jump drive and another on the other drive.

I heard that with Ipods, you have to buy all of your music through itunes? Is that true?

[Carfanman]

"I heard that with Ipods, you have to buy all of your music through itunes? Is that true?"

No

[LUDELVR]

Originally posted by 1badPT
Personally I like the MP3 players that you can plug a jump drive into. You can use the jump drive for any type of file, and the MP3 player it plugs in to will play any audio file you have stored on it. If you're not familiar with jump drives, they are a small usb device that plugs directly into your computer and it appears as a new drive - then you just copy stuff over to it, plug it into your mp3 player and its good to go. Plus if you buy another jump drive, you can store one set of songs on one jump drive and another on the other drive.

I heard that with Ipods, you have to buy all of your music through itunes? Is that true?

Yah man, that's exactly what the mp3 player I'm lookin to buy does! It's sweet, I basically plug it into my laptop, find the songs I want, click and drag them into the new window and bam, I'm done...it's just like moving folders around on my laptop. It's so easy to use! I can even have them categorized by folders then open up each folder, like have a hiphop folder, a heavy metal folder, or whatever, it's sweet. This mp3 player has that ability and it also has a line in so you can directly plug in your cd player and record it that way, or you can record your voice or anything with the built in mic. Sweet stuff :thumbsup:

[BloodBaneZXY]

Hehe, weird this thread just came up, I was in the exact same situation too. I went ahead and bought the Creative Mp3 512 mb mp3 player, which basically is identical to all the features Leo listed about his. So far I frickin' love this thing to death, the main reason I bought it was because I wanted something really tiny when I'm in the gym (I previously had an MD). So I just attached this badboy to my shorts (or you can use the arm band) and let er rippppp. An ipod mini would have cost me pretty much twice as much, and it would have been way too big for my liking (the 4 gb over 512 mb isn't that big a deal for me, 150ish songs is more than enough for how much I use my portable audio device).

[Weapon_R]

I just upgraded from a 512mb to an Ipod mini and there is a HUGE difference in all aspects.

First off, you may think that 512 or 1gb of music is sufficient. For some people, that may be the case, but you'd be surprised how quickly your songs fill this thing up.

The IPOD shuffle is the biggest POS i've read about. You cannot control the music. You cannot choose the song you want to hear. Horrible idea. And its not exactly cheap.

As for your budget of ~200, just to let you know, I received my IPOD for just under $240cdn shipped directly from Apple.ca (after taxes and all other fees). $40 more for a 4gb system is a good investment.

Other units (creative/iriver) etc are pretty competitive with the IPOD, but none share the same level of support or quality of construction as the Mini. Also, none can be had for as cheap as the mini.

Spend a few dollars more and have the extra freedom of a lot more space. You won't have to update so often or delete songs due to lack of space. You also will be able to use it as a portable HD, which is a HUGE convenience (even though you might not think so now). I use my mini almost as frequently for data transfer as I do for music.

[LUDELVR]

just a couple more questions before I go out and buy an mp3 player.
With regards to the ipod, can I basically put on any music I want (mp3 files)? What's I tunes all about? If I go ahead and get the ipod mini, is it as simple as clicking and dragging the mp3's that I have stored on my hard drive or from cd (but these will be wma files) onto the ipod folder?

I can't find it anymore, but I was reading something before about some complaints with acquiring music for the ipod. :dunno:

[Kamen]

I don't know if you bought anything yet, but I just recently bought myself a Creative Zen Micro. IMO it's awesome and has great sound quality and you can put on any mp3 and wma files by doing drag and drop or using the software it's so damn easy.
Plus I made an Altoids case for it so it's :bigpimp:

[Kamen]

Case pic 2
:D :D :D

[LUDELVR]

Originally posted by Kamen
I don't know if you bought anything yet, but I just recently bought myself a Creative Zen Micro. IMO it's awesome and has great sound quality and you can put on any mp3 and wma files by doing drag and drop or using the software it's so damn easy.
Plus I made an Altoids case for it so it's :bigpimp:

What's the price on that bad boy if you don't mind me asking? :dunno:

also, about how big is it?

EDIT ** I just saw the pics, my bad, looks pretty sweet!! The case is Money!! hahaha :thumbsup:

I think it's still a bit too big for my likings, I may stick with the mp3 that I was originally gonna buy, but it looks good man, nice buy!

[Kamen]

They sell for $299.99 plus taxes at Future Shop, but I picked mine up on eBay for $200 CAD including shipping. It's 5GB.
And the size...uh...well...it's pretty small as you see...do you know how big an altoids tin is?
I think the iPod mini is thinner but abit longer.

Here are the dimensions if it helps you:
2" x 3.3" x 0.7" / 51mm x 84mm x 19mm
weight: 108g / 3.8oz with removable battery

[Zephyr]

man if u weren't looking on the size wise, id suggest just get a PSP, does more than just mp3s... price is around a regular ipod

[GucciBoy]

Originally posted by Zephyr
man if u weren't looking on the size wise, id suggest just get a PSP, does more than just mp3s... price is around a regular ipod

except for the ridiculous prices on MMC cards.

Aside from that, I have a Samsung Colour screen 5gb and its awesome. More value than an ipod and cheaper.

[Weapon_R]

PSP isn't for music, MMC cards are too expensive, and I think the highest you can get is 1gb.

[Redlyne_mr2]

Ive got around 1 gig of music on my 20gig Ipod and Im already tired of those songs it's time to add more. The regular sized Ipod is over kill, the Ipod mini is wicked. What you want to think about too Leo is the future use of the player. When you get back get you can wire your ipod to your deck and never have to carry huge cd binders in your car again.

[soupey]

i just bought a sandisk 512mb sanso player, its wicked, cuz it comes with an sd slot too, so u can add up to 2gigs more with each sd card....the thing is pretty small and light too, and it came with some awesome earplug style headphones, its available at memory express for about 150 including tax, theres a 1gig model available too, check it out...

[Zephyr]

Originally posted by Weapon_R
PSP isn't for music, MMC cards are too expensive, and I think the highest you can get is 1gb.

oh yea forgot its the duo2....

anyways... i have a ipod mini, thing is pretty good, cept storage space for me is almost maxed out

[LUDELVR]

Originally posted by Redlyne_mr2
Ive got around 1 gig of music on my 20gig Ipod and Im already tired of those songs it's time to add more. The regular sized Ipod is over kill, the Ipod mini is wicked. What you want to think about too Leo is the future use of the player. When you get back get you can wire your ipod to your deck and never have to carry huge cd binders in your car again.

Yah, that does sound really good. But still, in my car, I'm old skool too! haha, keeping my 8 track for now! Might get an MP3 player in there. Was thinking though, when you hook it up to your car, you have to go through fm modulation right? Unless your deck has a line input.

Anyway, I'll take a look this weekend to see if that place has ipods and i'll see how much they run, if I can get a super sweet deal for the little guy I"m looking at (about 6 of us are looking to buy one) then I'll stick with my original intentions and prolly pick up an ipod when I move back to Calgary permanently. :thumbsup:
Thanks again to all for the insight. :thumbsup:

[Lexxan]

I really don't like ipods. I sold mine.. You can't even delete songs on the ipod itself you have to use itunes. ITunes is also a piece of garbage in my opinion. I bought anapod from www.redchairsoftware.com

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by Lexxan
I really don't like ipods. I sold mine.. You can't even delete songs on the ipod itself you have to use itunes. ITunes is also a piece of garbage in my opinion. I bought anapod from www.redchairsoftware.com

Listen to this man.

People buy Ipod just to be hip. Flash memory type player are much better easier to carry.

[nambis]

Apple IPOD is the best mp3 player hands down. I have been buying mp3 players for about 4 or 5 years now, I have all kinds cd/mp3, flash players, gone through 3 ipods, etc.

the reason IPOD is so sucessful is the menu system - ultra easy to navigate, and also you have the ability to customize it so you can put things where you want them. also you have way more control over everything, settings, timers, clocks, etc. most other players have really crappy menu systems and don't have all of the additional features apple offers.

Plus, the ipod sounds waaaaay better than other players (not sure why). and, you actually can get volume - so many manufactures putting volume limits so people can't sue over hearing damage.

just my 2 cents. :)

[Kamen]

IMO the Zen Micro is on par with the iPod mini. In all aspects, save maybe the "games" the iPod has...at least everything you mentioned...

But in the end it's all personal preference. I have nothing against the iPod.

[soupey]

Originally posted by nambis
Apple IPOD is the best mp3 player hands down. I have been buying mp3 players for about 4 or 5 years now, I have all kinds cd/mp3, flash players, gone through 3 ipods, etc.

the reason IPOD is so sucessful is the menu system - ultra easy to navigate, and also you have the ability to customize it so you can put things where you want them. also you have way more control over everything, settings, timers, clocks, etc. most other players have really crappy menu systems and don't have all of the additional features apple offers.

Plus, the ipod sounds waaaaay better than other players (not sure why). and, you actually can get volume - so many manufactures putting volume limits so people can't sue over hearing damage.

just my 2 cents. :)

:werd:


alot of ipods advertising is jus cuz lots of ppl have it, lots of ppl want to fit in wit the trent, so they get it too, i personally think it overpriced for waht you get, irivers and creatives seem to offer more, sure ucan say teh ipod's menu system is unbeatable....but hey, im totally satisfied wit my mp3 player's menus too....its personal preference...but alot of the money ur payin when ur buyin an ipod is jus for the sake of it being an ipod...

[mac_gurl]

I have a 30gb ipod and love it. Way better than any mp3 or minidisk player I have ever had. It may be more than you want to spend, but the mini's are really good too.

If a display doesnt concern you too much, you could go with a shuffle. My mom just bought one, and LOVES it. The battery seems to last a very long time on it as well.

[962 kid]

Originally posted by Kamen
IMO the Zen Micro is on par with the iPod mini. In all aspects, save maybe the "games" the iPod has...at least everything you mentioned...

But in the end it's all personal preference. I have nothing against the iPod.

I love my zen! it has quite a few features that the ipod doesnt have such as FM tuner and FM/voice recorder. Also, the zen is down to 250 bucks at most places, right on par with the 4gb ipod mini, so its really up to you

[Redlyne_mr2]

Originally posted by LUDELVR


Yah, that does sound really good. But still, in my car, I'm old skool too! haha, keeping my 8 track for now! Might get an MP3 player in there. Was thinking though, when you hook it up to your car, you have to go through fm modulation right? Unless your deck has a line input.

Anyway, I'll take a look this weekend to see if that place has ipods and i'll see how much they run, if I can get a super sweet deal for the little guy I"m looking at (about 6 of us are looking to buy one) then I'll stick with my original intentions and prolly pick up an ipod when I move back to Calgary permanently. :thumbsup:
Thanks again to all for the insight. :thumbsup:
You can do the fm modulator however for the best sound you can get an adapter that runs it through your rcas on your deck.

[LUDELVR]

Originally posted by Redlyne_mr2

You can do the fm modulator however for the best sound you can get an adapter that runs it through your rcas on your deck.

But again, you'd need an input on your deck, so I'd have to buy a new deck to go with it! haha, damn it, it never ends!!

Anyway, I went ahead and bought the mp3 that I had posted up. It's last year's model so it was a bit cheaper. It's still a 1 gig and man this thing is tiny. The interface took a bit of getting used to but it's pretty pimp! I do think the ipod is a bit easier to use and it's nicer because you can scroll through songs while one song is still playing. On my mp3, I'm not so sure you can do that. You have to stop it and then find the song. Not a big deal for me though since I usually just put it on and play it.

It's also sweet cuz it has the line in drive and I can record dirctely from another source like my cd player and then it automatically compresses it...only downside is that if I don't stop inbetween songs from the cd player it'll record the entire cd as one song! haha, also, it won't record the text from the songs but that's okay.

There is also a built in mic so you can record your voice or anything you want like if you're on a sting operation!! :rofl:

There is also a built in fm tuner too, so for the price it was actually a really good buy.

In the end I ended up paying about 160 dollars canadian and I'll take some pics of it, it's freaking small man! I love it, comes with a case, neck band, arm band ear phones usb cables, line in cable and pretty much everything you need.

I give it two thumbs up.

My only criticisms are that you guys are right...1 gig does fill up quite quickly, but it's a good thing that it's easy to change out songs. You can delete the songs right from the player itself, it gives you a read out on how much space you have left too. I also don't like the fact that I can't scroll through the songs while one song is playing...or at least I haven't figured it out. I think the newer models can do it, but I'll find out soon. :thumbsup:

[Kamen]

So...for $40 more you could have a Creative Zen Micro with 5gb...:D

Hows the sound quality on that tiny thing??

[soupey]

about the FM Modulator thing, the sound quality really blows alot when u try doin that, atleast when i did it, the bass basically is cut out....i used a cassette tape adapter thing instead adn the sound quality was ALOT better than the FM Modulator quality...(surprising to me atleast), anwyays the best way to go is to have a deck with inputs...or if uhave an ipod, get something with the whole ipod connection....

[LUDELVR]

Originally posted by Kamen
So...for $40 more you could have a Creative Zen Micro with 5gb...:D

Hows the sound quality on that tiny thing??

Asshole! ;) haha:rofl:

But yah, the sound quality is pretty damn good. I'm surprised with this little guy! But seriously man, this thing is so freaking small and light and that zen one looked pretty good, but still too big for my likings! Plus, now I have 40 bux to blow on beer! ;) haha

[PSJanis]

Hm...most of you seem to be anti-iPod...

Personally, the iPod is the ONLY good line of products from Apple. I have the iPod Photo 30GB and its absolutely great. Sure, it cost $350 (American) but it is only 50 bucks more than the 20GB and you get 10GB more, 3 more hours battery life(15 hours total), and of course, the color screen.

I would say if you can afford it, go with an iPod, even if its only the 4 GB mini.