So, who makes the best MP3 players these days?

[zaneyard]

I've had a few generations of Creative MP3 players in my house. The zen micro and the Zen Mozaic have served me well.
However, I'm looking to get something with a higher capacity, and I really haven't read anything about current players.

What do you guys have and what comments can you make on the products?
Looking for something 16-32 gigs
Don't care about video, FLAC support is a plus.
The new Zen Xfi Style looks nice, but I'm interested in what you guys have to say.
I'm not.. completely opposed to getting an iPod, but I have trouble wading through all the hype and fanboy jizz to be able to learn the facts about the player, and if it's just "what the cool kids do"

[CaffeinePowered]

Fuck the iPod touch, but no seriously, I'd get this, Ive always liked the interface and the storage capacity.

[zaneyard]

holy 160 gigs batman
my music library is only 9 gigs and it's all 320 or V1 encoded :S


Oh also, if I have to deal with using iTunes or anything DRM related it's out. I haven't used iPods enough, but if i can't use WMP to drop my shit on the player i'm not going to bother. You guys who use iPods, can you provide some insight on this?

[Geoff]

ipod classic is really good.  they are pretty sturdy players and storage capacity is great.  when my ipod touch broke this still serves as a more than worthy replacement.

but if you arent big on apple then iriver has always made good players, but im not sure if they do high capacity stuff anymore.





and if you really like wmp, zune hd is vastly underrated.  if you have a zunepass then it is incredibly awesome.

[CaffeinePowered]

holy 160 gigs batman
my music library is only 9 gigs and it's all 320 or V1 encoded :S


Oh also, if I have to deal with using iTunes or anything DRM related it's out. I haven't used iPods enough, but if i can't use WMP to drop my shit on the player i'm not going to bother. You guys who use iPods, can you provide some insight on this?

A) More space is always better, having space and not using it versus needing space and not having it

B) I never use iTunes for anything other than organizing my library and loading it onto the player, you are never "forced" to buy anything on iTunes, part of what made the iPod great is that it played most anything, not like you can only play ACC on it or anything.

[copulatingduck]

the iPod is successful on a level no other Apple products have seen largely because they're genuinely much better than their competitors. There are alternatives on Windows (MediaMonkey, probably plugins for WMP), and there are alternatives for Linux as well (Amarok at the very least).

I used to have one of the old Zens and it was honestly a complete turd compared to my iPod when I finally ate the bullet and bought one. I haven't regretted purchasing it one bit.

edit: I had an iRiver too, it was crap compared to the iPod imho. iTunes is not that bad, but for me I really like it because the "Genius" mixes or whatever take out the effort and hassle of making mixes for random crap. Imo they work pretty well, but my library is like 150GB so I really really REALLY don't feel like scrolling through all of that everytime I need to make a new mix that lasts 1-3 hours long.

And yes, with a plugin the iPod can play ogg and flac

[Surf314]

the iPod is successful on a level no other Apple products have seen largely because they're genuinely much better than their competitors. There are alternatives on Windows (MediaMonkey, probably plugins for WMP), and there are alternatives for Linux as well (Amarok at the very least).

I used to have one of the old Zens and it was honestly a complete turd compared to my iPod when I finally ate the bullet and bought one. I haven't regretted purchasing it one bit.

Yea Amarok is a great library manager for iPods. As has been said there are plenty of other software options to manage your music, you just have to look a bit. Although TBH iTunes kicks most of their asses.

[copulatingduck]

my music library is only 9 gigs and it's all 320 or V1 encoded :S

get ur muscle up

[Versus]

yeah, download the 500GB+ lossless touhou music torrent

[zaneyard]

sorry i have to maintain a seed ratio on what.cd

and it's not that i "like" WMP, it's just that I want to be able to pretty much drag and drop files onto the player, i don't want to deal with any proprietary transfer mechanisms.

so far i have

iPod Classic
Get a Micro SD card for my phone
iRiver
Zune
any other suggestions?

[copulatingduck]

sorry i have to maintain a seed ratio on what.cd

that was almost a good zing (well, a hipster would think so) except that your library lasts on the order of 3 days for unique play, versus my 75 day library.












ripped like paper

get an ipod

[zaneyard]

However it may be, I love my properly organized and high quality audio. And all I have to do to download 10 gigs in a few seconds is hit a few buttons...

[copulatingduck]

also, ipod videos are nice and have lots of space. and u can store pics/videos on there for fappage

(14:23) <Zaneyard> too bad i didn't save any of those pictures i took of my ex...

yea..... too bad. is this the whale one tim is always going on about?

edit:

And all I have to do to download 10 gigs in a few seconds is hit a few buttons...

you're forgetting the part where you have to actually know the names of bands to download. im sure with 9GB your musical palate is HUGE




snobbed again,  cry some moar nerd

[zaneyard]

lol no i didn't date her

that was a response to you calling me a virgin btw

also, i don't really need mobile fappage i have a phone connected to 3g
i know all mobile players have video and shit as a feature, but i don't need it nor will i use it

[Eschatos]

The latest iPod nano is pretty sweet.

[Turtle]

iPod classic rapes but videos like shows and movies kill its power

[zaneyard]

...Don't care about video...

[copulatingduck]

you have obviously never seen the channel frederator podcast

[zaneyard]

nope

[Vlambo]

Ipod Classic, It's simply the best. It's the best large harddrive player on the market, and it's never given me any trouble