so yeah... I want some kind of mp3 player for xmas. I don't want to get one of the original IPods, they strike me as pointlessly huge (I don't need 20G!). The new ones are about the right HD size I think, but they're all girly and stuff...

Anyway, what I want to know is whether IPods really are the best ones to get, or if there is a better (cheaper? :D) alternative.

i think ipods come in 1 gig flavours.

I was under the impression that the new ones are 4G. That seems pretty reasonable, for music and backing up university work, I doubt I'd need more.

That's another thing, do most players support non-music formats?

Not all players can be used as portable hard drives, no, and even then most that do need their software installed on the recieving PC for it to work.

If you just want something small(ish) then I'd recommend the min-iPod. As far as my research went, the i-River, Creative, etc alternatives only get better around the 10 gig mark.

i dunno about ipods but i'm fairly confident every other player can be used as an mp3 hard drive.

I've always had a soft spot for the Rio Karma, but at 20 gb, you wouldn't want it.

The iPod Mini holds 4 gb of music and is cheaper than the normal iPod. It's also sleeker and sexier (especially the silver one).

you can store files on ipods as well. But I Think you need to have itunes to access them.

but it's all girly!! :p

Yeah, I got the feeling the mini-iPod was probably the best way to go, just thought I should check. (and by check, I mean ask you guys, it's not like I could actually be bothered to research it myself!!)

The Rio Carbon has five gigs and looks sexy. I've heard some good things about the Zen Micro too.

I have Rio Volt, but its a CD MP3 player. But their build quality is amazing. It's been thrown around and even fallen off of the roof of my car a couple times, and still works perfectly. If you don't want the iPod, definitely look at the Rios.

I don't need iTunes to access the files on my iPod - you need it to tell the iPod to act as a HD, but after that it's a case of mounting the iPod, and accessing it through explorer.

My friend has an iPod mini and says it's perfect. I've got a 20gig flavoured 4th gen, and it's the best £220 I've ever spent. Pleasure to use. I know that's more than you want, but I felt it needed said

I too have an iPod, and have never regretted buying it. The Itunes interface is incredibly simple and easy to use, you can use it as a HD, and it looks damn sexy. What more could you want?

Considering the difference in price between an iPod-Mini and a 4th-Gen 20gb iPod (a very small difference in price), it's pretty evident that the 4th-Gen is the way to go, it has a longer battery life and is still fairly small.

Seconded.

20GB iPod here.

The 4 gig iPod mini and the 20 gig iPod are about the same price. o me, the smaller size isn't worth the price.

I hadn't realised the 4th gen were in the ~£200 area. Definitely agree for the price difference, it's not worth getting a mini. I suppose I could fill up the 20G if I had to :p

That's the spirit! And if you go via the apple store on the web you can get STUDENT DISCOUNT BABY!

I wasn't aware of this until I paid for mine but don't regret it at all!

If you order it offline you can get it custom engraved too.

My iRiver acts as a hard drive when plugged into any PC. No drivers required. Just shows up as a removable drive formatted as FAT32. Great for backing stuff up, organization, and even working straight off the drive.

How good are the iRivers generally? I think I remember reading reviews of them where people said they were impossible to use and bits kept falling off and stuff...

My best mate has one and is still jealous of my iPod

But they are dead simple - drag and drop, and they have a radio (extra weight if you ask me - it holds 20gig!).

And IMO they're big and ugly, but are a good alternative.

Yep mine was free - I think it's free for xmas again now...

They can have a bit of a confusing interface, but they're quality. Things don't just randomly fall off. Good pieces of hardware.

Clare is looking to get an MP3 player with my christmas bonus (yeah, I'm not quite sure how that works either). We had an investigate, and reckon the Creative Zen is probably what we'll go for. £170 online, 20G, with a better battery life than any comparable iPod. Not interested in the Apple brand - just want something that will play mp3s. Using it as a portable hard drive was also low on priorities, since Clare takes her laptop to school if she needs to work on a computer.

Anyone had any experience with this model?

Do you know if it can be used as a hard drive at all? It's a pretty good price...

I'm not sure. It doesn't come with a software CD, so I assume it interfaces with the computer as a standard USB2.0 Hard drive.

One google search later...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/01/review_creative_zen_touch/



[Edit: Although, if you can put mp3 files on there, and get them off again, I really don't see how it can't be used to store any file.]

Hmmmm....it seems to me, if you're going to spend that much money, you should have the multi-functionality. Of course, you said Clare doesn't need that, but I think I'd probably use mine just to back up uni work and stuff.

I have that exact model, Evil_Giraffe.

The overall design is good. The touch pad thingy shares the drag-your-finger motion of the i-Pod and has that coolness factor, as well as being surprisingly easy to use. As long as your MP3s have correct ID3 tags (the player uses tags and playlists instead of a folder system) it's really easy to find any song, album, or artist.

The battery life is exceptionally good, although transferring more than 5 or 6 files at once seems to drain it almost flat. So if you're gonna push a few tracks make sure you do it or an hour or two before you leave, maybe even the night before, so you have time to plug it and give it some juice. That said, file transferring itself is a very simple drag and drop process. It's really easy to arrange custom playlists of any compilation you want, or just push a whole album.

Another plus is it comes with a remote on the headphone cord so you can change songs while the player is in your pocket, as well as listen to FM radio.

On to the negatives. It does not have great skip protection. This is not an MP3 player to take jogging. I use it mostly while sitting at my desk at work and it's great for that, but jump into even a short sprint and you'll be searching for a paperclip to jam into the reset switch all too quickly.

It's also a little heavy, and slightly chunky. Not like it wont easily fit in your pocket or anything, but I do get the feeling it could be a little more streamlined.

You can drag and drop any file you want to it, but you cant get it off unless the PC has Creative MediaSource Organiser installed on it. And of course you'd have to carry the USB cable with you.

Have you tried it in the car Spork? The two main places it will be used is when clare's sitting at her desk or in the car through one of those cassette adaptors.

[Edit This guy doesn't seem too happy with his Creative player. Hmmm, makes me think twice about this one.]

Nope, my car stereo plays MP3s (I'm just an MP3 nut) so that's never been a priority.

Can you get a Creative car adapter? I know you can for the iPod. The cordless Apple one is really trippy, like having a mini wifi in your car.

As far as bumps go you should be fine in a car, unless you hit a pothole or something. It's fine to walk with or run with in your hand, it's just sharp shocks that make it hang.

No, I'm referring to those ones which plug into the headphone socket and have a cassette on the end you stick in your tape drive. If you're talking about the ones that broadcast a short range FM signal, then they're actually illegal in the UK, since the FM spectrum is licensed.


Haha, you've never been in our car!

omg. no. mp3's. arrgrhhrararghr. I never had the urge to carry around music... and listen at the same time... I always listen to stuff in the house or wherever.

I dont think you'd have a problem, Girrafe. Or at least it wouldnt be any worse than having a CD stacker.



Yeah me too, literally wherever

Any cassette adapter should work. I use an old one that I got for my CD player some time back and it works perfectly.

Well, being the sheep that I am, I'm just gonna go with the 20G iPod. The student discount plus a free engraving tipped me over the edge. But now I have a bigger problem -

what do I get engraved???

#teapot and I have been wracking our brains, but they only give you two lines of 27 characters (including spaces) so it's virtually impossible to get anything good in there...

I plumbed for

'this iPod may contain
traces of nuts'

But I really wanted my old sig -

'if at first you don't succeed,
lower your standards'

but it was over

I want -

Hard work pays off tomorrow
procrastination pays off now

but the second line is one character too long. I thought it would be apt for anyone stumbling across me napping at uni

You could drop the second 'off' ?