...and raise you by 4488.

I picked my H10 up at Staples for only $235, which includes the 2 year no hassle warrenty.

Sweeeeeeeeeeet.

*listens*

EDIT: I just realized, I need a good set of earbuds. What are soem nice buds that are comfy and less than $100?

well if you don't mind not being able to hear anything but the music Shure e3c (you may have to go used to stay in your budget)

http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=2620500/search=e3c

for actual earbuds i hear good things about these
and these

What the hell is an H10?

iRiver's new player... currently available in 5GB and 20GB models

My friend got one of those free through some record store promotion a few months ago.

Come to find out, they're made to only interface with WMP10, which means XP only. He was incredibly pissed since he was using Win2k at the time.

I scoured google and SourceForge for quite a while trying to find some 2k drivers and/or interface software for him. Never had any luck. Might be different now, but that really annoyed me.

And 6GB.

I was actually checking out these Sony ones. Are they any good?

For the price, like the CNet review says, they are pretty good. If I remember correctly, the bass was muddy, not booming. What I like most is that they come with the three different sized ear-pieces, and that's a plus.

Unless you are diehard earbud person, those would be fine buds. But don't expect the best quality every. In that case, look at Shure. I think Yoshi saw some Shure E2C for only 60 bucks, which is a pretty good deal.

i'm not a big fan of the EX71s at all

http://www.pricegrabber.com/user_sales_getprod.php?masterid=1801015&lot_id=1785551

Under seventy bucks, and probably the best deal you'll find, for them. I'm looking at getting them myself (later though)

Yeah, iRiver's H10 series of players is just about on par with the iPod in my book. As of now you have to have WMP10 on your computer or it won't work. It also won't play org vorbis(like their other players). You might as well get an iPod and be hip with the rest of the world, unless you don't like white mp3 players.


I'll stick with the H300 series.

So, on the scale of MP3 players which cost ~391 dollars/320 euro (normal 20 GB iPod's price on Apple's finnish webstore), which mp3 players are much better than iPod? I hear this argument of there being better mp3 players on iPod's price... so, what exactly is a mp3 player which has superior sound, battery life, storage space etc. than the mentioned iPod?

I just want to keep it in mind when buying one of these silly mp3 players.

iAudio X5
iRiver H3xx (being discontinued)
iRiver H1xx (discontinued)

if you need gapless playback
Rio Karma (discontinued)
if you don't mind sony's software and re-ripping everything to ATRAC sony's players do gapless (but only with atrac)

I have the Sony MDR-EX71SL's and use them with my ipod, personally I find the sound they put out really good, however....

in the past 2 years I have gone through 4 pairs.....the left ear piece in each pair stopped working...

I'm normally very good looking after my electrical equipment but one pair became faulty after 3 weeks...and I had only used them twice....each time I've had them replaced free of charge, but just a word of warning on their reliability if you are thinking of getting them...I do have a friend who has had a pair over 2 years without a problem...i'm must be unlucky...

FastGamerr: Zen Touch. Made by Creative, 24 hour battery life, 40GB for $275. Versus the iPod's dubious sound quality (so the audiophiles tell me) and an 12 hour battery for around a $100 more.

Downsides: Physically somewhat larger, no driverless operation, bad software. Also lacks a brand identity.

This looks pretty nifty... how are the transfering speeds from computer to player?

(And thanks for the other suggestions too, misters)

Also, how do MP3 players react when it's really cold? Do their batteries freeze or what? And do these "pop" mp3 players have stable sound so it won't jump on bumpy roads?

For headphones, anything by Etymotic or Shure is a sure thing (hah hah). The Etymotic ER-6i are an incredible value, street price of around $90. They are iPod trendwhore white, but the ER-6 are black. The ER-6 are higher impedence (lower impedence is better for portables) and have slightly less bass response. Also, all the Etymotic phones are a little lean on bass. A good EQ can take care of that but I'm not sure how good the iRivers' are. The Shure E2c and E3c are within your budget I think. Infact, the E3c might be a little over $100, but worth it over th E2c. The general consensus on Head-Fi and my personal opinion is that the ER-6i trump the E2cs, with the exception of bass. Etymotics are known for their insane detail - you can hear stuff you've never heard before on the ER-6/ER-6i. They can bring out flaws in low bitrate MP3s, but I don't find it that big a deal.

And then there's the Sony MDR-EX71, EX81 and probably a few others. They're supposed to be pretty good, but a lot of people say they lack midrange and are all bass and treble. There's also the Sharp MD-33 and a ton of rebranded versions by many companies (there are of the EX buds too). The Shure and Etymotics are real canalphones - they insert into your ear canal and isolate over 20 dBa of ambient noise. The Sonys and the Sharps, not so much. Maybe 10-15 dBa? I forget.

Then there's the Audio-Technica buds, which are supposed to be quite good. Unfortunately they're a little pricey since they're imported.

And if you don't mind clip-ons, nothing beats the Koss KSC-75 for their price. Street price is around $15, but don't let the price fool you - I've got a pair of these and they compete with headphones in the sub $100 range. With a headphone amplifier and impedence adapter, they can outperform $100 headphones. Of course that's no concern to you probably, just making a point. The KSC-35 are the same thing but black, not the 1950's space ship silver of the 75 (it doesn't help that they look like flying saucers, too). The KSC-55 also use the same drivers but in a behind the neck form. There's also the Portapro and Portapro 2, which are over the head sport phones (the Portapro 2 actually converts to behind the neck) and sound very similar to the 35/55/75 since they also use the same drivers. They're just a little different because of the enclosure and how they press against your head. They're also a little expensive and quite ugly.

So there you have it...all the best options for portables I can think of. Personally, I would go with the ER-6i by Etymotic. I have the ER-6 and the value is just incredible.

Oh, and FG, about the cold...players shouldn't be affected. Hard drives MIGHT because of the moving parts, but you'd need extreme cold (yeah, you're in Finland, I know) to freeze the moving parts and counteract the heat generated by said parts. Also, LCDs get ghosty and slow in the cold, like they have a high response time. They can also get dimmer I believe.

Some batteries are affected by extreme temperatures.

and tofu... click

1) It does support drag and drop.
2) I don't even have any oggs.
3) iPod's don't have a removable battery, a voice recorder, or an FM radio, and they don't sound as good.

Yeah, I already am a member of misticriver, I registered to ask questions about the H120 when I was looking for a 20GB. I've been eyeing the X5 (mentioned earlier) but I decided I didn't really need 20 GB of storage.

Tofu, what you say is true
I'm just sad with iRiver because the older H100 series players(and the H300), although they didn't look as spiffy, did all the same things but are pure drag and drop
WMP10 is not required
and they play my org vorbis

also, a friend of mine has the H10
and we played around with it on my computer
we got the drag and drop feature working, but it would only let us put compatible file types on the player
we couldn't even get the durn thing to act as a hard drive
I guess not everybody needs that though...

oh well

<3 iRiver H100 series

That's generally what temperature will do to chemicals. And electricity.

You have to drag it into the data folder on the drive.