Ok, I'm looking at getting an mp3 player sometime, and I want to know what you people think about the one(s) you have. Give me advice about what is in your opinion the best mp3 player.

Note: I'm looking for an mp3 player in the 20gb range. I'm not looking for a small flash based one, because I'm looking for a player to hold all of or most of the music I'll ever own.

I'm really interested to know the kinds of things that they don't advertise, like the scratchability of the iPod nanos' screens.

Did you sign up JUST to ask this?

he has more posts than you...

[QUOTE=Compos Mentis]he has more posts than you...[/QUOTE]

Pwnd

in the 20GB range i have to recommend the iAudio X5

iRiver H320.

music, videos, images, sound recording, basically a 2nd hard drive as well.

i have an H340 (320=20gig 340=40gig) and it's awesome.

those are discontinued

iPods are, you know, good, and stuff.

iPod if your willing to spend and extra $50 on it.

I'd go with the iPod 20gb. The screen rocks, battery life is pretty good, click wheel is the best thing since sliced bread. Plus there is more stuff made for it then any other mp3 player I know of.

I've got the 60gb model and an adaptor for my car that plugs into my Pioneer head unit and into the dock connector of the iPod. Shows the currently playing song on the head unit's screen, lets me change playlists, change tracks, and the sound quality is great.

They also have docks for your sound system at home, hell I was at target the other day and they had an alarm clock radio with an iPod dock on top.

A friend of mine gave me his old one for free. Otherwise I would have gotten something less femmy.

iAudio, DEFINITELY. Mostly for the fact that it has better sound quality than the iPod, a color screen, (I think) better battery life, and comes with better earbuds.

I'm with Cazor on this one.

iAudio or iRiver, definately. I think iAudio players ship with earbuds made by Cresyn, the same company that makes the drivers for Audio-Technica's high end line of earbuds. Supposedly the ones that come with iAudio players are pretty good. iPod earbuds blow. So do iRiver earbuds, probably.

The best investment for portable sound quality for any player is getting a pair of good IEMs, in ear monitors. Think earbuds but they slide into your ear canal. For about $90 you can get the Etymotic ER-6i, or the Shure E2c for slightly less, or go up to the Shure E3c for around $120 I think. The ER-6i are generally considered better than both and are a terrific bargain.

Oh, IEMs also block out noise better than active noise cancelling headphones, e.g. Bose QuietComforts, which sound like crap by the way. The Etymotics will block out a good 25 db of sound, the Shures a little less.

also it should be mentioned that ipod has useless EQ presets which should be renamed to "distort-o-matic DSP" and the headphone output could definately be better (biggest complaint you'll read about is a lack of bass) the only way to get the best sound out of an ipod is to go line out into a headphone amp which adds size and weight and makes it a tad less portable

iAudio X5(L)

[QUOTE=Dj Yoshi]better sound quality than the iPod, a color screen,[/QUOTE]


iPod sounds great and does have a color screen...

i also forget... iRiver H300 series support video through a fimrware update (but you lose DRM support and it's only 10fps)... iAudio X5 supports 15fps video out of the box



1. ipod sounds great through line out and an external headphone amp and sounds less than great through the headphone out

2. only the latest ipods (and the ipod photo)

If you're getting an iPod, get a iPod photo. You can play Doom.

I have a creative Nomad Jukebox 3. It's excellent feature wise but it's very old now. Big & bulky. About the size of a discman.