So My beloved MP3 CD player has been retired. A tear, for sure.

I still have my Creative MuVo Micro n200 (they need to shorten their names) which holds a GB and is small for running. It's not working at the moment, but that is because I need to send it back to have it looked at. Thing is, I want to be able to listen to lots of stuff. I have a fairly hefty music collection, and want to be able to either switch out CDs or carry it all around. Carrying it all around is preferable.

So I've basically narrowed it down to two competitors.

iPod 60GB

Creative NOMAD

And I've heard some bad things about both. I really like ipods, but the NOMAD can not only play other formats, but I can just replace the battery.

Anyone had experience with either of these? Anything I should take into consideration?

Thanks.

Also, iPods are ridiculously expensive, imo.

The 60g iPod video is a sweet, sweet piece of MP3 player. Get it. Get it now.

(And the battery on the iPod isnt hard to replace, idiots just make it out to be a huge deal even though it's simple)

How is the battery life for a normal charge? I'm talking just normal listening and browsing, not video watching which is a seconday feature for me.

ipod, hands down

CREATIVE FTW
ive had the exact creative nomad that you are looking at for like 3-4 years. its a good buy. one huge advantage, no iTunes. its drag and drop. easy as pie.

Get the ipod.

NOMADs are nice, but HUGE

Do it. I have a Zen Xtra and I love it. I'm going to get thier new Vision:M. If you don't mind the size of the Xtra (It's pretty big), then go for it. Battery life is great, you won't be dissapointed.

Normal charge is around 15-20 hours, 5-10 if watching videos. While the video feature seems like a gimmeck at first, once you see how amazing the picture quality and resolution is on the tiny screen, you'll come around quick.

iAudio X5L. Though the 30gb versions are easily found, there are 60gb versions I believe. Best sound quality, most support for sound formats, longest battery life. The choice is obvious I'd think.

1) Intense studies show 15 hours is the average--mainly because the battery lasts a short time in average testing. Most people get 10-15 that I've talked to. Switching around also hurts your battery a lot. For video, it's been shown to be more like 2-5 hours.

2) The video quality REALLY isn't that great. I've watched a few, and though it's high res, the screen really is just...too small. Of course, this is coming from a guy who has a PSP...

[QUOTE=Dj Yoshi]iAudio X5L. Though the 30gb versions are easily found, there are 60gb versions I believe. Best sound quality, most support for sound formats, longest battery life. The choice is obvious I'd think.[/QUOTE]

Dude, thanks for that tip. That thing looks like Jesus is back as a media player.

But futher reading reveals that there may be a 9,999 file limit.

Thoguths?

That could suck, but I've never heard of this. Regardless, if it does exist, you don't have to worry for the 30gb player, though it could be a problem for the 60gb player. But yes, it is indeed the best MP3 player that I know of--heartily reccommended by me, Yecti, MB, and Happydud

[QUOTE=Dj Yoshi]1) Intense studies show 15 hours is the average--mainly because the battery lasts a short time in average testing. Most people get 10-15 that I've talked to. Switching around also hurts your battery a lot. For video, it's been shown to be more like 2-5 hours.

2) The video quality REALLY isn't that great. I've watched a few, and though it's high res, the screen really is just...too small. Of course, this is coming from a guy who has a PSP...[/QUOTE]

The 20 hour number is a number of my own, I don't know if it's "scientific", but from my own use, it is usually between 15 and 20 hours (Usually around 18)

While correct, it isn't as high res as a PSP, it is by far, the best hard drive based, pocket sized MP3/Video player. Size is a factor, and even though the PSP is better, it can only hold 1 gig of videos (at which point you are sacrificing all other things), which is hardly anything.

I'd check PMP's before you make such a rash statement again. There are a lot of them out there that blow the iPod out of the water for about the same price. And they do play audio files.

Also, you can hold 2 gigs now (with 4 and 8 gig sticks coming out later this year), along with multiple mem sticks. 1 gig sticks are down to 100 or less, and a full length movie is only 700 DivX'd, maybe less if you use codecs to bring it down to the PSP's native res. I've seen movies go as low as 260-300 megs, full length and fairly good quality, in the PSP's native res.

DON'T GET AN iPOD! PETE TOWNSHEND SAYS THAT IT HURT HIS EARS WITH THOSE EVIL STEREO HEADPHONES (and it was most definitly not his 130db concerts and massive amount of drug usage)

[QUOTE=Dj Yoshi]iAudio X5L. Though the 30gb versions are easily found, there are 60gb versions I believe. Best sound quality, most support for sound formats, longest battery life. The choice is obvious I'd think.[/QUOTE]

That thing looks sexy as hell

I want a flash memory player, that'll play flac files and not have a video screen.

Don't they make flash memory players you can stick like SD cards into?

You might be looking for an iAudio U2, or maybe look into the iRiver line.

They do make such flash-based players...but have fun finding them.

EDIT: for the U2's...

About the best you'll get. FLAC is kinda useless for a flash player anyways...it takes up quite a bit of space.

Yeah, but 2 gigs worth of flac is plenty of music for me.

Flac is just preferably, because of its smallish size.

I'd look into just going VBR mp3, or OGG and using an iAudio player. They're really the best in almost all categories as far as players go--their Flash lineup is awesome, and they have a lot of different options. The U3 looks sexy as hell (even though the video support is useless) and I would kill for a 4gb version of it. All that support, a LiIon battery, and the great audio quality packed into such a concise, stylish bundle. Hells yes.

I don't want a video screen.

What I specifically want just seems like it'll never happen.

Flash player
Flac support
~2gigs
Extra port for other flash memory. Don't care what.
Simple, backlighted LCD screen.


Alas, that'll probably never happen.

There's nothing wrong with a video screen. No reason to look down on a player because it has one.

I won't use it, and I have this anal retentive problem with scratches on video screens.

(One of the reasons why I love the Gameboy Advance SP, with a little piece of foam and its clamshell design its the perfect anti-scratch portable gaming experience)

So do I, but trust me....on such a small screen you'd never notice.

And child pornography

So Yoshi, I can't find what the manufacturer warranty is, do you happen to recall? Newegg seems to be the cheapest price I can find, but it says it's only a manufacturer warranty, and I would like to know what that is...

Thanks.

I honestly can't say. I checked the manual, but I see nothing about warranty. I suppose you'd get it when you buy it--I assume a 1 year at least. Plus the 7 day RMA on any item that Newegg has, and the 30 day RMA on defective items.