I am Looking for an MP3 player to use in the gym, in my car or just at home. I have a few in mind such as the IPOD and IPOD mini, Creative ZEN and the Rio Carbon. I am wondering if anyone has any of these and has any input on which one to get. The only reason why I think I may stay away from the IPOD is because when the battery goes bad it is expensive to replace and it takes a long time. Plus I would like to get my music from a variety of sources not just Itunes. However the smaller home speaker stations for the IPOD made by Altec Lansing is a great idea. Any help or ideas would be appreciated.
I am an Mp3 freak. I have the 256meg iriver and I love it. I bought it three years ago and its never left my side. It holds about 55 songs and is no bigger than a pack of gum. If you want a bigger unit like the Ipod, It will probably hold more music than you have. If you want something to use for your workouts, get the iriver. If you want to play you entire collection of music at a party, get somthing bigger. By the way FUCK IPOD. There are more reasonably priced units out there depending on size and memory.
[quote]trailrash wrote:
I am Looking for an MP3 player to use in the gym, in my car or just at home. RK[/quote]
I use the Rio Cali, only I don’t have the sports version. It holds 128MB and is probably the most durable one I’ve seen. It has survived the bottom of my bag for over a year now and there has been no decrease in function.
Before that, I had the Nike MP3 player and it broke within two weeks.
I have over 2200 songs on mine, all recorded at the highest VBR (all my own CDs; nothing downloaded), and it still has a third of its hard drive capacity left.
An iPod mini would hold a large subset of that collection and be nice and compact.
What michaelv said!
I got an iPod for Xmas; I never knew how much I wanted one until I actually had it! I’ve got 2400 tracks on it (so far), and tons of space left, and all from my CD collection–I haven’t spent a cent at the iTunes Music Store.
The controls are also increedibly easy to master AND to use, even when clipped to my waist at the gym and under my T-shirt.
But forget the iPod Mini; it’s only $50 cheaper but has a MUCH smaller hard drive.
It depends on how you are using it. If you just want it for your car or some low intensity exercise, than an Ipod may be fine. But if you are using it for running or any high intensity exercise you are gonna want one that uses flash media only - no moving parts. I’ve read complaints about Ipods and some of the other high capacity units skipping due to the facts that they store their data on a small hard drive which involves moving parts. If I’m gonna put out several hundred dollars for an MP3 player, I’m gonna be pissed if it skips when I’m running. Flash media uses a flash card like what’s in digital cameras. I have a Rio Chiba. This is my second Rio MP3 player (first one was stolen). I can run, jump etc without it skipping. It is also incredibly durable. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve dropped it or accidently flung it across the room. It has a capacity of about 270 meg and can be upgraded to over 700 meg. And to be honest with you, I don’t need more than three hours of music on my MP3 at a time. My Rio cost about $200 and I’ve had it for over a year and am very pleased with it. Oh, and I use it almost every day.
Apple is coming out with a Flash memory based Ipod. It has the really,really small form factor, holds between 256 and 512 meg, and is supposed to run under 100 bucks.
Rio Cali, 128 meg. I love it, I have several playlist on it depending on my mood and workout. You can’t beat a flash based player for a good all around MP3 player. I have had mine for over a year and the only issue I had was the head phones broke, no big deal $9.99 at Target got me a perfect new pair. I would suggest looking into something with atleast 256meg that can handle additional storeage.
[quote]gojira wrote:
It depends on how you are using it. If you just want it for your car or some low intensity exercise, than an Ipod may be fine. But if you are using it for running or any high intensity exercise you are gonna want one that uses flash media only - no moving parts. I’ve read complaints about Ipods and some of the other high capacity units skipping due to the facts that they store their data on a small hard drive which involves moving parts.[/quote]
This is a misconception. If these players spun the hard drive the entire time, the battery would last about 30 minutes.
Hard drive based MP3 players have RAM in them, just like firmware-based players. But they use it as a buffer. The player will spin up the hard drive just long enough to load two or three songs into memory, then spin it down. 90% of the time the hard drive is turned off. Most of the time no parts are moving. And even when it’s on, it’s not going to “skip”; this isn’t a CD. If it gets jarred and can’t read a track it will go back and try again. Besides, a microdrive read head has magnitudes lower mass than a huge CD read head. It takes a LARGE force to jar something that small and light.
This isn’t to say that flash-based players aren’t more robust. They are. But the difference is a lot smaller than the chicken-littles like you to believe. Especially if it’s a really well-built player like the iPod. Sure, get a crappy hard drive based player and it’s going to fall apart. But you can’t blame that on the hard drive.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
trailrash wrote:
I am Looking for an MP3 player to use in the gym, in my car or just at home. RK
I use the Rio Cali, only I don’t have the sports version. It holds 128MB and is probably the most durable one I’ve seen. It has survived the bottom of my bag for over a year now and there has been no decrease in function.
Before that, I had the Nike MP3 player and it broke within two weeks.[/quote]
I’ve had a lot of good feedback on this style player. A few of my friends have the Forge Sport with 256 megs and haven’t have a problem with them at all. Plus I like the fact that it already comes with the armband and clip. I will mainly use it in the Gym so I will need something durable and won’t skip. Thanks from everyone for the info. Im going to reserch them a bit more and then I will go from there. Right now I’m going towards the Rio Forge. The Ipod is probably more than what I need. But who knows.
Ok, here’s a question that will sound retarted but…
I love my iPod but I can not find a case with an armband that fits. I’ve seen the hand strap, this is fine for running but is a pain when I am walking the dog because i have to switch the leash from hand to hand. Anyone have any luck finding one? I dont know how big my upper arms are un-flexed but they’re a touch over 19" when flexed, and when running, with arms at a 90deg. angle they are semi flexed i guess. Some help? Anyone? Bueler?
For what it is worth, I have a Rio Carbon. I wouldn’t recommend it for the gym. It is twitchy when it gets dropped and I have had to reset it several times and reload all of my music. I don’t use it in the gym anymore. It holds 5 Gigs so I use it as a back up drive for my computer at work.
The iPod is cute, but it’s way overrated and overpriced for the features. I know, I’ve got two of them, one for me, one for my wife. Now I can boast the status symbol, but it does fewer things than most of the average players out there.
I’d rather look at iRiver. Heck, even Creative might deliver a better bang for the buck.
[quote]florin wrote:
The iPod is cute, but it’s way overrated and overpriced for the features. I know, I’ve got two of them, one for me, one for my wife. Now I can boast the status symbol, but it does fewer things than most of the average players out there.
I’d rather look at iRiver. Heck, even Creative might deliver a better bang for the buck.
The iPod isn’t overpriced when you can get one for free: freepay.com
The only reason why I don’t like the iPod is because it doesn’t have FM radio (which is acually good where I live), which is why these are around: griffintechnology.com/products/ifmdock/index.php
[quote]Nomancer wrote:
florin wrote:
The iPod is cute, but it’s way overrated and overpriced for the features. I know, I’ve got two of them, one for me, one for my wife. Now I can boast the status symbol, but it does fewer things than most of the average players out there.
I’d rather look at iRiver. Heck, even Creative might deliver a better bang for the buck.
The iPod isn’t overpriced when you can get one for free: freepay.com
[quote]SWR-1222D wrote:
Nomancer wrote:
florin wrote:
The iPod is cute, but it’s way overrated and overpriced for the features. I know, I’ve got two of them, one for me, one for my wife. Now I can boast the status symbol, but it does fewer things than most of the average players out there.
I’d rather look at iRiver. Heck, even Creative might deliver a better bang for the buck.
The iPod isn’t overpriced when you can get one for free: freepay.com
The only reason why I don’t like the iPod is because it doesn’t have FM radio (which is acually good where I live), which is why these are around: griffintechnology.com/products/ifmdock/index.php
It’s not a scam, it’s just SPAM!
(hehe, I rhymed)[/quote]
True, but I want my free iPod. Its worth a short post for a sexy $300 gadget.
