southcoast68 Posted June 14, 2009 Report Share Posted June 14, 2009 Hi all I'm considering the purchase of an mp3 player and it came to mind that I'd ask here since we have a diverse community with folks from all over the world with many different opinoins. First off, I originally was holding out for a iPod touch and its way cool user interface, but I still cannot justify the $300+/- price tag for a 16gb unit, so Apple is out. The Microsoft Zune would be another alternative, and its customer support seems good, but it currently lacks a touch screen interface, something I figure would be cool to have in an mp3 player. So in searching on-line, I eventually came to the Cowon D2 series, an mp3 player that has a solid following in the audiophile community for its sound quality (something I can appreciate), has a touch screen interface, is about the size of a credit card, is expandable with an Sd card slot, reportedly has about 40 hours of playback of audio files on a single battery charge and boasts of many great customer reviews on Amazon.com, Newegg.com and cnet.com. Based on this, and its $150+/- price tag, I am thinking of pulling the trigger on one, but I wonder, what do other members here use for a media player? Apple, Zune, Sony, iRiver, Cowon??? Has anyone have high praise or a horror story of any one brand? Like I said, I am probably going with the Cowon, but I wonder what other people here are using. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MasterOfPuppets Posted June 14, 2009 Report Share Posted June 14, 2009 i have a 8GB 3G iphone, and a 80GB ipod 5.5 generation the iphone is a wonderful piece of art, nothing can compare to it imo why dont u try finding a second hand itouch? u can find some in mint condition for half the price Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
numptyj Posted June 14, 2009 Report Share Posted June 14, 2009 i have a 8GB 3G iphone, and a 80GB ipod 5.5 generation the iphone is a wonderful piece of art, nothing can compare to it imo why dont u try finding a second hand itouch? u can find some in mint condition for half the price Ipods are pretty cool but tbh the sound from them is lame. (I did own a touch so I'm not a bias party ) I would recommend going for a Sony walkman, there is the new X series which boats 3 inch OLED screen and digital noise cancelling as well as clear stereo sound technology and some nice premium EX sony headphones and comes in 16gb and 32gb sizes. If you cant stretch to something like that then I would recommend the S series walkmans from sony S638 (8GB) S639 (16gb) again these comes with EX headphones. I have compared same song on Ipod and Walkman and even put the premium headphones onto the Ipod but still the Sony excels the actual unit produces really crisp tones and good bass levels. So if you havent given them a thought, have a look at a Sony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shundi Posted June 14, 2009 Report Share Posted June 14, 2009 8GB original iPhone... I've got an older (cheap money) creative Zen 30GB mp3 player if you want it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highoeyazmuhudee Posted June 14, 2009 Report Share Posted June 14, 2009 (edited) I currently own a touch that im writing this reply on. Theres nothing that can match the touch right now and thats not to say its a good machine. Apple stuff is severely over rated and this thing frustrates the hell out of me because of apples unwillingness to support web standars and other video formats such as wmv. Apples priorities are to promote the sale of their own formats and apps which is understandable for a business but the consumer suffers. UNFORTUNATELY the touch is the best you can get (well the iphone is actually way better), but when you really look at all it offers and its shortcomings its really not that great. If i hadnt gotten it as a gift i would of bought an mp3 player that was just that, a handheld device that plays music and may or may not even have a screen. But my touch at $400(the price of a cheap laptop) that i only use for crippled web browing and occasionally crashes on pages like ebat isnt worth the price since it doesnt even play flash apps and even a cheap $400 laptop can read pdf files over 20megs. I dont get all hype and mac culture, i see nothing special here. Even thier OS you can unofficially run on pc, so why over pay for a mac pc you cant even hardware upgrade when it ages? I remember when if you said you had a mac people would give you this queer look. So to summarize dont get an ipod, i feel they have far to go still and dont buy a mac pc either spend the money beefing up your windows pc hardware Both apple and sony have this unfounded sense of prestige and entitlement, which is why they can charge you $300 for a 16gig player. As for sony thats a matter for a new thread Edited June 14, 2009 by highoeyazmuhudee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
numptyj Posted June 14, 2009 Report Share Posted June 14, 2009 I currently own a touch that im writing this reply on. Theres nothing that can match the touch right now and thats not to say its a good machine. Apple stuff is severely over rated and this thing frustrates the hell out of me because of apples unwillingness to support web standars and other video formats such as wmv. Apples priorities are to promote the sale of their own formats and apps which is understandable for a business but the consumer suffers. UNFORTUNATELY the touch is the best you can get (well the iphone is actually way better), but when you really look at all it offers and its shortcomings its really not that great. If i hadnt gotten it as a gift i would of bought an mp3 player that was just that, a handheld device that plays music and may or may not even have a screen. But my touch at $400(the price of a cheap laptop) that i only use for crippled web browing and occasionally crashes on pages like ebat isnt worth the price since it doesnt even play flash apps and even a cheap $400 laptop can read pdf files over 20megs. I dont get all hype and mac culture, i see nothing special here. Even thier OS you can unofficially run on pc, so why over pay for a mac pc you cant even hardware upgrade when it ages? I remember when if you said you had a mac people would give you this queer look. So to summarize dont get an ipod, i feel they have far to go still and dont buy a mac pc either spend the money beefing up your windows pc hardware Both apple and sony have this unfounded sense of prestige and entitlement, which is why they can charge you $300 for a 16gig player. As for sony thats a matter for a new thread if you have seen the new Sony X series there are reasons why you pay $300 dollars for the 16 gig, sound quality is impeccable on it. The OLED screen is something amazing to see the brightness and vibrance that it can show. The touch does offer apps slightly large screen etc, but are you looking for an accessory or a music player. You will be hard pressed to find music quality as good as the sony produces out of the box (X-Series and S-Series walkmans) Sorry for the fanboy rant lol but I have compared the Ipods (mini and touch) with the exact same song on a Walkman and it speaks for itself. If you are looking for more features and sound quality isnt the major priority on your list then yes definitely a touch offers lots and lots of features but for sound it might be a more premium end of the market but with a walkman you will get what you pay for. It might be worth checking prices on the A series which had bluetooth or the A series which was before that. Im sure you can pick these up very cheap nowadays and again they come with the EX headphones which are worth about Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronin Posted June 14, 2009 Report Share Posted June 14, 2009 I have 3 iPods. A Shuffle for fitness/runnin, a 3g Classic (6 years old and still kickin) for travel/car, and a old school Mini the wife uses. Touch in the future when the 3g dies. FWIW the iPods have used various DSP chips and sound quality varies from model to model. In fact the 1st gen (Gum Stick) Shuffle had one of best audio processing chips. Also, sound quality varies with headphones. I use Shure in ear, and love the combo. Not a fan of Sony. Burned too many times with Sony proprietary, all be it, bleeding edge technology. Zune.... per my nephew, kids with Zunes get laughed off the playground. Apple's marketing engine did too good of a job making it the "in" device. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackbard Posted June 14, 2009 Report Share Posted June 14, 2009 Ipod. Have 5 in the household. One connected to my car through interface, plays music in stereo, controlled with factory controls. Use iphone for myself, shuffle for my son, nano for the wife, normal 60G in the house... Hi all I'm considering the purchase of an mp3 player and it came to mind that I'd ask here since we have a diverse community with folks from all over the world with many different opinoins. First off, I originally was holding out for a iPod touch and its way cool user interface, but I still cannot justify the $300+/- price tag for a 16gb unit, so Apple is out. The Microsoft Zune would be another alternative, and its customer support seems good, but it currently lacks a touch screen interface, something I figure would be cool to have in an mp3 player. So in searching on-line, I eventually came to the Cowon D2 series, an mp3 player that has a solid following in the audiophile community for its sound quality (something I can appreciate), has a touch screen interface, is about the size of a credit card, is expandable with an Sd card slot, reportedly has about 40 hours of playback of audio files on a single battery charge and boasts of many great customer reviews on Amazon.com, Newegg.com and cnet.com. Based on this, and its $150+/- price tag, I am thinking of pulling the trigger on one, but I wonder, what do other members here use for a media player? Apple, Zune, Sony, iRiver, Cowon??? Has anyone have high praise or a horror story of any one brand? Like I said, I am probably going with the Cowon, but I wonder what other people here are using. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chubbchubb Posted June 15, 2009 Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 A couple of Ipods. From Nano to 32GB Touch. Once you get past the thought of giving in to the "other" Evil-Empire....the whole package (with few exceptions) actually makes a lot of sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StormTooper4 Posted June 15, 2009 Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 I have got a 20gb 2nd Gen iPod and 8gb nano but also use use my Crackberry bold a fair bit. I have never heard of Cowon But I have to ask can you really hear a difference in sound quality? Surely Something at 320kps pretty much sounds the same, I thought that was what digital was all about or am being a ludite? Get an Apple and buy some decent phones, iTunes is a very good bit of software, my boss bought an Akai 50gb because he thought he was being different, he was just being an [censored] for the sake of it and ended up going to apple within the year DONT FIGHT IT , you can keep your FLACs and OGGs if you want sound quality stick with Vinyl otherwise apple all the way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clockwerkgoblin Posted June 15, 2009 Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 I just sold my 16gb Ipod touch 1st gen. Now I'm looking to buy a smart phone. I love iTunes, it's a pity that I won't be able to transfer music to other devices... Or will I?.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b16a2 Posted June 15, 2009 Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 I use a Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chubbchubb Posted June 15, 2009 Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 I just sold my 16gb Ipod touch 1st gen. Now I'm looking to buy a smart phone. I love iTunes, it's a pity that I won't be able to transfer music to other devices... Or will I?.. You can try Itunes Agent to sync a third party device with Itunes. hxxp://ita.sourceforge.net/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tribal Posted June 15, 2009 Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 Iphone 1th Gen 8GB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
numptyj Posted June 15, 2009 Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 I just sold my 16gb Ipod touch 1st gen. Now I'm looking to buy a smart phone. I love iTunes, it's a pity that I won't be able to transfer music to other devices... Or will I?.. new sony walkmans are drag and drop, or if you wish it comes with a handy little widget which allows you to drag straight from Itunes to the walkman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southcoast68 Posted June 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 Thanks for all the food for thought input folks, its much appreciated. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highoeyazmuhudee Posted June 15, 2009 Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 Itunes is also pretty flakey and counter intuitive to me, and this comes from someone who uses 3Ds Max. Another thing is that accessories are about 3-4X over priced for apple stuff and the touch doesnt come with a wall charger, which i think is absolutely stupid. Check out samsung or sansa stuff , even creative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
its_urabus Posted June 15, 2009 Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 I have a first gen iPhone, but listen to pandora most of the time, or stream my music over edge with Orb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yodap Posted June 15, 2009 Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 Nokia N95 on the go, or my 80GB 6G iPod if I need the whole collection iPods cannot be beaten! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chronus Posted June 15, 2009 Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 I use my Blackberry Bold (great speakers for a phone, and loud) with 16gb memory card and 1gb onboard, or Nokia N82 (with 16gb card) to playback mp3s. I prefer to have something all in one, and the Blackberry Bold does everything I wanted that the iPhone couldn't do, including DivX/XviD playback. The Bold syncs with iTunes but I prefer simple drag and drop onto the hot-swappable memory card or connected via USB cable. There is one phone brand that is using Bang & Olufsen for their audio, but I'm not sure if that's just a marketing gimmick. I had a Sony Walkman phone which was fine with that too, but had a proprietary interface for the headphones which I didn't like. My sister did a dissertation for her Masters in Marketing/Economics and it was about Apple and the iPod, and her conclusion was it was style over substance and overpriced. She got a different brand mp3 player, but I'm not sure which. First you have to decide on what kind of device you want... if you want the "cool" device, just go with iPod/iPhone. If you want to be able to do more, than there are many other devices out there. There are review sites like cnet to check out as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeJay Posted June 18, 2009 Report Share Posted June 18, 2009 I've been really happy with my 8GB iPhone I guess it depends what functions you require, how long you plan to be listening at a time etc etc. I have a huge playlist on my iPhone which I dive in and out of, but that itself is only a fraction of the tunes saved onto it, so I've never had a problem with running out of music Heck, for short journeys, an iPod shuffle might be suitable in terms of capacity, my only beef is that it won't store a tracklist in the order I enter it, but, never mind Best of luck with your quest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HauteHippie Posted June 18, 2009 Report Share Posted June 18, 2009 Blackberry with 16 GB micro sD. Considering a 32 G upgrade though... Saw 'em for about $85 recently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OmegaPOFL Posted June 18, 2009 Report Share Posted June 18, 2009 (edited) i just got an ipod touch 8gb (it was free with my dad's mbpro) its pretty neat.. just wish it was 32gb lol its already almost full with chappelle show, futurama, office (us version), arrested development ...... oh and music!! anyways we're switching to at&t family plan (from sprint) so i might get the new iphone 3gs with 32gb one.. i know you cant listen to 5000 songs...but its nice to know its there Edited June 18, 2009 by astrograph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hackR Posted June 18, 2009 Report Share Posted June 18, 2009 Cowons...nothing but Cowons....have had them for years...and you're right, one of the best audiophile endorsed players... tremendous sound and flexibility in tailoring it...and they are good with firmware updates, too...good forums and sites, too... my kids have ipods/itouchs because.....well....because they are "cool"...when my 18 yr old went to the itouch, i took his Cowon D2...it is great!...and with the sd slot, you have lots of storage...and the sound output level is high...meaning it cranks...loud and clear... but from a sound perspective, the Cowon's can't be beat...pick your model... R- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OmegaPOFL Posted June 18, 2009 Report Share Posted June 18, 2009 speaking of firmware upgrade.... Apple is charging $10 for a firmware upgrade for the ipod touch!!!!!! WTF aren't they suppose to be free?! jeeeeez.... why so greedy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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