My son told me not to get an IPOD because you have to use ITUNES. What else is out there for storing music?
Sounds kind of like Mac vs PC.
I Like iPod and iTunes
– Last Updated: Dec-28-08 11:28 PM EST –
I currently have 4 iPods and have been using iTunes as my music management software for the last 8 years .... I personally have never had a problem nor complaint with either.
iTunes is free and works on both PC and Mac. You are under no obligation to buy music from the iTunes store.
The new 8gb Nano's for $149 are a great deal on a slick piece of electronica.
The most popular
are probably the Zune and the Sansa players, but there are quite a few out there. Try the CNET site for music player reviews, features, and pricing.
jim
M.P.-free
"Sounds kind of like Mac vs PC."
Yeah, that’s how I see it, in a figurative sense, and I think it’s going to play out the same way as the battle between Apple and IBM-compatible PCs did. Apple was first, apple still has slightly better hardware and software, but MP3-generic is more versatile and cheaper and will probably win dominant market share in the end.
“What else is out there for storing music?”
Well, your PC is already set up with several ways to store and play and manage your music, but I guess what you’re really asking is “what else is out there for making my music portable?” A dozen companies make MP3 players, and most new phones, GPS devices and PDAs currently have an MP3 player built in. I think the next couple years are going to see a big shake-out in terms of what carry-along electronic device(s) will most people end up buying? Thus, it’s kind of risky to invest a lot in a top-of-the-line music player.
I’d recommend that most people go ahead and buy a low-end MP3 player for under $50 (make sure it has a slot for expansion memory), and start using it to carry around while buying songs and managing your collection on your PC at home. It’s a very liberating experience, but you need practice, and you need to gradually build up an inventory of songs and, maybe more important, of hi-fi sound systems you can plug it into (car, shop, back yard, living room, portable, parent’s house, family vacation cabin, family pontoon boat, friends’ houses).
Then in a few years, when the market settles on a single do-everything portable device platform (probably a phone), you can spend a few hundred dollars and get an awesome portable music/movie/+ system.
Creative Zen
is a great one to look at, less expensive than ipod. got one for my son a while back and I was very impressed with the screen quality and battery life.
freestyle audio
2 gig waterproof mp3 player
Paul
Second Creative Zen
– Last Updated: Dec-29-08 5:37 AM EST –
I bought one for myself. It's not real intuitive to navigate but it plays any old MP3 I load onto it.
and the price was right.
I am lusting after a Cowon S9 n/m
One thing about the iPod Touch
is that you can send it in for a Golden Shellback treatment.
Electronics Challenged
Yes, same here. This is what worked for me. I got an I-pod, “Shuffle” for 50 bucks. It’s so simple to run. off/on, vol/high low, and mix tunes or shuffle them up. That’s it! No screens, no modes, easy!
I-tunes, on your computer is really easy to use to maintain, or add and subtract song to your I-pod “Suffle”
I was born in 51, so the music of the late 60’s and early 70’s are my favorites. At I-tunes on your computer you can request an old favorite song and bam, it’s yours forever for a buck. I’ve got almost 200 old songs on my Shuffle now. I got a waterproof case & earphones attached to my pfd. I can sing along to Stings’, “Roxann” just like Eddy Murphy did in the movie, but out in my kayak. Don’t do this close to shore.
I can plug my shuffle into the cars speaker system, and I can plug into my little sound system in my wood shop. What’s cool about the Shuffle in the wood shop is I don’t have to worry about saw dust and sanding dust on CD’s or tapes anymore. Just plug in the unit and I’ve got all my favorite Rolling Stones to Blind Faith.
How’s the shoulder doing?
Another vote for iPod
– Last Updated: Dec-29-08 7:42 AM EST –
I also started out with a Shuffle and it worked great. My son got a new iPhone and bequeathed me his iTouch, it's even greater. iTunes is easy to live with. It is free and it gives you the ability to organize your media. You can easily import your CD's, video, photo and MP3 data into it. You don't have to buy a thing from iTunes if you don't want to.
Otterbox makes a hard case for the iTouch if you want to take it on the water, I use the combination on my motorcycle along with a Ram mount system.
Ipod touch
We got 2 free when we bought a laptop and home computer and although i am electronically challenged, these things are awesome! They play music but have other capabilities with wifi. In the hospital, i went onto my emails, can use google earth etc. My son loads the music but I know how to use it (sort of…) I also have a ipod shuffle which i havent used yet but it is inexpensive, super portable as it is tiny tiny, and others love it. We have used lower end mp3 players but they had issues so we decided to go with the apple brand and am happy so far…
Shoulder hurts like hell when I wake up.
Good all day though. Thanks for asking.
Check out Slacker.
www.slacker.com. Around $200, you can set your preferences, then it downloads and plays at your will. You don’t pay for any of the downloads, at the expense of very limited control. You can’t directly choose what it plays. Think of it more as a semi-customizable radio. I don’t actually have one, because my truck lacks an audio input and FM transmitters’ sound quality sucks. We’re an iPod/iTunes household, but I don’t use one myself (my wife and kids do). I’d probably sooner buy the Slacker device for me, simply because it doesn’t seem to take as much time to choose, buy and organize your music. I do use their free website about every day for listening to music while I’m at the office. Works great for that, and I don’t even have the premium bennies of a device owner. . . .
YoS
Sandisk e280
http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Sansa-e280-Player-Black/dp/B000HZ9CCA/ref=sr_1_27?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1230566509&sr=8-27
About half the price of a comparable IPod. I’ve had one for about a year now and like it pretty well.
Me and Apple don’t seem to get along. Everyone else, including my kids, got Itunes for free. When I tried they asked for my creditcard so that they could charge me $10! Yeah right.
I buy my mp3s at Amazon no problems, no hassle.
Something else to consider is a decent set of headphones. I got Sennheiser PX100s and am very pleased. They sound SO much better than any earbuds I’ve tried.
http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-PX-100-Collapsible-Headphones/dp/B000089GN3/ref=pd_bbs_3?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1230566943&sr=8-3
~Tommy
iPods play mp3.
“MP3-generic is more versatile and cheaper and will probably win dominant market share in the end”
iPods play mp3 files just fine.
What is the problem with iTunes?
– Last Updated: Dec-29-08 7:04 PM EST –
"My son told me not to get an IPOD because you have to use ITUNES."
What, specifically, is his problem with iTunes?
at 3X cost of sandisk
True, but at double or triple the cost.
probs with ipod
I don’t know about him, but I personally don’t have any design or operating problems with ipods - it’s just that they cost more. They are very well designed, and are generally acknowledged to be the most intuitive. If their prices were comparable to similar-memory-sized units from the other mp3 player manufacturers, I’d be happy to buy an ipod.
There’s another cost, too, and this one kind of bugs me. Unless I’m mistaken (I’ve never had one in my hands), I think they use a different connector when going to an external sound system - is that true? All the other MP3 layers use the standard “micro” plug (1/8th inch) that has been around forever. The ipod appears to use a connector that looks like my PDA interface connector. Thus, one more cord to buy, one more part to fail that takes a week to replace, leaving you musicless in the meanwhile. I resent any manufacturer that tries to lock you in to their brand by using non-standard connectors, and that appears to be Apple’s purpose here.