NationStates Jolt Archive

I'm planning on getting one.

Should I give into advertising and get and ipod, or is there something better that I can probably get in New Zealand?

Well, if you're after a 20, 40 or 60 Gig one, I'd recommend either an iPod (shudder) or a Creative Zen... apparently the iPod screens are better, but I prefer Creative for mp3s because they've been in the sound/mp3 player business a lot longer... plus, those damn iPod ads annoy me enough that I couldn't stand to buy their product.

Plus, it helps that I don't usually have a burning urge to listen to one song right at one particular moment, so I can deal without a screen. And I don't need anything so large - I had a tiny old... 125Mb, I think it was, mp3 player, which was a Creative brand, and I'm getting a 5Gig one (same brand) for Christmas. So... I guess I recommend Creative over iPod, but I'm sure I'll be drowned out by dissenters.

Edit: oh, and I'm in Australia, so you shouldn't have much trouble finding Creative mp3 players where you are (unless I'm insane and not making any sense again, which is possible).

I have a 20 GB third generation iPod. Couldn't be happier with it. Everything I have on it is in mp3 format. None of the aacs from the iTunes store. Works great. Lives up to the hype in my opinion.

I agree the ads suck, especially those damn U2 ads. I hate U2...especially Bono.

My brother's got a Sony ATRAC player - but I think that Sony have for once got things horribly wrong. Okay, their format might well be better quality, and it converts everything on your computer to ATRAC as it downloads onto the player, but the computer programme is horrible. Whoever designed it is a complete muppet who values form over function - the programme does everything you need it to, but the fancy interface looks takes so much memory that it slows my computer right down and frequently crashes it. My computer's a bit old, granted, but it still copes with everything else quite happily - don't buy Sony!

archos made a very good 20Go player. I have heard from many friends that ipod is very fragile - one shock, it's dead. While I experienced the archos viability :)... and the new archos is as small as an Ipod mini, for 5 times the capacity.

that is if you want big storage. I personnaly have a 4Go MP3 player, it is enough for me - I do not put all my MP3 in, only the best ones. Makes around 1000 songs.

I got a new Phillips 2GB Gogear player. Cost the same as a 512mb solid state player, in my opinion its the best of both worlds. To be honest, i am never going to have 40GB or 60GB of songs so i couldn't see the wisdom in buying an expensive IPod, besides 4 days worth of music is good enough for now :D

I have a third gen 20GB ipod. Its great and i never leave home without it. :D

I've got a Creative MuVo^2 4GB player. It can be used as a USB storage device as well, so 'tis pretty cool. And you don't need any software to use it - plug it into your USB port and your computer should recognise it straight away. Anyone who thinks they need more than 10GB in an mp3 player is an idiot. I normally only have about 3GB on mine at any one time, and that gives about 5 days worth. Save your money and don't get an iPod.

I bought a Rio Nitrus a year or so ago, and its worked great. I love its size, and its been really easy to use. After the new year I'm looking into updating my MP3 player to either a Rio Carbon or Karma, both of which seem to be really good as well. The Nitrus only has something like 1.5 GB of space, but its been fine for me. Plus the Nitrus has been getting great reviews....

Reviews of the Nitrus:
IGN- http://gear.ign.com/articles/437/437446p1.html
Cnet- http://reviews.cnet.com/Rio_Nitrus/4505-6490_7-30474132.html
PCMagazine- http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1356799,00.asp

Reviews of the Carbon:
Engadget- http://www.engadget.com/entry/5696148625860126/
Cnet- http://reviews.cnet.com/Rio_Carbon__5GB_/4505-6490_7-30984154.html

Reviews of the Karma-
IGN- http://gear.ign.com/articles/458/458401p1.html
PC Magazine- http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1623032,00.asp

Go for a rio or an iriver

Price is a little higher but their review are so much better (also have wma compatibility) I like them way better then my old ipod

I've got a third generation 15GB refurbished ipod - only £160 :D from the apple website. Great for bus rides

The iPod. Definitely. I have a 2nd gen and it has been fantastic. I go absolutely everywhere with it.

who the hell needs a 20 40 or 60 gig mp3 player? my COMPUTER only came with a 40 gig harddrive i had to buy a new one cuz games now are like 20 gigs big (well ragnarok online 2 will be they have NO idea what the word compression means) but still where the hell yo ugetting 40 gigs of music

The iPod. Definitely. I have a 2nd gen and it has been fantastic. I go absolutely everywhere with it.
Wouldn't you do that with any mp3 player? I mean, the reason you have it is getting your files anywhere. Okay, not exactly anywhere, but almost.

who the hell needs a 20 40 or 60 gig mp3 player? my COMPUTER only came with a 40 gig harddrive i had to buy a new one cuz games now are like 20 gigs big (well ragnarok online 2 will be they have NO idea what the word compression means) but still where the hell yo ugetting 40 gigs of music
Well I've more than half-filled my 40gig drive with music - and I've hardly thieved anything from anyone - it's mostly my collection.

My collection currently stands at:
67,488 songs in 5,946 directories, totalling 41.1 GB (44,181,127,168 bytes) of hard drive space. I use a 3G 15GB iPod with 2800 song playlists loaded on it. Firewire is fantastic, I couldn't live without it. It takes six minutes to copy all those songs across, whereas it'd be about 15 on USB2. I even have time to change the playlist before leaving for college in the morning.

IAnyone who thinks they need more than 10GB in an mp3 player is an idiot.

Really? I think anyone who would presume to tell a person how to enjoy their music, or how much they need to have with them would be the bigger idiot.

Having a large amount of music, a full 20 GB in my case, has some nice benefits. I absolutely hate the music on the radio. Having a couple massive playlists means I can randomly shuffle through a seemingly endless supply of songs without having to worry about hearing one twice or getting bored with the same handful of songs. This is especially helpful when you're driving long hours or traveling a lot. (For driving I use the iTrip attachment. Driving with headphones on is dangerous.) I use mine all of the time and am always glad that I can browse the list of records or artists and find something I may have forgetten I had. It sure beats being bored with the same old playlists.

In addition the extra space, if I choose to leave some open, can be used to store larger files I might want transfer to another computer at times when I don't want to bring my laptop along. If you have a mac (I do), you can use some of the space to install mac os x and boot off of the damn thing as an emergency disk. I don't bother with that, but some do.

There are tons of ways you can use the extra space. I use all of mine for mp3s usually.

If you don't think you need that much space, buy something different. Who cares? Personally, I think the smaller disk sizes are a poor choice but maybe they fit your uses. Wanting more than the paltry amount offered in some lower end devices doesn't make you an idiot.

I'm planning on getting one.

Should I give into advertising and get and ipod, or is there something better that I can probably get in New Zealand?


get a sony NW-HD1

30 hours battery
20 Gig harddrive
Great sound
Smaller than even the Ipod mini

get a sony NW-HD1

30 hours battery
20 Gig harddrive
Great sound
Smaller than even the Ipod mini

Although they are great, don't you think they are a tiny bit overpriced? I mean, from what i see, most sony products are a little more expensive than most...apart from IPods...

get a sony NW-HD1

30 hours battery
20 Gig harddrive
Great sound
Smaller than even the Ipod mini
The Sony software slows your computer right down though. Okay, my computer's not that great, but it copes with almost everything happily, and the fancy interface is just unnecessary.

The Sony software slows your computer right down though. Okay, my computer's not that great, but it copes with almost everything happily, and the fancy interface is just unnecessary.

I got that with my MD player, the software was crap and incredibly slow, and i've got a fairly decent comp at home but it was still useless...grrr