NotebookForums.com › Forums › General Notebook Discussions › Notebook Audio & Video  › thoughts on creative vs iriver mp3 players?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

thoughts on creative vs iriver mp3 players?

post #1 of 14
1/14/05 at 1:42am
Thread Starter 
I'd like some opinions on the differences between Creative and iRiver players. Specifically, I'm looking to compare the Creative Zen Micro Photo and the iRiver H10. Neither are out yet, but both are pretty damn similar - color screen, 5 GB, FM tuner, same scroll pad... Any thoughts on the advantages and disadvantages of each brand? Given the choice, would you pick the Creative or the iRiver player, if their feature sets were essentially the same?

Thanks a lot!

Reply
Reply
post #2 of 14
1/14/05 at 3:48am
I wish I had an MP3 player .. but they are sooooooo overpriced .. all of them .. it's rediculous.
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 14
1/14/05 at 5:17am
H10 looks waay to expensive - IMO creative would b a better buy
creative makes the best sounding mp3 players no doubt
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 14
1/14/05 at 8:15am
Best sounding? And you've heard iRiver's products?
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 14
1/15/05 at 1:54pm
Thread Starter 
So iRiver players usually sound better than Creative?
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 14
1/16/05 at 11:04am
I think his was just a baseless statement. He doesn't say whether he's heard iRiver products well enough to judge that one is better than the other. I have not heard Creative products but do own an iRiver, and as someone who works in sound and music I can say:

1) I have heard no flaws in iRiver's sound,

and

2) The quality of the MP3 or OGG (if Creative even supports OGG) encoding is much more important to sound quality, so it's the software you use to compress your files that is more important.
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 14
1/16/05 at 5:04pm
Does the Zen Micro Photo have a internal microphone?

Also realize that the H10 only has line in and out when docked - unlike the older H3xx and H1xx series that have line in/out on the device itself.

It kinda sucks that Creative still hasn't put out a complete spec sheet for the ZMP. iRiver already had the specs for the H10 up.
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 14
1/16/05 at 8:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by khu
I think his was just a baseless statement. He doesn't say whether he's heard iRiver products well enough to judge that one is better than the other. I have not heard Creative products but do own an iRiver, and as someone who works in sound and music I can say:
funny u make that comment abt my statement when u havent heard both urself

yes, i've heard both, and yes creative sounds better, and both r better than the ipod
these 3 r the major players in the market
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 14
1/17/05 at 9:01am
How is it funny? I didn't claim one was better than the other, just asked you whether you actually had heard both.

Of course you didn't address the idea that the compression algorithms used to compress the files also hugely affect the perceived quality, or whether you did any double-blind tests to see whether you think something sounds better, so personally, just judging from your writing style, I wouldn't trust your opinion, but that could just be me.
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 14
1/17/05 at 10:07am
guys, i can't speak to creative players since i have never owned any of them however i have owned the iriver ihp-120 and i now own the h320 and i have to say the iriver players are great. there is an active community site dedicated to the iriver players much like this site is for notebook enthusiasts, the site is www.misticriver.net

any questions that you have about the iriver, you can ask there
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 14
1/17/05 at 7:13pm
Thread Starter 
So, what software should I be using to encode my music? My mp3s are ripped using WMA, most of them at 256 kbits, but some at 128. Also, clearly I'm a noob, but what is the disadvantage of only having one line in/out? Thanks in advance - this helps a lot!
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 14
1/17/05 at 7:59pm
For MP3s the generally agreed best encoder is a project called RazorLAME which is based on a free program called LAME coded by, well, geeks on their own time.

http://www.dors.de/razorlame/razorlame.zip

You also need a program to grab the raw WAV files for RazorLAME to encode. If WMA can do it, fine, otherwise you can get a good free one called Audiograbber.

As for in/out, this only matters if you want to record stuff with your mp3 player. I don't know about the Creative ones but my iRiver H120 can record as well, either from an external source (like something off the radio, from your stereo system) or from either its built-in microphone or an external microphone. If you were a musician you could use this to take 'notes' for songs as you play with your guitar or something. I find this handy for recording some natural sounds to use for making sound effects for my work, etc. Of course this may not interest you if you have no need for it.
Reply
Reply
post #13 of 14
1/18/05 at 3:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by khu
How is it funny? I didn't claim one was better than the other, just asked you whether you actually had heard both.

Of course you didn't address the idea that the compression algorithms used to compress the files also hugely affect the perceived quality, or whether you did any double-blind tests to see whether you think something sounds better, so personally, just judging from your writing style, I wouldn't trust your opinion, but that could just be me.
LOL - copied the SAME mp3 file over to both the players and played the SAME file.

i thought u would've figured that out
oh well ........
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 14
1/18/05 at 10:35am
That's not a double blind test, but thanks for trying.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Notebook Audio & Video
NotebookForums.com › Forums › General Notebook Discussions › Notebook Audio & Video  › thoughts on creative vs iriver mp3 players?