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Which mp3 player do you use?

post #1 of 71
1/28/05 at 7:12pm
Thread Starter 
I am thinking about buying Rio's Carbon mp3 player. It has a 5GB hard drive and supports mp3 and WMA. Its the smallest HD based player out. Its much smaller and lighter than the ipod mini, has 1 GB more space, and the battery lasts 20 hours. I like Creative's Micro but the battery only lasts about 10 hrs, but it does come with 2 batteries. Altho the Micro comes with FM, I care more about AM radio. Regarding WMA, does it really have better sound than mp3? Does 96k WMA sound like 128k mp3? That would be a huge bonus since I have tons of music. TIA
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post #2 of 71
1/28/05 at 7:45pm
I have a 256 Creative MP3 player right now - I'm looking into getting an Ipod in the summer. 128K WMA will sound exactly like 128K MP3 - they shouldn't be any different - the difference lies in the compression technology, simply put WMA is better and takes up less space (ideally you should be looking at a minimum of 128K since you can music really dosen't sound very good below that... - also I would recommend you take some music and try encoding it twice, once at 128K and then again at much higher, say 256 or 320K and have a listen, it isn't something you can put your finger on but the higher quality music does sound better)

If you have tons of music (thinking around 100+ CD's here) then maybe an ipod/creative zen etc would be a good idea - I personally really like the idea of carrying around my entire CD collection in my pocket without having to move stuff on and off...
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post #3 of 71
1/28/05 at 7:56pm
Got the IMP 350 (iriver) cd mp3 player. Thinking of getting the new harddrive player from iriver
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post #4 of 71
1/28/05 at 7:56pm
iv got the iriver ihp120, its just awsome.
also, if you guys are after small players, check out the iriver h10, really small, 5gig hd and colour screen best there is.
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post #5 of 71
1/28/05 at 7:58pm
i will vouch for iriver, i had the h120 and now i have and use the h320

the upcoming h10 looks great as well
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post #6 of 71
1/28/05 at 7:59pm
In answer to the thread title, I use the IPOD (full size). I used several Creative Nomads (flash type), then two Archos brand disk based mp3 players. The IPOD is definitely the best, based largely on user interface.

WMA has the distinction of having great sounding 64kbps. Not quite like 128, but acceptable for mp3 player type. So I always used that when using flash based players that had such limited file space. MP3 is my preferred format because it is so much universally accepted.
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post #7 of 71
1/28/05 at 8:35pm
Got the RCA Lyra player. Has a nice SD slot so I can just pop stuff in there, regardless of its default mem space (128). comes with all the necesary features and nice arm strap.

playing with friend's iriver ifp-390t, which is a little bit old but definitely high-quality, with line-in recording features as well.
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post #8 of 71
1/28/05 at 8:45pm
i use an ipod i like it
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post #9 of 71
1/28/05 at 8:58pm
ipod 40GB 4G...if you're cool then you have one...j/k! I love it...it replaced the need for a home stereo IMHO...for the gym I use a 256mb iRiver with the arm band and I love and recommend that unit as well...
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post #10 of 71
1/28/05 at 8:59pm
Heh, I just use my pda. Not as much memory as an IPOD or anything, but the SD slot suits me just fine. 6 episodes of South Park, and about 150 songs fill mine up.

Works well, although I wish I could lock the screen or something, sometimes the music will stop or change if the pda is in my pocket... (that's why I'm looking at dell's new pda, it appears to have a lock button, and 2 card slots for more memory....awesome! too bad im broke!)

Oh well, still works.
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post #11 of 71
1/28/05 at 9:09pm
I think that both 128 MP3 and 128 WMA both sound like crap. Whenever I rip my CD's, I always rip them to at least 192, or I go for lossless compression. Its nice to hear details you never heard before when you play your songs on better sound systems.
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post #12 of 71
1/28/05 at 9:14pm
I think one should go for a 20GB music player so that one could rip music at 256kb/s MP3s or around that for VBR. 226kb/s VBR joint-stereo is about the best sound/size ratio for MP3s. The bit rates below that sound noticably worse than that level.
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post #13 of 71
1/29/05 at 12:27am
I got my Dell DJ and after ripping several CDs MULTIPLE times at SEVERAL bitrates I have come to my own conclusion that 128 kbps sounds just as good, if not better than 192 kbps mp3.
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post #14 of 71
1/29/05 at 12:36am
I used to have an ipod mini, now i have the 20gb ipod and the shuffle
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post #15 of 71
1/29/05 at 12:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MichaelX30
I got my Dell DJ and after ripping several CDs MULTIPLE times at SEVERAL bitrates I have come to my own conclusion that 128 kbps sounds just as good, if not better than 192 kbps mp3.
what kind of headphones? most ppl can't hear the difference as you need audiophile headphones to tell the difference between the encoding.
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post #16 of 71
1/29/05 at 3:02am
Archos Jukebox Recorder! Old school, foo! Yeah, it's like a brick, but I can stick in as large a hard-drive as I want, and it's running a kick-butt open source firmware.
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post #17 of 71
1/29/05 at 3:15am
I have an IPod mini that I got as a gift for christmas. I was anti-IPod because it was so trendy and expensive, but since it was a gift neither of those can really make me not accept it. Its battery life is 7 hours 31 minutes playing over a two day span. Short of the 8 hour max battery life Apple states, and WELL short of CNet's 10 hour result. It could have something to do with the fact that CNet looped the music...which loads it into the 32mb memory in the IPod so it bypasses the hard drive...

So, despite that battery life, I have to admit (mostly to myself) that Apple has a superior menu and navigation system. I've used a 32 flash player, Archos AV420, RCA Lyra RD2780, and Lyra 2840. I still like the design, size, and features of my IPod mini over all of those.
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post #18 of 71
1/29/05 at 3:45am
I'm going small..
A Rio Nitrus 1.5GB mp3.
I need something small and easy to hide from the boss at work
I'm getting tired of hearing the twang of country music
So I want something small so I can ROCK!!!
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post #19 of 71
1/29/05 at 4:18am
i have a 40gb creative zen extra that i i got for around $170 from newegg.com last summer and a 1st gen dell dj jukebox that i got for about $75-80 around october...honestly, i'd prefer a ipod, but those were the ones that were in my price range. I actually use the dell jukebox more cuz it seems more sturdier..i like the zen extra but ive heard things about it breaking down and having a loose headphone jack, so i use it less to keep it in good condition. the jukebox is more sturdy and i use it everyday. havent had problems except froze a couple times..good for the gym, but not advise to use while running or jogging since its a hard drive based player. actually, if anyone's interested in the 40gb zen xtra, its in great condition...i'd be willing to seel it...let me know...thanks
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post #20 of 71
1/29/05 at 6:09am
Well, i have pretty strong feeling about these, but i'll try to keep this short. The rio carbon is a very solid choice. I like the look, it's smaller and lighter than the ipod, has amazing battery life, and has good sound quality. The zen micro has a better interface, more features, user changeable batteries (which equals even better battery life), and even better sound quality. The micro's interface is just an improved ripoff of the ipod's, so it is better than the ipod's, in my opinion. The ipod's clickwheel is pretty much unbeatable, though. Ipod sound quality is...well, terrible, unamped, at least. The iriver h10 is a newcomer, and iriver and iaudio generally have the best sound quality of any mp3 players, so it's a good choice also. It has a color screen, but it's $279. That compared to under $200 for a carbon makes the carbon very enticing. Those are the mini hd players....

oh, and the dell djs are made by creative, so they are going to be pretty much the same (good sound quality, mediocre reliability)
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