thanks for all your input.....will let you know what I decide to buy...might be right before Xmas though.......
Luc

i "share" my music off of limewire :) ... so mp3 is the only way to fly...

My wife has a 4gig sansa player very nice unit, i found it much easier to navigate out of the box then the ipod. My only side by side comparison was the day we got it at costo and i played with a nano and ipod and found the sansa to be easier to operate.

i've been playing with the 3rd gen nano video clone from HK for the past 2 weeks.

$37.50 CAN (w/shipping/tax) 2gb plays Mp3/video and FM radio (also records FM to mp3)

battery life is low at <8 hours for audio. but it does scratch easy just like the real one. :)

http://www.magix-photos.com/mediapool10/A1/C7/D7/10/3B/3B/11/DC/87/A4/A2/87/46/35/24/6C/oma/10/12305ED08D8C11DCBB3B7D77463529D7.jpg

http://www.kaidomain.com/UploadFiles/633289650304843750.jpg

I used to be very anti-iPod... then I tried one. :)

It is the most intuitive, and best designed player out there, bar none. Even the tech "experts" who recommend other players, will usually give the iPod this nod. When paired with iTunes, I really don't see anything out there that even comes close to the seamless integration and ease of use.

I'm not saying this in isolation. I'm not a Mac fanboy, never owned a Mac, probably never will. I've had a number of mp3 players, but still love my iPod best. I currently have a Zen V Plus because I wanted to try a music subscription site. I've had Sony and other mp3 players as well, but I end up using only my iPod. I now have an iPod touch, and that thing is just absolutely amazing.

...and iPods do play mp3 files without having to convert, so for those who steal their music on "sharing" sites/software, you can still use an iPod.

Why does MP3 represent music thieves? Does it not occur to you that plenty of podcasts are in MP3 format?

Depending on how much you care about sound quality, the iPod will also allow you to burn your CD collection at various other formats besides the highly compressed Mp3, such as the newer AAC and even lossless audio formats.

The first thing you need to do is replace the earbuds that come with the iPod - they're pretty much entry-level sound-wise.

The iPod is a great music player but right now I'm heading towards the Creative Zen Vision: M. It's great looking, more affordable and actually has a battery pack you can remove.

Unless they have completely redesigned the model very recently, you can't remove the battery pack from the Zen Vision:M.

I have the 30gb Vision:M and love it, but wish the battery pack could be removed.

Unless they have completely redesigned the model very recently, you can't remove the battery pack from the Zen Vision:M.

I have the 30gb Vision:M and love it, but wish the battery pack could be removed.
Guess I got mixed up. I read somewhere online that all the Zen players had removable battery packs. :confused: I just searched a bit more and found out that you're right. That's sucks. :(

i have tried alot of mp3 players because i was "anti-ipod". it was simply the price of the ipods that bothered me. i also didn't care much for itunes.
my kids both bought ipods (nano's) and they found it extremely easy to use them and to load music.
i eventually bought a "refurbed" 20gb gen 4 ipod off ebay for $100 and man am i impressed. i am a "didler" and even decided to take it apart to have a look. with a new replacement battery only costing $20 and a 30gb Hdrive only costing $50 (if and when you need them) i am not worried about my ipod as it is too easy to fix them.
i have also found using itunes to be pretty darn easy and creating playlist and using the auto sync feature is well...just too damn easy.
i am now an ipod fan.

i only use mine for music and not videos or pictures so the old gen 4 unit works just fine for me. at $100 bucks it's no big investment. the thing works flawlessly everytime. I have thrown $100s of dollars in other types of mp3 players over the years. i still have a sony mp3 player that was ridiculously slow to load songs onto with their proprietary software, and alot of mp3's would not even play on it.

Let's see. I started with a Muvo, went to a md player and a sony player. Nothing really impressed me.
For Christmas, my girlfriend got me an 8Gb nano. I'm a convert. This thing is so easy to navigate, and itunes works great. Don't get me started on SonicStage, what a piece of crap that software is.
I've always put off getting an ipod because I never thought they were as good as everyone made them out to be. Apple owns the market for a reason.
Now I'm playing around with an iHome clock radio. The range of accessories for ipods is truly outstanding if you're looking for more than just a player. Now I've got to pick up a cradle so I can easily hook my ipod up to my stereo though my xbox.
If you don't need an fm radio or a voice recorder, and just want a great music player, you can't go wrong with an ipod. But do like people say and replace the junk earbuds. I picked up a set of Sennheiser PX 100 headphones and it makes a world of difference.

Depending on how much you care about sound quality, the iPod will also allow you to burn your CD collection at various other formats besides the highly compressed Mp3,Sorry to be responding to a 6 week old post but this is a false statement! This is like saying that a Porsche 911 can't go more than 50km/h when the reality is that it is being driven by a 80 year old woman who doesn't like driving any faster than 50 km/h.

An MP3 is highly compressed only if you decide to go with a low bitrate. You could go with a high bitrate like 512 kbps and your files would be hardly compressed at all. In blind tests it is generally impossible to tell an MP3 file compressed at a 256kbps bitrate with the original wav file.

AAC is a more efficient CODEC but MP3 has the advantage of being the most widely used format so it is supported by pretty much any device or ssoftware that exists.

But you are right about the earbuds that come with an iPod.

I also wanted to correct the statement about the Nano as I bought one for my brother-in-law for Christmas.

That new Nanos do have video out capabilities. We tested it with the AV cables I have and it produced a great picture on a standard def TV. There seemed to be some frame dropping and hiccuping with the video on the Nano which doesn't happen with the Classic (particularly when using mp4 format but also during high motion scenes in h.264), so if you intend to watch lots of video at TV resolution, you might want to pass this one by for the Classic.

The first iPod, and MP3 player for that matter, that I ever had was a 2GB 1st Gen. Nano. I loved it. It was perfect for my needs. When I got it in Oct. 2005, I didn't have very much music so starting a new library on iTunes wasn't a problem for me.

As time has past, I've outgrown my Nano and replaced it with an 80GB black iPod Classic. I love it. My music library has grown to 700 songs and that much music doesn't even put a dent in the storage capactiy of the Classic. The ability to play videos is a welcome bonus for me aswell. The accessories that you have access to when you own an iPod is tremendous. I have an iHome in my bedroom that I use and love. While you could use any MP3 player with an iHome, the iPod dock in it is handy for charging my iPod.

It all really comes down to what you like though. iPods are great MP3 players and they're very easy to use and the firmware is very easy to navigate, while other players aren't as easy to use and navigate. IMHO, iPods are the way to go, though I'm saying this being completely biased obviously.

The only thing I don't like, and this isn't even related to iPods, is iTunes. Two things specifically:

1.) It always lags, no matter how good your computer is
2.) Most music purchased from the iTunes store cannot be burnt onto MP3 CDs, or converted to MP3 format for use on other players. This isn't a problem if you only use an iPod (Like I do), and if you don't use MP3 CDs

Like I said though, it's all down to personal preference.

harley909 , you may be interested in 'jailbreaking' your iPod then too. It allows you to add 3rd party software. Seems pretty safe as iTunes can restore the iPod to original states.


I just got an iPod touch as a gift. I was also somewhat anti iPod due to the iTunes restrictions, but the iPod touch is so usefull that is has replaced my Palm TX, once I hacked it to add more functions to it.

The issues about DRM for music seem to be going away. 2008 may be remebered as the year that DRM went away for music files from iTunes Music Store and other similar outlets.

Wayne, we can only hope...

Most music purchased from the iTunes store cannot be burnt onto MP3 CDs, or converted to MP3 format for use on other players.

The way around that of course is use iTunes to burn an audio CD, then rip the tracks off tha CD as MP3s. We just bought our daughter her own little MP3 player for Christmas (she's only 5 so we opted for a cheaper "kids" player rather than the more expensive Nano) and I had to do this for a few tracks we purchased from the iTunes store for her. I'd hate to do it for a lot of tracks, but for a few it's not too bad.

Well yes that is the only way around it. It's ok if you burn an audio CD for use in the car, then rip the songs back to iTunes when you're done with the CD. Then you've had you use out of the CD and got something extra from it. Just buring like 10 CDs to get my collection in MP3 is kind of a waste to me.

If you are using the "analogue loop" to circumnavigate the DRM from Apple, you don't actually have to burn the songs to a music CD. You can just transcode the files to .wav format (which is the same format as audio CD's), then go back to whatever format you wish. There are also numerous programs you can use to just strip the DRM without all the transcoding.