Let's talk about mp3 players

[K T Ong]

Do you own an mp3 player, or do you intend to get one?

If you already have an mp3 player, what brand is it, what interesting features does it have and what stuff have you put into it? If you haven't got one yet and intend to, have you any specific models in mind and why?

Just for the fun of knowing...

[Co11]

I personally own a 5G Ipod, but I work at thomson.. And THEY tell me that I like the RCA Lyra (we make it here).

The only lyra that I see lying around here is the video lyra that can pick up DirectTv tv listings and can act as a PVR that has it's own screen. Not really an MP3 player anymore

[Synti]

I have Creative 256mb USB 2.0 mp3 player. I got it for free for subscirption to Pelit-magazine. It's pretty good, no complaints about sound quality. It's just a tad too small, holds 4 albums at best.

I would like 30gb iPod but they are just too expensive.

[avatar_58]

I have a 5gb Creative Zen Micro. I put songs on it. Thats about it I guess.....

Oh yea, and its silver. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hhg.gif

[Ivan]

iPod Mini Green and iPod Nano White.

[IgWannA]

i'm waiting until MP3 players get cheaper, smaller and have more capacity as i'd need at least 55gb for my collection. i think ipods are way too big to really be portable. i heard 16gb nano-sized mp3 players aren't long off now perpendicular drives are coming out and getting cheaper.

[Tang Lung]

I have a Phillips HDD and I love it. Can't even remember how big it is, but I've never managed to fill it up with songs yet (last count I had about 400 tracks on it). It was pretty cheap aswell, I spent 100 quid on it, and then laughed at the kids who spend 200 quid on an iPod because of the name.

[Water12356]

Should this belong in the Hardware forum or is it just me?

I have a blue 4 gig I-pod mini. I'm hoping it will last a long time due to me not haivng the money to buy another one and me being pissed at apple for replacing the mini with the Nano.

[Agulf]

My mp3 player is collecting dust somewhere in the house. It's one of those old D-Links that could fit like 5 songs max on them. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/love.gif

[Phait]

Creative Muvo Slim

http://www.theofficeguide.com/mp3-players/images/muvo-slim-big.gif

Bought Autumn 2004, $110 for 256 MB, here's my summed up review (the full one is kinda long):

Rating: 4 out of 5

Pros: versatile, easy to use, nice set of features
Cons: FM radio scanning problems are irritating, could have given the user a better case/carrying option

[Kevin Wolff]

IgWannA said:
i think ipods are way too big to really be portable.


Woah, uh, wow. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hhg.gif

I have a 20GB 4G iPod, and 5.2GB of music on it. I can certainly understand needing more than a Mini/Nano's 4GB of space, but I have no idea how one can have 50GB+ of music unless they just download everything they see. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dopefish.gif

[Vivi]

I have a 40 GB Creative Zen Jukebox. And even 40 gigs isn't enough space for all my music.

It's okay. I'd like to trade it in for a 60 gig video iPod sometime soon.

[Gatinater]

Any CDs I owned I have given to my sister years ago. Plus I don't listen to music unless at work or home.

I would probably get one if I had muic to convert to MP3s, but I don't

[MAT]

I own an Olympus M-Robe mp3 player. The ones with 5GB hard disk. It is a bit slow, but worth the price that makes it one of the cheapest mp3 players around.

[Dan the Man]

I've got a 30GB Creative Zen Xtra with over 4,500 tracks on it and about 3GB remaining (although a good few gigs are taken up with data files as well). It's served me well over the years, although it's a bit too big to fit comfortably into trouser pockets, and the lid pops open randomly which can be annoying.

Recently, I bought my brother one of those 6GB Sony MP3 players in silver - it's tres sexy, with the display text 'projected' onto the case in white (or orange). Highly recommended, although it doesn't have a colour display or radio or direct recording which people might regard as important features for an MP3 player these days.

[K T Ong]

Just in case you fellas don't know, when a CD track is converted to mp3pro as opposed to standard mp3 format it takes up half as much memory space (1 Mb = about 2 minutes of music). So if all your songs were in mp3pro format your player would be able to carry twice as much music as standard mp3 format. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Synti]

What program could convert mp3's to mp3pros? And do mp3 players actually play mp3pros?

[K T Ong]

Here's (http://www.mp3prozone.com) an mp3pro encoder you can download and try. But in my experience it only converts .wav files to mp3pro -- it can't convert mp3s to mp3pro. (Unless I missed something...) You can easily convert your favorite CD tracks to .wav format first using other encoders such as CDex (http://www.sonicspot.com/cdex/cdex.html). Mp3pro music files can play nicely on most mp3 players.

Hope that helped. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Kevin Wolff]

K T Ong said:
Mp3pro music files can play nicely on most mp3 players.


...at standard MP3 quality. You get nowhere without the real mp3pro codec.

Also, the default format for the iPod is AAC at 128kbps, which sounds a lot better than MP3 does there, although, I use 160 or 192 because my headphones don't suck, and I can tell. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Other players go for WMA standard, and there's others. Pretty much all of the other formats sound better than MP3.

[IgWannA]

Synti said:
What program could convert mp3's to mp3pros? And do mp3 players actually play mp3pros?



that would be a bit pointless. you'd be going down a generation so it would sound a little worse than the original MP3. i guess it would be a smaller file size but, to keep close to the original quality, it wouldn't be much smaller.

[K T Ong]

I've converted some of my CD music to both mp3 and mp3pro format, and I have to say I can't pick out that much difference between the two in terms of sound quality. Well, maybe my ears aren't that sensitive...

[Phayzon]

I own a Creative Zen Nano Plus 1GB. I love it. I put songs on it and um.. listen to them. Der...

And I guess my Samsung A950 cell phone counts too. ~20MB internal and I bought 2 128MB TransFlash/MicroSD cards for it.

[avatar_58]

K T Ong said:
I've converted some of my CD music to both mp3 and mp3pro format, and I have to say I can't pick out that much difference between the two in terms of sound quality. Well, maybe my ears aren't that sensitive...



He's referring to changing mp3 -> mp3pro. Sure, when ripping you might hear a difference but there is no reason to convert files you already have as MP3 into another format, because you can't "add" quality to an existing file....it just doesn't make sense.

[MentalSentinel]

I have an iPod Nano. But I'm gonna buy a 30 or 60 gig 5G soon. I don't have enough space right now. (Especially with iPodLinux installed on it)

[ZuljinRaynor]

Kevin Wolff said:

IgWannA said:
i think ipods are way too big to really be portable.


Woah, uh, wow. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hhg.gif

I have a 20GB 4G iPod, and 5.2GB of music on it. I can certainly understand needing more than a Mini/Nano's 4GB of space, but I have no idea how one can have 50GB+ of music unless they just download everything they see. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dopefish.gif



Heh, my 20GB $G is gonna be filled if I keep listening to podcasts. (I don't like deleting them off.) http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hhg.gif

[Kevin Wolff]

Heh. If I put all my podcasts on there, I'd come near 10GB. However, that's all old stuff; I don't listen to them any more.

[Wamplet]

Ivan said:
iPod Mini Green and iPod Nano White.



Odd. I figured you as a purple guy. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/redface.gif

[Ivan]

Wamplet said:

Ivan said:
iPod Mini Green and iPod Nano White.



Odd. I figured you as a purple guy. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/redface.gif



And you live in a hole? o/