So, before I dump £160 on an iPod...

divine` · 27 Sep 2007 at 20:06

...what else is worth looking at?

Looking to spend around the £160 mark, which will get me an 80GB Classic if I go the iPod route.

However, the last time I looked at the MP3 player market was when I bought my iPod Photo and the only competition was Creative and iRiver, things look far more 'busy' now.

What is worth looking at, and will have comparable (or better) features?

divine` · 27 Sep 2007 at 20:39

What sort of apps would I be putting on an MP3 player anyway? :confused:

Thanks for those links, the ZV:M might be worth a look, I would ideally like over 30GB as my 20GB is just annoying now, so any 8GB/16GB flash based players won't be any good to me really.

divine` · 27 Sep 2007 at 20:47

Oh I see. Would that be why WinAmp mysteriously lost the ability to see my iPod a few weeks ago? (may have coincided with me updating iTunes/iPod, I don't remember)

divine` · 27 Sep 2007 at 21:09

Great guys, but yeah, I couldn't give a flying lump of duck **** what anyone thinks of iTunes, whether they like WMP better, think Foobar is all that or whatever. If I have to use iTunes if I get an iPod so be it.

However, none of this is helping me find rivals to the 80GB Classic...

divine` · 27 Sep 2007 at 21:15

I should have known this probably wasn't even really worth posting. Nevermind.

Thanks to helmutcheese and Vegetarian for actually posting something at least halfway constructive.

:rolleyes:

to the rest.

divine` · 27 Sep 2007 at 21:28

dmpoole said:
So you are going away with the view that ITunes is crap?
So be it.

No, i'm going away with the view that after using iTunes for two years, alongside WinAmp, for different things, that I don't give a ****ing toss about whatever petty stupid argument you lot on here feel the need to have in a thread where I was trying to get some advice on MP3 players.

mark1 said:
I would say that with rockbox the ipod is great. With the original os it's acceptable with third party software instead of itunes imo.

I have rockbox on my 4G. It's very good (especially for SQ) but it doesn't half give the batteries a thrashing

divine` · 27 Sep 2007 at 21:36

helmutcheese said:
Is there anything else I can help you with, I can answer most Q's about a ZV:M as I own the 30GB model and can answer some Q's on the Zen V Plus as I bought someone one and use it now and then.

I don't really need to ask much about specific players at the moment, I just wanted a few suggestions of what's decent competition for the current iPod so I could go off and have a look to see what tempted me

divine` · 27 Sep 2007 at 21:39

Phnom_Penh said:
The new Sony NW-A919 looks damn good. Now they've got rid of Sonicstage I can't rule out a walkman comeback .

Not big enough really.

chesterstu said:
Does it replace the firmware completely? is it possible to roll back to the proper Firmware if you don't like it

It doesn't replace it at all, you can 'dual boot'

helmutcheese said:
You know there is a MS Zune 2 on the cards ?.

hmm... on the cards doesn't help, I want one now!(ish)

divine` · 27 Sep 2007 at 21:42

Phnom_Penh said:
well then either wait a few months or go for the Zen Vision:m Slim, what sort of space do you need?

30GB or over ideally.

divine` · 27 Sep 2007 at 21:46

The only thing I take exception to there is the comment about Apple players being loud, because my 4G was too quiet until I installed rockbox on it

divine` · 27 Sep 2007 at 22:09

...oh i just had to look at the iPod touch page didn't i?

divine` · 30 Sep 2007 at 19:31

Well, I tried an iPod Touch today.

Best. Thing. Ever.

Would have bought it there and then if they didn't sell out in 4 hours yesterday morning.

divine` · 30 Sep 2007 at 22:19

*Chris said:
1 - They don't want you to get songs back off your ipod using their software, you have to do it in other ways.

This is to prevent you loading your 20GB iPod up, going to your mate's house and giving him a few thousand pounds worth of music for free. I'd imagine it's more a legal restriction that Apple have to adhere to, that some random code monkey sat in his bedroom making 'iPod music ripper v3.446' doesn't care about.

*Chris said:
2 - They are very picky in what you can / can't do with software on your iPod. It's like buying a PC and not being able to install any games other than the Solitaire / Pinball it comes with.

...well, I dunno. Installing Doom seems pretty good to me. Along with all the other things you can put on them.

*Chris said:
3 - They charge extortionate prices for cheap headphones in their shops that break too easily, and always try and bankrupt any other small form of competition.

Headphones are always expensive in shops, just today I saw some EX71s for £40.

*Chris said:
4 - There are better products out there with more features for better value, but because of the size of Apple + their advertising, most of the other products are nearly unheard of.

More features maybe, better value is arguable, depending how you judge it. I've not encountered a player with a better control system yet, and that is one of my more important criteria when choosing.