[Ramaniscence]

Originally Posted by Bahamut

I tried the winamp option before (read: 8 years ago), and I didn't like how it handled things. I'm not sure how much it has developed since then, but having to reformat the ipod and lose some of its features was just as annoying to me.

....what? Was Winamp 5 and the portable media module even out then? Why would you have to format it? Is it not Windows formatted already? The Windows formatting works for both Windows AND Mac where as the Mac formatting only works for Mac. What features would you lose?

[Bahamut]

Originally Posted by Ramaniscence

....what? Was Winamp 5 and the portable media module even out then? Why would you have to format it? Is it not Windows formatted already? The Windows formatting works for both Windows AND Mac where as the Mac formatting only works for Mac. What features would you lose?

Back then it would kill the formatting of the hard drive in the ipods into its own file system so that it would make having access to the ipod as an external hard drive device possible, but it also killed playlists. ipods were a lot more limited back then though, and I'm not sure how much the tool has evolved since then.

[therex]

I generally use my iPhone, though i'm in the same "hate iTunes camp" as everyone else.

I also don't like the fact that I only have 16GB when I have so much more music.

[prophetik music]

as someone who doesn't like apple much at all, i have to admit that their ipods are top notch in build quality and usability. i use my phone (droid) occasionally, but my ipod classic 80g is my tool of choice for rawk on the road. i have had it since christmas 2007, and never regretted spending the extra money on it.

i don't mind itunes. it doesn't give me every option i want, and it handles artist names strangely (i wish if i selected artist A that it'd give me all music by them, even if it's artist A feat. artist B, like how realjukebox used to work eight years ago), and sometimes it duplicates albums. as a whole, though, it works pretty darn well and i don't mind it.

[Cerrax]

I have a first gen iPod Touch that I use at work and and my car, but I prefer my iPad because it has more storage (64GB vs the 16GB iPod), I love the wireless headphones I use with it, and I like to use it without headphones when I'm doing dishes and such.

The Windows formatting works for both Windows AND Mac where as the Mac formatting only works for Mac

Actually, the default file format in Windows has been NTFS since Windows 2000. NTFS is read-only with Mac. FAT is the only widely used file system that works on both. My external drives are all formatted in FAT since I dual boot Windows and Mac OS X.

[psychowolf]

I use the Sansa clip 8gb worked well for the last 3 years or so without much issue with it at all (apart from when tracks appear in the wrong order >.<)
http://static.trustedreviews.com/94%...saClipTilt.jpg
This thing is about the size of a gba cartridge but abit wider
Been dropped more times then i can remember and no problem.

Worth checking out if you just need a simple mp3 player that can take a good beating.
it wont work with certain file types but works with wma,mp3 and flac so i'm sure thats good enough.

And it was cheaper then the ipod of the same gb size.

[Yami]

I got a Cowon J3 with 32gb internal and a 32gb sdhc card. As far a sound quality goes, I've never had anything comparable before (at least in my [and some other customers' and testers'] eyes)
I mainly bought it because of its FLAC capability

[Level 99]

I use my old Samsung Captivate as a dedicated movie/music media device now, but I would have three recommendations for people looking for a new media device:

1) Pay-as-you-go Android Phone or Android Media Player
For the gentleperson who wants flexibility, multiple methods of acquiring music, one of the largest amounts of common file support available, and easy storage transfer/upgrade

If you can find one of those pay-as-you-go Android phones that takes MicroSD cards, like the LG Optimus V ($79.99 at Best Buy) or LG Thrive ($129.99 at Best Buy), or a dedicated Android media decive like the Samsung Galaxy Player, I would recommend this to the music lover who's somewhat computer savvy and is looking for the most versatile listening experience available.

Android music player stock plays nearly every common audio file format that is used today. mp3, mp4/m4a, flac, ogg, wav, and even midi. The filetype support increases even more with applications like winamp, which supports more streaming and filetypes. And for the video game music lovers out there, applications like Droidsound, Rockbox, and Modoplayer allow for a very large amount of chiptunes formats to be played (droidsound supports the most out of box, and has zipfile support. As a result, I have the entire NES, GB, Genesis, SNES, and Master System/Game Gear chiptunes collections all on my phone taking up a grand total of 1.85gb ).

Even more than that, applications like MX Video Player add support for a huge amount of video files to play.

You can get music on these babies a large amount of ways. If you're on WIFI, you can go to the Android Market and buy it, you can download the Amazon MP3 app and buy/download music that way, you can go to websites and buy/download directly as long as the web browser plays nice, and so on. You can also use either a usb cable or a microsd card adapter to transfer files to/from your computer like you would a regular thumbstick. And since the memory is removable, you can just buy a few microsd cards and switch things out if you want different music.

The only downsides are potentially battery life, which is dependant on the device and what you're doing with it, and that if you want to really super-duper take advantage of the technology there, you'll eventually have to root the thing and make sure you can sideload apps (ie. load applications that aren't on the marketplace). You're also not getting as much potential space from the get-go as you would something like an iPod since the device's memory is removable.

2) iPod touch with either jailbreak or Modizer software
Either general no-brainer consumer or jailbreaker

iPods are by no means bad devices. The hardware in them is quite impressive, which is unfortunate because these babies are locked down tighter than a chastity belt.

Starting with the drawbacks, iPod touches out of box support Apple's proprietary audio formats like the protected AAC files & Apple Lossless, but they also support mp3 and wav. Same deal for video: Apple's proprietary video formats and then mp4/h264 and some very select avi files. No love for native flac or ogg support here, and even worse the most supported way for transfering files onto the thing is either downloading directly using the music store on-device or using iTunes interface on the computer to transfer files. Mind you, if your files are unsupported you either have to convert them using a 3rd party converter (because the iTunes one is just horrible), or just not have them on your device.

Luckily enough, anyone with an iPod touch has access to two things: the ability to jailbreak*, and the most versatile chiptunes software outside of a computer: Modizer. jailbreaking allows some other apps to be loaded using cydia that potentially allow for downloading music directly from the web, FTP-ing into the device to transfer files, and support for FLAC and OGG using other media players. Its not great support but its there for those who want to try it. For anyone looking to play chiptunes though, Modizer is bar-none the best there is. It supports as many file formats as OCR's own Chipamp bundle does, if not more. It also has a built in FTP client if you're on WIFI so that you can transfer chiptunes files to-from the device. You can even browse and search some online chiptunes databases within Modizer, and download files directly.

I'll just put it this way: Modizer supports over 400 file formats. If you're looking for an MP3 player and listen at all to any music from videogames that have chiptunes formats, you stand to save a lot of space if you utilize something like this.

Battery life is usually pretty high for these players, which is the only consistent plus in my perspective besides being able to run Modizer.

*some iPod touches and iPhones can't be jailbroken, and jailbreaking isn't for the squeamish!

3) Older iPod or supported device running Rockbox firmware
For the budget-conscious music goer who doesn't afraid of aftermarket firmware

This was my go-to until my dino-pod kicked the bucket. Rockbox, besides being an app for android, is also an alternative firmware for a number of devices such as older iPods, Cowon media players, verious Sandisk players, and more. See here for the supported audio codecs on which devices: http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/SoundCodecs#Current_status

If you're running an older iPod that can be Rockbox'd with full support, I highly recommend you do so. It allows more file formats to be played, allows for custom UI themes, has certain chiptunes support, and best of all, allows you to transfer files without having to use iTunes.

-------------------------


There. You made a thread about preferred mp3 players, and now you've gotten a recommendation guide. I swear I didn't plan on writing this when I started the post :p

[Top Gun]

Are there still any brands out there that just register as a removable drive in Windows by default? I'm still using an ancient HDD-based Creative Zen Neeon, which I think has the worst control scheme ever devised by man, but the one thing I've always loved about it is that it doesn't need a shred of external software to operate. You plug it in, Windows picks it up the same as any drive, you create your own folders and copypasta your files, and voila, done. You couldn't pay me enough money to put iTunes on my system, and the thought of using any other proprietary software isn't much better, so if I do get a new device, I'd definitely prefer the simplest option.

[Binweasel]

I'm interested to know that, too. My first ever mp3 player was a Creative MuVo, and I've loved them ever since. They're out of production now, so whenever I lose/break* it, the only place I can get a new one is Ebay...

I've been sorting my mp3s out with just Windows Explorer for so many years, it took me weeks just to figure out how to organize things in iTunes. And still the best way to do that was to download Mp3Tag and manually sort out all the internal data... You never had to deal with that on a MuVo. I don't know what other way it could organize files, but the default way was alphabetical filename. Some people would be annoyed about re-naming files to make playlists, but I'm weird; I found it relaxing in a zen kind of way. I had total control of album/playlist folders, plus the ability to tweak it on any computer. I switched mp3 players once and had to listen to an audio book in complete random order even without shuffle. Which is a very bad thing to have to fix while driving in the dark with a little circle-pad controller. The MuVo just had a little scroll wheel in the side... you didn't have to look at all to see what you were doing.

I guess I'm used to the iPod now, but I'd like to be able to listen to songs of my own while playing games on the other.


(* Mostly lose. My first one is still around, just passed on to my sister. It's mostly duct-tape now, but it still works. It only holds 250 megabytes though.)