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View Full Version : Large capacity, compatible, user friendly MP3 player



craftbrewer
October 6th, 2007, 01:27 AM
Jinkies, I started out searching compatiblity issues of the iPop classic 80GB with Ubuntu and I'm almost sorry I did.

Ideals aside (sorry not every one can afford to be a holier than thou idealistic hippie and still enjoy the current technology) what would you consider the best all round player that has

1. Minimum 50GB capacity.
2. Simple user interface.
3. Compatible with Ubuntu or linux in general
4. Compact size
5. Allows me to copy my music catalogue w/o altering the source

These preferences aren't necessarily in order, in fact Ubuntu compatibility would be the #1 preference. The two I have looked at so far were the Creative Zen & iPod Classic. The Creative is half the capacity and bulky on size for about the same price as the iPod. Interface also feels brutal in comparison to the iPod. Tho it took me forever to figure out the iPod, and I felt like an idiot when I finally asked some goth kid beside me how to navigate up and down in the menus... I didn't truly feel old until today LOL

I personally hate Apple, and everything they stand for in the music sharing industry, but I have to be honest, this piece of hardware is slick, and easy to use. (if you have a goth kid handy) Myself, I use a Motorola Ming that suits me just fine (iPhone? Been doing that for over a year already thankyouverymuch). I love to hack, and a linux based phone that I can port xmms and other apps to just makes me giggle like a school girl. But I need something for someone who just wants to listen to music and not fuss with drivers, software, and everything else that generally brings joy to people like me.

What say the community?

-SpaZ
October 6th, 2007, 02:19 AM
Creative makes very good products. I have a Creative Zen Photo and I am very happy with it.

ynnhoj
October 6th, 2007, 02:29 AM
have you looked at the cowon players? (http://www.cowonamerica.com/). i think the a2 comes in a 30gb model. or maybe an iriver player? i think i've heard good things about them before, but i don't know anything about them...

Crashmaxx
October 6th, 2007, 02:49 AM
have you looked at the cowon players? (http://www.cowonamerica.com/). i think the a2 comes in a 30gb model. or maybe an iriver player? i think i've heard good things about them before, but i don't know anything about them...

+1

They are very high quality and even support OGG. Just mount them as a USB drive and drag and drop music to the MUSIC folder.

rsambuca
October 6th, 2007, 02:54 AM
I am quite happy with my Archos. Not exactly 'compact', though.

tdrusk
October 6th, 2007, 05:08 AM
Ipod has rockbox for all models 80 gig and below. It's opensource and is just a file your ipod opens when it starts, so it doesn't mess with anything. You can just drag and drop files onto it instead of having to use a program to do it. People buy and sell ipods all the time. You can probably sell it afterwords, just as you can probably buy one cheap from someone else.

wana10
October 6th, 2007, 07:38 AM
cowon rocks, just got an a2 and its amazing.

fwojciec
October 6th, 2007, 07:55 AM
Ipod has rockbox for all models 80 gig and below. It's opensource and is just a file your ipod opens when it starts, so it doesn't mess with anything. You can just drag and drop files onto it instead of having to use a program to do it. People buy and sell ipods all the time. You can probably sell it afterwords, just as you can probably buy one cheap from someone else.

It is an option - using Rockbox on ipod will unfortunately cut its battery life in half, though :(

mips
October 6th, 2007, 01:37 PM
Iriver H140 & H340 have 40GB drive and support rockbox.

Acglaphotis
October 6th, 2007, 02:02 PM
Sansa Ftw!

Biochem
October 6th, 2007, 02:14 PM
I have a Creative vision M and I'm very satisfied. I'ts about the size of a big Ipod and works very well with gnomad.

Polygon
October 6th, 2007, 10:11 PM
i personally hate rockbox. the now playing screen is very pretty but other menus look really ugly. ive also noticed drastically shorter battery life while using rockbox

i have a cowon iaudo x5l....35 hours of battery life, 30 gb, plays ogg mp3 flac and maybe wav (havent tried) and it works as a usb hard drive

craftbrewer
October 11th, 2007, 12:26 AM
Thanks everyone for your input, it was much appreciated. In the end we went with the Vision:M.

The Archos & Cowon were pretty slick, as was the Vision:W, but their size took them out of running for us as a "portable". None of these would be easy to operate running for the bus with a laptop bag over one shoulder, lunch over the other and a Tim's double-double in one hand. ;)

This was one hard device to find too! The Vision:M have been discontinued as of August from what I was told, and everybody is sold out.... unless you're looking for the lovely pink model which BestBuy still has a warehouse of. It doesn't seem like Apple has any competition to their iPod Classic line at all right now, which I find quite surprising.

Iceni
October 11th, 2007, 01:54 AM
Good choice! I'm a big fan of Creative players myself - mostly because they work so good and they never break:)

omar_mandeel
October 21st, 2007, 01:43 PM
Actually,
My creative didnt exactly break but close.

Lesson #1: Never keep mp3 player in back pocket

It was a creative zen micro and after a while (in my back pocket) the headphone jack started messing up. At first I thought it could have been dirty, so I cleaned but that wasnt its, so now all thats left is something in the circuitry. I took it apart but the head phone wiring is in a little metal box that Im afraid to dig in to. Creative has terrible customer service so I couldnt really do anything. I loved it tho. It was super customizable, but the capacity wasnt that great (but I was alright with that). However, now I have an iPod classic that I cant get to work worth a ****. So Im in a kind of Catch-22.
Little story for ya!