Buying a portable MP3 Player

Subject: Buying a portable MP3 Player
From: pyewacket
Date: 27 Nov 05 - 11:51 AM

Can any offer any advice as to what would be a good brand of MP3 player to purchase? I enjoy older Country Classic and Bluegrass as well as Folk tunes. I have a lot of material on CD's and Tapes that I would like to make portable. I think for that reason, I would not be interested in an ipod because downloading from Mac's iTunes site would not contain the type of music I enjoy. I may be misinformed, but I have heard that one cannot download copies of CD's, and Tapes etc. to an iPod. I have also heard that Mac iPods have had battery issues. I don't think I need a player that can show video or pictures unless I'm missing something here. Have heard the names Creative Labs and Reo bandied about. This is an area wherein I have absolutely no knowledge. Hoping that someone with experiences to share can give me a heads up. Anyone?
Thanks ...pyewacket

Subject: RE: Buying a portable MP3 Player
From: Cluin
Date: 27 Nov 05 - 12:04 PM

I have a RCA Lyra and am quite happy with it. It will do all you asked above, provided you have a USB port open and can convert your CD songs to either MP3 or WMA files. Driver for it is already included with Windows XP, but it also comes with a CD-ROM with all needed drivers and software to do the job. Drag & drop files to a folder just like any on your hard disk, easy as pie. Extra memory cards (common SD cards) can be added/swapped to enlarge the library of tunes playable. Runs on one regular AAA battery. Small, fits in your palm with room to spare. LCD screen to show which track is playing in large enough type to read without glasses.

Subject: RE: Buying a portable MP3 Player
From: wysiwyg
Date: 27 Nov 05 - 12:42 PM

Just had a thread on this-- search up catspaw49's posts and it will be easily found.

~S~

Subject: RE: Buying a portable MP3 Player
From: John P
Date: 27 Nov 05 - 01:13 PM

If you are runniing Windows, the Creative Lab folks make one with nice features -- you can get an FM radio and a voice recorder along with the MP3 playback. They don't work with Apple computers. The voice recorder can be handy if you like to capture tunes at sessions. The players are significantly less expensive than the iPod. I don't know how easy they are to use. The iPod is very easy to find the music you want to listen to, as long as you get one with a screen. I think the iPod Shuffle doesn't have a screen, so you just listen to whatever it serves up or that you can find by clicking through your files. The bigger models are only needed if you want to store photos and video. For listening to music, I would get one of the middle models -- maybe the iPod mini? -- I don't have all the specs of all the models in front of me.

I use an iRiver MP3 player right now because it has the radio and voice recorder features and works with my Mac. Unfortuneately, it has a fairly small memory and I'm tired of changing out the MP3s I have on it so often. They have models with bigger memory now, but don't seem to make one with the extra features anymore. Get one with at least a gig of memory, and 2 or 4 gigs would be even better. I'm probably going to get an iPod to get more memory and some accessories to add the functionality I want. They have a good looking car kit that plugs into your lighter and sends music to your car radio, which means I won't have to put a CD player in my car and carry around a bunch of CDs.

The iPod will download any MP3 you have on your computer, at least if you are using the iTunes software. I don't know if there is iTunes for Windows. On my Mac, iTunes makes it very easy to make MP3 files of my CD collection. I've saved most of my collection as MP3s and I put them on my portable player easily. I've never downloaded any music from the Apple store, or anywhere else. I just buy the CD and turn the tracks into MP3s. The iPod will link up to my computer and automatically load all my music files.

John Peekstok

Subject: RE: Buying a portable MP3 Player
From: MARINER
Date: 27 Nov 05 - 03:32 PM

Beware of Creative.Two of my sons and one of their friends each bought creative MP3 players and each of them broke down. They were replaced but each occasion they lost all their music and had to start all over again. I myself have a Philips MP3 player that has given no trouble, despite having lost it trekking in rough wet land and taking 16 hours to find it again.

Subject: RE: Buying a portable MP3 Player
From: Cluin
Date: 27 Nov 05 - 05:06 PM

My sister had a Creative too. Hers broke down as well.

Then she got a Lyra. And that broke down after a while as well. So they gave her a replacement as it was still under warrantee. This latest one is still in use.

She uses it to listen to when she is running.

Subject: RE: Buying a portable MP3 Player
From: Thomas the Rhymer
Date: 27 Nov 05 - 06:16 PM

The iPod 'shuffle' is the one for me... I transfer my own CD's onto it using iTunes... I just don't download music at all. The advantages are plain... it's tiny... light as a feather... recharges off your computer or a $40 converter... and it's relatively cheap.

I like the 512Mb model because it holds just enough music for one work day... and with the shuffle feature, I can listen to the approx. 7 CD memory for a few weeks... But your milage may vary. I play by ear, so I put music on it I want to learn or be infleuenced by... and I'm rather picky... So the repetition is a benefit for me.

It's got no screen, and that's fine with me... Luckily, my computer came with one!

Cheerio!
ttr

Subject: RE: Buying a portable MP3 Player
From: Susan of DT
Date: 27 Nov 05 - 07:29 PM

I have a Creative Labs Zen Micro, 6 Gigs, which does not hold all of my CDs at once, but 2000 songs will keep me going at the gym for a while. I fed all my CDs to my computer in Windows Media Player which holds them all in about 10 gigs. I can load or unload all or some of the music. If something happens to the Zen, and I am not happy about the reports above, I can easily reload it from the computer. So far, it is working fine and is very small and light. I wear it on my arm at the gym.

Subject: RE: Buying a portable MP3 Player
From: Lancashire Lad
Date: 28 Nov 05 - 05:08 PM

I-pod for me every time. The battery issue seems to be with older models...saying that, Ive never had a problem.
I am a Mac user in general, but you can get non Mac versions and have access to i-tunes. However as a folk fan, there is little on itunes I want to download. I-pod though will play any version of mp3, m4a, etc that is available on any site.
The days of Macs being non compatible with PCs / Windows are now by and large gone

Cheers
LL

Subject: RE: Buying a portable MP3 Player
From: Jon W.
Date: 29 Nov 05 - 11:06 AM

For those who have experienced MP3 player breakdowns - could you be more specific? The flash memory players should have no moving parts (other than maybe switches), so how did they break down?

Subject: RE: Buying a portable MP3 Player
From: Chris in Wheaton
Date: 29 Nov 05 - 11:55 AM

I think ARCHOS ia the best for me, because it can record mp3's. i can bring it ro gigs to learn new songs! Good price too, especially compared to overpriced IPod's. The operating system is improved by using RockBox. See CNet for comparisons.
Chris in Wheaton.