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MP3 Player Shoppers Guide
An anonymous reader writes "Says this three-part rundown of the latest DAPs "When Sony execs crowed a few weeks ago that their latest MP3 players were THE iPod Killers one thing was obvious. They were oblivious to the fact that the term "iPod Killer" had already gone from clever market-speak to running joke." Still, quite a few neat players here and I bet most don't scratch up as bad as iPods do."
They won't put a dent in the iPod sales, either.
This issue is user experience. You can add all the gadgetry you want, but it becomes a complex tool. People want their music device simple, easy to navigate and elegant. They don't want the kitchen sink thrown into the tool.
Looks like sony wants to have their cake and eat it too. If its not legal to rip their music. Then how is their MP3 player supposed to be filled? I guess its ok to rip OTHER peoples music.
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
- Winston Churchill
If I had the cash allocated for an mp3 or ogg player right now I would go with the Neuros 442. It's got a 40 GB drive, lets you record audio and video from numerous sources, tonnes of features. Plus the company supports open source development. Shouldn't we all be supporting a company like this? Or has someone here had bad experience with Neuros?
Look at the new video formats supported by iTunes and iPod Video. The H.264 320x240 AAC format will quickly become a standard much like the MP3. Everyone is converting funny videos, music videos, TV-show episodes and full length movies into H.264.
QuickTime is now installed on most Wintel computers from using the trojan horse iTunes. QuickTime is far more popular today than Real and close to Windows Media. And QuickTime 7 with H.264 is fricking excellent. Even Sony disitributes their stuff using QuickTime today.
And you can easily encode your own (and DRM-free) stuff into H.264 with QuickTime or with open source stuff like mencoder. Much like iTunes and iPod allows you to use ripped and even pirated MP3s in your collection
Steve Jobs is a truely excellent player. This part of the game will be really fun to watch.
And do keep in mind that the Sony rootkit could in theory come in from a USB device like it does from a CD. I would go with iPod. Apple is not likely to make the same mistake that Sony did. Or I would hope not.
People who think they need to carry around their 'entire music collection' are being pretty anal. Build a 'playlist,' stuff it in your player, and go out and enjoy listening to it. The only people who need to carry their entire music collection with them at all times are the homeless.
It really depends on your usage. If I were jogging, or commuting, I might want a limited storage flash player. I have a CD player in my car for that, and a dozen burned CDs. Yet I also have a 20gb Archos MM. I use it for a portable HD, usually having ~10gb of music on it. I rarely use it for an MP3 player. Unless I'm on a trip. Nothing sucks more when on a road trip than having to listen to the same damn songs over & over. Well, ok, listening to the radio or not having any music at all would suck more, but just barely.
Different devices for different uses. That's the beauty of Apple's ipod scheme. They have an ipod for just about every possible use, and most price points. All using a similar interface. When my Archos bites the dust, I'll most likely get some flavor of ipod.
jred
I'm not a mechanic but I play one in my garage...
I briefly looked at the list, and I didn't see any player supporting AAC format (Of course, I guess that apple don't license their format for other players). All my music collection is managed by iTunes, and most of my files are AAC. If I wanted to buy a portable player, what choices I have other than iPod?
The iPod Killer must come with an iTunes Killer!
perception is reality
HD-based players are still too pricy for the average consumer. Yet the price of them hasn't changed significantly in years. Surely the drives in them are cheaper and easier to produce than they were in 2001 - so why has the price not come down significantly?
Instead, the consumer is forced to make ridiculous compromises like "will you pay $100 less and get 1/10 the storage?" Or, "How about $200 less, and you don't get a screen or any control over the playlist either."
I look over that list, and pretty much all of them, within their subclass, are IDENTICAL. The only difference is the brand name and the particular shape of the player. And, in fact, it seems like the entire industry is becoming LESS innovative, not more, especially with Rio leaving the market. I couldn't even tell you the difference between most of those.
And then people wonder why Apple has all the market share. It's the only brand name most people can name, the only one they've heard of, and none of the other models offer ANYTHING substantial to recommend themselves over it. And in the meantime, no one seems willing to try to open the market up a bit by making good players available at affordable prices.
It seems like, once again, an example of the music industry collectively shooting itself in the foot, and then whining about why no one else lives in the same world they do.
Bush: He's Liberal in all the wrong ways.
Is it seen as a USB mass storage device ? If not, you have failed. I do not want to see any kind of your proprietary software on my PC to get access to your device.
I am suprised that the iAudio X5 was not mentioned: its a superb device, marred by only 2 possible flaws that I know of:
Maybe the fact that you cannot buy it in retail stores was a problem for the reviewers. Even so, video support, Ogg, USB host, full USB mass storage implementation, long battery life ... its hard not to gush.
I believe the grandparent was using the term Trojan Horse in the classical sense, rather than the malware sense. iTunes is used to sneak in QuickTime. A lot of people now have QuickTime installed as a result of iTunes requiring it who would not have installed it as a stand-alone download. It does not imply that anything underhand or illegal was done.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
One main thing kept me from buying an iPod when I was MP3 player shopping.
The fact that you need to use an app (like iTunes) to load music onto it that you want to listen to.
To me, a hard-drive based digital audio player should be able to play music copied to it via Windows Explorer or Konqueror or whatever file manager you prefer to use, on whatever operating system you prefer to use.
Making it so that the iPod will ONLY play music loaded onto it via iTunes frustrates me and makes me feel restricted, like they want me to ONLY use it the way they want me to.
I don't like paying that kind of money for a device and feeling restricted.
Which was why I took my $300 and went with a different player. What I ended up with actually does more, as it turns out, than the iPod, and does it cheaper and it works the way I want it to.
Drag, drop, play. Simple. No annoying applications necessary, no annoying and unnecessary compulsory synchronization with my computer.
Personally, I think the iPods are pretty slick, but that one thing is enough to make me unwilling to shell out my bucks for it.
And the circle of life continues to spin, occasionally wobbling on its axis thanks to the weighty presence of dumb.
My wife has had a Soniqcast Aireo 1Gig for 10 months. She (and I) LOVE it.
It has an FM tuner, as WELL as a built in FM transmitter, adjustable to ANY FM Freq (not just 5 or so).
Think that is neat, that is nothing compared to the built in 802.11b wireless! you can leave your Aireo in the car, and have it sync up with your PC in your house late at night. Or, if you're sitting near a WAP out and about, you can connect up to your audible.com account and download books, or newspapers over the internet!
Sonicast is now selling a 20Gig model with similar features. (or will be soon)
The only 2 donwfalls are that the interface on the player is so-so, and you need MS Windows to Sync playlists.
http://www.soniqcast.com/
I personaly enjoy my Archos AV480, no wireless or FM, but It can store/play/record video, and works well with Linux, MacOSX, or Windows.
-=Down Syndrome in Maine
Making it so that the iPod will ONLY play music loaded onto it via iTunes frustrates me and makes me feel restricted, like they want me to ONLY use it the way they want me to.
You might have missed the point of the iPod. Remember that computers are great at handling large amounts of tiny pieces of information, and great at performing rule-based actions. Managing your MP3 player manually is like editing your web site using a text editor. Sure, you have 100% control. Sure, your HTML looks exactly like you want it to. But it just doesn't scale. Have more than N pages, you need a content management system. iTunes is your content management system for music. Stop micromanaging, give up control, gain command.
--Bud