MP3 Player

My sister wants to get my nephew an MP3 player for graduation. When it comes to that technology I'm a luddite. I know there are lots of knowledgeable people here whose brains I can pick. Should she get him a iPod? Is there another brand that is a better deal? Where should she buy it?

My mom has an iPod. The unit itself is OK, but the software to manage the collections (iTunes) is the hands-down worst program I've used in years. It's a horrible trainwreck of a program. It makes baby Jesus cry and then poop his diaper.

seriously? ever since iTunes for Windows came out, I've used nothing else to play mp3s on my PC. It combines the management software and the player, ripper and encoder, and is pretty easy to use.

What's the problem with it?

I agree... I *LOVE* itunes.

Yeah, it must be my parents' fault for only having a 1.7ghz computer with 512 MB of RAM. What are they thinking, trying to play MP3s on that? Everyone knows you need dual 3.0ghz processors and 4 gigs of RAM to run an MP3 player, sheesh.

Seriously, though, the interface is a non-standard piece of crap. It's hard or impossible to do simple things to the playlist. It's incredibly slow - not just the file transfer area - the program itself. It crashes if you look at it wrong, and most of the time it brings the computer down with it. It handles large amounts of files poorly and it makes it very hard to manage folders and ID3 tags.

Weird.

I'm running it on 5 different pcs... one that's a PII 400 mhz... and have no problems with it.
Go figure.

Also... how does it make it hard to manage folders and id3 tags?

> Also... how does it make it hard to manage folders and id3 tags?

I imported a few albums of un-ID3ed MP3s into iTunes. I spent over an hour trying to assign the artist and album metadata into the files, and trying to get them into folders rather than just sitting in a big directory. I never did figure it out. This is something that even a computer novice like myself should be able to figure out quickly. :P

uhhh, every iTunes I've ever used on any machine has automatically put files into appropriate directories. you can have some control over how they're named and organised - certainly not as much as in the more complex organising tools, but really, what more do you need than Artist/Album/# - Title.mp3?

Yeah, it puts them into the appropriate directories assuming they're fully ID3 tagged before you try to import them. If they aren't, and you try to pull in a number of directories at once, it will collapse them into a single directory and give you no (easy?) way to fix that.

But then you can just select them in itunes by, say, selecting all the songs by one artist, and adding the artist's name to all of them at once.... then selecting all from an album, adding the album name to all of them at once.... etc.

Pretty easy to me.
*shrugs*

Sounds pretty easy, huh? That what I thought, too. Try it sometime.

I have.
:)

I had to do that with a lot of my files when I first switched to itunes... took me 5 or 10 minutes.

Not sure how you were doing it... but... you can just (in itunes) highlight however many files you want to edit... then right click, go to 'Get Info" and then edit there.... hit enter.

Bingo... edits that id3 data onto all the selected files.

I don't know if was a buggy version of iTunes, but I spent at least 15 minutes alone trying to highlight more than one file at a time. It just plain wouldn't let me no matter what I tried. Oddly enough, I found a key shortcut that would let me select *all* of the songs, but that crashed the computer whenever I tried to actually do anything to the list. Fun.

Ahh.. yeah, sounds like you had a bum install or something, then.

It highlights just like anything in windows.... select first, hold down shift, select ending.

Or ctrl-click..... either one.

Sure it will. as soon as you tag it with an artist, album, and title, it'll move the file for you.

yeah, that's one of the things I love about it.

very streamlined.

While I mostly like iTunes, I definitely agree with you on this point. And as I'm anal-retentive about organizing all my stuff, this is a problem.
:)

are u kidding me? itoons is amazing!

Huh.

I've *never* gotten a copy of iTunes to work, whether it be on my home computer (a P4-1.8 ghz with 1GB of RAM) or one of the ones at work. It always seems to install right, but the audio is choppy and of poor quality.

I much prefer Foobar 2000, myself.

www.ephpod.com

MUCH better program.�� Much easier id3-tag editing (excellent for multiple files at once), as well as some other neat stuff.

iTunes is a cpu whore.� Sure, it runs fine on a mac, but that's because iTunes was designed with a Mac's hardware in mind.� Windows PC's can be ANYTHING, so the overall�stability of iTunes is pretty much pot-luck with them.� Educated guess.

Really, check out ephpod.� It's awesome.

You can do multiple files in itunes as well...

Yes, but... how the heck do you USE it?
:D

If you cancel the setup of linking it to an ipod (which I don't have) it just closes out the software.

heh
ETA: Nebbermind... you can just next through that and it'll open.
AETA: But I still don't see how to use it, really.... *shrugs*

Sure, iTunes can do it, but it's sort of a pain in the ass.� With ephpod, you just highlight, select the attribute you would like to edit, and well... edit it.� One fell swoop, vs. iTunes forcing you to highlight crap.� It's just really shoddy, I feel.� ephpod seems to be everything itunes is, and more (not counting the iTunes music store).

Granted I don't know shit about cars, I'm tempted to say iTunes is to Ephpod as an Automatic is to a Manual transmission.�� MAYBE.� I happen to think ephpod >>>>>>> iTunes.�� iTunes is a who-ah.

wait... how is its editing different, then? Because it's one more step?

it's just a lot easier to select a large group of files, and to change the title/artist/album/whatever very quickly, on the fly.� iTunes likes to make it difficult to change id3 tag information at a speed that doesn't put me to sleep or make me want to pull out my hair.

i find using iTunes to be a lot like trying to run underwater.

ephpod, on the other hand, is slicker than snot on a doorknob.

i hear anapod ain't bad, either.

ugh, itunes is so poorly designed. i love the music store, but apart from that, bleh.

Weird.

Never known anyone who didn't like itunes... now I know two.

:)

Make that three. iTunes sucks the big one.

Ditto, like a mufuqqaaaaa.�� iTunes pisses me off.�� it slowed my system down so much i had to check�to make sure i wasn't using a 486.

Also, I personally don't see the need for an mp3-player to take up my entire screen.� Until I actually got an Ipod, and furthermore a reason to use an indexing program, I was getting along perfectly well just using the x86 filesystem to maintain artists/albums/etc...

Oh Me too! Me too!

Hate it almost as much as the Yankees! Which for me is A LOT!

I like iTunes....but then again, I'm running on a mac. Not even a particularly pumped-up mac, only a 550 MHz processor and 256 MB memory. and only 20 GB of space...that's like an ipod.

But i've never had any problems like that, and maybe 'cuz it's designed for mac is the reason why. :)

Duuude, you know I hate it. I had it for like, a day then proceeded to yell at you and delete it. :)

Yes, but that's largely due to you being computer illiterate.

*ducks*

ducking won't block the foot coming straight for yer groin.

Heeee

wuff you too, snookems. O:-)

AMEN BRUTHA!

I despise iTunes. I cannot deal with it taking my mp3s and putting them in folders I didn't create. My god-like complex can not handle it. *hugs winamp*

It does that?
Automatically?

That would drive me insane.
I might not be organized, but I know where things are ;-)

Then again, I'm still running Win 98, so iTunes isn't an issue right now.

Naw, it's optional.

You can select it if you want it to do that.

An iPod would be the sexy thing to get. Simple to use and all the cool people have them. Though personally, I'm more of a fan of the Creative digital music players, such as the Creative Zen Touch. They are less expensive for the same capacity and some would argue that they have better sound. But it can be a bit more complicated to operate....and it's not an iPod.

iTunes can be quite annoying sometimes for music management. If I were to get an iPod, I would probably invest in the Anapod Explorer. I have the creative version, which I use all the time to sync with my Nomad Jukebox.

Regardless, I would try to go purchase the player online. There are some decent sales that you can combine with online coupons, there's free shipping and you can save on sales tax. For example, check out buy.com and find an online coupon from DealCoupon.

I've got a creative Nomad Jukebox 3. I like it. Side benefit, it's replaced a DAT recorder for bootlegging shows. Creative sells refurbs on ebay at decent prices. I've had no problems with mine so far (knock on wood)

How do you set up your Nomad to record shows?

The Creative Nomad Jukebox 3 (JB3) has botj an optical input and a analog line in. It can also record directly to wav files (no compression) Better than a DAT, as I don't have to use any media. Also has a rechargable battery, although I've built an external li-ion battery pack for it.

iPod is the hip thing to buy, which is why it is more expensive. However, wearing those white-earbuds and wires on you now makes you a target for getting mugged. iPods are like Air Jordans from the 90s in terms of people being robbed for a specific thing.

The Nomad works great for me and Jenna. More storage, less price. For the most part, an MP3 player is an MP3 player. As long as it is easy to use and has good sound quality, I don't care.

However, wearing those white-earbuds and wires on you now makes you a target for getting mugged.

which is why you ditch those white earbuds and wear other headphones instead. those earbuds suck arse anyway.

I can't stand earbuds. They hurt, and everytime I wear them my already infection-prone ears almost always develop one.

Yeah, I'm with you.
I always throw out earbuds if they come with something.
They suck.

well, they do serve some purpose - I can't exactly wear big over-the-ear headphones here at the office, and I hate cheap foam headphones more, as they allow too much of the sound to escape. so, earbuds it is.

and for running, you pretty much need the earbuds, because anything else will be too heavy.

Well, I don't really use music when I'm outside, and at work nobody cares what headphones I use, and I don't listen loud enough for anything really to escape. So I get to keep earbuds out of my life, yay! :)

This of course doesn't at all negate your use or reasons. More power to ya! :) I'm just glad my needs fall in line with my inability to stand them.

See, where I work, we just have music playing through speakers... so... no need for headphones.
:)

As far as outside, yeah, I dont' listen to music either.

The only time I use headphones is when I'm, like, travelling... as a passenger in a car... or on a plane.... and then you WANT over-the-ear phones to block out the noise.

Poorly fitted earbuds suck, well fitted ones are great. When I was in the hospital I found that earphones didn't work so I had my parents buy me a good pair of earbuds. When they woke me up at 5AM I'd put in the earbuds, listen to the radio, and be able to fall back asleep even with activity going on all around me. I could even sleep on my side which was a great bonus.

I hereby second the recommendation for a Zen Touch. My brother got me one for Christmas, and it hasn't left my side since. Good, solid player. I've dropped it a few times, and it still works. The firmware is a little bit buggy...I've had to reset the device with a paperclip a few times. But overall, I can't recommend it enough.

Depends on your needs, but I own and love my iRiver iFP-790 flash MP3 player. Plays a wide variety of formats, decent storage from a "walkman" type perspective, compact, and the headphones it comes with are exceptional. Also has a built in FM radio and audio record capabilities.

Flash players smaller and store less, but I like them for portability and if you are planning on being active with it (use it while jogging), then there aren't the same concerns as with a hard-drive player.

Not to dangle participles left and right, iPods are certainly where it happens to be at.� They aren't exactly superior to any other mp3 players to any meaningful degree, but you can't argue with the fairly awesome 1st/3rd party accessory availability.� DLO's TransPod is HANDS-DOWN the BEST, the ONLY DECENT, and the coolest FM-Xmitter/charger/car-mount.� I have tested many, MANY others, and none even remotely compare to the consistency in operation that I have found in the Transpod.�

If Creative/Diamond/Whoever had the accessory support that iPods have, nobody would care as much asbout the iPod.� For the most part, anyway.

i have an ipod mini, and although it doesn't have a ton of space, i've had it for a year or so and never had a problem. it's really easy to use (again, that's arguable, considering complaints i've heard about iTunes) and...people think you're cool. really.

plus, if you have an apple store nearby, the people that work there are great. my brother dropped my ipod and the bottom fell out, and the people at the apple store popped it right back in for me. (i wasn't gonna touch it and screw something up.. :P)

but you can't argue with the fairly awesome 1st/3rd party accessory availability.

yep. they've got some hot stuff. plus, there's some cool software you can put on too. for instance, you can use the "notes" function with some freeware and have the entire bible, drink mixes, or other what-have-you on your iPod. i have something that can download mapquest directions into my 'pod.

I have a rather old Cowon iAudio CW200 Flash-based 256 MB mp3 player that I love. It sounds GREAT. I know they have hard-drive-based models now. Visit:

http://www.jetaudio.com for more details.

I bought myself a little sony netwalkman dealy after Xmas. Since then, the design has changed to a round sporty looking model AND for the price I paid then, you can get 1gig of space. I'm not complaining though (much). On average, I fit 10 CDs on my 256mb gizmo and I've used it nearly every day since I bought it.

I'm really enjoying this technology. I have no brand loyalty - I just love my gizmo MUCH better than my bulky CD player that would skip all the time. I find I use it more than I ever used my CD player - especially on the bus where I'd play my soft soothing sleepy sounds. It suits me just FINE ... until the day when the 20G models come down to my price range. :)