Poll: Do you own an iPod or other portable MP3 player?

I own an iRiver 750p. Very nice little flash player, and the earbuds it comes with are fantastic.

I wanted to vote for, I don't have one but I sort of want one but it is no big deal.

I have both a Cowon iAudio CW200 (old but I love it) and a Sony Discman that plays MP3 discs, too.

Highly recommended, not only because it came in purple. :)

Flash-based player, includes a microphone and line in for recording, plus an FM radio that I find myself using much more often than I thought I would (NPR). I've got 17 cds on mine, perfect for the gym, about the size of a cigarette lighter, about 2 oz with the battery, which I haven't had to change yet (had it a month). plus, it sounds great.

i don't like the earbuds that came with it, but I don't like earbuds in general.

Earbuds are not my friends.� I have bad ears and everytime I've worn earbuds I get an ear infection soon after. They are very sensitive to external things going in. :)

That is something I could be interested in. Is the radio only FM? On my commute I listen to WFUV in the morning and if the time is right Al Franken on Air America on the way home. When I'm underground i'd listen to the mp3 player.

I adore my Zen Xtra 40GB. It's definitely bigger than some models, but as far as space vs price goes, it's by far the best bang for the buck out there. You can pick up one for about $200. The sound quality is as good as it gets. The interface is pretty good. The program to transfer the files to your device works similar to a mapped drive, and is vastly superior to that piece-of-crap iTunes. And you can even pull the files back off if you have a hard drive crash or something. They actually trust you. Wow, what a concept!

I'm pretty happy with my Creative Zen Touch. The buttons misbehave from time to time, and the PC software interface is a giant pile of excrement, but it plays music and podcasts, and has held up to a few big drops, so no real complaints. I'm looking to upgrade to a video player, though. Mebbe an iPod, mebbe the new Creative Zen Vision: M.

I bought that one for my girlfriend. The thing is giant.

Jenna also has a Zen XTra 40 GB and just had a bout with a firmware problem. I was able to fix it by wiping it dry and updating not only the firmware, but the driver as well.

iPods may be easier to use, but I hate the fact that you can't pull songs back off of it. Boo hiss. And I refused to let her Zen turn into a $200 paperweight just 10 months after buying it.

The really big advantage the Zen Xtra has over the iPod is the user replaceable battery. Firs ttime the faceplate popped off, I thought I broke the damn thing. =P

Only FM, yes. It does have kind of a neat feature where it will automatically scan the area you are in and give you presets for whatever stations it can pick up where you are.

You certainly can pull songs back off of the iPod, and quite easily.� Of course, this doesn't involve iTunes.� There are tons of programs that let you do this,�and while�most use the irritating .NET, Ephpod lets you do this with ease.� It keeps all of your tags straight, or to your specs, and it's a great alternative to iTunes, minus the whole music store thing, if''n thats your thing.

iPod only rules because of the accessories available, knowimeanvern?

I've had an iPod mini since they came out, which was only a little less than 2 years ago. It's green. Not the garish green they are now, it's more subtle.

The problem is that when I got it, I had no idea my music collection would be increasing tenfold in the near future. :)
I've got 1056 songs on it at the moment, it's not holding any more.

I got the 20GB model about 3 years ago and it has served me well. It's currently on its last legs, as i only have one line out jack (out of 3 possible outputs) that is properly working. I may go for a Zen Xtra or Zen Sleek after this one bites the dust. I'm a big Creative fan.

I've also got one, but I use it for taping, as well as my nightly mp3 listening.

The earbuds that came with my iPod shuffle were rather painful on my ears, which made me not want to listen to the shuffle as much. Yvonne sold me on a pair of these, which I picked up a couple weeks ago and just love.

Granted, these are Apple-branded for the iPod line, and may cost more, but I'm sure someone sells something similar that's cheaper and isn't white (if you insist on such things). :-P

-- Pauley

I'm kinda split on this issue. I'm pretty lazy when it comes to ripping and burning mp3's, so the prospect of converting all of my cds onto an mp3 player isn't exactly appealing to me; however, it would be much better for jogging and working out than my Sony discman, which is not skip-free no matter what it says.

While I'm here, I have a question about battery life....does anyone know if batteries tend to last longer in an mp3 player than they do in a discman, and how many and what size do mp3 players typically take? Ok, that was more than one question, sorry, hehe

I have a 3G 40 gig iPod (with the four buttons above the scroll wheel) with crap battery life and a 2G silver 6 gig iPod mini that I got when I found out they were being discontinued and went "noooooooooo, but they're so cute"!! Well, and for the estimated 18 hour battery life.

I have a 1 gig iPod shuffle as well but it doesn't really count because I use it as a USB drive to back up my documents and photos from my laptop and throw on a playlist as well to use only once in a while. It would be useful if I ever took up jogging.

I don't get infections, but earbuds just *refuse* to stay in my ears. I wonder if the shape of my ears is that far outside the average that they just don't work for me.

linkie no workie.

Don't go for the Xtra, really. The interface is crap on a stick. The Sleek is a good player for just audio, but look into the Vision: M if you're thinking about video at all.

I don't need anymore opportunities to listen to music. Isn't 18 hours a day enough!?!

my roommate, cj, is like that. he just can't use earbuds. and yah, it seems to be a "shape of the ear" thing.

Actually, I like the interface. Some of the earlier ones weren't as good because the main control button didn't stick out far, but they're much better now. Some quirks, definitely, but you get used to 'em. And infinitely better than that terrible, terrible iPod touch wheel thing. Ugh.

should be fixed -- try again.

-- Pauley

wow, you don't like the ipod interface?

Who else doesn't?

Anyone?

much better. :)

And yeah, I wish they weren't white.

I've never had problems with infections... but.. .I just find any earbud I've tried to be supremely uncomfortable for any period of time.

And, it's not really a comfort thing.... my ears even start to "reject" those moldable foam earplugs after more than an hour.

I'll stick to a headset, thanks. :)

yeah, well, like I said, you get the idea, and I'm sure Apple isn't the only one who sells something like this. Just takes some researching.

-- Pauley

My iFriend and I are the best of pals.

Gives *less than three* to her iPod

I despise it. There's no tactile response to it. With buttons, if you need to move down by five, you push the button five times. With that damn wheel, it's way harder than it should be. It just doesn't feel at all right to me.

if you need to move down by five, you push the button five times.

But if you've got a huge list, that gets a little difficult... what if I wanted to get down to 'Josh Woodward' on my artist list? ;)
I'd have to push it 53 times. 124 times if I wanted Winterpills, 125 if I wanted Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

> But if you've got a huge list, that gets a little difficult... what if I wanted
> to get down to 'Josh Woodward' on my artist list? ;)

You mean someone might want other artists on their iPod? ;-)

> I'd have to push it
> 53 times. 124 times if I wanted Winterpills, 125 if I wanted Wolfgang Amadeus
> Mozart.

With the Zen Xtra (and probably most others), you can either click it down to go one-by-one, or hold it down to scroll faster, so it's the best of both worlds. So Wesley Willis is only a few seconds away. ;-)