Music Player

[lol @ title, I couldn't think of another way to word it]


So my lovely ipod touch recently broke, and I'm really leery about investing in another ipod. I don't want to spend 300 bucks on a 32 gig player either.

My question to you experienced people is: What music player do you recommend? I want something at least 32 gigs that plays music. I don't really care for videos, but I guess mostly all come with that feature these days. I want something that's going to last me a long time. Something that has a lot of quality. (Something, unlike the ipod touch, that doesn't die after a couple of years) More storage is better, but this thing really has to be decently priced. (i.e. under 300 bucks or at that price. I would prefer <300 because I am a student who can't afford to invest in such things)

What do you guys recommend? I heard creative zens are good, yet to research them though.

Creative Zen

I've had a 5th gen video iPod (30GB) for about four years now, and I'm pretty rough on my belongings. It's holding up great. You can get the 160GB iPod classic for $250 new. If I were buying right now, I'd be torn between that and the Zune 120GB, same price with FM radio and WiFi, and from what I've been told, better sound.

If I go back to apple I'm going all the way and getting a touch again. It's dead useful.

I'm thinking about getting this maybe: http://us.store.creative.com/ZEN-32G...B0012YPMOC.htm 32 gigs, only 140 bucks, and good reviews.

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Originally Posted by Xox

If I go back to apple I'm going all the way and getting a touch again. It's dead useful.

I'm thinking about getting this maybe: http://us.store.creative.com/ZEN-32G...B0012YPMOC.htm 32 gigs, only 140 bucks, and good reviews.

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The SD slot is pretty sweet, tho I'm not sure how the player would juggle SD and internal storage in, say, a shuffle (86% of my iPod usage). Of course if you have less than 20ish GB of music, the point is moot. I don't know that I would even consider the Touch a music player, except as a back-up; for me it makes more sense to have a high-capacity, long-life music player separate from a larger format internet-and-video device.

If you're keying in on that 32GB capacity, though, that Zen looks like a solid choice.

I can recomend getting a Creative product, they just don't break. I bought a Creative Zen Vision M for like 5 years ago, and it's still working just as well as when I bought it.
Also, I've heard that Sony have some pretty good players, but I haven't tried them myself.

From what I've read though, Zen doesn't support AAC :shock: That's a major problem because AAC has been the music standard for years. And since you already had an iPod, good chance that almost all of your music is in AAC format.

What's AAC and would mp3 not go through Zen? (I'm a tech noob, sorry :P)

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Originally Posted by ninja9578

From what I've read though, Zen doesn't support AAC :shock: That's a major problem because AAC has been the music standard for years. And since you already had an iPod, good chance that almost all of your music is in AAC format.

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Apple standard*
It's still lossy. The copyright thing kills me too. The file-size difference is minimal, and you're still not going to be able to do a lot with AAC.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Xox

What's AAC and would mp3 not go through Zen? (I'm a tech noob, sorry :P)

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AAC is 'Advanced Audio Coding'. It's just another audio file. Everything on iPods gets coded into AAC.
MP3s would work on Zens, yes.

Bleh

No it's not, a 128kBit AAC is about the same quality as a 256kBit mp3. Xox said that she had an iPod, that means most of her music will be in AAC format :P

So everything in my itunes library is already AAC? Surely I can convert it..right?

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Originally Posted by Xox

So everything in my itunes library is already AAC?

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Yes

Quote:

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Surely I can convert it..right?

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No
Well, it won't be easy, anyways.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Xox

So everything in my itunes library is already AAC?

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Music you've downloaded from torrents is most likely in the MP3 format. Music you've bought using iTunes is most likely in AAC. Music you've ripped using iTunes is most likely in AAC.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Xox

Surely I can convert it..right?

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Yeah, it's possible. But it would take a lot of processing time, probably.

Nearly everything from torrents. Some from CD's. I'm yet to purchase music from apple.. :p

THis is more complicated than I thought. -me feels trapped-

It's not that hard.

iTunes > Preferences > General > Import Settings. Change it to MP3.
Right click on your songs > Create MP3 Version.

Increase the bitrate though, MP3 is far less efficient than AAC. And your avatar is scary :(

Oh, okay. Thanks ninjy. :teeth:

Unless you're saving tons of movies and music videos, anything more than 30 gigs is ridiculous. With a 120GB iPod, assuming you buy all your music, will cost you about $30-$40K to fill up (depending on if you buy songs or albums)

My music collection is like 7 gigs. Its not going to grow much, maybe a couple but that's about it. So yeah, that's why 32 gigs is more than fine by me!

you can get a Sandisk Sansa e280 for under $100, charger and all. It supports radio, video, voice recording, music, and photos. It is 8G by default and has a micro input, so buy an 8G micro card and you have a 16G for about $100.


EDIT: I have one and love it dearly. It's also about the size of an iPod Nano, and looks cooler. Lights up, has a wheel intead of a touch-circle (big plus!)

heh, my music collection is 60ish GB and always growing >__>

Creative Zen, all the way. I have a Creative Zen 16GB I bought a year or two ago, and I love it. Definitely recommend it.