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Thread: Ipod or MP3?

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    Registered User Lynn's Avatar
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    Ipod or MP3?

    I want one - but not sure which.

    I recently borrowed my dad's little Creative 1GB MP3 player and it was excellent, extremely easy to use, didn't need any software to put songs on, it was really easy to scroll through, adjust etc. It didn't hold as many songs as I would like though.

    I saw a 2GB version for £45 on Sat - thats probably going to hold 400-500 songs?

    I have no idea how much an Ipod is, I was in Currys and you'd think they didn't want to sell Ipods - in fact anywhere I have looked there are no prices or info on Ipods - just a few sitting behind glass, and I can never find anyone to ask.

    On the other hand almost all the accessories I see for sale are for Ipods rather than MP3 players, and while I don't need a whole load of accessories, it would be nice to be able to get some (eg when getting travel speakers for the MP3 I ended up getting them in Tesco's - mind you they were only £4.97!)

    Any advice? Which do you have and why?

    Is the Ipod really vastly superior - enough to justify the price difference, or does it just look prettier?

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    Registered User killingtime's Avatar
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    Re: Ipod or MP3?

    Quote Originally Posted by Lynn View Post
    On the other hand almost all the accessories I see for sale are for Ipods rather than MP3 players, and while I don't need a whole load of accessories, it would be nice to be able to get some (eg when getting travel speakers for the MP3 I ended up getting them in Tesco's - mind you they were only £4.97!)
    You'll find that a lot of speakers just plug into the headphone jack. Shouldn't be a problem for most stuff.

    Quote Originally Posted by Lynn View Post
    Is the Ipod really vastly superior - enough to justify the price difference, or does it just look prettier?
    I'd say the iPod is inferior to a lot of cheaper stuff out there. It does have nice aesthetics though; it's navigation system is well developed and iTunes is awesome. It's why I have one.

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    Registered User Twirly's Avatar
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    Re: Ipod or MP3?

    I had the same dilemna late last year when I decided I wanted to get one. I ended up with the Creative Zen V+ mainly because it has a radio with it - the Ipod didn't. I don't use it a huge amount, but I like to listen to the radio sometimes.

    I got a 4GB one and have now managed to get about 1,500 songs onto it with a bit of space left - but I had to compact them (ask a real geek - I took Beo's advice). Before that, I only got about 1,200 on. And if you use it a lot, that isn't actually that many - I'm getting a bit bored of what I have on it after 6 months, and I don't use it that much. I half wish I'd gone bigger, but they were a lot more expensive and much bigger in size. This is tiny - half the size and less than half the weight of my mobile (and it does get lost in my bag sometimes).

    I also got the creative travel speakers which are pretty good - not loud, but adequate.

    My only gripes with it were navigating it initially - the buttons not being really buttons but pads you have to be fairly accurate when pressing them or it doesn't do what you expect it to. But I've got used to it now and have no problems. Also it doesn't seem to get very loud - think it's got some sort of limit on the volume. Doesn't really bother me as I don't like to be deafened, but it won't give huge volume when plugged into other devices. I've just got (from the Pound Shop in Dumfries!) a car cassette adaptor which works fine too - the one I had previously from Argos didn't at all.

    The videos that come with it are, um, odd. Particularly the dancing panda bear

    And should it be important to you (it wasn't to me) I've had lots of "ooh, what's that, that's nice" comments
    Last edited by Twirly; 10th-July-2007 at 02:49 PM. Reason: Spelling

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    Registered User Mezzosoprano's Avatar
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    Re: Ipod or MP3?

    I had a Sony MP3.... and when I upgraded I went for Ipod 4 gig 2nd generation Nano (should have gone for 8 gig though - need more tunes!!!)

    Smaller, lighter, more easily nagivated because of the screen... I love mine!! And the software is far superior to the Sony software
    Last edited by Mezzosoprano; 10th-July-2007 at 02:55 PM. Reason: spelling again....

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    Re: Ipod or MP3?

    I know It will upset stry as he always neg reps me when I say bad things about apple....

    Ipods are the equivalent of Nike trainers or Calvin Klien Jeans. Over priced, over advertised, over hyped and recommended.

    Do you really need nikes when there are a pair of decent better trainners for half the price?

    There are tonnes of MP3 players out there that wipe the floor with ipods. Creative do very good ones. Sonys are good but the software aint great.

    Would go with the creative twirly suggested, or one of many many decent alternatives. Look on ebuyer Ebuyer - Cheap Computers Laptops Digital Cameras Televisions for MP3 players including an Ipod lookalike/workalike for £10 !!

    (and Itunes can cause loads of problems)

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    Re: Ipod or MP3?

    lol and is if by magic this thread appears.


    http://www.cerocscotland.com/forum/g...-7-3-help.html

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    Re: Ipod or MP3?

    Quote Originally Posted by woodface View Post
    I know It will upset stry as he always neg reps me when I say bad things about apple....
    'Once' is not quite the same as 'always'. Just so's you know

    I can't comment on most mp3 players, as I only have an iPod, and I haven't found an 80gig non-Apple one that was any more competitively priced (although there may well be one out there).

    Ipods are stunning pieces of kit though, and just wonderfully quick and easy to use - which is crucial if you have a lot of music on them (and even more crucial if you find yourself using one as an emergency piece of DJing equipment)

    At the end of the day, one of Apple's huge strengths is that they make things that're a joy to use.

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    Re: Ipod or MP3?

    Quote Originally Posted by straycat264 View Post
    'Once' is not quite the same as 'always'. Just so's you know

    I can't comment on most mp3 players, as I only have an iPod, and I haven't found an 80gig non-Apple one that was any more competitively priced (although there may well be one out there).

    Ipods are stunning pieces of kit though, and just wonderfully quick and easy to use - which is crucial if you have a lot of music on them (and even more crucial if you find yourself using one as an emergency piece of DJing equipment)

    At the end of the day, one of Apple's huge strengths is that they make things that're a joy to use.
    Twice now actually. Anyway...

    I have used an Ipod and a creative and have gone through a whole host of MP3 players. Alough I pods are better than some I would only place it in the middle of my list for best MP3 players. Creatives are up near the top.

    Best one I had was a Sanyo Belive it or not, when they first come out (32mb!!) was controlled with a dial very similar to an Ipod, just not touch sensitive (about 3 years before Ipods came out!!)

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    Registered User Beowulf's Avatar
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    Re: Ipod or MP3?

    I have a 20GB Creative Zen Touch (AKA "The Brick")

    It's a bit old and clunky by todays standards but when I chose it I wanted MP3 and the ability to pick my choice of ripping software. I didn't like the Idea of Ipods format and conversion process and I can plug it into my XP machine and use a multitude of software to organise the files on it (I've even written my own software as the MP3 / ID3 format is easy to understand)

    Twirly's mp3 player is nice, It looks good and plays well. Mine is basic.. monochrome LCD Screen and has a laptop HDD inside of it as opposed to the smaller solid state flash devices .. it means I can't jog with it otherwise it does tend to skip.

    Of course the advantage of mine is.. by the end of the month I should have a 40gb version.. no , not buying a new one, but it is just a 20gb Laptop hard drive inside.. and I do have a 40gb drive here sitting waiting to be shoved in

    I'll buy a solid state MP3 player when it's easy for me to mess around with the hardware inside

    (nb hacking the hardware of your MP3 player will invalidate your warranty. This geek is not responsible for any damage you may cause to your hardware by following my lead )

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    Registered User Rhythm King's Avatar
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    Re: Ipod or MP3?

    I have recently acquired an 80 gig iPod and it's awesome (I have a new generation shuffle too). Also iTunes is far superior to the Sony Sonicstage software. I've just bought the Bose SoundDock too, and it's simply fantastic.

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    Re: Ipod or MP3?

    I have been looking long and hard at ipods or mp3 players and i have found.

    You can buy just as many accessories for the mp3's as you can for ipod's and they seem to be cheaper.

    If you down load music at 79p for your ipod from itunes they are locked and you cannot move them around but if you download from MP3 Search.ru they are around 10p each and you can do what ever you want with them.

    I personnally think ipods are too expensive, to buy and to top up with music, and you are paying for a name. A good mp3 will do everything you need it to do.

    I hope i am not in breach of any advertising rules for putting the above www. link in but it is a good cheap site, tried and tested.

    Hope it helps.

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    Re: Ipod or MP3?

    i received the lovely gift of an IPod 30 gig and I love it.

    have used other MP3 players - which were good too.

    the thing I love about my ipod is that I can put video and photos on it as well - which means that I can take it to training rather than lugging my laptop and also now that I have the right cable (thanks CJ ) I can plug it into stereos at will.

    First and so far only accessory I have bought for it is an itrip - which works as a charger as well as allowing me to play it through the car stereo

    as to itunes - I was under the impression that you could choose the format that you purchase your songs in ie mp3 rather than acc or whatever the hell is standard for itunes.

    Plus there is nothing to stop you buying from a different online shop and then importing into itunes...

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    Re: Ipod or MP3?

    Woodface has it right - Ipod really is the Nike of the mp3 player world. From a cost point of view there is no doubt the majority of the the non-apple players give you better value for money. Its best to go here and select the options at the top to browse by size/price or whatever (i wouldnt necessarily buy from dabs but their search filter system is excellent).

    The place where you really need to spend your money is on headphones - NONE of the players that i know have decent heaphones with them and its well worth getting new ones and simply binning the boxed ones.

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    Re: Ipod or MP3?

    Have you thought about going the PDA route which I what im doing at the mo. I have a Ipaq which does everything an Ipod does plus has wi-fi, sat nav, internet, excel, email, full touch screen, media player (mp3 and films), games and easy interface. Plus you can get them as SPV's

    Mine cost £150 from ebay with a few 4 gig mem cards at £12 each (apparantly 16 gig cards will be out in a few months. no doubt way things are going will be less than tenner within a few months)

    Have a look at one on ebuyer HP iPaq HX2190 Intel 312MHz 128MB ROM 64MB RAM 3.5" QVGA Bluetooth Windows Mobile

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    Re: Ipod or MP3?

    Quote Originally Posted by coldfeet View Post
    If you down load music at 79p for your ipod from itunes they are locked and you cannot move them around but if you download from MP3 Search.ru they are around 10p each and you can do what ever you want with them.
    the .ru extention suggests that it's a russian based music site. At the moment these are of dubious legality as to actually being able to sell copyrighted music. Not that I'm saying that the itunes music store is any better but I would suggest a slightly more legit site like emusic. Or ideally just buy the CDs in the first place and you can put them in what ever format you like and always have a backup

  16. #16
    Registered User Lynn's Avatar
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    Re: Ipod or MP3?

    Thanks, I'm learning!

    Another point - battery life?

    I would prefer not to have to lug chargers and lots of batteries with me - some of the rechargable ones only have 8 hours play time. The one I borrowed gives 18 hours on 1 AAA battery, which has the advantage that if you are away somewhere and run out its easy to get more.

    (That was a Creative MuVo 1GB btw, and amazingly easy to use.)

    I presume the Ipod is rechargable - how long does it take to recharge and how long does it last for?

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    Re: Ipod or MP3?

    Quote Originally Posted by Rhythm King View Post
    I've just bought the Bose SoundDock too, and it's simply fantastic.

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    Re: Ipod or MP3?

    Quote Originally Posted by Yliander View Post
    as to itunes - I was under the impression that you could choose the format that you purchase your songs in ie mp3 rather than acc or whatever the hell is standard for itunes.
    nope you get ACC format files. You can pay a bit extra for EMI music and get a better quality music file without the restriction that normal ITMS files are locked with.

    If your importing music into itunes then you can put it in what ever format you like

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    Registered User Twirly's Avatar
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    Re: Ipod or MP3?

    Quote Originally Posted by pmjd View Post
    Or ideally just buy the CDs in the first place and you can put them in what ever format you like and always have a backup


    One of the things that Beo pointed out to me when I first got mine was that whilst your household insurance will cover the cost of replacing CDs should they get burnt/flooded/stolen etc. it's very unlikely that it will cover the cost of the music you've downloaded, even if it does cover the player itself. Download a few tracks, and it can soon add up.

    So far I've only actually downloaded one album - and that's only because it's not available here and it was the only way to get it.

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    Registered User killingtime's Avatar
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    Re: Ipod or MP3?

    Quote Originally Posted by pmjd View Post
    nope you get ACC format files. You can pay a bit extra for EMI music and get a better quality music file without the restriction that normal ITMS files are locked with.
    Yeah, though I don't really see what the problem is with the AAC format. It's an open format (with the exception of the DRM from iTunes). MP3 is over 10 years old, we've found better ways to encode things. Maybe a few people want Vorbis support but that's generally geeks.

    Quote Originally Posted by Twirly View Post
    One of the things that Beo pointed out to me when I first got mine was that whilst your household insurance will cover the cost of replacing CDs should they get burnt/flooded/stolen etc. it's very unlikely that it will cover the cost of the music you've downloaded, even if it does cover the player itself. Download a few tracks, and it can soon add up.
    Yes, loss of data isn't included in most insurance policies. Of course I think the iTunes system is pants in that regard anyway (I wittered about this on my not even slightly entertaining blog). Basically if you could just re-download your content then you could save all that money in insurance since there would be nothing to insure in the first place.

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