Zune anyone?

[shobet]

I use my cell for an mp3player.

2gig SD mem, more than enough for a walk to the auditorium and back or an hour on the train on the way back home.

I REFUSE to buy an ipod, I will NEVER EVER own an Ipod or use Itunes. The entire 'ipod' phenomenon disgusts me.

So is your phone a Walkman phone?

[Spivonious]

WTF? Why would an iPod disgust you? They are fantastic devices.

I think he meant the Apple iPod, not MP3 players in general.

[JacksonDean]

I use my cell for an mp3player.

2gig SD mem, more than enough for a walk to the auditorium and back or an hour on the train on the way back home.

I REFUSE to buy an ipod, I will NEVER EVER own an Ipod or use Itunes. The entire 'ipod' phenomenon disgusts me.

A friend of mind had an iPod and I was checking it out once. I wasn't impressed, and had actually come to the same conclusion: I'm not going to ever buy one.

As for MP3 players in general, a coworker has a Zune and I think that's a pretty nifty device; I like those. But I don't really have the need to carry around 30GB of music and movies. I've a simple 1GB RCA MP3 player that plays music that I use when I'm in the car. And that's pretty much the only time I use it.

[Spivonious]

I think the only reason I'd want 30GB+ would be to shuffle through my entire CD collection.

[hippietim]

I think he meant the Apple iPod, not MP3 players in general.

So my question still stands.

[Carbuff]

So my question still stands.

Its probably the flip side of the ipod popularity. As many fans as it creates it also creates a lot of haters too. I can see the point though. We are constantly bombarded with a media campaign from apple of epic proportions. There is constantly a "new" model making the previous model "obsolete". Theyre starting this with the iphone now. They replace models too quickly and it pisses people off. Also, the pro apple anti microsoft guys can be pretty annoying on the net. It could easily make someone never want to own one. Itunes can be annoying too. Just the word alone conjurs up the whole "Pay for downloading music" thing, which is a sore spot with many people. I think theyre great devices but have had their share of harddrive problems in the beginning like all the others did. I personally prefer the smaller flash memory based players. But then again I have no use for portable video on that tiny screen. It would be nice if the zune could play tetris or solitaire but its not a deal breaker for me. I just need reliability and sound quality for the most part.
I have a small sandisk sansa and it works fine for my needs and is tiny.

[GodOfRhythm]

Its probably the flip side of the ipod popularity. As many fans as it creates it also creates a lot of haters too. I can see the point though. We are constantly bombarded with a media campaign from apple of epic proportions. There is constantly a "new" model making the previous model "obsolete". Theyre starting this with the iphone now. They replace models too quickly and it pisses people off. Also, the pro apple anti microsoft guys can be pretty annoying on the net. It could easily make someone never want to own one. Itunes can be annoying too. Just the word alone conjurs up the whole "Pay for downloading music" thing, which is a sore spot with many people. I think theyre great devices but have had their share of harddrive problems in the beginning like all the others did. I personally prefer the smaller flash memory based players. But then again I have no use for portable video on that tiny screen. It would be nice if the zune could play tetris or solitaire but its not a deal breaker for me. I just need reliability and sound quality for the most part.
I have a small sandisk sansa and it works fine for my needs and is tiny.

IPOD:

For the most part I agree with Carbuff's post.

It goes deeper than that. I just have a (partially) inexplicable disgust towards the Ipod, Iphone and anything 'I---' (less so for mp3 players in general). Their way of doing business (with Itunes and whatnot) genuinely pisses me off.

They are the most overhyped POS on the planet.


MP3players in general:

On the one hand MP3players have given people more mobility while being able to enjoy their music (albeit in inferior quality), HOWEVER on the other hand it is also a symptom AND a cause of the constantly increasing lack of moral fibre, social awareness and downright manners and good social grace in our current society--> 'cocooning while outside' mentality rose with the Ipod's popularity and is subsequently getting out of hand. 'Ipod' is the foremost reason for that in my mind and actually, in all of their hyped, 'superstar among electronic devices' allure, embody pretty much everything that has been going wrong with the human race in our Western neck of the woods in the last 6 to 7 years.


--------

My cellphone has an MP3 playing function and can support miniSD mem cards (2gigs). Which is more than enough for my purposes(--> Two two hour traintrips a week on a virtually deserted train).

[rjohnstone]

Well I dig my iPhone... does what I need it to do and I got it cheap (gift).
I also own a Nano that I use for learning new songs.
My wife has an iPhone as well plus a Mini and a Shuffle.
They work. I don't care for the hype and that's not why I bought them.
They do what they are supposed too and they do it very well.
I've messed around with the Zune on many occasions... just don't care for the interface. The sound quality on the Zune was pretty damn good though.

[Jason1212]

I have been under the impression (which may be false) that using an I-pod (and Itunes) limits your ability to burn music to discs and also load music from your I-pod to say a friends PC. Am I wrong in that assumption?

[rjohnstone]

You can pay extra and buy DRM free versions from iTunes.
I haven't done it... I rarely buy anything from iTunes. I think in the 4+ years I've had an iPod of some sort, I've purchased maybe 5 songs.
I mainly rip tracks from my existing CD collection. If you keep it in MP3 format (yes, you can choose) you can copy the music off the iPod and onto another systems.
You just have to learn how to decipher their BS naming schema to find the track.

[hippietim]

Not all tracks are available DRM free from iTunes or Zune or any other legal music service. Personally I have bought a few DRM tracks but I won't buy any DRM music if there is another way to buy it.

[CharvelRocker]

It's kind of ashame a lot of stuff I've read says using Zunes can be a major hassle on Windows XP or I would of bought one over an iPod or my Creative. First one got stepped on and broke; this one does all sorts of odd things that took reloading the firmware three times to fix. That the fact it does not play Napster tracks killed it for me. It's actually ashame, as I think in terms of sound quality it is indeed superior to iPods or Creative Zens.

[AlexL]

Itunes can be annoying too. Just the word alone conjurs up the whole "Pay for downloading music" thing, which is a sore spot with many people.

People who would rather steal music?


- E.

[AlexL]

I have been under the impression (which may be false) that using an I-pod (and Itunes) limits your ability to burn music to discs and also load music from your I-pod to say a friends PC. Am I wrong in that assumption?

You can burn CDs from IPOD, even songs you have purchased; I think their is a counter that limits it to like 10 burns or something.

But no, you can't copy music from your ipod to a friend's PC, at least not when using Apple's audio format.

I own an iPod, so does my wife, and so does my 9 year old daughter. I like the simplicity, and I'm more than happy to pay a buck for a song if I want to download it and don't already have it on a CD.


- E.

[rjohnstone]

Itunes can be annoying too. Just the word alone conjurs up the whole "Pay for downloading music" thing, which is a sore spot with many people.

What... ya think that music made itself?
That shit costs a ton of cash to produce. You don't think an artist should get paid for their efforts?
And be fore you go down that whole bla bla corporate raping of musicians rant, the musicians still get a piece of the sales.
Might not be much, but they still make money.