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MP3 players
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AussieGav



Joined: 02 Sep 2007
Location: Uijeongbu

PostPosted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 7:24 pm    Post subject: MP3 players Reply with quote

Ok this maybe should be in the tech thread, sorry but here goes.

I'm going to get an MP3 player shortly and I'm not sure what to look for. I have no experience in this type of thing except that my daughter has an iPod which seems pretty cool.

The type of features Im interested in is large capacity and easy retrieveability. Can visual files(mpeg, avi etc) be viewed easily? So maybe a screen.

Any insight greatly appreciated.
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Underwaterbob



Joined: 08 Jan 2005
Location: In Cognito

PostPosted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 7:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'd go for a Cowon D2.

http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archives/2007/04/cowon-iaudio-d2-review.php
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Jeff's Cigarettes



Joined: 27 Mar 2007

PostPosted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 10:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

D2, seconded.
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mnhnhyouh



Joined: 21 Nov 2006
Location: The Middle Kingdom

PostPosted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 10:48 pm    Post subject: Re: MP3 players Reply with quote

AussieGav wrote:

large capacity and easy retrieveability.


How big is the former, and what do you mean by the latter?

I am not saying that the others are, but in the mp3 market there seems to be a higher number of fanbois than any other area.

If you state as much about what you need, you will be more likely to get better answers.

Looking at the Cowan page linked above I see

Cowan Page wrote:
With a recent firmware update it supports newfangled SDHC cards, currently available up to 8GB. In a 4GB D2, this makes for a hefty 12GB of total storage.



Not big. 12Gb is 10% of the current iPod, and smaller than many other players.

Cowan Page wrote:
If you want the tiniest video player with the best screen quality, battery life, and expandable memory, then look no further. There's nothing that compares to the D2: highly recommended for lovers of near-microscopic gadgets that perform almost like their (much) bigger brothers. It even surpasses most of them in terms of screen quality and battery life.

However, if you want a simple, easy-to-operate audio player, then the D2 is probably not the right one for you. Sure, it's an audio aficionado's dream - sound quality is excellent and the strong amp drives demanding headphones with ease - but a touch screen interface doesn't quite cut it for operating the player easily on the go. I somehow learned to live with these shortcomings, but I still find myself having to take the player out of my pocket to look at the screen for simple things I can do blindly on other players.


About sums it up I think.


h
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AussieGav



Joined: 02 Sep 2007
Location: Uijeongbu

PostPosted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 11:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah thanks guys.........

Bearing in mind that I have never had an MP3 player, I know a bit of a technological dinosaur, and have litte knowledge about them (and the specific questions to ask I guess). I definatly want to be able to store 1000s rather than hundereds of files and want to be able to play what I want easily. So something that does not require a degree in rocket science lol to operate.

how does the D2 stack up price wise? It sounds pretty good to me. Thanks for your input.
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Jeff's Cigarettes



Joined: 27 Mar 2007

PostPosted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 2:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

115,000 for a 2g model. It has sdhc expansion capability so so can buy a 16g card for another 40,000. It's easy to use and the sound is great, plays flac format as well.
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Missihippi



Joined: 22 Oct 2007
Location: Gwangmyeong

PostPosted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 8:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have a Cowon A2 20gb ( a bit older). It was smooth and efficient at first, but it started to drag and get inconsistent with load times. The screen ended up cracking while i was laying out by a pool one day (i assume from the heat). Even with all these bad things, i would still buy it again before i would buy an ipod. Itunes tries to take over your computer and eat your soul.

My recommendation would be a Microsoft Zune.
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flakfizer



Joined: 12 Nov 2004
Location: scaling the Cliffs of Insanity with a frayed rope.

PostPosted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 12:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Don't know if they sell them here, but Creative makes good stuff. I got a 4gb Creative with 2 and haf inch screen. It sounds great and the video is smooth (takes a while to convert though if you use the conversion software included. It plays Windows media files.) They have the 8GB at Walmart for 99 bucks. It's very easy to use. I also have a Sansa clip and an Archos media player. The Archos is great but it's big and uses a hard drive rather than flash. The Sansa is nice, but not quite as easy to use as the Creative and has no video.
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Thunndarr



Joined: 30 Sep 2003

PostPosted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 3:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I can't believe how many people are recommending flash players when the guy specifically stated...

Quote:
The type of features Im interested in is large capacity and easy retrieveability.


Yeah, Cowon makes a decent mp3 player. I've owned 3 over the years which means I have nothing against them. However, to recommend a D2, when the guy specifically said he wanted a large capacity player, is ridiculous. A large capacity player by today's standards means 80 gigabytes on up, and that basically means either ipod or Zune. The last time I checked (which, admittedly, was a while ago) you couldn't buy Zunes in Korea, which means an ipod is probably your best bet.
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mindmetoo



Joined: 02 Feb 2004

PostPosted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 2:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Underwaterbob wrote:
I'd go for a Cowon D2.

http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archives/2007/04/cowon-iaudio-d2-review.php


Cowon D2 is a great little PMP but as an MP3 player I think it kind of bites. The touch screen isn't very good for moving around and trying to shuffle thru tunes.
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Underwaterbob



Joined: 08 Jan 2005
Location: In Cognito

PostPosted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 3:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thunndarr wrote:
I can't believe how many people are recommending flash players when the guy specifically stated...

Quote:
The type of features Im interested in is large capacity and easy retrieveability.


Yeah, Cowon makes a decent mp3 player. I've owned 3 over the years which means I have nothing against them. However, to recommend a D2, when the guy specifically said he wanted a large capacity player, is ridiculous. A large capacity player by today's standards means 80 gigabytes on up, and that basically means either ipod or Zune. The last time I checked (which, admittedly, was a while ago) you couldn't buy Zunes in Korea, which means an ipod is probably your best bet.


Judging from the post, the poster doesn't exactly know what constitutes "large capacity". He said "1000s of songs" well you can fit 1000s of songs on a D2 with an SDHC card or two and pay quite a bit less than you would for an 80gig iPod.
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Thunndarr



Joined: 30 Sep 2003

PostPosted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 6:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Judging from the post, the poster doesn't exactly know what constitutes "large capacity".


He may not know how many gb constitutes large capacity, but I bet if you recommended a flash based drive and then he found out there were players with 10X the storage, he'd be pretty pissed.


Quote:
He said "1000s of songs" well you can fit 1000s of songs on a D2 with an SDHC card or two and pay quite a bit less than you would for an 80gig iPod.


That's pedantic. "1000s of songs" plus "large capacity" = hard drive based player. You should know that, despite the fact that a D2 (by itself) will hold upwards of 4,000 songs.

And yes, the D2 costs less than the ipod. That's great. Except the OP didn't mention that he was looking at the cheapest route he could go for.

Honestly, the guy is a newbie to mp3 players and I think the suggestions thus far have been severely lacking. There is a reason ipods are the number 1 mp3 player in the world, and that is because they are specifically made for non-technical people to be able to pick up and use with a minimum of fuss. (Hint: that's the OP)

The D2 is a nice little device, but it's old tech, and it's not exactly user friendly. The navigation is an absolute pain in the ass, and the firmware upgrade process is much more complex than it really needs to be, and, oh yeah, you can easily brick it if you screw up. It's not a great choice for someone unfamiliar with mp3 players.
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AussieGav



Joined: 02 Sep 2007
Location: Uijeongbu

PostPosted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 6:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

He may not know how many gb constitutes large capacity, but I bet if you recommended a flash based drive and then he found out there were players with 10X the storage, he'd be pretty pissed.

And yes, the D2 costs less than the ipod. That's great. Except the OP didn't mention that he was looking at the cheapest route he could go for.

Honestly, the guy is a newbie to mp3 players and I think the suggestions thus far have been severely lacking. There is a reason ipods are the number 1 mp3 player in the world, and that is because they are specifically made for non-technical people to be able to pick up and use with a minimum of fuss. (Hint: that's the OP)

The D2 is a nice little device, but it's old tech, and it's not exactly user friendly. The navigation is an absolute pain in the ass, and the firmware upgrade process is much more complex than it really needs to be, and, oh yeah, you can easily brick it if you screw up. It's not a great choice for someone unfamiliar with mp3 players.[/quote]

Yeah I am a newbie to MP3 lol. I have just never need one, always had music in PCs at home and work blah blah. My daughter has an iPod and swears by it, I can use it easily too lol.

Thundarr, you hit the nail on the head "pick-up and use with the minimum of fuss". Price is'nt my greatest consideration because I want to get the right product for me first time. That has me leaning toward the iPod thanks.

All the feedback is greatly appreciated cheers all.
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Underwaterbob



Joined: 08 Jan 2005
Location: In Cognito

PostPosted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 7:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thunndarr wrote:
Quote:
Judging from the post, the poster doesn't exactly know what constitutes "large capacity".


He may not know how many gb constitutes large capacity, but I bet if you recommended a flash based drive and then he found out there were players with 10X the storage, he'd be pretty pissed.


Quote:
He said "1000s of songs" well you can fit 1000s of songs on a D2 with an SDHC card or two and pay quite a bit less than you would for an 80gig iPod.


That's pedantic. "1000s of songs" plus "large capacity" = hard drive based player. You should know that, despite the fact that a D2 (by itself) will hold upwards of 4,000 songs.

And yes, the D2 costs less than the ipod. That's great. Except the OP didn't mention that he was looking at the cheapest route he could go for.

Honestly, the guy is a newbie to mp3 players and I think the suggestions thus far have been severely lacking. There is a reason ipods are the number 1 mp3 player in the world, and that is because they are specifically made for non-technical people to be able to pick up and use with a minimum of fuss. (Hint: that's the OP)

The D2 is a nice little device, but it's old tech, and it's not exactly user friendly. The navigation is an absolute pain in the ass, and the firmware upgrade process is much more complex than it really needs to be, and, oh yeah, you can easily brick it if you screw up. It's not a great choice for someone unfamiliar with mp3 players.


Yikes! Don't poke the iPod fanboy... Laughing

EDIT: I'm not sure it's so much the ease of use of the iPod as opposed to the absolutely humongous marketing campaign that's made them so popular. There are players out there arguably much easier to use, if that's the main concern, then yeah, not the D2 either.
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Thunndarr



Joined: 30 Sep 2003

PostPosted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 8:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's not so much that I'm an ipod fanboy (I'm not) but that I have a real problem with people who are *irrationally* dismissive of ipods. I don't know if you skipped over it or not, but I have owned *three* different Cowon players. And they were all very good at what they did. With that said, the ipod is a LOT more elegant in its user interface and it is a pleasure to use, whereas my Cowon players were more functional. They got the job done, but they always felt clunky.
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