Registered: May 2000
Location: Cleveland, Ohio 44067
Posts: 242

MP3 Player Anxiety

OK, it is almost Chanukah (just about a month away - the day after Thanksgiving) and I am looking for a MP3 Player for myself. I am looking for a 20G hard drive for use with my PC and here are my chocies...with some questions :

Ipod : Of course it is supposed to be the best and it would give me an exucse to purchase a firewire card but it is very very pricey at $499. My question is this though, I was reading an article on CNET about the new Nomad Zen and in the article they talk about "Multiple PC Synching" and they say the Ipod has some sort of copy protection so you can only synch with one PC. Is this true?

Archos Multimedia : Looks great and has a color LCD screen plus support for USB or Firewire. Not to mention the ability to show pictures and MPEGs. Has anyone used this unit and how is the interface?

Creative Nomad Zen : Looks very nice and with a $50 rebate it is a reasonable $299 for a 20G unit. I would be interested in it but I want to see and play with it first, play with the interface and see how small (or big) it is. Unfortunately I went to the Creative website and they have a product demo page that listed a demo day about 1/2 hour from my house. I decided to go up but when I got there, the CompUSA Sales Manager said he knew nothing about it and that he talks to the Creative local sales rep all the time. Obviously there was no local sales rep in the store. So now I am pi$$ed because I have wasted more than an hour of my time for a demo that didn't happen and I cannot find an email address on Creative's website to complain about the no-show(without opening an account). Rrrrrr!!!!!

So, any thoughts from the experts on this site?

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What does it look like I am doing...I am kickin' my @ss!!!

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: New York, New York
Posts: 560

I have a 20 gig ipod, AND LOVE IT.

The ipod was/is designed to work best with one PC to sync to. If you transfer mp3s to the ipod using the sync software, there is no easy way to transfer them back onto the pc you synced to or any other PC. If you use the Ipod as a harddrive, you can transfer those mp3s with out problems, but you can't listen to the mps on the ipod. Makes sence?

The ipod syncing software puts the mp3 in a folders and renames the files.

read www.ipodlounge.com or www.ipoding.com for more info.

The ipod is still the smallest cutuest mp3 player out there (IMHO). Is it worth the extra money? I guess only your accountant can answer that.

Make sure your id tags for the mp3s are the way you want them.

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Felipe Garcia
Happy Treo 600 user, so far. Thanx Cingular for having an unlocked phone.

My Treo 600 is my phone, my PDA, my watch, and my MP3 player. Oh yeah, I take a picture once in a while with it. Convergence is such a great thing.

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Redwood City CA
Posts: 472

I have an Archos Jukebox Studio 20, which is an older model than the Archos Multimedia. I don't know how many of these comments apply to the Multimedia.

First, this sucker's big and clunky. My first thought was that the Russians had captured an iPod and attempted to duplicate it. Too big and heavy to slip in your pocket, unless you have a photographer's jacket. You're not likely to take it out on a jog. On the other hand, I suspect you could use it to provide percussive maintenance on a mugger's skull without its skipping a note. It's got the solid, indestructable feel of HP II Laser Printers and metal Tonka trucks.

You actually have to read the instruction manual -- the UI isn't as simple as it should be.

And that bit about "Use only Archos Rechargable Batteries?" They ain't kidding. They're AA sized, worth about eight hours, and last longer in this device than AA sized Alkalines.

On the up side, it's a portable hard drive with batteries. It can read MP3 files stored on it and play them. No wacky software on your PC to go crazy on you; just copy and Windows Explorer. This is a personal grudge: I can't stand those silly encryption routines. Oddly enough, the only one I never had a problem with was the one for my Soundsgood. But I digress.

You can copy MusicMatch playlists to the Archos, select the playlist file, and the Archos will then go through the playlist.

I'm thinking of getting the Multimedia at some point so I can store pictures off my CF cards without needing to take a laptop.

Registered: May 2002
Location: NYC Metro
Posts: 6

I've got an Archos 20 gig Recorder. It's identical to the Jukebox Studio - except that the UI is much, much better, and you can record from a built-in mic, or line-in jack.

They may be 'clunky' but they're a lot easier to handle than an ordinary portable CD player (and you don't have to tote around all those CD's!!)

What I like most is that this is also a portable hard drive, and you can move any file as well as mp3's freely between the unit and ANY computer. I use this most when I have a large file to download - I'll D/L it at work (on the T1 line) copy it to the Archos, and then bring it to my home computer.

I'm not familiar with the multimedia model, but I would assume the same features apply with the addition of being able to view images.

Michael

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Redwood City CA
Posts: 472

quote:

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Originally posted by mfacelle
They may be 'clunky' but they're a lot easier to handle than an ordinary portable CD player (and you don't have to tote around all those CD's!!)

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Registered: Apr 2002
Location: New York City
Posts: 234

Ipods with PC's

quote:

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Originally posted by Felipe
I have a 20 gig ipod, AND LOVE IT.

The ipod was/is designed to work best with one PC to sync to. If you transfer mp3s to the ipod using the sync software, there is no easy way to transfer them back onto the pc you synced to or any other PC. If you use the Ipod as a harddrive, you can transfer those mp3s with out problems, but you can't listen to the mps on the ipod. Makes sence?

The ipod syncing software puts the mp3 in a folders and renames the files.

read www.ipodlounge.com or www.ipoding.com for more info.

The ipod is still the smallest cutuest mp3 player out there (IMHO). Is it worth the extra money? I guess only your accountant can answer that.

Make sure your id tags for the mp3s are the way you want them.

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Cheers