Confused mum -advise needed - Apple ipod nano 4gb or Creative Zen Nano Plus 1GB

Aiadi

jampton wrote:

Oh no itunes sucks big time ...................................

My wife (not 12 I'll grant you) is delighted with a Rio Carbon 5GB Mp3 player currently £99 from PCWorld.

So millions and millions of users worldwide are stupid using iPod with iTunes that sucks big time. Of course people will think whatever they own is the best but who are we kidding here?

wolfman

Hmm, that's like saying millions of people use Internet Explorer so it must be good.

People will often use iTunes because they don't know of the alternatives that can be used with an iPod.

Everyone has their own opinion of iTunes, but for me

1) It does nothing that media players hadn't been doing for years prior.
2) It's a resource hog, eating up around 40mb of resources, compared with other player such as Winamp which use nearer 5mb.
3) It's not as good at organising large music collections when compared to other media players.
4) You can only transfer songs onto the iPod, not off it with iTunes. Very annoying should your computer go down and you want to restore your collection from your iPod.
5) It's not modular, and doesn't have anywhere near the number of plugins and skins that Winamp has.


Side Note - Also the Rio Carbon is a very good choice too. It's gets some great reviews and is less restrictive than the iPod. A worthy consideration. Google "Rio Carbon Review" and you'll see what I mean.

johnthomas_2

wolfman wrote:

Eww, not iTunes. There are other alternatives to getting music onto the iPod. Not sure if they're compatible with the Nano yet, but I'm sure it's being worked on. With my iPod I've always used an app called EphPod.

I'd also steer clear of using the AAC format. It's a lot more restrictive in comparison to mp3. At lower bitrates (128) it's good but as storage space is getting bigger and cheaper, you're better off using a higher bitrate (256) and an mp3 encoder like LAME.

Look up CDex or dBPowerAmp for ripping mp3's.

I have also been using Ephpod for a good while, much better for transferring than itunes, i wouldn't buy a Nano just yet though anyone i know who has one is already complaining about the screen problem!! I have had my iPod for 4 years and never had a problem with it (touch wood) so i cannot recommend anything else.

bluenose1

I have made a decision on which one to get after showing my son all your comments.
He was very interested and couldn't believe the amount of responses, so thank you all.

In view of all the negative comments about the Nano I have ordered him an Appli mini ipod 4gb from Boots.com. I paid £125 after finding a 10% discount on the Vouchers forum.
Though I won't be telling my son I have ordered him one. I will be telling him I will try and get him a cheaper MP3 as the ipod is too expensive.
To quote him "everyone in my class is getting an ipod" - with slight tears in his eyes. Emotional blackmail!!!!!!!
Feel sorry for all the parents who will feel obliged to buy children this who can't afford it and haven't got ready credit. Noticed in one catalogue the same model was £199:eek:

However I have decided to get an MP3 myself mainly for use in the gym. As I am not tortured with a 12 years old angst to be fashionable. I tried to order the Rio Carbon 5GB Mp3 from the PC World web site but they are out of stock. Will go into my local one at the weekend.

Thanks again for all yor help. Must make sure I don't let my son see this and ruin the surprise
Regards
Anne

GibsonSt19

bluenose1 wrote:

...
However I have decided to get an MP3 myself mainly for use in the gym. As I am not tortured with a 12 years old angst to be fashionable. I tried to order the Rio Carbon 5GB Mp3 from the PC World web site but they are out of stock. Will go into my local one at the weekend.

I would highly recommend that when looking for an MP3 player for yourself, to use at the gym, that you don't get a Hard drive based player, as it will most likely knacker the unit up doing all that jiggling at the gym.

Something like an iPod shuffle (or other solid state device) would be far more suitable.

wolfman

Good advice. I actually sold my 3rd and 4th Gen iPods as they're a) quite big for jogging, b) would sometimes skip and c) hard drive players aren't built for the constant movement or impact when running/working out.

I bought a Shuffle, and although it is restricted in terms of functionality, it does the job very well. When running/at the gym, you don't have the time or need for changing tracks etc... you just want to play and go. At 22 grams it's very light too and fits into your hand nicely. Don't just look at the Shuffle though there are other memory (static) based players around like the Creative Muvo range. I'm personally very happy with my Shuffle though.

bluenose1

I am glad PC World were out of stock of the Rio Carbon as from what you say it would not be suited to my needs.

I will look at the MP3s etc you have suggested.
Last question does the ipod shuffle do click and drag or do you need ipod software? Can you tell my knowledge of these things is almost zero????????

Glad I have asked you all your views as without it would have bought inappropriate product.
Thanks yet again.
Anne

Aiadi

The video iPod has hit the market. Is everything else dead now ?

wolfman

bluenose1 wrote:

I will look at the ipod shuffle.
Sorry to have to ask another question but can I click and drag on that or do I need ipod software?

Argh, now you're talking. Most people tend to use iTunes. I don't.

For the Shuffle someone (can't remember who otherwise I'd give him praise) has written a tiny application that can do it for you. You copy it onto the Shuffle itself and it does everything for you.

I basically use my Shuffle as if it were a usb drive. I plug it in, it comes up in Windows as an extra drive. I then drag 'n' drop the music I want across, and on the Shuffle I keep the application mentioned above (it's basically a single icon). I simply double click it once I've copied everything across, it takes a second to run and rebuilds the Shuffle library, and you're done. Unplug and go play your music. None of this faffing around with iTunes. It means I can take my Shuffle anywhere and use on other machines that don't even have iTunes installed.

I also use my Shuffle for putting work on. It's basically a usb drive, so you can put whatever you want on it. Great for taking work, documents, videos about with you.