MP4 or IPOD

Saint_Chris

Hi

my daughter wanted a i-pod, but she is now looking at mp4 players.

What is the difference. And also which of the 2 would you go for.

And how many songs will a 1gb mp4 player store.

Thanks

Nile

Hello Saint_Chris

I'll move your thread to the 'Techie Stuff' board, where it should get more responses.

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

Regards

Nile

oliverp_2

I wouldn't go for an iPod just for the name, try to get the best features for the best price.

colin79666

MP4 players play video.
So does the latest ipod (video).

Personally I'd recommend an ipod, they cost more but the software (itunes) is great and everything is easy to use and feels of a higher quality than other mp3/4 players.

I had a creative player but it broke after a year. Since then I've had a ipod nano - great wee device - although it only does mp3/aac.

Phantom_Flan_Flinger

MP3 is the audio part of MP4 video.

You're daughter has probably been swayed by Ipod image and her friends.

This doesn't mean they're the best, but you may not be able to convince her to get anything else. Comparisons to the Ipods are Iriver, Creative Zen Visions and Archos.

You won't get any more songs on an MP4 player than an equivalent MP3 player.

avfc4life

If you are looking at 1Gb device you are not going to be able to store very much video at all and so it depends if you are going to buy the device for strictly music or a combination of videos and music. If videos and music you will need a larger storage than 1Gb as this is only about 1024Mb and a feature length movie are usually around 700Mb. So it really depends upon what you want to use it for. 1Gb would probably store around 250 songs at 4Mb. Also if she is only using it for music it would probably be alot cheaper to just get a MP3 player. Ipod's are good but putting videos onto them can be a task as you have to download the converter software whereas other devices you can just drag and drop files. The answer is really upto you.

Aiadi

Phantom_Flan_Flinger wrote: »

This doesn't mean they're the best, but ......

Oh yes they are. You're just jealous:p

Phantom_Flan_Flinger

Aiadi wrote: »

Oh yes they are. You're just jealous:p

These threads always bring out the fanatics. :rotfl:

bluseychris

Saint_Chris wrote: »

Hi

my daughter wanted a i-pod, but she is now looking at mp4 players.

What is the difference. And also which of the 2 would you go for.

And how many songs will a 1gb mp4 player store.

Thanks

Right...

MP4

MP4 is a file format used for media (music, video). It's the next stage of the M-peg series of file formats (M-Peg, MP2, MP3). An MP4 Player is a music player that can read the MP4 file format using a program known as a codec (acts like an interpreter for file formats). iPods use Apples iTunes software to play music. iTunes supports MP4 playback (it comes with the MP4 codec).

More indepth about MP4 and (off the shelf) compatable players/software

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mp4

There are a lot of digital music players out there. Not all support mp4, but many will be upgradable by installing an MP4 codec. Although you could just get an iPod it's important to ask yourself "What does she want on it?" This enables you to look at what your buying and how much you spend (after all, you're paying for it, and any possible replacements).

Here's a list of links for players to get you started

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Archos-AV400-Player-Recorder-Cradle/dp/B0002IXB2E

http://www.shentech.com/electronics-mp3mp4players.html

http://froogle.google.co.uk/froogle?q=mp3+players+%2Bmp4&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=wyV&um=1&sa=X&oi=froogle&ct=title

http://www.nextag.com/mp3-mp4-player/search-html

http://www.chinavasion.com/index.php/cName/mp4-players/

Digital Music Players (MP3, Attrack, Ogg, Quicktime, Mp4 etc)

They cover a range of things from Video/music playback/recording hardware to the Apple iPod original. But which one? If she only carries the latest chart hits there's ones such as the iPod shuffle which carry more than enough memory to hold 40 tracks, say those off Smash Hits or NowXX compilations. Maybe she wants a bit more to carry around 4/5 albums or a couple of doubles, there's the 2 gig players. Now me, i have a bout 12 albums on my iPod mini. They aren't all holding pop song length tracks, but they balance out. If you wanted your entire 5000 LP/150 Tape/200 CD/24 8-Track (exagerated slightly ;] ) collection on demand then you're going to go out and grab a 60/80gig player. Hell, record collections are getting bigger and many people like music on demand.

That's a nutshell for you

Also remember, anyone trying to sell you a video-compatable-state-of-the-art media player by saying (the equivalent of) "you can't get players that don't do video" is lying. My iPod mini (all of 3/4 years old) plays MP4 and that's got a small monochrome LCD screen. You can get alternative software to run on a lot of older media players as well, allowing you to play MP4 and other file formats.

There you go, use that as a basis, find out what she'll want to listen to and get something that'll hold and play just that. You can save yourself a bundle out there mate.

Saint_Chris

Thanks for all your replies.

Basically my daughter wants something that holds more songs that her mp3 player does at the moment.

she isn't bothered about videos on it.

Just the more songs on it the better.

Also something that is easy to download music onto.

oliverp_2

How big is her current MP3 player?

A 1GB MP4 player will not hold more than a 1GB MP3 player.