Confused! Which ipod / MP3 to go for?

Muppet81

I know very little about ipods/MP3s and have just spent a lot of time doing research on websites and looking at reviews.
Am I any wiser? Am I heck!
I am looking to spend not much more than £100 and would also like one that Ican buy a small docking station or travel speakers for at some stage.
I was drawn to the ipod Nano 4GB but reviews seem to slate it as unreliable and overpriced.
I looked at Sony and there seems to be fairly universal criticism of the file transfer software. For me, it HAS to be simple - drag and drop type transfer.
Creative seemed to get some fair reviews.

If anyone has an ipod/MP3 which they are really happy with and is within my price range, please could you tell me what the pros and cons are?

I would love to get one but don't want to make an expensive mistake. Thanks.
x

Idiophreak

I've had a bunch of Creative Zens and have never had any problem.

If you can stretch to it, the Zen Vision M is the mutts nuts, if not the zen v plus 4gb might be worth a look.

cowbutt

Most of the generic MP3 players should just show up as as USB mass storage devices (i.e. like a memory stick, digital camera, or card reader) and allow you to drag and drop files on. I have an iRiver H340 which works like this (sadly out of production, now) and only needs special software in order to generate the Artist/Album/Genre database.

That said, I think Apple's User Interface (UI) is pretty darn slick; much easier to use than my iRiver, and the iRiver's unique features probably wouldn't be enough to compensate if I were buying again. Not everyone feels the same way about Apple's UI, though. Try it yourself, and compare it with iRiver and Creative and see what you think. Note also that many accessories integrate tightly with Apple's products (things like remote control, LCD display etc) by using the iPod connector. This can't be done with other products.

Alternatively, consider getting a mobile phone with built-in music player; I've got a 4GB card for my Sony-Ericsson K800i and with a HPM-70 headphone adaptor so I can use my favourite headphones, it works pretty well if I don't want the 40GB of music and bulk of my H340.

Muppet81

I'm going to show just how little I know now
Are Apple ipods just suitable for use with Macs or are they compatible with PCs as well?
I have read about "being locked into itunes" with the ipods. What exactly does this mean? Does it make things more restricted and more costly?

penrhyn

You can use an ipod with a Mac or a PC, and yes you need to use iTunes to work with it, why don't you download iTunes and see if you like the look of it?
I've got a 4Gb iPod nano and its fine as far as I'm concerned.

isofa

They work on both PC and Mac. We have several in our family. Never found them to be unreliable, they are beautiful objects. I've had variety of music players over the years from different manufacturers, but since the first iPod I purchased it was clear they were in a different league. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.

My current iPod is a Nano, and it's fantastic, I couldn't recommend it enough. We have others in the family too, all work perfectly, none have been unreliable.

iTunes is needed in general to upload music to the iPod, but there are other 3rd party software that can be used.

iTunes is free, so that's not an issue either.

Go and have a look at them in a good store, such as John Lewis and get a feel for them, you can compare with other players too.

Recent thread worth reading with a similar dilemma and advice:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=581182

amcluesent

> I have read about "being locked into itunes" with the ipods.<

The only 'lock in' is when you purchase music using iTunes. Some music/videos have copy-controls (DRM) that means them music will play only on iPods.

Otherwise iPods will play music from CD you copy yourself, MP3 files etc. It won't play WMA format files with copy protection that are sold on-line by HMV, Napster etc.

Yes, you can buy cheaper than the Ipod, but you get what you pay for...and 90% of all accessories and music docks are being made for the iPod.

pepsi_max2k

for £130 you can get the 4GB Archos 605 wifi with SD card slot. It has an inbuilt speaker, web browsing ability (for a £15ish plugin) and much more support for different media formats. it can be used as a regular usb drive so simple drag and drop, the interface on it is probably a little more complicated than apple products though. but it seems to be getting much better reviews than any ipods.

http://forum.archosfans.com/viewtopic.php?t=6146
http://archosfans.com/

>> I have read about "being locked into itunes" with the ipods.<
>>>>The only 'lock in' is when you purchase music using iTunes.

well, there is the lack of wma and wider codec support, but who buys wmas these days anyway and as others have said, ipod does have the defacto standard effect - most peripherals and software are being made for it. archos have a few things, and there's a small community using it, but it's no where near what the ipod has.

shoperholicnot

Idiophreak wrote: »

I've had a bunch of Creative Zens and have never had any problem.

If you can stretch to it, the Zen Vision M is the mutts nuts, if not the zen v plus 4gb might be worth a look.

#I have a zen m and its brill, trying to buy another one as a present but they are now really hard to get at a reasonable price. i think they are bringing out a new model in the next few weeks but it seems to be top secret at the moment.

Muppet81

Thanks for some very helpful comments.

I think it is beginning to look like the ipod new nano, either 4GB or 8GB.

If I do go mad and rush out to buy it, is there anything else I will need to purchase to go with it .... not the would be nice items but more the essential i.e. it won't work without it items.

Will probably wait till tomorrow so I can't be accused of "rushing inti it"

Keep the advice coming please :A

isofa

You don't need anything extra at all, it's all in the box.