So as the title asks what type of mp3 player do you have, or have had or are going to be getting?

For me I had the Creative Zen Vision: M 30GB model and it was my very first iPod and it lasted me for two and half years which surprised me considering how many times I dropped the sucker.

Well anyways I was on vacation in February when my Zen died on me and I needed a new mp3 player right away or else I would go nuts not being able to listen to film scores. So I got me the iPod Touch 16GB model. It's kind of funny too considering for a long time I was out spoken against iPod's and always showed negativity towards them. Well after getting the iPod Touch I instantly fell in love with it and thought it was an awesome mp3 player.

With it being flash based memory it can take more of a beating when accidentally dropped since there are no moving parts in side like there are in your standard iPod. I also know that Apple recently came out with a 32GB model but $500 was a bit out of my price ranger so I didn't get it.

Anyways I for one don't regret getting the iPod Touch and it's an awesome mp3 player especially when you jailbreak it so you can add games and what ever else you want on there that comes with installer. Don't worry you can always reset your iPod to factory settings if you want to get rid of everything.

First of all, "the Creative Zen Vision: M 30GB model and it was my very first iPod" is an oxymoron, moron. Just kidding. But yeah, that's very telling. A lot of people are calling any brand of "mp3 player" simply an "iPod" now. Kinda like "sodas" (any kind) are now "cokes".

My very first foray into mp3 players was an mp3 cd-player. You burn your mp3s to a cd-r, and then access them with a cd-player. This was cutting edge technology back in the day (I say this jokingly, as mp3 tech has come A LONG WAY in a very short time). Mp3 cd-player tech was a reasonable and affordable alternative to the king, the 1st generation iPod (2001). Oh, I wanted one so bad... but I was in my first years of college, and it just wasn't an economic possibility. I did however graduate from my mp3 cd player directly to a 3rd generation iPod in 2003. That thing rocked. Then, I upgraded to a 40gb 4th gen (2004), then I bounced up to a 60gb video (!!) 5th gen (2005). Needless to say, I was an iPod addict.

I still have my 5th gen, and it works as good as it did the day I bought it. In fact, the other two do as well... I'm just obsessed with electronics and enjoy the latest innovations. Now, I hardly listen to my iPod, but I do use my 8gb iPhone for a lot of listening (was in line and got mine on launch day, the time last year! ...LOL... so sad). So, definitely Apple-centric here, and I've really never had a problem with any of them. They make good products, and are the leader in the music player race for a reason.

I'll be upgraded to the iPhone 2.0 here in June... that'll be a nice little delayed birthday present for me. I turn 27 tomorrow (5/26). Insane, I've been posting here (and Movietunes) since I was, gosh... 16 or so.

Jeron

Quite a history, eh? And save for the mini (which, as a student, I received for free with a notebook purchase from Apple), which died last year, all have been quite error-free. My favorite is my current one, the 3rd generation iPod nano.

I've been teetering on the edge of purchasing a Touch every since they were updated most recently, but after considerable thought, I think I've permanently decided against it. See, I usually listen with my iPod in my back or jacket pocket, and having to take it out and find the controls on screen to pause the music or adjust the volume would be simply unacceptable (there's also the climate up here, which would necessitate removing gloves in the winter). Finally, I work around others and need to be able to stop whatever I'm listening to as quickly and discreetly as possible quite often.

How do you get around this, Trent (or do you?). Have you found it possible to control anything on the device without looking at it, by memorizing locations on-screen or something?

Edit: Another hesitation is that I might be getting an iPhone 2.0 this year as a work necessity, so in that case I may just end up ditching the iPod all together. Device convergence for the win!

Thanks for catching that error haha I didn't realize I typed iPod at the end of that statement I thought I typed mp3 player.

Anyways I too like many of you started out with a portable CD player but I got tired of hauling all my CD's with me or CD-R copies and wanted to get something more convenient and that would enable me to take my music with me where ever I wanted but at the same time leave my CD's at home.

The only time I'll be using CD-R's any more is to burn the complete/expanded/promo scores I've got on my hard drive and put them in jeweled cases. It's cool to read people's responses on this subject.

Edit: NeoVoyager as far as stopping the music at a moment's notice you can unplug the headphones from the iPod and the music will stop then when you want to resume just plug back in the headphone, take it out of hibernation or lock mode and then resume your music it picks up where it left off.

Then I moved up a 3G iPod, then a 5th gen and also have an iPhone.

If you do get the touch I recommend getting the one with a software update. Not sure what size you'll need but for me I got the 16GB model as I stated in my original post. That's all I will really need.

FM Radio with Broadcast Info displayed (Statation Name/Artist/Song Title)

Supports MP3, WMA, AAC and WMA Lossless formats with gapless playback

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quote:</font><HR size=1>Originally posted by Marian Schedenig:
I don't see what could make me pay lots of money for properietary and/or DRM-infested devices like iPods and Zunes. I would probably spend money for a device that's reasonably customisable, plays free formats and doesn't rely on proprietary software to function.

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Marian, iPods aren't proprietary. iTunes works on both PC and Mac, and there are Linux solutions as well. Additionally, the iPod supports a variety of audio and video/picture formats, including MP3, AAC, AIFF, WAV, M4A, M4P, H.264, MP4, JPEG, and GIF. It also, of course, works with DRM-laden AAC files purchasable via iTunes, but - if you're like me, you'll purchase their higher bit-rate and DRM-free counterparts over at the Amazon.com MP3 store, for those exclusive albums you can't purchase on CD. Everything else I rip, encode, and transfer myself.

Also, if I'm forced to buy something from iTunes music store, I'll simply burn it to a CD-R, re-tag and rip it to a DRM-free format. Voila, problem solved. To scoff at any of this is simply signs of laziness; the ways around DRM are easy and painless, you've just got to have an IQ above 80.

For me, interface and ease-of-use is paramount. Functionality is critical but most mp3 players are gonna do what I want them to do: play mp3s. So, iPod wins as far as the user friendly and pleasure-to-use battle goes.

You've got nothing to fear, Marian. I find it ironic that you label iPods and Zunes as "proprietary" when you use a Sony Ericsson for your portable music player, and Sony is by far the King of the Proprietary Jungle.

Also, if anything, a mp3 player like an iPod holds much greater value than simply acting as a portable device you can pick up and take with you. It protects your investment. Playing a CD puts undue wear and tear on the it. I rest soundly knowing that as soon as I get a new album, I rip it, store it on my Terabyte music repository, and then file it away for safe storage. If I need a physical copy, the lossless archives serve as a perfect source for reproduction.

Jeron

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I rest soundly knowing that as soon as I get a new album, I rip it, store it on my Terabyte music repository, and then file it away for safe storage. If I need a physical copy, the lossless archives serve as a perfect source for reproduction.

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Originally posted by NeoVoyager:
Yeah, except hard drives have such a high failure rate. I just wouldn't be able to entrust my music collection to a hard drive. Maybe two, though. I bet the likelihood of TWO hard drives dying at the same time is somewhere in the area of one's house burning down and destroying said hard drives along with the original CDs. Two terabyte HDs can get really expensive, though.

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Originally posted by BigT1981:
Marian's post is the typical iPod stereo type basher. *rolls eyes*

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Where exactly?

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Originally posted by Jeron:
Marian, iPods aren't proprietary. iTunes works on both PC and Mac, and there are Linux solutions as well.

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iTunes is an Apple program with a secret API. Any other tools for accessing iPods (including every Linux solution) are inofficial, unsupported and rely on figuring out the API - which Apple keeps changing to lock out these programs. To my knowledge (though this might have changed in the meantime), the latest generations of iPods cannot be loaded from Linux (or the earlier non-iTunes tools on Windows/OSX) for this reason.

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Additionally, the iPod supports a variety of audio and video/picture formats, including MP3, AAC, AIFF, WAV, M4A, M4P, H.264, MP4, JPEG, and GIF.

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MP3 is protected by patents and royalty fees; free MP3 encoders like lame are in a legally grey area at best. From what I recall, AAC is much better in that regard, but (I haven't looked this up so my memory is spotty) there were still a few bits that kept it from being as free as e.g. ogg and flac, as far as I recall.

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It also, of course, works with DRM-laden AAC files purchasable via iTunes,

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Which, by the way, can only be purchased through iTunes - could anyone imagine Amazon not being accessible through the web browser, but only through a special program you have to install on your system?

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Also, if I'm forced to buy something from iTunes music store, I'll simply burn it to a CD-R, re-tag and rip it to a DRM-free format. Voila, problem solved.

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Yes, there are ways around it - but should I really have to like a system because its many obstructions can be worked around? And even then - to burn it to a CD-R, I'd still need one of those proprietary DRM solutions (which very likely wouldn't even work on my system).

For more fun regarding DRM, see the recent MSN Music announcement.

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For me, interface and ease-of-use is paramount. Functionality is critical but most mp3 players are gonna do what I want them to do: play mp3s. So, iPod wins as far as the user friendly and pleasure-to-use battle goes.

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Purely personal opinion in this case, but I never liked the iPod's interface.

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You've got nothing to fear, Marian. I find it ironic that you label iPods and Zunes as "proprietary"

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They are, Zune even more so than iPod. From what I've read, Zune can't even share files under open licenses like CC without breaking copyright laws (because it automatically subjects them to DRM, which is forbidden by those licenses).

Seriously, I do fear DRM and proprietary software. And the more I learn about it (from everyday use, internet research and the university), the more reason I have.

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when you use a Sony Ericsson for your portable music player, and Sony is by far the King of the Proprietary Jungle.

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And I'd never buy a Sony phone as an MP3 player. I use it because it turned out to do what I need. Plus, at least in one way it's more open than the iPod: I can put music on it by simply accessing it as a storage device.

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Also, if anything, a mp3 player like an iPod holds much greater value than simply acting as a portable device you can pick up and take with you. It protects your investment. Playing a CD puts undue wear and tear on the it. I rest soundly knowing that as soon as I get a new album, I rip it, store it on my Terabyte music repository, and then file it away for safe storage. If I need a physical copy, the lossless archives serve as a perfect source for reproduction.

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Originally posted by BigT1981:
I've never understood why people like Linux. I am perfectly happy with Windows XP.

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Originally posted by BigT1981:
I've never understood why people like Linux. I am perfectly happy with Windows XP.

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XP is driving me mad each day at work (though the system as such is much stabler now than when it first came out).

I became a Linux user because I was fed up with Windows. Nowadays, I also use it because I like the interface much better, and because I believe free software is a seriously Good Thing.