mp3 player selection
Alex
over and ipod. I have given a few as gifts but do not have one myself.
Shopping at Fry's yesterday, the saleslady showed me the ipod, hooked it up
to external speakers and it sounded impressive.
Then she showed me some $200 headsets that push into the ear canal, and that
was not even the highest priced set she had.
Joseph Ashwood
"Alex" <som...@microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:z2yuf.9862$oW....@newssvr11.news.prodigy.com...
> If cost is not an issue, is there any reason to consider a non-ipod brand
> over and ipod.
Plenty of reasons. Just off the top of my head, iPod format compatability is
relatively low, requires the use of iTunes which likes to pollute your
system with huge numbers of DRM components, doesn't support OGG at all,
sound quality lags substantially behind the best, everyone has one of the
fool things so the cool-factor that it sells on simply does not exist,
consistent dependability problems. I suppose that list should do for now.
> I have given a few as gifts but do not have one myself. Shopping at Fry's
> yesterday, the saleslady showed me the ipod, hooked it up to external
> speakers and it sounded impressive.
That was mostly the speakers, what you have to understand is that when they
demo speakers they turn the volume way up for a reason, with the volume high
the sound artifacts become difficult to hear, they also almost certainly had
the bass turned all the way up, another way to disguise the flaws in the
sound because most people don't actually try to listen when there is
substantial bass.
> Then she showed me some $200 headsets that push into the ear canal, and
> that was not even the highest priced set she had.
And the results were? Most likely again she had the volume turned up far too
loud, probably over 90dB SPL in the ear canal, which will result in hearing
loss if used for long periods of time. With such isolating ear pieces you
should be able to listen to anything at 40dB SPL or less, which would reveal
to you that the iPod sound quality really isn't very good.
Don't get me wrong, it is in the best 25% of players, but still paying a
premium for something that is worse than 1/4 of the systems available isn't
very smart.
Joe
Andrew
wrote:
>Plenty of reasons. Just off the top of my head, iPod format compatability is
>relatively low
It has this little standard called MP3 that I believe is becoming
fairly popular.
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Joseph Ashwood
news:1k5nr11c6d57qq2g7...@4ax.com...
> On Wed, 04 Jan 2006 09:29:15 GMT, "Joseph Ashwood" <ash...@msn.com>
> wrote:
>
>>Plenty of reasons. Just off the top of my head, iPod format compatability
>>is
>>relatively low
>
> It has this little standard called MP3 that I believe is becoming
> fairly popular.
It also supports WAV, Apple Lossless, AAC with Fairplay and AAC, for a total
of 5. For simple concise comparison, Sandisk's low-end the "Digital Audio
Player" support MP3, WMA lossless, WMA, DRMd WMA, and WAV, for a total of 5.
The iriver T30 supports WAV, Ogg, WMA, MP3, DRM WMA, WMA Lossless, OMA DRM
MP3, and ASF, for a total of at least 8, maybe more depending on how you
count the PCM files stored in WAV format. The iaudio F1 supports MP3, WMA,
WMA Lossless, ASF, WAV, FLAC and Ogg, for a total of at least 7.
To reiterate, iPod format compatability is relatively low.
Joe
Joseph Ashwood
news:_DOuf.61474$tV6....@newssvr27.news.prodigy.net...
I need to revise that a bit, I only consider audio. I have not looked at the
video (since I wouldn't use it anyway) but if you compare player for player,
I'm fairly certain you will find the same results.
Joe
Andrew
wrote:
>It also supports WAV, Apple Lossless, AAC with Fairplay and AAC, for a total
>of 5. For simple concise comparison, Sandisk's low-end the "Digital Audio
>Player" support MP3, WMA lossless, WMA, DRMd WMA, and WAV, for a total of 5.
>The iriver T30 supports WAV, Ogg, WMA, MP3, DRM WMA, WMA Lossless, OMA DRM
>MP3, and ASF, for a total of at least 8, maybe more depending on how you
>count the PCM files stored in WAV format. The iaudio F1 supports MP3, WMA,
>WMA Lossless, ASF, WAV, FLAC and Ogg, for a total of at least 7.
>
>To reiterate, iPod format compatability is relatively low.
And what percentage of people who use digitally stored music use all
those formats? I would guess that 90% of people use MP3's, and as
iTunes is by far the most successful online music store, having AAC is
another major lump of users covered. It is great having support for
dozens of pointless competing standards, but if nobody uses them, why
harp on about it? iTunes/iPod supports what most people actually want
and use.
www
> It also supports WAV, Apple Lossless, AAC with Fairplay and AAC, for a
total
> of 5. For simple concise comparison, Sandisk's low-end the "Digital Audio
> Player" support MP3, WMA lossless, WMA, DRMd WMA, and WAV, for a total of
5.
> The iriver T30 supports WAV, Ogg, WMA, MP3, DRM WMA, WMA Lossless, OMA DRM
> MP3, and ASF, for a total of at least 8, maybe more depending on how you
> count the PCM files stored in WAV format. The iaudio F1 supports MP3, WMA,
> WMA Lossless, ASF, WAV, FLAC and Ogg, for a total of at least 7.
If interested, here's a review of the Sandisk Digital Audio Player:
http://www.net-reviews.com/reviews/sandiskmp3player.htm
Hope that helps!
--
Regards,
Dean Bielanowski
Editor
Net-Reviews.com
http://www.net-reviews.com
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Joseph Ashwood
> And what percentage of people who use digitally stored music use all
> those formats? I would guess that 90% of people use MP3's, and as
> iTunes is by far the most successful online music store, having AAC is
> another major lump of users covered.
But it specifically prevents someone from downloading from Napster, Yahoo
Music, AOL Music, MSN Music, or any of a number of others. Going with a
device that supports even just WMA DRM only eliminates iTunes, leaving one
to choose from Napster, Yahoo Music, AOL Music, MSN Music, and a number of
others. For this reason WMA DRM is the most critical. Just looking at
Microsoft's list for devices that are playsforsure registered that's a
selection of 111 devices, as opposed to the compatible devices with iTunes
which is by my count 6 currently available (counted from Apple's website on
the iPod), even counting previous generationg the total is less than 35.
Locking yourself into any standard through purchase is probably a mistake,
but at least with WMA DRM support you lock yourself into 111 different
devices instead of 6. iTunes may be the most popular, but that does not in
any way constitute best.
> It is great having support for
> dozens of pointless competing standards, but if nobody uses them, why
> harp on about it? iTunes/iPod supports what most people actually want
> and use.
In general people think they know what they want, because the ads have
ground it into them that they want it. The problem though is that people are
not being given the opportunity to actually choose without interference.
When I actually went out and listened to the sound quality of the various
players I found that in general the quality is poor, even the iPod which so
many people have raved about it's sound quality has holes big enough to
drive Connecticut through, and it was among the best. Given a choice without
heavy advertising people will choose what sounds best to them, this is
rarely the ipod. Given free reign to choose on looks, people will choose
what looks best to them, this is rarely the ipod. Given free reign to get
their music the most convenient way (instead of being brainwashed by the buy
from iTunes ads) they rarely, if ever, choose iTunes.
The bottom line is that when someone asks for reasons not to choose the
iPod, there are plenty, from sound quality to interface, to expense, to
capability, there are a notable number of devices that are superior.
Joe
Andrew
wrote:
>The bottom line is that when someone asks for reasons not to choose the
>iPod, there are plenty, from sound quality to interface, to expense, to
>capability, there are a notable number of devices that are superior.
Oh well, I love my 60GB iPod Video. Guess I am just another clueless
idiot brainwashed by Apple.
Dirk Lucas
> If cost is not an issue, is there any reason to consider a non-ipod brand
> over and ipod. I have given a few as gifts but do not have one myself.
> Shopping at Fry's yesterday, the saleslady showed me the ipod, hooked it up
> to external speakers and it sounded impressive.
The issue that kept me from buying an Ipod was the battery. Although
there are now ways to change the battery at a reasonable price, Apple
basically designed the Ipod as a throwaway article. Apart from the fact
that it is quite expensive for being in the same league with cheap
things like lighters and ball pens I personally go for more sustainable
products.
Dirk
Alex
same department. Yet whatever we buy today will be museum grade or in a
land fill in a few years. You really don't expect an Ipod Viedo to be stae
of the art much more than a year.
My r40 thinkpad is doing well for being 3.5 years into a 4 year warranty. I
bought a rolex in 1984 that is doing well. But my many former computers are
history; 8088's, Apple //c, p286's. Each of these compters were $2000 in
their day.
Apple was pretty piss poor with their battery policy for early adopters,
agreed.
"Dirk Lucas" <dlu...@gmx.de> wrote in message
news:dpj1ef$mpj$02$1...@news.t-online.com...
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Dirk Lucas <dlu...@gmx.de> said
>Alex wrote:
>> If cost is not an issue, is there any reason to consider a non-ipod
>>brand over and ipod. I have given a few as gifts but do not have one
>>myself. Shopping at Fry's yesterday, the saleslady showed me the
>>ipod, hooked it up to external speakers and it sounded impressive.
>
>The issue that kept me from buying an Ipod was the battery. Although
>there are now ways to change the battery at a reasonable price, Apple
>basically designed the Ipod as a throwaway article.
Actually that same problem is what keeps me from buying any 'internal
LiIon battery' MP3 player (or camera or phone ..). I'm pretty damn sure
I'll be able to get AA cells as long as I'm still breathing. Obscure
LiIon cells are going to be a bitch to get in 2025.
OK, the Mp3 player will be long obsolete, there'll be Terabyte players
with Organic memory or something weird, but if the old MP3 player takes
AA cells at least it will be a =functional= antique.
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Alex
Ipod Video and the have the new nano 6 gig flash in a few weeks.
"GSV Three Minds in a Can" <G...@quik.clara.co.uk> wrote in message
news:etm$4yEUGV...@from.is.invalid...
Joseph Ashwood
> They guys, recommend a brand and model. My friends at Walmart can get me
> an Ipod Video and the have the new nano 6 gig flash in a few weeks.
The alternatives most likely to be mentioned in good light around here are
the iAudio and iRiver devices, but Samsung has been getting some mentions
recently, and I always pick on Sandisk for the lowest of the low end. A
quick check of walmart.com shows that they carry a portion of the iRiver
line, namely the H10 and U10. The real question is: what features are you
looking for exactly?
Joe
Dirk Lucas
> They guys, recommend a brand and model. My friends at Walmart can get me an
> Ipod Video and the have the new nano 6 gig flash in a few weeks.
I bought a Creative Zen. But not all Creative models have a replaceable
battery and I heard of a case where the battery of an early model was
soon discontinued.
The Zen is nice, but it doesn't like rough treatment. Mine has been
repaired for a couple of times.
I would go for an Iriver in the future, but I can't tell which model.
Dirk
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Tdub
2 touch's) and they all skip during playback. The iPods don't skip. My
2nd Zen Touch was a factory warrantee replacement for the previous one
which was sent back because of the skipping.