Who here wants to rant along with me? I own this piece of shit.

http://www.mobibluamerica...cube2.html

I want to throw it against the freaking wall.

i have a zen nomad mp3 player that looks like something i bought at radio shack in 1983. i mean, it's UGLY. but the damn thing has worked like a charm since i bought it and it has 40gb of space (i've got about 8,000 songs on it), so i just gotta chuckle to myself whenever i hear friends complaining about their iPod woes. my nomad is the miss celie of mp3 players - it might be old, it might even be ugly - but it's HERE!

I just picked up a Microsoft Zune player. I got the brown one, but I'm having second thoughts about it, so I might take it back and get the black or the white one.

I hate the way these devices have to "synchronize", I'd rather just drag and drop stuff onto it like a memory stick. Also, it seems to be screwing up and misinterpereting my MP3 collection, splitting albums up, not recognizing artists, etc...

Other than that, it's a pretty cool device. I like the surface of it, kind of a frosted translucent rubbery plastic. And the unit overall feels well made.

Prior to that, I had picked up a Samsung mp3 player, but took it back pretty quickly. The sound quality on it was awful. Any time you added mp3s to it, it would automatically re-encode them down to 128kbps, and you couldn't prevent it.

i think zunes are pretty, but i keep hearing they're deeply flawed. if i ever see something as nicely designed as a zune that has the functionality of what i already have, then i might have to get me a new mp3 player.

Anx said:

The Zune software that you have to install on your computer really sucks. It's just unintuitive and awkward, and screws up categorizing everything. The interface on the player though is easy to use and pretty straightforward, and actually looks kinda cool.

Anx said:

i have a zen as well, and love it.

cborgman said:

i'm THINKING about getting an nano or a shuffle, just so i can get iTunes exclusive stuff and podcasts without going through all the CD burning/converting to mp3 drama (which doesn't always work, i find)...still, i don't know if it's worth it.

Anx said:

im sticking with my zen

I dont own a Mp3 player

Anx said:

I have a Nano and havent a complaint in the world.

dreamfactory313 said:

i know about 4 people who had to totally rebuild their libraries because their iPods crashed. that's yet to happen to me with my zen, thank goodness.

i've been thinking about listening to audiobooks at the gym or when i travel...i might get a shuffle for that and the exclusive iTunes stuff.

for a good personal jukebox, i'm gonna keep what i have though. it serves me very well.

Tom said:

Don't do it!

Anx said:

all 3 of the my closest friends have i-pods, and all 3 have had to replace them because of bettery problems in the 1.5 years that i have lived in nyc.

This may be my next player...



* Up to 8GIG capacity so it can store more than the Nano.
* A 4.57 cm color screen, and it plays video.
* An FM radio with on-the-fly recording.
* A Slideshow function for photos and it plays music at the same time.
* A microSD expansion slot further expands storage and allows sharing of content to and from other devices.
* You get all that extra functionality for between $119 and $219.
* Estimated 15 hour battery life.

cborgman said:

Whenever Im not using my Nano, its always charging. Its too bad they got faulty ones because mine is the bomb! Is it possible that they went too long w/o charging their I-pods? Theres 24 hours of playback w/o charging.

Stax said:

DAMN

If you want a great flash drive player, get the iPod nano.
If you want a great multimedia player, wait until the new iPod is released this spring/summer.

Anx said:

I listen to audio books on cd in the car continually these days and I am currently listening to "The Testament" by John Grisham and you have to check this out if just for the fabulous reader. The guy reading this book is amazing - He makes the story totally riveting - plus the book is really good so far.

My library has a pretty good selection of books on cd so I usually just pick up something fun and easy to listen to in the car. I have about 2 cd's left on The Testament and then I'm going to listen to the Da Vinci Code which I have zero interest in reading but I'm willing to give a chance listening to it.

I have a SanDisk player and I think it's fabulous. You can get a 1 gb player at Circuit City or Best Buy (can't remember where I saw the ad) for $59 right now. I have had mine for a while and it has totally held up to a lot of sweat, heat, and cold while marathon training. It's simple to use - just click and drag - and the sound is good plus you can use it as temp jump drive storage.

I personally feel most people who buy IPods are doing it because it's the trendy brand and the feel like they look cool at work or the one time a year they go to the gym.

lovemachine said:

This is what both my teens have had for a couple yrs now ...still working great without the huge price tag !

lovemachine said:

well, i'll admit - i think iPods are awfully pretty. i got my mom a nano for christmas because i'm trying to get her to listen to more music and i knew she'd play with something that i could find in bright pink and that she saw commercials for on TV all the time. and wouldn't ya know it, she listens to it all the time!

but really, if i got an iPod for *ME*, it would be so i could easily listen to content that is most easily accessed via iPod only. if i used it mainly for iTunes podcasts and audiobooks, i could empty out the iPod library regularly without feeling like i'm deleting anything important. aside from the occasional iTunes exclusive, i wouldn't use it for music. that's my plan, anyway.

lovemachine said:

ya know, i'm really open to audiobook recommendations right now, so thanks.

two i've heard that i've enjoyed are

amy sedaris's "i like you" (read by the author)
don delillo's "the body artist" (read by laurie anderson)

i think laurie anderson has the best speaking/reading voice of anyone in the whole world. i'd listen to an audio book of her reading the phone book.

Anybody here with an iRiver? I've got the 5GB H10
for a couple of years now, been very happy with it. Quality stuff.
Software could be better though

I simply drag and drop my files onto my MicroSD card on my cell phone. WMP on the phone plays the tracks. I can stream any radio station with the web browser if I wish to listen to FM or AM radio.

I couldn't be happier.

I'm pretty happy with my ipod. But i wouldn't be surprised if there's something better out there. I sort of bought it because it's trendy, but more in the sense that "50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't be Wrong" than I like white. It is a marvel of design, though.

The one thing I'm not crazy about is the actual sound. It's not as good as my old Sony Discman, and I can't freely adjust the eq.

Of course the battery life could be longer, and I fear that hard disc players can't possibly last as long as flash drive players.

I also like Itunes, so it makes sense that I'd like Ipod.
[Edited 2/14/07 16:55pm]