mp3 player- HELP! Which one?!

[gotta240]

Alright guys, i need to buy a music player asap for an upcoming trip....BUT, I have NO CLUE of what to buy/what to look for.

I am TOTALLY computer illiterate, so something easy to use would be nice.

I have like 100 cds i want to put on it

smaller the better, but usefullness first

dont know about brands and dont care as long as its quality

what is the difference between a no-name MP3 player and an actual ipod?


WHERE DO I START?!?! What brands, what is good to have in one, how much memory is necessary? Are some easier to put music onto than others? is it possible to put my cd's on one?

thanks guys...i need serious help on this subject....

[unwed_transient]

what's your budget?

30gig ipod video. itunes is idiot-proof.

[gotta240]

I dont know.... I believe in buying the RIGHT THING the first time.... So i suppose i could spend up to 400 bucks as long as it lasted forever... But is it really necessary? What will something that cost 4 or 5 do that a 1 or 2 hundred dollar one wont?

I'm sorry for my dumb q's...I'm just electronically/computer illiterate, but i NEED music for a 18 hour plane ride/a LONG trip....

Does that itunes cost anything? can i transfer my cd's to it? ANY help/advice/pointers is GREATLY appriciated.

[theronin]

if ur going on a trip just buy a psp. get some movies n' games and you will be fine.

[aznhype]

I like the ipod. got a video myself and i love it. I had a rio before that and i loved it too. the rios are cheaper and what i loved is that you can transfer songs in wma format which is half the size as mp3. then you can turn the quality down and pack more songs into it. I still go snowboarding with it.
Itunes charges for every song you d/l but its also the program you use to transfer the songs from your computer to your ipod. but if you only want to transfer your cd's then itunes will do that too.

[SimpleS14]

I find it rather surprising you missed this thread:

http://www.zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?t=114681

In your situation.....the Creative Vision M

[gotta240]

I saw that thread and read everything....

HOWEVER it only listed TWO options, where i have an open mind to ANY suggestions....

What is so great about a VIDEO ipod? do people actually watch movies on those tiny screens? Or is there something i'm missing? And about the psp- I really need music. I want something i can use AFTER this trip.....besides i'm sick of carrying around my huge cd case...

btw- how hard is it to transfer an entire cd to an ipod?

[SimpleS14]

I saw that thread and read everything....

HOWEVER it only listed TWO options, where i have an open mind to ANY suggestions....

What is so great about a VIDEO ipod? do people actually watch movies on those tiny screens? Or is there something i'm missing? And about the psp- I really need music. I want something i can use AFTER this trip.....besides i'm sick of carrying around my huge cd case...

btw- how hard is it to transfer an entire cd to an ipod?

I linked you to that thread not only to see the two (or three) most favored...but also to look at the site that was posted.

http://www.dapreview.net/

You can get a good review on current MP3 players out there. People watch videos on the Ipod and the storage space 30GB holds an insane amount of songs. You essentially take the tracks from a CD and convert them to MP3 before uploading them to a MP3 player. I personally use NeoAudio to do this. I don't have an iPod, but with my MP3 play (Creative Zen Nano) I simply drag and drop the MP3 files onto the MP3 player since Windows will read the MP3 player as a separate drive. Very easy IMO for even the computer illiterate.

[gotta240]

Great... thanks simple...

So if you had the money to spend, and could do it again, would you still buy the one you have, or would you go with the brand ipod?

thanks for the link too.

[gotta240]

oh yeah... How do you get a movie onto your ipod? do you buy it? I'm soooo lost...sorry guys...

Also, i'm thinking an fm tuner is a must now.....

IS there ANY advantage to using itunes over the neo one you use? I REALLY like the features of the creative zen, but i dont think the itunes is compatible...does that matter or should it affect which one i buy?

[SimpleS14]

At times I use my current MP3 player as a flash drive as well when I need to backup school or work projects. So I can actually see myself upgrading to one with more storage capacity due to this...just not right now.

If I had money to spend....no I would not get an iPod. I would get an upgraded model from Creative or the Sansa...this is because of price and features that are rather adequate for my needs.

For your needs I highly recommend the Creative Vision M....ignoring the intial cost...this unit is extremely versatile and you can use it for more than video, music and radio. You can use it for storing files or documents you want to use for school, work or send over to a friend's computer.

IMO....I-Tunes is a joke unless your dying to buy songs that are insanely hard to find elsewhere. The songs you buy from there are only in a format that you must have an iPod if you want to play it off your computer....well until there is more support from other companies...but that's not happening anytime soon. Lets not forget that this format only plays on a iPod...so any other players will not work. There is no advantage for using iTunes over what I have now. I simply convert tracks from CDs I have or download them elsewhere just fine....plus iTunes is more software that I don't need on the computer.


I intially bought my Zen Nano because it was an ideal choice for me. I just wanted a simple SMALL MP3 player that has enough space for music I can listen to during my boring 8 hour shifts at work. It has more than enough for 8 hours of music and the price was justified versus the cheapest iPod.

This was also before the likes of the Sansa and Vision M came out....so as I said before...I will most likely upgrade to either of the two.

[gotta240]

You rule simple...thanks for taking the time to help me out....

If anyone has a different opinion PLEASE express it!

thanks again man...

[gotta240]

Well, i just checked out the Creative Vision M as suggested


It is slightly larger than the ipod
It feels a lil cheaper

HOWEVER, the features seem to outweigh those two things.. A built in fm radio/reciever is nice.... Its looking like the Creative owns the IPOD...

I'll be purchasing it today or tomorrow....thanks!

[blackflag_Rms13]

Everyone attacks the iPod, but there is a reason it is and always has been the Mp3 player. iTunes store is a joke, but the interface for importing cd and such is riduculously simple. Part of the reason the iPod went so big is that it made something that the market was lacking, simplicity. The Creative is, for the most part, exactly like a Video iPod (screen size, capacity, features) aside from the FM and recording.

I don't know the nature of the Creative's interface, but if you are really as computer illiterate as you seem, you may want to reconsider the iPod...

On another note, Apple has been ordered to remove the encryption on their mp3's, making them compatible with anything... and I do think it's hilarious that the menu system of the VisionM is a blatant rip off of the iPod's...

That being said I adore the Vision (not the Vision M). While I find the VisionM easily beaten by an iPod, the Vision is fucking awesome. Screen size, memory cards, etc., that shit's fuckin' ill.

[Akiros]

if I were to get one, id get a 20gb RCA Lyra rd2780 for like $150-$200 on ebay last time I checked. videos, movies, etc. Im no mp3 know it all or anything, but I refuse to buy an ipod, because of all the ipod specific hardware, etc, and they are more expensive just for more simplicity, hell, if we kept things simple and paying more for something, wouldnt we take our cars to mechanics =-p EDIT: in terms of things one could do with their car.. egh you guys know what I mean.. im tired.
EDIT 2: just get this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/500717-Archos-AV-700-100GB-Mobile-Digital-Video-Record_W0QQitemZ150011820869QQihZ005QQcategoryZ486 82QQssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[blackflag_Rms13]

Specific hardware? Wha? Man you're trippin' if you think you have to buy shit...

Plus with a little know-how the possibilities are endless (http://www.zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?t=110881&highlight=linux) (scroll to the bottom, better pics...)

[Akiros]

linux != hardware, i mean all the little specific usb cables, etc. But just buying an mp3 player for that,.. i mean, it is neat, but id rather have a smartphone with windows mobile, i had nes/snes/gameboy emulators on my motorola mpx200, any other pc related tasks on the go, id use my laptop =-)

[blackflag_Rms13]

I'm not sure what cables you mean, but I'd rather not dwell on that. Yes, buying an iPod for iPodLinux would be stupid. I bought my iPod for the Music and the Videos, Linux and Rockbox are just icing on the cake... But hey, everyone has their oppinions. To me this guy seems like he could benefit the most from user-friendliness, and in my experience the most user-friendly player is an iPod... Oh well...

[gotta240]

Blackflag- i hate you....... You REALLY seem to know your shit... BUT you just told me everything opposite of what the best buy/frys guys told me...lol.

They said the vision m was able to get music from "anywhere", where the ipod could only get it from i tunes... THey also said that the newer ipods were not allowing ipod users to share music between ipods....

NOW, you deff. seem to know more than those guys...thats why i wish you never said anything!!!lol......

So you think the ipod>creative vision m just because of user friendliness and the ipod's been around forever....Makes sense to me.... I REALLY like the fm radio though!! Oh, and can i put simple/dumb games like tetris on the Vision M???
GRRRR.....decisions, decisions..... any other imput/opinions/advice....

It seems like whenever i ask someone which is better, i can just flip a freekin coin to get an answer!!lol... thanks guys

[SimpleS14]

gotta240 - The last thing I can see YOU doing is trying to put Linux on an iPod. Honestly that shouldn't be a deciding factor at all....as for Tetris...don't you have a cellphone? I have that on my cellphone (Verizon) for nothing.

The Vision M menu system is simliar to the iPod for a reason....it works.

AAC support is starting up slowly on cellphones and headunits, but I have yet to see another MP3 player that will play AAC files (Apple/iTunes audio format).

The Creative Vision IS a nice unit...but in the end its his money.....

[gotta240]

thanks again simple- just paid for the Creative Vision M through Amazon.com

After my rebates etc. i got it for 250 shipped to my door, overnight...Not to bad imo....

We'll see how it goes! Any recomended accessories for a 3 week trip to europe? I'll obviously get a cover for it...but what else???

[gotta240]

Ok...I just got the vision m...

Have a few questions for peeps with Creative mp3 players.....

Can you plug your player into your computer and charge it AND use it at the same time? I cant get it out of the "charging" screen....I know i can tranfer songs ONTO it while charging, but can i listen to it too?

Also, how to i know what format im putting stuff onto my player with? I had about 100 cd's that i took the time to burn onto my computer... I just went and dragged ALL the files to my player and transfered them... Does that mean they were all in mp3 format? Does it automatically make into the right type of file? What is WMA? What is the best format to have?

thanks guys... I feel like this is my first day in a foreign language class.. SOOOO confusing/frustrating!!

[SimpleS14]

WMA = Windows Media Audio...if you use Windows Media Player to rip CDs it automatically converts the tracks to WMA files. However you have the option to convert them to MP3 files. I can't explain why, but I prefer MP3.......your still fine using WMA files.

Also when your player is plugged up to the computer (or charging)...you cannot listen to music thru the player. You can do this once its disconnected from the computer (or charger).

[gotta240]

cool. thanks!!

Ok..heres another question!

How can I change the "genre" of a song... Meaning, if i have a sublime track on my Creative Vision M that for some reason is listed as "classsic rock" how do i change it to say "alternative"? It would be nice to be able to listen to a certain TYPE of music all at once, but my songs are all in different categories...

It has half my 2-pac listed as hip hop, it has blackalicious as gangster rap, sublime as classic rock...etc.etc. Instead of making a new playlist EVERYTIME i want to listen to 8 hours of music at work, id rather just click on "alternative" and play it all at random.........

[blackflag_Rms13]

This is just speculation, but maybe if you eject your player from your computer but don't physically disconnect the player you can leave it charging while being able to use it...

[SimpleS14]

cool. thanks!!

Ok..heres another question!

How can I change the "genre" of a song... Meaning, if i have a sublime track on my Creative Vision M that for some reason is listed as "classsic rock" how do i change it to say "alternative"? It would be nice to be able to listen to a certain TYPE of music all at once, but my songs are all in different categories...

It has half my 2-pac listed as hip hop, it has blackalicious as gangster rap, sublime as classic rock...etc.etc. Instead of making a new playlist EVERYTIME i want to listen to 8 hours of music at work, id rather just click on "alternative" and play it all at random.........

To do that I use a program called MP3 Direct Cut: http://mpesch3.de1.cc/mp3dc.html

It's a very simple program, you open the MP3 file, then you edit the Tag ID3 and file info....very simple to do and the file size is not too big.

This is just speculation, but maybe if you eject your player from your computer but don't physically disconnect the player you can leave it charging while being able to use it...


That doesn't work...well atleast for my MP3 player. This is because the MP3 player still knows its connected to the computer.

[gotta240]

Ok. simple... i'm probably getting on your nerves now with all the dumb questions, but i cant begin to express how much easier you have made this process. I'm starting to understand this whole process and i already have 1500 songs.

couple more questions

1. does the creative cd HAVE to be installed on a computer in order to get songs from the pc to my zen? I have been trying to just download ALL the songs off my friends computers, but it looks like i need to bring my creative cd with me and install the program on THEIR comp before i can get the music...right?

2. Do you think Creative is a good brand IN GENERAL, or is ONLY the creative Zen Vision M a good product? My lil brother who is joining me on the trip saw mine and wants a mp3 player for the trip as well. HOWEVER, he doesn't have the money flow i do, and doesnt want video. Do you think the smaller, less expensive(ie 8g. or even 20g) creative products are good choices as well? Now that i have this player, i am SOOOO glad i didnt get the ipod. I cant imagine how crappy that would be to ONLY be able to get music from i tunes. I'm trying to get him to go the same route so he too can get music EASILY.. Suggestions?

[JVD]

Now that i have this player, i am SOOOO glad i didnt get the ipod. I cant imagine how crappy that would be to ONLY be able to get music from i tunes. I'm trying to get him to go the same route so he too can get music EASILY.. Suggestions?
Ummm... if that's what someone told you, you were miss-informed. You can dowload the music from anywhere and just put it into your itunes library.

Probably like my forth player ever was a Creative Nomad Jukebox. I think it was like 6G(which was insane at the time) and was bigger than a CD player. I loved that thing to death. A few players later I got the Creative Zen 30GB and hated it. I'm not all that impressed with Creatives designs lately. They have simply re-packaged the Zen 30GB for about 4 years now(Zen>Zen Xtra>Zen Touch>Zen Sleek). Although, the one you bought does have the color screen. To me it seems like this one is a bit of a copy of the iPod. Even the UI looks similar.

I suppose the reviews are pretty good so it is obviously not a bad player.

Sorry I can't answer your questions as I am not entirely farmiliar with the Creative players.

[gotta240]

SHIT...Ok. ANOTHER friggen question!!!

My Creative Zen came with a install disk.. Once its installed, i can use that program to organize, add/remove etc. on my player.. I have already completed the install on THREE computers and its worked fine. As soon as i plug my mp3 to the usb port, the program pops up, and my player says "docked"..

HOWEVER, on our house computer it isn't working for some reason.. I thought i SOMEHOW installed it wrong the first time so i uninstalled everything and did it all over again.... STILL i cant get the computer to "recognize" my player when its plugged in. It can be plugged in to the port and still play, it wont charge, and when i manually open the Creative program, its says player is not plugged in....

WHAT DO I DO?! WTF....thanks guys...

[gotta240]

oh yeah... When i plug my camera into the same port, it comes up just like it should... And when i plug my player into it, it powers it on, but STILL WONT recognize that its pluged in...

[axiomatik]

Now that i have this player, i am SOOOO glad i didnt get the ipod. I cant imagine how crappy that would be to ONLY be able to get music from i tunes.

You competely misunderstood what was said earlier. Songs purchased on iTunes can only be played on an iPod. However, an iPod can play mp3/wma/aac files from anywhere. For example, I have a 30GB iPod video with about 6000 songs on it, only 20 or so are from iTunes, the rest have come from my cd collection and songs I've downloaded (kazaa, shareaza, limewire, napster back in the day). You can rip your CDs in iTunes into mp3, using various bitrates. You can also easily edit all of the song data from within iTunes. I chose the iPod because it has by far the best user interface of any unit I've seen; it's gorgeous, most other mp3 players look and feel cheap in comparison; and it has the most accessories available for it. You don't need to buy any 'special' cables for it, it comes with the cable in the box. iTunes is also the best mp3 player I've used, far better than Windows Media Player or Winamp.

[drift freaq]

Not only does the Ipod have the best user interface, but it has much better sound quality than other MP3 players. I Know, I am a sound engineer and songwriter.
Anyone who buys another MP3 player because they are anti Apple or they think Ipods are too expensive, either does not have ears, or has really not done the proper reseach.
There are people out there that want to dis Apple and the Ipod because Itunes does so well and the Ipod does so well. Fact is AAC or Apple lossless encoding which is in fact MP4 is much superior in sound quality to MP3 . In fact MP3 blows chunks sonically. It is the sonic equivelent of cassette tapes and those used to sound pretty shitty.
Of course with all the ripping a lot of people have no idea what fidelity is anymore or ever did.

[gotta240]

Hmmm. Very interesting info....

OK... Can anyone answer my question or give me tips as to why my computer isn't recognizing my mp3 player?

[SimpleS14]

1. does the creative cd HAVE to be installed on a computer in order to get songs from the pc to my zen? I have been trying to just download ALL the songs off my friends computers, but it looks like i need to bring my creative cd with me and install the program on THEIR comp before i can get the music...right?


You really don't have to use the CD everytime.....heck..I haven't used my CD once. Your MP3 player has a certain amount of storage (which you can configure the size) reserved for MSC.....which is another way of saying universal storage....or to put it very simple...making the MP3 player double as a flash drive.

This means the MP3 player will show up as a removeable drive once its connected to any computer. What this allows you to do is simply drag and drop or copy MP3 files from the computer onto the player as if it was a separate drive. You can set up folders and everything as well. It will play and read the folders once disconnected from the computer.

Relax and play with the MP3 player...you will figure out its features and capabilities and enjoy it. :)

2. Do you think Creative is a good brand IN GENERAL, or is ONLY the creative Zen Vision M a good product? My lil brother who is joining me on the trip saw mine and wants a mp3 player for the trip as well. HOWEVER, he doesn't have the money flow i do, and doesnt want video. Do you think the smaller, less expensive(ie 8g. or even 20g) creative products are good choices as well? Now that i have this player, i am SOOOO glad i didnt get the ipod. I cant imagine how crappy that would be to ONLY be able to get music from i tunes. I'm trying to get him to go the same route so he too can get music EASILY.. Suggestions?

Yes Creative is a good company in general...they do more than MP3 players and are well know with computer audio technology. You brother is fine getting a lower end model MP3 player....they all are user-friendly and very simple (once you know their features).

You don't only get your music from iTunes for the iPod....you can only play music from iTunes on an iPod (for now).

[SimpleS14]

Hmmm. Very interesting info....

OK... Can anyone answer my question or give me tips as to why my computer isn't recognizing my mp3 player?


As mentioned in my other post....you have to configure a certain amount of space for MSC (Mass Storage Capacity)...you can go as low as 512MB...to as high as 16GB.

Now..I can't tell you how to do that since the player is not infront of me...you have to scour thru the manual for that...sorry. :/

[JVD]

Not only does the Ipod have the best user interface, but it has much better sound quality than other MP3 players. I Know, I am a sound engineer and songwriter.
Anyone who buys another MP3 player because they are anti Apple or they think Ipods are too expensive, either does not have ears, or has really not done the proper reseach.
There are people out there that want to dis Apple and the Ipod because Itunes does so well and the Ipod does so well. Fact is AAC or Apple lossless encoding which is in fact MP4 is much superior in sound quality to MP3 . In fact MP3 blows chunks sonically. It is the sonic equivelent of cassette tapes and those used to sound pretty shitty.
Of course with all the ripping a lot of people have no idea what fidelity is anymore or ever did.
If you're that obsessed with sound quality(like me) you should check out RockBox. It plays FLAC which is IMO the best codec out right now. If you just want to try FLAC you can download WinAmp with the proper plug-in and rip some CD's.

[gotta240]

Simple- i'm not talking about using it as a portable storage... It wont even recognize it so i can tranfer music..... Usually when i plug it into a computer the program automatically pops up, and my player goes into "docked" mode. On my home pc it wont do either... As a matter of fact it wont even charge...

It works on THREE computers. On my house computer it wont work though... I intalled the creative program the same on all of them...

For the "audio" guys... Are mp3 or WMA files REALLY as bad as casettes, or are they just not AS GOOD as mp4?

[drift freaq]

For the "audio" guys... Are mp3 or WMA files REALLY as bad as casettes, or are they just not AS GOOD as mp4?
It works like this you have several different types of non compressed digital audio files. AIF, AIFF, SDII, WAV. WAV is becoming the defacto standard. AIF and AIFF used to followed closely by SDII . SDII or sound designer II was created by Digidesign the parent company of Pro Tools the current entrenched Digital Worksation in the recording industry. Now I could go down a big old road as to why Creative really kinda sucks becuase it is comsumer based digital audio for computers. I won't. Why because I could write an article on it. Yes I used to write for Music Magazines both XLR8R and REMIX.
Anyways on back to the question at hand. Most ripped audio is based on compressed lossy files. Lossy basically is what it sounds like. When a digital audio file is compressed lossy you lose some of the digital bits to compress the file. MP3 is indeed lossy compression. When you lose those bits its like taking little sonic bites out the overall audio wave. Now some while argue this is something that nots heard.Its possible the average does not really here it especially when they have not heard anything better. Unfortunately for audio professionals we here it all to well. I have checked out all the different levels of MP3 compression bit wise and I can here the difference , to my ears it sucks. Cassettes like I said earlier is a pretty good comparision. It has a tendancy to smear the audio image, blurring the sound and hiding the qualites of a well recorded product.
Now I have to check out the above FLAC codec. Currently though AAC which is Apples patented MP4 protocol is a lossless compression meaning that in compressing the audio file you do not lose any of it vs lossy. It does sound exactly like a uncompressed audio file.
Now I could get into the whole 44.4 48khz 88khz 92KHz etc deal but that is really another story in and of itself.

[SimpleS14]

Simple- i'm not talking about using it as a portable storage... It wont even recognize it so i can tranfer music..... Usually when i plug it into a computer the program automatically pops up, and my player goes into "docked" mode. On my home pc it wont do either... As a matter of fact it wont even charge...

It works on THREE computers. On my house computer it wont work though... I intalled the creative program the same on all of them...

That's very odd...what OS are you using on that computer? Did you check the other USB ports?

:confused:

[undercoverdjay]

what's your budget?

30gig ipod video. itunes is idiot-proof.

perhaps thats the problem for me, being a junior in a computer egineering degree and I hate itunes simply because its NOT user friendly. If I cant figure out basic functions of a program in 10 mins, its a poorly written interface. Itunes is the same way.

My ipod video got stolen and I made money on the insurance claim of the building it was stolen from. Best thing that ever happened to me

Creative labs has the best one out there. Go for it.

[gotta240]

Simple- Does OS=operating systems? As in windows? If so, then yes, i'm using windows..


Yeah, i tried BOTh the ports on the front, and the ports on the back of the computer as well... The odd thing is, the ports/computer recognize my camera when plugged into the SAME place that DOESN'T recognize my player...hmmmm.

oh yeah- sorry it took so long to understand what you were saying about the "flash" memory thing.... That is a GREAT tip and will make it easier to get music from friends.....

[SimpleS14]

Simple- Does OS=operating systems? As in windows? If so, then yes, i'm using windows..


Yeah, i tried BOTh the ports on the front, and the ports on the back of the computer as well... The odd thing is, the ports/computer recognize my camera when plugged into the SAME place that DOESN'T recognize my player...hmmmm.


Are you using Windows XP? I ask that because if you are then you don't need any extra software to get it working...but if it isn't you might the CD and the latest version of windows media player.