Dark Wolf Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 I'm planning on getting an MP3 player. I'm looking for one that can do about 20gb. I want it to be robust. Video would be nice too I want it to be small, so it can go in my pocket. I personally think it's between this Or the Ipod Video. The only problem is that I have no idea when the Zen is coming out. Anyother suggestions would be welcome too PS: I'd like a player just to put a few Simpsons episodes on it or something.
Ashley Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 I'm planning on getting an MP3 player. I'm looking for one that can do about 20gb. I want it to be robust. Video would be nice too I want it to be small, so it can go in my pocket. I personally think it's between this Or the Ipod Video. The only problem is that I have no idea when the Zen is coming out. Anyother suggestions would be welcome too PS: I'd like a player just to put a few Simpsons episodes on it or something. Hehe thats pretty similar to my post just before yours. Im stuck between the two. On the one hand the Creative has a better screen, more video formats accepted etc but on the other the iPod is so pretty. You can get the Creative off ebay for about £200 from some dodgyish guy from Singapore. Or these places: http://froogle.google.co.uk/froogle?q=Creative+Zen+Vision%3A+M&btnG=Search+Froogle&hl=en
Dark Wolf Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 The other thing is that I've got all my music on itunes, and i can't be bothered to rip all the CDs again, and I might not be able to find all of them.
broadwayrock Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 I would go for the Zen Vision: M. It pretty much trumps the 5G iPod in all areas apart from looks. If you care features and functionality get the Zen Vision M, whereas If you care about style or design get the iPod (nothing else will sway you) Herr when you say you got all your music in itunes does that mean its all AAC as opposed to mp3?
Dark Wolf Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 Yes, it's all in Mp4. My bro also bought quite a few albums from itunes music store EDIT: To be fair, the only reason I would get a Vision: M over the Ipod is it can do more than Mpeg4 for videos and has got a bit better screen, but I can live with the ipod screen. I've found a nice Avi to Mpeg4 converter free, and it works pretty good.
Charlie Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 The other thing is that I've got all my music on itunes, and i can't be bothered to rip all the CDs again, and I might not be able to find all of them. Creative MP3 players just mount to Windows as a removeable disk so you can just browse to your iTunes folder using Windows Explorer and then drag and drop your music to the MP3 player. You wont be able to play music you bought in iTunes on another MP3 player, that's the only reason I'm getting an iPod when I save up enough money.
Ashley Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 Well they do allow you to put the tracks on, just not play them. Which is a bitca. Surely someone has made a converter programmy thing that lets you play them.
Jon Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 Yea i found out that. All the Itunes music i bought doesnt show up on non ipod mp3 players as very few if any support the mp4 format which iTunes music is encoded in
Ashley Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 Will one of these programs be of any use? Anyone fancy giving it a try?
Sanchez Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 I would go for the Zen Vision: M. It pretty much trumps the 5G iPod in all areas apart from looks. I disagree. For a start, if you have more than 30GB's of music like myself, you need something bigger. iPod: Up to 14 hours of music playback; up to 2 hours of video playback Zen: M: Enjoy up to 14 hours of music, or 4 hours of movies with the rechargeable Li-Ion battery. Something fishy going on here, I suspect creative are exaggerating video playback, or maybe their screen isn't as bright? iPod: Height 10.4cm Width 6.1cm Depth 1.1cm Weight 136g Zen: Height 10.4cm Width 6.2cm Depth 1.9cm Weight 163g At least with the iPod you will save a little bulge in your pocket and a fair amount of weight. and err, thats about all the difference. I can't do a price check yet because I can't find a price for the Zen: M.
Jon Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 Will one of these programs be of any use? Anyone fancy giving it a try? I'll give it a go for you, you wanrt me to try it on a mp3 player also? Edit: Ok tried it using this program here It converted it to mp3 and it worked perfectly, sadly though it is only trial version - which means it only will allows you converted items.
Dark Wolf Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 The Zen Vision:M has a far better screen: http://www.everythingusb.com/creative_zen_vision:m_30gb.html Although the Ipod looks pretty good quality here: http://media.arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/video-ipod.media/videoipod-lost-text-web.jpg The Zen is about $30 more than the Ipod in the US. I'm probably gonna go for the iPod. I've got a really awsome converter which is free and not a trial which works perfectly.
Mr_Odwin Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 Use Besweet or Belight to convert from mp4/aac to mp3. Dead easy. But lossy to lossy is baaaad. Edit: Actually, scratch that, that's for mp3 to aac.
Dark Wolf Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 Quality anygood? EDIT: You can't do MP4 input.
Mr_Odwin Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 Alright, figured it out. Use iTunes. Go to Edit>preferences>Advanced>importing and then choose your mp3 settings. Then you can right click on songs in iTunes and select 'convert to mp3'.
Jon Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 Alright, figured it out. Use iTunes.Go to Edit>preferences>Advanced>importing and then choose your mp3 settings. Then you can right click on songs in iTunes and select 'convert to mp3'. Well done again Mr O
Mr_Odwin Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 aac/mp4 is much better sounding than mp3 at low bitrates I've found. I wouldn't convert to anything too low, bitrate-wise.
Dark Wolf Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 Alright, figured it out. Use iTunes.Go to Edit>preferences>Advanced>importing and then choose your mp3 settings. Then you can right click on songs in iTunes and select 'convert to mp3'. Genius, I thank you.
Ashley Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 I think the whole "Oh Creative products are far too big for your pocket" arguement crap. I have a Zen Touch and it fits fine. Besides, most of the time I just leave it in its holder thing and clip that onto my belt or bag. It fits fine in average pockets (including the case). But anyway I'll wait and see when my Touch gets back if it is new and then will decide what to do. I want a lot for my birthday. Maybe my friends will be very generous and feel sorry for me after my sucktastic year last year. Hmm...
Jon Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 I think the whole "Oh Creative products are far too big for your pocket" arguement crap. I have a Zen Touch and it fits fine. Besides, most of the time I just leave it in its holder thing and clip that onto my belt or bag. It fits fine in average pockets (including the case). But anyway I'll wait and see when my Touch gets back if it is new and then will decide what to do. I want a lot for my birthday. Maybe my friends will be very generous and feel sorry for me after my sucktastic year last year. Hmm... People that moan about the creative being too big know nothing. The iriver that I had was probably the thickest mp3 player I have ever seen yet it had the most functionality of any. Had videos long before the ipod did.
Dark Wolf Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 What iRivers can do Video? I'm probably gonna get the Zen Vision: M Thanks Odwin
Jon Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 What iRivers can do Video? I'm probably gonna get the Zen Vision: M Thanks Odwin Yes, the one I had required a firmware upgrade to enable but it played video pretty well, certainly better than the ipod.
broadwayrock Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 Something fishy going on here, I suspect creative are exaggerating video playback, or maybe their screen isn't as bright? Actually Creative seem to be conservative with regards to video battery life. According to a recent review: "The Zen Vision:M managed to play nearly three complete movies, a total playback time of 4 hours 43 minutes, nearly a full hour more than claimed" http://monsternet.org/reviews/zenvisionm/page7.php This is a recent battery life comparison from a french website with serveral players including the Vision: M and 5G iPod (the numbers are displayed in minutes) : http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?lp=fr_en&trurl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.clubic.com%2farticle-30174-1-le-duel-de-fin-d-annee-ipod-5g-zen-vision-m.html With regards to the iTunes AAC format: Apple will not allow any other company's players to be compatible with it. You will need to use something like hymn to remove the drm protection: http://www.hymn-project.org/ then iTunes or dbpoweramp can convert it to mp3 or whatever file you want.
Dark Wolf Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 My brother's only bought about 4 albums on itunes, so I should be ok. I'll get them when they are cheap.
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