Zune

[pschuler]

After going through several Ipods I have switched over to the Zune with great results (so far). I have the 4gb for riding my bikes and motorcycles with and the 30gb for the truck.

After bad luck with the Ipods I thought I would try a different brand. After researching I think one of the few companies with enough capital and resources to consider competing with Apple is Microsoft.

Anyone else making the switch or using other mp3 players?

 

[Eric N.]

I'm not a fan of apple or their ipods and I hate itunes.... I had a Neo Jukebox long before apple even made an ipod.. I still have it too.. I also have 2 creative players (zen touch and zen nano plus), an archos av4100, and I got a samsung yp-p2 a couple of months ago..

I'm diggin the little yp-p2's bluetooth.. Even more so that they just did a firmware upgrade so that I can file share (cellphone, pc, other bluetooth devices).. Plus, when I have it paired to my phone I can get and make calls from my phone via the mp3 player without even having to look at the phone..

 

[pschuler]

That sounds awesome. I know Creative has been coming out with some cool stuff. Oakley is making BlueTooth ready sunglasses now.

 

[Eric N.]

I don't know man.. I think those Oakley MP3 glasses are fugly.. Haven't seen the bluetooth ones but, if they look like the MP3 glasses then no thank you... I like the Moto bluetooth s9 headphones but, the audio quality isn't as good as a nice pair of wired headphones. I might get them anyways though, just to get rid of the cord...

 

[curtis]

Not that I am a representative sample, but in our family we have six ipods and two iphones. All this from a man that used to hate anything Apple. To date we have had no problems, but I don't want to jinx myself.

I used to hate iTunes, but after messing with it for some time I am starting to like it. Right now I can sync all of my devices on one iMac and all is good. I always thought I was limited to five devices, but I have all eight being synced by one iTunes. With four kids, three with iPods, and a variety of music I own, but don't want them to hear, ITunes works very well for managing this.

 

[LR Max]

I've got an old school Creative Labs Zen Xtra that is pretty much my music dump. I replaced the hard drive in it about 2 years ago (apparently if you drop the MP3 player directly on his HD three times in a row onto pavement, it kills it, huh) and over the break I bought a new battery for it. Still going strong.

Sure, it doesn't have a color display or surfs internet but I bought it to play music and I've always got it when I am driving. All my music is right there and with 2 batteries, I am good to go for 1500 miles (which I have to do sometimes, bleh).

Over the summer I bought a little sandisk flash drive unit. I've been uber happy with it. Small and takes AAA batteries. Uploading music to it is as simple as uploading files to a flash drive, just drag n' drop. If the battery dies I can just throw in another AAA battery. Also the little sleeve it comes in is big enough to fit a key in. Thats where I put my house key when I go running so I don't have to carry anything in my pockets (I don't wear my glasses too, so every run is a new and exciting experience :smilelol: ).

Also all of my memory cards for my cameras are sandisk, so I reckon I've got a little brand loyalty. Still, the sandisk player was ungodly cheap, about half what the shuffle was, 2 gig, can play radio (I have used that when camping, tuned into a radio station and got the weather) and can voice record. I recently used the voice record mode-thingie for an article I am doing. I used it during an interview. The quality isn't *perfect* but good enough.

I think Mac/HP (I do believe HP actually makes the hardware? I think) makes a good product. But I want my MP3 player to play music and my phone to connect me to a single other individual. I am not afraid of buttons, which is good because the touch pad on the iTouch seems a little hit n' miss (friend has one, when her hands are cold the pad doesn't work all that well) as well as difficult to use (from what I've seen, maybe I have a bunch of stupid friends).

Lastly, my equipment just needs to work. No hype, no commericals, just work. And they do.

 

[Eric N.]

I used to hate iTunes, but after messing with it for some time I am starting to like it. Right now I can sync all of my devices on one iMac and all is good. I always thought I was limited to five devices, but I have all eight being synced by one iTunes. With four kids, three with iPods, and a variety of music I own, but don't want them to hear, ITunes works very well for managing this.

My brother in law loves itunes and so do most people I know for the fact that it's easy to use and the built in store... I'm just not a fan since I like to have more control especially when it comes to video.. One thing that I do love about the Ipods is the aftermarket support.. You can get almost anything for an ipod... Some thing that most other players (including mine) just don't have to offer..

 

[Leslie]

My daughter got a Zune last Christmas, still loves it. My son just got a Walkman mp3 player this Christmas, loves it. I've got a Sony Walkman cell-phone w/ a 4gb memory card, love it.


In all cases, we start w/ a CD, then I rip it w/ EAC/LAME into mp3's. On good systems, I can tell a difference between my mp3's and downloaded ones.... w/ the headphones that come stock w/ a device like an ipod or a zune, you might be pressed to tell the difference between something from itunes and one I made, but, if I drag you over to my buddy's house and we plug my mp3's into his McIntosh system, and compare it to itunes on an ipod, you can really tell the difference.... OF course, the trade-off is, even using a variable bit rate, my mp3s are gonna be a good bit larger than what you would get from itunes, but, I'm keeping more sound data. (Get some good headphones, though, Grado or Sennheiser (like their PX100), and maybe a headphone amp.... even make one in an altoids box if you like....).

I have to admit, I'd like an iTouch, mostly because I could hit the web w/ wifi.... I'd still use my own CD's/mp3's instead of itunes. I found itunes useful for hunting down a clip of a song on-demand to see if the song I was trying to find is what I think it is or not, but, I just can't see using it to get an inferior product as far as music quality. I think itunes is easy to use, the music just isn't as good as a good CD rip.....


Anyway..... I'd not necessarily avoid an ipod, but, I'd not necessarily go w/ one, either. I like the new zunes, would consider one of them, the itouch (for web mostly), I like the Walkmans..... there are choices out there.


FWIW....

 

[DiscoJen]

I've had a Zune for about 6 months now and I really like it a lot. I debated back and forth between Zune and iPod and I haven't regretted my decision at all. It's a bit bulkier than an iPod but it's a good price, and is compatible with more formats more easily than the iPod. I got the big'un that holds a gazillion tunes (80gig) but I think I only have about 200 on there now. I've just been too lazy to start ripping my CD's to sync over to it. I wish there were more accessories for the Zune, but the functionality and durability more than makes up for it.

And of course, it's turd brown!!!!

 

[varova87]

Leslie, have you had any problems ripping with LAME? I download from Bearshare then rip to MP3 to get rid of the DRM crap. I run into a lot of skipping.

FWIW, I picked up an 80gb iPod for xmas, love it so far. the new features are neat, and the sound quality isn't bad at all. however, plenty of people up at school have the zune. its quite a nice piece of equipment.

 

[Leslie]

Leslie, have you had any problems ripping with LAME? I download from Bearshare then rip to MP3 to get rid of the DRM crap. I run into a lot of skipping.

FWIW, I picked up an 80gb iPod for xmas, love it so far. the new features are neat, and the sound quality isn't bad at all. however, plenty of people up at school have the zune. its quite a nice piece of equipment.

I've had *no* problems w/ EAC/LAME, but, I'm only starting w/ CD's.. haven't downloaded anything then converted, just my own CD's (I go to Dad's and get them used, for cheap, just make sure they aren't scratched...). any problems I've had have been scratch-related (not on ones from Dad's, but, on ones that my daughter borrowed), and a good buffer can usually rectify that.


YMMV.....

 

[varova87]

I've had *no* problems w/ EAC/LAME, but, I'm only starting w/ CD's.. haven't downloaded anything then converted, just my own CD's (I go to Dad's and get them used, for cheap, just make sure they aren't scratched...). any problems I've had have been scratch-related (not on ones from Dad's, but, on ones that my daughter borrowed), and a good buffer can usually rectify that.


YMMV.....

:banghead: LAME sounded familiar, but that was my mistake. I ended up purchasing TuneBite. I ended up changing the mode from analog to a digital soundcard. It got rid of the skipping, but I have been reduced to dubbing one song at a time at a max of 2x. Slow, but gets the job done.

 

[Leslie]

http://www.bestmp3guide.com/ FWIW.....

 

[Leslie]

Or....

http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=EAC_and_Lame