Zen against the Ipod

monsharen

monsharen

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Fellow earthlings,

I am in the middle of an inner debate about which mp3 player to choose. I post this because I need some advice so I can make the right decision, naturally.

ADD: Just to clarify; I am currently in the US and want to buy something this here because it is much cheaper than back home.


In General
Ipod video are coming in the 30 gb and the 80 gb variant. Black or White color. The competitor is the Creative Zen Vision:M, 30 or 60 gb. Also in Black or White color.

ipod-vs-zen.jpg

Apparently you don't get any wall mount for loading of the Zen but I heard that the PSP adapter works well if I ever need one of those. I think you get that with the ipod.. No biggie in my opinion though.

ADD: Also, the Zen has radio and mic for recording which the Ipod lacks.

Interface and navigation
They have a fairly similar interface (though the ipod got an awesome search function, the zen a shortcut button everyone seems to love). In short, a tie.

Screen
I compared the screens next to each other in a store and found them to be equal in both size and quality. A tie.

Compatibility
The Ipod supports fewer movie formats than the zen and is by standard bound to iTunes (though this can easily be fixed). I am not sure if the Zen interacts well with computers. Needs to be further investigated but the support for more file formats sounds great.

Physical Size
The zen is slightly larger than the Ipod. I heard there was going to be a release of a slimmer version though. Haven't seen it in stores or online yet. (It's the 60 gb version thats thicker than the ipod). This difference in size does not bother me though.

Warranty
Well, this is pretty much the big thing that might seal the thing. Apple got this great worldwide deal lasting a year which means the only difference for me as a customer is that this device is cheaper in the states.

Creative also has a "world wide" deal, though if I buy the device in the states I only get 3 months of warranty! AND, their supports is said to be sucky-sucky. Any of you guys ever dealt with Creative?? Are they good??

Price
The Creative Zen Vision:M, 60gb: $239.99
The Ipod Video, 80 gb: $329.99

I think I am more interested in the 30 gb variants though which are a lot cheaper. The Zen is generally the cheaper device. So.. what do you think?? I would really like to go with the zen, but the warranty thing scares me off.
 
iPod sucks. Always there is something that isn't working properly; my friend had to send his to Holland for specialists to fix it.
Other than that, my knowledge of MP3s doesn't go far; I only listen to music while sitting at my computer. All other situations are for socializing!
 
Zaron said:
All other situations are for socializing!
Click to expand...
What? What other situations?

Yeah, I have thought about this too. I have done well without any mp3 player previously but now I feel I would like to listen to music and audiobooks and all that stuff. Also, I have a lot of travelling ahead so a lot of non-conversation time to kill.

Also, I was looking at the ipod nano and all those players but they're expensive too.. Figured the 30 gb zen would be ideal for me.


ADD: But the BIG question is still, will it break?
 
ADD: But the BIG question is still, will it break?
Click to expand...

Did the Holocaust take place? Most likely. Which also answers *the* question.

Just get a laptop to travel with so you can avoid any other situations.

Problem solved.
 
i have a sony erricson phone with a changable memory card i can get up to 8 gb ... its a gadget i know but its a great mp3 player, video player, radio, file carrier, cheap camera (its quite usefull sometimes .. i use it to "scan" posts and documents when i'm on the move and cant take a copy ...

there are also some great nokia phones with similar features .. sound quality is great and you can plug in any headphones ...
granted the extra huge space on mp3 players is something nice .. but most of the time i dont need so much space ...

+ i tend to see people with ipods as too concerned about making a statement ... and a bad one at that .. :)

my 2c ... get a versatile cell phone with good battery and reliablity (and also you can install the Fallout Theme :))

but if you have to choose an mp3 player
between those 2 .. the zen
Creative also makes great sounding good value players ...

or for video .. a PSP has a nice big enough screen
 
I had an iPod nano for awhile. It sucked. For starters, the software didn't work very well with my pc, a problem I never really got to solve completely. Secondly, the battery drained way too fast. Thirdly, the search wheel was way too sensitive. And lastly, the earplugs suck and you're going to have to buy better ones if you want good quality (preferably ones by Sony (cheap) or Sennheiser (expensive)).

iPods are cute and handsomely designed mp3 players, but that's it really. You pay extra for the design, not for the quality. I now own a Sony 8GB NW-A1200, which came with awesome earplugs (the ones that go into your ear canal) and an adapter. It can't store pics or movies, but that's okay because I honestly don't think I can enjoy looking at thumbnails.

I'd say: go with the Zen. Creative makes good mp3 players, check online reviews if you don't believe me.
 
alec said:
the software didn't work very well with my pc
Click to expand...

iTunes? I laughed when the manual for my iPod said I had to have it installed on my PC. I refuse to have quicktime, why should I need to have iTunes? Instead I got the ml_ipod plug-in for winamp and it worked great. From what I've heard recently, the latest winamp version comes with the iPod plug-in integrated. So fuck iTunes.
 
I have the newer 30gb video Ipod and it works great. I've had it freeze once, and other than that no problems directly related to the Ipod itself. The new Itunes however, sucks badly. It uploads stuff fine onto my Ipod, but the playback on my PC is absolutely god awful. Apparently it is a common problem where the sound actually stutters and crackles no matter what codec or file extension I use. I had to roll back my Itunes a few versions to get rid of the problem.
 
You might also want to give a go to the Zen Sleek Photo. It's got "only" 20GB of memory, but, according to the May issue of Bug (I'm sure Ratty brainwashed you guys with this), It beats the iPod in every aspect, from construction to software. It's also relatively cheap.
 
In my experience iAUDIO have booth clean design and good quality players.

When i was looking for a MP3/4 player i wanted a flash player, so im not go familiar with the HDDs. But maybe its worth a look.
 
I got a little crazy and went ahead and bought the Zen 30 gb today. My computer has initialized the drivers and it is currently loading.. The device lets me browse it's content directly through windows like an external drive which feels great. Haven't tried managing playlists yet since it has to load for 5 hours. But soon.. I am delighted though, this feels like an awesome device so far.

Also, creative has like 5 deals with napster, yahoo and similar services which gives you 30 days of unlimited free downloads on all of them (just make sure you cancel the subscription in 30 days and you won't be charged for a started account). Haven't tried those yet but seems to be a good deal.

The earplugs that's contained in the package is not so impressive. They do their work but if you want a fleshed out bass these are not for you. The spectrum seems to be there though. I am going to get me a new pair later on. These will do for the time being.

Any advice on good ear plugs? It's ages since I last checked the market for that.
 
aah sweet read. I have read about the screens before but never seen any real proof so I did compare them side by side in the shop. 'unfortunately' they contained different test movies so I couldn't really make out any difference then. This article however is good news. Thanks RLH
 
depends on how much your willing to doll out on earplugs but i suggest either shure or sennheisser - both have great quality and are reliable .. shure has greater quality but also price while sennheisser is great bang for buck in my experience + some look very darth vaderish... :)
 
ok, just a final report before I hit the sack..

Transferred some of my albums to the player via windows regular file system. Just placing it in the music catalogue on the player. When I disconnected the device from the pc it plainly said "updating library" and that was it. It just worked. It even supported catalogue structures inside the main music folder (the player ignored the catalogue structure, but good for keeping track of tracks when copy/pasting in windows). The player used the ID3 tags on the mp3s and everything looks very ipodish but without itunes.

Haven't tried the video feature beyond the demo movies. Looks good but yet no real stress on the system with them short clips. Would be great if InTheOnlineAsbestosSuit finished his movie so I could try it out :D

I feel so good right now. It's just everything I hoped for it to be so far.
 
monsharen said:
ok, just a final report before I hit the sack..

Transferred some of my albums to the player via windows regular file system. Just placing it in the music catalogue on the player. When I disconnected the device from the pc it plainly said "updating library" and that was it. It just worked. It even supported catalogue structures inside the main music folder (the player ignored the catalogue structure, but good for keeping track of tracks when copy/pasting in windows). The player used the ID3 tags on the mp3s and everything looks very ipodish but without itunes.

Haven't tried the video feature beyond the demo movies. Looks good but yet no real stress on the system with them short clips. Would be great if InTheOnlineAsbestosSuit finished his movie so I could try it out :D

I feel so good right now. It's just everything I hoped for it to be so far.
Click to expand...

Told you so. :)
 
Well I would have told you to get this one
archos_xs202s.gif


Archos Gmini XS202
120€
20GB

It is what Mp3 Players are supposed to be.... Mp3Players.
Shure I have no fancy display and so forth, but I don't see the sence of having one. It just needs more energy.

I bought this one and I am completely satisfied:

Pros:
-Cheap 8)
-It plays 24-25 hours nonstop music without reloading!
-Great sound qualitiy
-Easy to use (if connected to a PC, browse it like an USB Stick)
-Smaller than an Ipod
-Lots of Diskspace for your buck
-Really good software

Cons:
-No integrated radio
-No hippnes-gadget factor
-No fancy color display (therofore no video option)

Basically its the AK of MP3 Players :lol:
 
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