A Christmas dilemma

[Mageslayer]

Jones makes a good point about the iPod, it can be played on an XBOX360. Also, when I bought my car stereo, the only options I had for mp3 support were ome that supported mp3 CDs (a CD-RW being, what, 750 megs? too small for my tastes), iPod, Bluetooth (which I believe is what the Zune uses, correct me if I'm wrong) or USB support. According to the guy at Circut City (who may or may not have known what he was talking about) even the ones with USB support could only play off of a flash drive, not off of an MP3 Player.

Cowsgoquack makes a good point as well, I take relatively good care of my iPod and it is still scratched like crazy. Now that I think of it, if I did watch movies on that tiny screen it'd probably piss me off with those scrathes.

[Motoman]

Thanks for all the suggestions and help I"ve narrowed it down to Zune or Ipod, but i want to know, I heard that you cant use WMP songs on the zune is that true? Couldnt you just rip them off a CD?

[bicostp]

Don't bother with the Zune. If you want portable music, get an iPod, a Creative MP3 player, or my personal preference: a portable CD player that plays MP3s. (Dump the rest of the money you save back into more tunes. )

It won't play copy protected music from any music store besides the Zune Marketplace, not even other Microsoft "PlaysForSure" stores.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6120272.stm

Sharing music between two Zunes? It's not as "hip and cool" as the ads make it look. Apparently you can only play a song a friend gave you three times. (Only playing it partway counts as one play.) Not only that, but the song "expires" after three days.

Source: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/ae/291959_zune11.html

[Mageslayer]

A CD player? One of those old things with the spinny disc? Eeeew. Those were replaced for a reason. Actually they were replaced for a few reasons. The discs themselves are tiny, less than 1GB each. If you're going to listen to music for hours at a time, be prepared to either listen to the same songs over and over again or be interrupted from whatever you're doing to change discs. Speaking of discs, do you really wanna carry ALL your discs arund at once? Who knows what you'll want to listen to after you hear that one song and then don't want to hear the rest of the album? Discs also scratch easily, I've lost discs that I've kept in their original case (although without the shrinkwrap). Granted this was after a couple of years but still, if a cd can become scratched from NOT using it, how long do you think they'll stand up to frequent listening? Even of your disc isn't scratched, it can skip from being bumped. Who likes that? Also, think of the batteries! What CD player has batteries that you can recharge while listening to your music? Also, the last time I checked (granted this was about a year ago), the good CD players, the ones with skip protection, mo3 compatibility, and decent battery life cost about $50-$70. For a few bucks more you can get a small mp3 player.

[bicostp]

An "MP3-CD" player, not a regular CD player. It functions the same, but it can load MP3s off data discs, so you get much more than 80 minutes' worth of music out of it. (Think of it as a 700 MB MP3 player.)

If only they'd come out with one that could load MP3s off data DVDs... 4 gigs apiece for single layer discs...

MP3-CD players are the cheapest option. A $12 pack of 100 CD-Rs would give you over 63 gigs worth of data storage.

Their only pitfall is, as you said, their size. Yes, they do take up more room than a digital MP3 player, but you also get the option of playing normal CDs. (Besides I've yet to find a portable CD player that doesn't fit in a large jacket pocket.)

The portable music players I <3 the most are tape Walkmans. Yes, audiocassette. They're small, portable, skip-free, CHEAP, and take any audio format. Also, many of the portable tape players now have radios built in, so you can listen to AM, FM, and even TV audio wherever you go!

Call me old-fashioned, but I think most MP3 players are overcomplicated. I don't need a $300 unit just to listen to music. And can you honestly tell me your iPod / Zune / whatever is 100% full of music you listen to all the time?

[Mageslayer]

An "MP3-CD" player, not a regular CD player. It functions the same, but it can load MP3s off data discs, so you get much more than 80 minutes' worth of music out of it. (Think of it as a 700 MB MP3 player.)

But at what price? Like I'd said, regular CD players can cost $60-$70, and a friend of mine recently recieved a 5GB MP3 player for $100. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't made by M$ or Apple (I forget the brand at the moment, but I think it was a Panasonic or something), but unless it starts doing stupid things like deleting songs or something, then I'd say that's quite nice, as she actally owns less than 5GB of music.

If only they'd come out with one that could load MP3s off data DVDs... 4 gigs apiece for single layer discs...

I don't see that happening. I mean, look at the number of people who have switched to MP3 players from CD players. Why would these companies take a step back and do more work with CD players? They've created a bandwagon, and everyone's jumping on it.... Or they've shown the lemmings a cliff. You decide which.

Their only pitfall is, as you said, their size. Yes, they do take up more room than a digital MP3 player, but you also get the option of playing normal CDs. (Besides I've yet to find a portable CD player that doesn't fit in a large jacket pocket.)

But can you carry 40 CDs around at all times?

The portable music players I <3 the most are tape Walkmans. Yes, audiocassette. They're small, portable, skip-free, CHEAP, and take any audio format.

Many people say than analog media sounds better than digital as well, but where can you buy music on cassettes anymore? Yes you can record onto those casettes, but can you record from a computer to a cassette? I remember my stepfather had trouble recording his tapes onto a computer to burn them to CDs. I don't even know if ou COULD record the other way.

Also, many of the portable tape players now have radios built in, so you can listen to AM, FM, and even TV audio wherever you go!

Some MP3 players do that too.

Call me old-fashioned

OK. You're old fashioned, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Consider that you're not only a supporter of CD-MP3 players, but also a member of the dwindling community that can use a keyboard to form coherent sentances.

but I think most MP3 players are overcomplicated. I don't need a $300 unit just to listen to music.

My advice then is to get a PSP. It plays music, costs less han an iPod, and plays games, both commercial and homebrew.


[quote='bicostp"] And can you honestly tell me your iPod / Zune / whatever is 100% full of music you listen to all the time?[/quote]

No. I can't. However, that's one of the things that makes 30GB so appealing. It makes it more possible to fing that one song you feel like listening to without having to flip through a pile of discs, switcing CDs out to hear one or two songs off of one then one or two off of the next.


While my views remain mostly unchanged thus far, you have brought up a good point that I won't forget. While you do have to change out discs, you have the option of unlimited storage where as on an MP3 player you are limited by your 30GB limit (or however big your player is).

[Kurt_]

get yourself a gameboy, or a PSP, or a nice cell phone compared to what you have. and these are also cheaper than your preferences.
I personally like the backlit GBA SP, but most people don't because of its simple yet fun graphic capabilities. But the games are fun.

I'd say get a PSP, it has gaming, music, video, and web out of the box, or at least without more hardware, as long as you have a memory stick. Thats why I got/getting one (still in the mail ).

Why get a PSP when you can get a DS that runs all that with a supercard? And it's nerd-friendly, unlike the PSP's IHATEEVERYTHINGEXCEPTSONYSOFTWARE firmware.

DS plays games, roms, and videos/music and such, all off the supercard which runs off sd cards. Which are small.

[totokan]

heh, thinkgeek has a cassete 5" drive for pc's. It's possible to record/rip to/from cassetes

[vskid]

Because, a PSP fits my needs better. Larger screen, analog (mine has a third-party one, so its good), a good internet browser for free, and its cheaper. I figured that it would have cost about the same or less to get a PSP.
PSP: need unit itself, and 2GB memory stick, ~$200 for me, and it has homebrew friendly firmware
DS: unit, supercard, passme, 1GB SD card, card reader, ~$200, even with a used DS
PSP also seems to be more popular with homebrew, you tell someone that they can do different stuff on their DS, they look at you like you're crazy (wait, most people look at me that way...). And PSP has an N64 emulator that runs Super Mario 64 at about full speed!