Need help choosing a Mp3 Player

[Psyco]

I'm planning on buying a Mp3 Player and I need some help choosing one. I'm looking for something around $100-$350 Canadian. Any recomendations?

edit- bumped up the max to $350, so that iPod Mini's are an option

[Ronin]

I'm planning on buying a Mp3 Player and I need some help choosing one. I'm looking for something around $100-$300 Canadian. Any recomendations?


i have this one transcend jetflash (http://www.epinions.com/pr-Transcend_JetFlash_MP3_Player)

i have the 256 Mb version........it costed me about 100 €(euros) for it ...that´s in your price range....it´s the best money/memory one i could find.....it doesn´t have a fancy display or anything but i rather pay for memory capacity rather than a screen.

i have had it for about 3 months and it works great.....the only catch was that i replaced the headphones....the ones that came with it were a piece of crap.

~:cool:

[Lemur]

Weird. The Apple Store U.S. has a refurbished/discounted page (http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa), but the Apple Store Canada (http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/canadastore/) doesn't. Huh.

Everyone I know who has an iPod loves the thing. I'm surprised they don't offer refurbished models to Canadians, but there must be some way to find a used or discounted model. Lots of people ditched their 15 gig iPods for the new 60 gig beasts, so perhaps a quick scan of eBay might be the answer.

From what I've heard, there's nobody making an MP3 player quite as sweet as the iPod. In the future, who knows. But for the moment, everyone I know agrees that the iPod is the One.

[Psyco]

I've been thinking about an iPod (my sister just got one, and they seem great.)
Do you think I should go for an iPod or an iPod mini?

[Lemur]

Psycho, there's absolutely no question that you should not consider the mini. You'll be paying more for the extra miniaturization. I would recommend you comb through eBay and look for the earlier 10 gig and 15 gig models, see if someone's unloading them. The mini is too new, too small, and only has 5 gigs of space. Not worth it unless you have lots of money and need a jogging accessory.

You also might want to download iTunes and get a feel for it. What the iPod owners I know love is how the software works with the iPod, so you can at least try the software for free, eh?

[edit]

I did a quick check on eBay, and there are some pretty sweet deals on 10 gigs and 15 gigs, like I figured there would be. Let's see if this link (http://search.ebay.com/ipod_MP3-Players_W0QQcatrefZC12QQfromZR40QQsacategoryZ15057QQsojsZ1QQsosortorderZ1QQsosortpropertyZ1) works.

[Sjakihata]

get an iPod, install iTunes and music is as easy as ever !

[Kraellin]

ipod is the one that set things off and running for mp3 players, but there are others out there. i know there are reviews out there, comparitive reviews as i've seen one on thescreensavers.com before, but you'd have to search their site. i dont have the link. and you could prolly also find other comparitive reviews on other sites. and, you shld also be aware that the ipod is one of those that does a little anti-piracy stuff.... or is that the itunes music that does that.... or both? someone that has one can tell you about that better than i can.

apple has also just recently put out the same kind of device, but for pictures.

K.

[Lemur]

The consensus among the people I know, the geeky mags I read, and the even geekier web sites I troll, is that at the moment there's nothing that beats the iPod. That's not to say that there won't be an iPod-killer next week, but right now there is not.

The anti-piracy stuff with the iPod is minimal and easily defeated. Check out versiontracker.com if you need a little freeware help with your hacking. (Apple's DRM software is called FairPlay, and it's been thoroughly disassembled by helpful code monkeys.)

The only downside to the iPod that I've seen is that it won't support WMA files. But who the heck burns their music as WMA files anyway?

On a side note, Sony has just announced that they're going to support this newfangled "MP3" format that the kids seem to like.

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

I've heard that the iPod has issues with the battery destroying itself...

[Psyco]

Thanks for the help. I just need to save a bit more money, then I'll try and get a iPod from ebay.