I bought a Creative Zen Vision: M 60gb

[omg_lemurs]

Just weeks before the new slimmer version becomes available.

Mother fucker. :[ I didn't think it was coming to the United States.

Are the single platter 60gb HDD's for portable devices rated to have a much shorter lifespan though? That's what I've heard.

[Ichirou]

It's no iPod Video, that's for sure.

[G The Resurrected]

with the way you buy one ever two years your fine.

[Beezy]

I wish you were 2-3 years older, living in NYC, and blasian.

[Ichirou]

Was the edit to add "and blasian"? 

[omg_lemurs]

It's no iPod Video, that's for sure.

256,000 colors and not having to convert most videos

[Beezy]

Was the edit to add "and blasian"? 

Lol no.

The original post was just gonna be "I wish you were blasian."

[Shuri]

60gb is a lot! thats pretty awesome tho. But Lem, is there any way you could take it back to the store? I have a 30gb video ipod and its so huge, I have no idea what i would do with 60!

[Mupepe]

I was barely able to fill my 2GB. 

I only put songs I truly loved on it.  why would i want a bunch of mediocre songs? 

but now i can't even find my ipod. 

[Ichirou]

I sold my iPod Nano back in December.  I want to buy a new music player, what should I get?  I'm tempted to get the 80 GB iPod Video.

[xnikki118x]

I'm a fan of Creative, not iPods. That's just me though. Whatever floats your boat.

[omg_lemurs]

iPod

:megarolleyes

[omg_lemurs]

Get something with features you're going to use. 80 gigs for $350 is the only attractive thing about the iPod.

Everything else. The feature set. The audio quality. The Battery Life (Not impressed with Creatives either, then again I am coming off of the X5's 30 hour + battery life it will take a while to adjust). The fact that every accessory for it is so unbelievably overpriced I cannot even believe it. (Same for Creative, fuck you Creative. $30 power adapter my fucking ass. $30 video cable again... my fucking ass.) But I saw the A/V kit for the iPod at the store today going for $100. My jaw almost hit the floor. The screen quality for video and limited video playback in general. Zen can play most video files as they are so far as I've seen and can display three or more times as many colors as the iPod.

The iPod has gapless.
The iPod also has a touch sensitive scroll wheel which I feel beats the ever loving shit out of the Creative Zen's little touch pad.

iPod is about as bare bones as you're going to get for an MP3 player when it comes to features and I personally don't like being tied down with all the proprietary iPod shit. I can see how it would be attractive to some but I need freedom. It seems however, that the trend is going in the opposite direction. More and more players are requiring proprietary software to manage and transfer files as opposed to just acting as a removable storage device.

I love removable storage device. I also don't like browsing by ID3 tags since I can't stress how annoying it is to have 4 fucking folders for the same musician or band. The Beatles, Beatles, The, The-Beatles, Beatles.

[Vizzys]

Creative Zens touch pad >>>> ipod scroll wheel

[Ichirou]

I was looking at MP3 players today and I was tempted by Sony's new Walkman...how's that one, lemurs?

I might get the 30 GB iPod Video otherwise, it's basically the same price as the 8GB iPod Nano...the only thing is, I know I'd never use the video feature, 'cuz I have a PSP for that.

[omg_lemurs]

I was looking at MP3 players today and I was tempted by Sony's new Walkman...how's that one, lemurs?

I might get the 30 GB iPod Video otherwise, it's basically the same price as the 8GB iPod Nano...the only thing is, I know I'd never use the video feature, 'cuz I have a PSP for that.

Two words. Sonic Stage.

What about the iPod do you find attractive? If you aren't using video and you aren't getting the benefit of extra battery life that the 80 gig has. Unless you absolutely must have iTunes support, gapless, and the iPod GUI you could probably find something better for the money that you would find more than acceptable.

[omg_lemurs]

You can buy a Toshiba Gigabeat for $90 at one online store. I can't remember which. For the price that's pretty fucking awesome. It's also supported by rockbox, an open source firmware/os that's designed to blow the stock firmware out of the water.

The X5 has rockbox support and is extremely customizable. It's added several features including gapless, id3 browsing, improves the efficiency of the player thus improving battery life by several hours in some instances.

When buying an MP3 player it's good to look into seeing if there's a rockbox project out or being planned for it. My suggestion to anyone who wants a no bullshit DAP is the X5L. If all you need is 30gb and a music oriented device you will be hard pressed to find another MP3 player that sounds as good and has a better battery life. It's also a tough mother effer that won't scratch the very moment you take it out of the package like the iPod and the Zen Vision M.

[Ichirou]

I was looking at MP3 players today and I was tempted by Sony's new Walkman...how's that one, lemurs?

I might get the 30 GB iPod Video otherwise, it's basically the same price as the 8GB iPod Nano...the only thing is, I know I'd never use the video feature, 'cuz I have a PSP for that.

Two words. Sonic Stage.

What about the iPod do you find attractive? If you aren't using video and you aren't getting the benefit of extra battery life that the 80 gig has. Unless you absolutely must have iTunes support, gapless, and the iPod GUI you could probably find something better for the money that you would find more than acceptable.

The iTunes software is just really convenient for moving music files into the iPod.  I like the simple user interface.  There's really no other reason (well, other than the fact that you know what you're getting with an iPod, whereas with other music players...).

I've seen the Gigabeat around, but I definitely want something that's around 30 gigs so I can have my entire music library without constantly having to move shit back and forth like I was with the Nano.

[BlueTsunami]

How much is the new vision going to be? If I didn't have my PSP, I would buy the Vision: M in a heartbeat.

I wish it was widescreen though

[omg_lemurs]

They make a PMP if you want a player that's primary function is a video player.

If you're going to go that route though you might as well buy the Archos 604 or a Cowon A2. The Zen Vision W either has no recording options or they're very limited from my understanding. If memory serves me correctly ZV:W has no video recording options to speak of. Then again the Archos doesn't either unless you buy the $100 dock.

As far as MP3 players with video as an added bonus goes nothing beats the Zen Vision M. It's weak in some areas but not in that one. It's as good a screen as you're going to find on a smaller DAP.

[Van Cruncheon]

tvc bought a Zen Vision W and it is pure buttsecks.

[omg_lemurs]

Can you record off the TV?

[Vizzys]

tvc should have got the cowon A2

zen w is nice though.

[TVC15]

Can you record off the TV?

No. . .which is fine for me but i can understand for some it would be a deal breaker.

[omg_lemurs]

It sucks. The A2 has the best battery life but no removable battery.

The Archos 604 has a removable battery but a shitty horrible battery life.



wtf

[Nick]

get and ippod video

[TVC15]

get and ippod video

iPods don't have good codec support and the screens are kinda low color.  I got this solely for video, so the big screen was a buying point.

[Nick]

get and ippod video

iPods don't have good codec support and the screens are kinda low color.  I got this solely for video, so the big screen was a buying point.

Ironically, I use my nano more than I do my 80 gig video.  I really should just sell it.

[TVC15]

get and ippod video

iPods don't have good codec support and the screens are kinda low color.  I got this solely for video, so the big screen was a buying point.

Ironically, I use my nano more than I do my 80 gig video.  I really should just sell it.

My 80 gigger is full and I needed something for portable video, hence the branching out.  I don't think Apple will be releasing anything bigger that soon.

[omg_lemurs]

What kind of Codec support and battery life does the ZVw get ?

[TVC15]

What kind of Codec support and battery life does the ZVw get ?

I haven't done a battery life test yet.  Various online source say between 4-7 hours, depending on brightness.

Support Video formats: AVI, DivX™ 4 & 5, XviD5, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG4-SP, WMV9, Motion-JPEG

It doesn't support my preferred MPEG4 avc, but it's really not that big of a deal.

[Ichirou]

Okay, these are the things I want from a music player:

1. Long battery life.

2. 8 gigs plus hard drive.

3. Decent sound quality.

4. Simple interface to transfer songs to the computer.

I'm thinking I'm either going to get a 30 gig iPod Video or an 8 gig Nano, unless someone suggests something that has much better battery life and sound quality.  The iPod Video is more than I need (and I know I'm never going to watch movies or videos on it), but it's tempting since it's almost the same price as an 8 gig Nano and you get so much more.

Can someone recommend some players and give me some links/pictures so I know what they look like?

[omg_lemurs]

Would a removable disk drive interface work?

No itunes. It opens on your computer as a removable disk with different folders. Music Video etc.

Drag and drop your shit into the music folder and you're done. Is that simple enough? File tree browsing (no browsing by Genre, Album, Artist). Just Folder(Artist)---> Subfolder(Album) ---> Files(Music Tracks)... HOWEVER... there's a custom firmware called rockbox... read the last part of my message for an explanation of why this rocks.

You get the picture. Very easy. No bullshit. As long as you don't just have a bunch of loose songs floating around all over.

I'd seriously go with an X5L.

30+ hour battery for the L version.
Top Tier sound quality. (Considered the best sounding of players still being manufactored, Rio Karma is considered #1)
20/30GB
FLAC/OGG/WMA/MP3/WAV Audio Support
FM Radio
Line In Recording
Radio Recording
Voice Recorder
MPEG4 video (15 FPS, meh. It plays video and the file sizes are tiny when you convert them down. Think of it as a bonus feature. Not good for feature length live action movies but great for cartoons like Futurama and The Simpsons.
USB On The Go
100% Absolutely bug fucking free firmware. The player won't give you shit.

Oh yeah...

It's also rockbox supported which makes you able to browse by ID3 tags, adds AC3 support (iirc?), gapless, improves battery life by increasing the efficiency of the player. Among many many MANY other things. Basically barring the limitations of the screen and 30gb capacity of the L series, Rockbox makes every MP3 player it touches nearly perfect. Also it lets you play games and shit on it. Jesus Christ, I'm looking right now and it adds a metric shitload of new cool little extras. It also makes it completely customizable.

Player feels really, really sturdy. Extremely resistant to scratches. Textured aluminum casing.

Player running normal firmware basically looks like this.






Review -
http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archives/2007/02/cowon-iaudio-x5-review.php
 

[Ichirou]

This looks sweet...what company manufactures this?  It's called iAudio?

What do you think of the new Sony Walkman, btw?



It looks pretty.

[TVC15]

This looks sweet...what company manufactures this?  It's called iAudio?

What do you think of the new Sony Walkman, btw?

Sony still uses SonicStage.  SonicStage is one of the most poorly designed pieces of software I have ever had the displeasure of using.  If you are considering purchasing a Sony digital audio product, I highly recommend not doing so, and instead picking a company that does not like to punish its users with awful software.

[Ichirou]

But...it's pretty...

[TVC15]

But...it's pretty...

They make some pretty hardware.  I was a rather large minidisc advocate for a little less than 2 generations of players.  At first I thought maybe my PC just didn't handle the software very well.  Then I learned that *no* PC handles the software very well, and that aside from the initial release, Sony only patches MAJOR problems, and not the assorted usability, performance, and crash problems.

[Ichirou]

Oh.  Well, screw that, then.  I'm probably gonna get what lemurs is recommending.

[omg_lemurs]

But...it's pretty...

If it's sony you can count on ATRAC and SonicStage.

Horrible. Not worth it.

iAudio X5 is made by a company called cowon. You would recognize their line of PMPs called the A2 as it's considered along with the Archos to be the best that's out right now. There's also been a lot of buzz that I've seen here and on GAF about the D2. A smaller touch screen flash based PMP.

Everything that is wrong with the player as an audio device is fixed with Rockbox. The only thing wrong with the MP3 playing aspect of the player is that there's no ID3 browsing. Rockbox not only gives you ID3 browsing, but a massive set of other features and room for customization that no other player comes close to.

As a video player... it's no Zen Vision:M but video doesn't seem all that important to you so it doesn't matter. Where it lacks in screen size and resolution (it still looks fine don't get me wrong) it makes up for in being an amazing portable music player.

The X5 came out in early 2005 and it still hasn't been surpassed in areas such as features, format support, and ease of use when it comes to transferring music onto and off of the player.

[omg_lemurs]

Here's the D2.

You said 8 gigs or more and this player only ships with up to 4 gigs of flash memory. It does however have an SD card slot for as much additional storage as you're willing to pay for... and it has a rated battery life of 52 hours for music.

[BlueTsunami]

Oh man. I'm so tempted to pickup one of these devices. SCREW MY PSP and 1GB STICK . I'll probably just use my PSP for Emulation/Gaming and pickup a Vision: M. Its between that or a Canon DSLR (Camera) :-/

[omg_lemurs]

Get out of the MP3 playing ghetto. PSP :sick

Walkman of the 21st century.

Seriously, if you're getting the 60gb version wait a couple months until they start selling the slimmer version due here in May/June.

[BlueTsunami]

I ended up buying the iPod Shuffle for $80. I was looking for something really tiny that wouldn't be a hassle while jogging. The lil' bitch fit the bill. I love it...I got the blue one

[G The Resurrected]

I'm on the look out for a zen stone for mommas day. Havent seen one yet in stores. Looks more awesome than the shuffle and its only 40 bucks. Hell I want one just for podcasts and for when a larger player isnt needed.

[Ichirou]

Is lemurs banned or something?

I needed a music player, badly.  The train ride to work has been killing me with boredom lately.  So I went to look for that D2 player...they didn't have it.  They DID have the iPods, though.

So I ended up buying a 30 gig iPod Video.  It's almost the same price as the 8 gig Nano, and it's got way more space than I'll ever use, but I'm happy with it; I have about thirty songs I've bought through iTunes that I wouldn't have been able to listen to on the other player, and I like the iTunes interface.

[G The Resurrected]

Go sign up with ipodnova so you can download tv shows and stuff already coded for ipod.