Ye Olde Skool MP3 player died... need a recommendation

PARANOiA

Veteran
My Rockbox'ed H340 IRiver has had a few headaches as of late. Of particular note is the headphone jack has the old "one speaker cutting out" syndrome which is a result of a damaged port on my behalf. It was a great player, and it shall be missed. It played video, opened text documents, had games and a calendar, and supported album art.

So now I'm in the market for a new portable music player. I'm fairly open minded, so I'm not too keen to just straight to the IPod.

My need to haves are:
  • Lots o' space. I'm coming off a 40gb model, so I don't want anything less than 20gb
  • Long battery life. I'm used to 7-14 hours on my Iriver, and I'm not keen on going back - though I'm not well read on what's considered "good" today
  • Sturdy. I actually dropped my H340 down a flight of stairs once and it still worked. Would not like to try that on a Shuffle! :p
  • Recording capability. I bootleg lots of gigs, generally straight to MP3 since I'm not hugely fussy.
My like to haves are:
  • Multiple music codecs supported. Rockbox never got through AAC on the build I used, but I'd like to be able to use it. OGG and others, sure if it's in the package.
  • Text files... for those lyrics I may have tucked away somewhere
  • Database support... for reading my most played/top rated, etc
  • On the fly playlists. Yes sir
  • Cheapish ! You can't have it all, but there's no hard in asking
So... your tips please gentlemen! All you Ipod people, can I get some general feedback? Are you happy or unhappy with your purchase? What do the latest models do out of my above requirements?

Cheers in advance.
 
I made a thread similar to this one a few months ago asking for advice on the iPod, and I can safely say everyone who responded here was very accurate and pointed me in the right direction, so, I'll return the favor by relaying the same advice I was given.

First and foremost let's assume you decide to buy an iPod. Don't purchase it under the guise you'll be able to power your campsite with it's glow, the battery life is atrocious. Let's now assume you purchase a color model, capable of video. Videos tend to suck the battery life out of an iPod at an alarming rate. In fact I'd be hardpressed to actually get more than one full movie's worth of time in before the battery died on me. Even with just playing music, it's very easy to drain the battery after only a short while. The again, I only have the 60 gig model and it was rumoured that with the introduction of the new 80 gig models Apple had instilled new battery life, a solid 24 hours.

Clarity is very, very clear. The menu's are a little decorator white, so don't expect any bells and whistles when it comes to display complexity. Creative does a much better job with it's menu presentation than Apple. They're extremely simple and straightforward, which could be an advantage if you're not too MP3 player savvy such as myself. Audio clarity is equally as magnificent. I personally think the stock earbuds that were supplied with mine are fantastic, so I didn't think it was necessary for me to run out and buy new ones, other's may tend to disagree.

Also don't buy one under the impression it'll act like a hard drive when plugged into your computer, and you'll be able to drag and drop files onto it at will. This was the biggest disappointment for me personally when I bought mine seeing as I had no idea everything was handled through iTunes. Literally every move you make, be it adding or subtracting files is done through it, which then brings me to my next point which is complete lack of acceptance of any files that aren't MP3 or MP4 (Apple's quicktime format) making it a little frustrating to add videos, it requires a conversion software if they're not already formatted to play on an iPod.

Price is probably one of the least attractive aspects of the iPod. Mine was almost four bills. But then again I purchased mine as soon as it was released.

In conclusion, I would recommend an iPod, but research it a little more than I did ;)
 
iPod. There's a reason it's so popular with the hardcore beyond advertising.

(two and a half years old and still rocking with my 4G)
 
iPod. There's a reason it's so popular with the hardcore beyond advertising.

(two and a half years old and still rocking with my 4G)

Its not because its the best, its because its become a damn symbol of style. It made it wierd NOT to have an iPod much like its wierd NOT to have a cell phone on you at all times no matter your age/occupation/realistic needs of such a device.
 
My Rockbox'ed H340 IRiver has had a few headaches as of late. Of particular note is the headphone jack has the old "one speaker cutting out" syndrome which is a result of a damaged port on my behalf. It was a great player, and it shall be missed. It played video, opened text documents, had games and a calendar, and supported album art.

So now I'm in the market for a new portable music player. I'm fairly open minded, so I'm not too keen to just straight to the IPod.

My need to haves are:
  • Lots o' space. I'm coming off a 40gb model, so I don't want anything less than 20gb
  • Long battery life. I'm used to 7-14 hours on my Iriver, and I'm not keen on going back - though I'm not well read on what's considered "good" today
  • Sturdy. I actually dropped my H340 down a flight of stairs once and it still worked. Would not like to try that on a Shuffle! :p
  • Recording capability. I bootleg lots of gigs, generally straight to MP3 since I'm not hugely fussy.
My like to haves are:
  • Multiple music codecs supported. Rockbox never got through AAC on the build I used, but I'd like to be able to use it. OGG and others, sure if it's in the package.
  • Text files... for those lyrics I may have tucked away somewhere
  • Database support... for reading my most played/top rated, etc
  • On the fly playlists. Yes sir
  • Cheapish ! You can't have it all, but there's no hard in asking
So... your tips please gentlemen! All you Ipod people, can I get some general feedback? Are you happy or unhappy with your purchase? What do the latest models do out of my above requirements?

Cheers in advance.

Seeing that you've owned an iRiver, it's going to be hard to get something that's as good (I own a iRiver as well, though it's still going strong). A few months ago, I got my sister an Mp3 player - the best from what I can tell on the market that rivals the iRiver's the closest are iAudio. The sound chip is more or less the same with a few options more - the power of the amp is about as powerful if not slightly more than the iRiver (20mW + 20mW). It looks quite stylish and also lets you play OGG.

Pics of the X5

iaudio_x5_angle2_nologo_p1.jpg


All in all, it's not as good as my original iRiver H-120, but then, nothing is. It's the closest on the market that would match it in features, sound quality and user-friendlyness.

Cheers Phil
 
I have an X5 too. Sounds great, plays all my Oggs, and they are working on RockBox for it. Still hard drive based, so not super rugged.
 
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