Classic iPod substitutes?

[Sc4rFac3d]

So i'm sick and tired of bringing my fatass PSP along with me everytime, and now i'm looking for something else. I had my eye on the classic iPod, unfortunately paying the same price I payed for my Wii is a little too much. So i'm asking if someone here has another player that pretty much resembles the classic iPod, but doesn't cost as much. I've seen some nice Samsung and Sony alternatives, although i'm not sure which one is just as good and reliable. Does any player compare to the iPod? Sure there must be some now that it has been a while.

Price range: 100 ~ 150 euros.

 

[jalaneme]

creative vision M, thats a cheaper alternative.

 

[yus786]

iRiver Clix 2

fantastic player, small, light, 8gb memory, awesome screen, games, video etc

yus786

 

[adgloride]

If you've a friend in America to send one to you, the 30gb zunes are really cheap at the moment. They come in black, white and brown. If you can get a refurbished one, usually woot.com sell them. They look new and cost around £50.

 

[superrob]

Nintendo DS + R4

Haha just kidding.
A Creative Zen is a nice choice.
Dont buy Zune's.

 

[Westside]

The new Sony video walkman NWZ-A818 is by far the best Sounding substitute for iPod. It is famous for it's sound quality. The video is also outstanding, although the screen is only 2.0". The Battery life is amazing and now it supports windows media player rather than arbitrary Sony software. The earphone are also high quality. Check it out at Cnet Editor's Choice. Oh, you can get the 8 gig version for $179.99 at an American Wal-mart. That's how I got my.
There are 2GB and 4GB versions if you want something cheaper. That's the only downside, since it is flash based small MP3 player, it can't get too large without being too costly.

 

[Sc4rFac3d]

If you've a friend in America to send one to you, the 30gb zunes are really cheap at the moment. They come in black, white and brown. If you can get a refurbished one, usually woot.com sell them. They look new and cost around £50.


I do have a friend over there who used to work with my dad, i'll try getting in contact with him about it if it turns out to be a decent player.

Nintendo DS + R4

Haha just kidding.
A Creative Zen is a nice choice.
Dont buy Zune's.


How come? Since it's from Microsoft it must be alright, no? It actually seems pretty nice and cheap.

QUOTE(Westside @ Nov 27 2007, 11:23 PM)The new Sony video walkman NWZ-A818 is by far the best Sounding substitute for iPod. It is famous for it's sound quality. The video is also outstanding, although the screen is only 2.0". The Battery life is amazing and now it supports windows media player rather than arbitrary Sony software. The earphone are also high quality. Check it out at Cnet Editor's Choice. Oh, you can get the 8 gig version for $179.99 at an American Wal-mart. That's how I got my.
There are 2GB and 4GB versions if you want something cheaper. That's the only downside, since it is flash based small MP3 player, it can't get too large without being too costly.

My friend in school actually has this one, at least it looks that way. Don't know if there's different modelnumbers. I'll ask him about it.

So after looking up all the players that were mentioned i've narrowed it down to these 3 which seem to be the best of the bunch.

Microsoft Zune (slight chance I can get my hands on this)
Creative ZEN Vision:M
The new Creative Zen (although it looks more like an ipod nano substitute)

Still a little undecided, didn't know there were that many alternatives! Thanks again for everyone's input. Gotta research and think about this a little more. The other thing I gotta worry about now is earbuds, since the standard stuff they give you sucks ass with most players. So there's going to be 30 more euros gone.

 

[superrob]

Nintendo DS + R4

Haha just kidding.
A Creative Zen is a nice choice.
Dont buy Zune's.

How come? Since it's from Microsoft it must be alright, no? It actually seems pretty nice and cheap.

Never heard about the 360?
Or what i call it the 270. 5/5 of my friends got the red ring of death in only 1 month..
Microsoft is not made to make hardware in this world.

 

[Salamantis]

I'd go with the iPod. That's all I've got to say.

 

[chuckstudios]

I can't speak for other software, but let me tell you this: the Zune software (even after the November 13th update) is a complete mess. It will drive you insane.

For instance, I've synced my Zune with my computer quite a few times since I watched Kill Bill Volume 2 on there, and I've deleted it on my computer. Guess what? The damn software hasn't deleted it off the Zune yet, I just found out today.

Also, for some reason "Advent: One-Winged Angel" from FF7:AC and "Still Alive" from Portal are in the same album. Do they have any tags in common? Hell no.

I seriously hope someone figures out the Zune protocol and makes a better PC app.

 

[Sc4rFac3d]

Nintendo DS + R4

Haha just kidding.
A Creative Zen is a nice choice.
Dont buy Zune's.


How come? Since it's from Microsoft it must be alright, no? It actually seems pretty nice and cheap.

Never heard about the 360?
Or what i call it the 270. 5/5 of my friends got the red ring of death in only 1 month..
Microsoft is not made to make hardware in this world.



Isn't that only with the 360? I though every other product was fine. So the Zune actually displays a red ring?

I'd go with the iPod. That's all I've got to say.

So nothing beats the iPod then? I'm not only talking playback, software, support etc. but also vulnerability. I could go for the iPod, but these days I've got to watch out not to spend money every single day. I really want this to be an investment. Say... I'd be using the same player 2 to 3 years from now.

QUOTE(chuckstudios @ Nov 28 2007, 12:00 AM)

I can't speak for other software, but let me tell you this: the Zune software (even after the November 13th update) is a complete mess. It will drive you insane.

For instance, I've synced my Zune with my computer quite a few times since I watched Kill Bill Volume 2 on there, and I've deleted it on my computer. Guess what? The damn software hasn't deleted it off the Zune yet, I just found out today.

Also, for some reason "Advent: One-Winged Angel" from FF7:AC and "Still Alive" from Portal are in the same album. Do they have any tags in common? Hell no.

I seriously hope someone figures out the Zune protocol and makes a better PC app.

Yes - keep it coming. I need to 100% sure with this purchase, can't have problems like these persist. And here i'm thinking Microsoft is king of software. Which Zune you got? I heard there are different versions, or is the software the same on all of them?

 

[kellyan95]

The Archos 605 Wifi and Zune are 2 huge competitors - I prefer the 605. Much higher res and larger screen, has web a browser, comes in 4GB + SD, 30GB, 80GB and 160 fucking GB versions.

But the Archos is a movie player, and that's it's strongest points. It plays the same kinds of music as the others and all - but it probably has the best screen of any PMP on the market

 

[DarkMatt]

I've gotten a Zune (Black 30gb) and I must say I'm more than pleased with it. It's solidly built, well featured and cheap

Seriously, the thing feels fine in my pocket and doesn't feel like it's got the slightest chance of breaking. Sound quality is excellent, the inbuilt EQ presets help with this. Video playback is great, easy to watch stuff on the larger screen.
The software has some issues, yep - but I've sorted all of these so far, and the Zune team is aware of what's going on. When you don't encounter errors with it, however, it's great - quite easy to use, and it does the job - any files that the Zune can't natively play, it will convert and synchronise automatically. Marketplace is good, and the video podcasts etc are great.

What I will say, is that the Zune team released a new firmware update that gave all of the new functionality from the Zune 80gb to the old Zune 30. This included wireless syncing, new UI, new software, etc. Obviously they didn't need to do this, but it's now up to date.

If you're after a solid, well-built player that will last you a good while, I'd go for the Zune - as long as they fix the problems with metadata in the new software (and it's really not a huge problem from my experience), it's great.

 

[Mehdi]

The new Sony video walkman NWZ-A818 is by far the best Sounding substitute for iPod.  It is famous for it's sound quality.  The video is also outstanding, although the screen is only 2.0".  The Battery life is amazing and now it supports windows media player rather than arbitrary Sony software.  The earphone are also high quality.  Check it out at Cnet Editor's Choice.  Oh, you can get the 8 gig version for $179.99 at an American Wal-mart.  That's how I got my.
There are 2GB and 4GB versions if you want something cheaper.  That's the only downside, since it is flash based small MP3 player, it can't get too large without being too costly.

I completely agree with you!

If u want quality build and the BEST (yes the best) sound quality go for Sony. The nwz-a818 serie is on my to buy list as soon as I get my paycheck.

buy it

EDIT: this needs to be said, Sonicstage (Itunes imitation) is VERY buggy.

 

[Mewgia]

How come? Since it's from Microsoft it must be alright, no?

THIS SENTENCE MAKES NO SENSE

Sorry, I just had to v_v

I'd say go with the iPod or a Creative. If you want something small, I saw the 8GB Creative V Plus for ~$100 USD at Circuit City. Donno if it's still that cheap but if your friend can pick that up you should be good to go. It's normally about $150 everywhere ($50 or more cheaper than the competing Zune and iPod)

 

[The_Cylon_Surfer]

Well all i can say is this:

I owed a Creative product; while being a excellent product in both looks and function it some what lacked durability. My Creative movie/mp3 player lasted a meager 3 - 4 months. My brother owned at the very least 3 Creative Zen's. All of these were returned after developing faults. In the end he reluctantly had his Zen exchanged for an IPod

.

If the MS Zune's software is as bad as people report (I as of yet do not know of anybody who owns one). Then I would highly recommend that you steer well clear of it. ITunes Can be bad enough For screwing up Artists and Albums and the Zune sounds as if it could be much worse.

IPod..Meh..

Personally speaking, I cant stand em. I dont like ITunes and I dont like the way your IPod's music Library is tied to a single ITunes Library. I dont like the "Sync" style interaction between the portable device itself, a PC and it's media collection. What ever happened to the simple "Drag & Drop" method of adding music to a portable device? Simplicity at its best

but I guess your already familiar with this being a PSP owner. One good thing about the IPod putting all that aside - its is darn durable and will last you a long time.

The only other alternatives I can offer are to take a look at Archos's products. I still own a Archos Jukebox - I have had this way over 3 years and although by todays standards it's very out dated. It still functions perfectly and was used 7 hours a day 5 days a week, for a very long time in an industrial enviroment! Athough you are looking to move away from a PSP maybe consider a PSP Slim & Lite. I recently purchased one for my girlfriend and they are very light indeed - My old one feels like a brick in comparison. PSP's make excellent portable media players as you already know. I'm not over keen on many of the games but in terms of film or music I find it to be fantastic. but I guess that all depends on the size of your memory card.

Good luck with your purchase and navigating the "media library brain sync head fuck" which will almost certainly ensue.

 

[Mangofett]

Meizu? Its only 75 Euro.

http://www.mp4nation.net/products/index.php?PID=Get_A_Meizu

 

[adgloride]

I can't speak for other software, but let me tell you this: the Zune software (even after the November 13th update) is a complete mess. It will drive you insane.

For instance, I've synced my Zune with my computer quite a few times since I watched Kill Bill Volume 2 on there, and I've deleted it on my computer. Guess what? The damn software hasn't deleted it off the Zune yet, I just found out today.

Also, for some reason "Advent: One-Winged Angel" from FF7:AC and "Still Alive" from Portal are in the same album. Do they have any tags in common? Hell no.

I seriously hope someone figures out the Zune protocol and makes a better PC app.

I had the same problems and it did my head in. Try going to the options and turning off the auto sync. I think you have to select on the video and music tabs not to auto sync. Then you just drag the files to the library and right click on sync or click sync all. This way nothing gets deleted off your zune. The zune software is not as bad as iTunes.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

For an iPOD substitute I would highly suggest a Sirius Stilletto. It's an mp3 player/sirius radio. It's really small. And sirius has such a good variety of channels that you may find yourself not even putting your own mp3's on there.
also if a song comes on the radio you can hit a button and it will download it.

 

[Mewgia]

I can't speak for other software, but let me tell you this: the Zune software (even after the November 13th update) is a complete mess. It will drive you insane.

For instance, I've synced my Zune with my computer quite a few times since I watched Kill Bill Volume 2 on there, and I've deleted it on my computer. Guess what? The damn software hasn't deleted it off the Zune yet, I just found out today.

Also, for some reason "Advent: One-Winged Angel" from FF7:AC and "Still Alive" from Portal are in the same album. Do they have any tags in common? Hell no.

I seriously hope someone figures out the Zune protocol and makes a better PC app.


I had the same problems and it did my head in. Try going to the options and turning off the auto sync. I think you have to select on the video and music tabs not to auto sync. Then you just drag the files to the library and right click on sync or click sync all. This way nothing gets deleted off your zune. The zune software is not as bad as iTunes.

iTunes isn't all that bad, or at least it's never messed up on anything for me.