MP3 player recommendations...

The Amstor Computer · 09 February, 2006, 01:33:21 AM

Hope somebody can offer some advice...

My father's birthday is coming up in a few months & I'm considering spending a bit of time ripping his entire CD collection and dropping the lot on to an MP3 player. He's got a couple of hundred CDs, so a large-ish player is going to be necessary (20GB plus would probably be ideal, given that I'm using variable bitrate).

It needs to have a reasonably simple interface, be compatible with Win XP so I can load it from my computer & he can edit it from this laptop, and - given the wealth of different CDs to be loaded - have a decent file management system. Flashy appearance and extra features aren't as important, but something clean & attractive would be best.

The only experience I've had of MP3 players so far is with my own Samsung 1GB model - recommended by Art - which I've been pretty happy with (though I found it irritating that I apparently can't organise tracks in album order without prefixing them). Something like that - small and easy to use - but with a much greater capacity would be ideal.

Any recommendations from the board would be most welcome!

Grant Goggans · 09 February, 2006, 02:00:20 AM

I'm working my way through some 1978 issues of Battle-Action and the highlight of every issue has got to be Carlos Ezquerra's wonderful Major Eazy, which is even better than its reputation suggests.

The next time the Charley's War reprints hit a natural break in the story, I hope it can be rested and the major take its place. This strip is just fantastic and deserves to be seen again. Or in a series of nice hardback volumes from Titan; that'd work, too.

--Grant

Quirkafleeg · 09 February, 2006, 06:00:27 AM

I

Link: http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,,1705055,00.html" target="_blank">Cut price Ipods

IndigoPrime · 09 February, 2006, 06:11:28 AM

Get an iPod for him?they're "dad proof", as is iTunes. The 20GB model is reasonable VFM, too.

Devons Daddy · 09 February, 2006, 11:19:41 PM

IPOD
the soft ware is the easiest to use, it is so, nice... cant think of a better description.

all other players are pretenders to the throne.
go for acut price nano, new 1 gig going very cheap and get him to digitize his collection on itunes, ( very easy to do)
then upload killer tracks.

other MP3 players are for lesser mortals.

Art · 09 February, 2006, 11:34:43 PM

I find it weird when people talk about how easy to use iTunes is. i found it to be very restrictive, and a bit of a beast, and dumped it in favour of Anapod Explorer first chance I got.

TBH I'd much sooner have the ability to move files onto a deivce using the regular explorer than some propreitry interface.

IndigoPrime · 09 February, 2006, 11:47:44 PM

:: I find it weird when people talk about how easy to use iTunes
:: is. i found it to be very restrictive, and a bit of a beast,
:: and dumped it in favour of Anapod Explorer first chance I got.

It can be a bit of a resource hog on older machines, but I've always found it pretty straightforward, and since the mid 1990s, I've found few audio apps that do as much as iTunes as well as iTunes. What do you find restrictive about it? I'm just curious...

:: TBH I'd much sooner have the ability to move files onto a
:: deivce using the regular explorer than some propreitry
:: interface.

That seems to be the main thing people dislike about iTunes/iPods, but for the typical home user?someone's dad, for example?this is very unlikely to be a problem, especially when you take into account iTunes' synching features (plug in iPod, watch as it synchs the PC's library with that on the iPod, bugger off and let the iPod recharge, come back again?zero hassle).

Capt.Zeep · 11 February, 2006, 08:03:32 PM

I too am considering buying a mp3 player - never owned one before, but my christmas bonus is burning a hole in my pocket and may get spent on bills if I don't buy something frivolous and selfish soon. I've been looking at the creative zen 20 gig on Amazon, that gets good reviews and is apparently less gimmicky than the ipod in that it doesn't bother with videos, album art etc. but restricts itself to sound/music. Apparently a bit sturdier too. Also it's got a FM radio and sound recorder. I dunno.. My problem is that much of my music is on flatblack plastic discs with holes in the middle and I guess this would be a bit of a faff to transfer to mp3, it certainly is when I try to burn it to CD, to the extent that I don't bother and just listen to the records on a record player or record them to minidisc. Perhaps the zen will allow me to record vinyl straight to mp3 via the sound recorder? Who knows.

IndigoPrime · 11 February, 2006, 10:27:32 PM

Here's what I'd suggest you do:

1. Decide what you actually want your player for. If you would actually use a sound recorder, an iPod won't be any good (well, unless you buy a Belkin add-on device); however, if you've no interest in using such a thing, the "extra" features on some brands are effectively worthless.

2. Go to a big hardware store that allows you to "try before you buy". The interface (both hardware and software) for some players is absolutely dire, and may be enough to put you off of certain ones. Don't buy blind?it's not a great idea with a piece of kit that costs so much.

As for vinyl recording, your best bet is to go for the "faff" route, recording each record into your PC and then manually adjusting "effects" (to reduce hiss) and track splits?it may take longer, but you'll get a better result.

Capt.Zeep · 11 February, 2006, 11:00:37 PM

Thanx indigo, yes I don't think there's any sensible way round the faff issue and in reality I'm probably not going to burn 1000 odd albums onto my computer -who's got the time? Not me. So the records can stay as records and the mp3 player will be used for CDs and possibly downloads if I ever get round to working out how to do that. But I do think the sound recorder might be of use to me as a way of recording stuff off the radio, so I may go for the Creative Zen wotnot. And yes, probably sensible to go to a shop. But I live in the back of beyond and amazon is so damned convenient. Sigh. I'll probably end up paying my heating bills and stick with the minidisc.

The Amstor Computer · 11 February, 2006, 11:08:25 PM

Cheers for the tips, everyone. I suspect I will go the iPod route, so now I've just got a month or so of work on ripping the CD collection.

Thanks!

JTurner · 11 February, 2006, 11:42:56 PM

I'd go with creative over Apple - they're less overpriced for what you get, and the file formats are less restrictive unless Ipods can play .wmv files nowadays?

IndigoPrime · 12 February, 2006, 01:41:54 AM

No, iPods can't play .wmv video files, or did you mean .wma files? Mind you, it can't play those, either, in the same way that most competing players can't play .mp4 files. I find the whole "overpriced" argument very odd regarding iPods, because unlike a lot of Apple kit, they're actually pretty good value for money, and they're extremely usable.