Ipod or an MP3?

[Tock389]

Thinking about buying an iPod or MP3- just wondered what ABers would recommend, based on what you have got yourselves?

[chazza55]

I am a little confused by the question.
An Ipod does play mp3s......(it just plays other formats as well). [i may have interepretted the Q incorrectly].

I have an ipod mini (6gb version). No problems so far - works well. Had it for about 3 months now.

I was an itunes user before i got the ipod mini, so this was a big factor for me. I didnt want to have to use a different bit of software as very few other mp3 players have plugins for itunes.

I almost went for the Rio Carbon or the Creative Zen micro - they are meant to be damn good rivals. I went for the mini ipod for the upgraded capacity and the extra batt life.

The zen micro has an fm radio too though....

No matter where you look, you will always find someone that doesnt like a product or had a bad experience with a product, so just bear that in mind when researching.

If you think about it, far more people that have a bad experience will voice their opinion than people that haven't........

[Ralph]

If you're in the market for a device like that, I'd recommend at least looking at some of the iriver range. The ones that spring to mind are the H10 (5GB), H320 (20GB) and H340 (40GB). They play all the usual file types, you don't need to use a program to transfer the music (just drag & drop), they've got a built in radio and microphone and they consistently get good reviews. I don't have one, but I'm saving my pennies for the H340.

[PlainJane]

I have an iPod. It is now three years old, and works perfectly, easy to use. supports various file formats, and good sound quality. Maybe one day the old models will achive rertro chic.

[fly258]

I agree with Ralph, I have an iRiver H340, its my second mp3 player and I really rate it. If or when RockBox  do their magic with it, it should be a remarkable bit of kit

[Becci_0927]

I have got an ipod and a creative labs 20gb player.
Creative labs are very good. IIt has excellent features on it.
I have heard nothing but bad things about ipods and decided that I would join in with the others and hate ipods too but someone I know brought one for and I now use that instead of my other mp3 player. I have no problems with the ipod. There are some little things that you cant do on it that you can on other players but that doesnt matter because it only stupid things.
I would suggest that you have a look around as there are some great players out there and just see what one you like best.

[secretsquiz]

also agree with ralph - i've had an H340 for the last 7 months and i can't fault it. very easy to use, good battery life, plenty of features. only problem is i haven't managed to get hold of enough music to fill it up yet! i've got well over 4000 tracks on it and it's still only half full!

i firmly believe that iPods are only the most popular mp3 player because apple spend more on marketing than anyone else.

[JSB]

I'm with Ralph on this one too. My iRiver 340 is brilliant.  Also don't underestimate the loss of quality that you get with Mpeg4 (iPod) compression.  With good headphones you CAN tell the difference. Also with the iRiver it acts as a portable drive so can store anything. Just drag and drop which was how easy it was to transfer my 10,000 tracks and no, it's still not full! Not as pretty but very well made and you can also upgrade the firmware via web downloads.  How good is that?