danz 0 Posted December 6, 2003 Share Posted December 6, 2003 I am in the market to get a hard-drive mp3 player...what do you all think about the ipod alternatives out there today?? I am thinking between the Rio Karma (20gb) iRiver iHP-120 (20gb) iPod (20gb) there are a few other players out there, but these seem to be the ones most interesting to me... I think.... iPod still edges the others in terms of design and user interface... iRiver wins interms of crazy features (recording, inline remote w/lcd) Karma wins interms of supported audio formats, docking options, weight, battery life give it to me....which is the best!? danz Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted December 6, 2003 Share Posted December 6, 2003 I once had a bucho who was really into the word 'docking'. He tried to work it into every little speech he made. It was hilarious. None of his Japanese subordinates had a clue what he was talking about. 'Kore kara Jigyohonbu to, shikkari to dockingu shite iku houshin desu.' Sorry to hijack your thread danz. Link to post Share on other sites
oo 1 Posted December 7, 2003 Share Posted December 7, 2003 I haven't even heard of some of the alternatives there. All I can say is I'm well pleased with my ipod. Link to post Share on other sites
nekobi 0 Posted December 7, 2003 Share Posted December 7, 2003 i say go for the ipod!!! they are so small but so great and i love mine. check out the ipod lounge for all the cool stuff you can do with it. Link to post Share on other sites
danz 0 Posted December 7, 2003 Author Share Posted December 7, 2003 check this pic... I am really starting to lean towards the rio... much cheaper, more audio playback features, battery life 2x as long...con is no inline remote...but it looks like one is on the way danz Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted December 7, 2003 Share Posted December 7, 2003 I've read good things about the Rio. It's a good product although it cannot compete with the typical hype generated by Apple and The Family... Link to post Share on other sites
sunrise 0 Posted December 7, 2003 Share Posted December 7, 2003 I love my iPod, and I'm living in hope that I'll eventually be able to plug a stereo mic into it and record rehearsals and live gigs, like the Nomad does. I hate having to use MDs or drag a DAT around for that kinda thing. I'm interested in the Nomad for that very reason. Link to post Share on other sites
amandanism 0 Posted December 7, 2003 Share Posted December 7, 2003 Quote: Originally posted by sunrise: I love my iPod, and I'm living in hope that I'll eventually be able to plug a stereo mic into it and record rehearsals and live gigs, like the Nomad does. I hate having to use MDs or drag a DAT around for that kinda thing. I'm interested in the Nomad for that very reason. so the nomad has a mic input? i hate portadats, so im pretty interested in being able to use something else to record interviews etc. i was considering an m.d but ive already had one and it died, so maybe an mp3 player is the way to go. just did some research and it seems the nomad jukebox 3 is for recording .wav files, but it still looks too bulky for my liking (still not as bulky as a portadat though)...i like the nomad zen because of its size, anyone know if the zen can record .wav files? Link to post Share on other sites
danz 0 Posted December 8, 2003 Author Share Posted December 8, 2003 The iRiver has all your recording needs satisfied...including digital/optical/analog line in and outs....it is a much smaller package than the nomad too....if you want recording, look into the iRiver...it even has a built in mic (although, you would probably want an external stereo mic for music...but for voice the internal should be fine...) danz Link to post Share on other sites
Dims 0 Posted December 8, 2003 Share Posted December 8, 2003 Danz, Just my two cents. I love my ipod, don't get me wrong, but one thing I am not happy with is the degredation of the battery. I have had mine 5 months and I am a heavy user, like nearly all day every day on the commute and at work in the lab. BUT the life of my battery is now down to about 4-5 hours after a full recharge, down from 8 hours when new. I seems I am always running out of power now. I read that the battery should only last for around 300 charging cycles, which means my iPod should only last for a year then die. I guess you can get the battery replaced, I sure hope so. Anyway, not sure if the other players have a better battery but it is something to think about. Cheers Link to post Share on other sites
danz 0 Posted December 8, 2003 Author Share Posted December 8, 2003 yah...that definetly has been a factor for me...reports seem to say that the ipod goes kaput after about 18months...I believe you can replace the battery, but at a cost of near $200 (you can get the karma for $234 now at amazon!) The new players have much better battery performance, but all have limited life span...I think the zen has a user-replacable battery still leaning towards the karma.... danz Link to post Share on other sites
sunrise 0 Posted December 8, 2003 Share Posted December 8, 2003 thanks for that, I took a look and the iRiver looks really interesting. Still, I think I'll hang out a little longer and see if the iPod will get Stereo In support. Link to post Share on other sites
danz 0 Posted December 8, 2003 Author Share Posted December 8, 2003 I seriously doubt the iPod, or any brand that doesnt already have a line in, to make an upgrade of that type without buying a comletely new toy... a line in for recording usually means 1) a line-in jack 2) and A/D converter 3) audio encoder (if you would record directly to mp3 or whatever)... the most important part is the A/D converter, and I seriously doubt there is one waiting there inside your tiny pod...so best bet is to look for a new set-up danz Link to post Share on other sites
amandanism 0 Posted December 8, 2003 Share Posted December 8, 2003 the iRiver does look really interesting. it looks the best for what i need to do. pity it doesnt seem very available other than over the internet. any idea what format it saves recorded stuff into? Link to post Share on other sites
BagOfCrisps 24 Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 I'm in the market for one of these babies too. The iRiver thing looks good, although I always come back to thinking it'll be the iPod. Too bad to hear about that battery issue though Link to post Share on other sites
sunrise 0 Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 I think you might be able to take it back if the battery really goes bad as long as it's under warranty. As for recording - the iPod can record, there's currently a 3rd party mono mic that works for it. Sure, they may need to update the models for stereo, but then I'd just sell my current one and upgrade in a flash. Still, I'm going to keep that iRiver in the back of my mind. Link to post Share on other sites
big-will 7 Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 I got me an ipod a few months ago and haven't noticed any problems with the battery yet. Admittedly I'm maybe not as heavy user as you are, but I use it a fair amount. Battery keeps up with me generally. Link to post Share on other sites
Dims 0 Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 Big-will, Use it all day every day and in another three to six months you WILL see a loss of battery life. On the apple website itself they suggest the battery only has a life of 300 charging cycles. So unless you have the 'magic' iPod battery you be in the same boat as I after about a year, maybe less. Just part of the product I'm afraid, but one they don't openly advertise of course Link to post Share on other sites
sunrise 0 Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 One way to help conserve it is to keep topping it up whenever you're near your power source/computer, rather than letting the charge totally run down. Of course that's a moot point if you're out and about continually for very long periods of time..... Link to post Share on other sites
xxx 2 Posted December 13, 2003 Share Posted December 13, 2003 >>>>...I believe you can replace the battery, but at a cost of near $200 (you can get the karma for $234 now at amazon!)>>> Thats mad! How come its so much. Its like the printer ink deal. Link to post Share on other sites
Teledude 0 Posted December 13, 2003 Share Posted December 13, 2003 I-pod..there is no substitute...ok, actually there are many. the battery is a bit of an issue for heavy users like myself. The reason it's so much to replace is that it's not user replaceable. Still, though performance, sound and design wise, it's still the winner...IMHO. Upgrade of line in/stereo mic would be nice though. They could upgrade it record stereo without the addition of an D/A converter via emulation software but thus it wouldn't be true stereo but emulated. Still love the little thing though. Just don't drop it! Link to post Share on other sites
sunrise 0 Posted December 14, 2003 Share Posted December 14, 2003 I just saw an external add-on device that fits several AA batteries in there to extend battery life in Sofmap for up to I think it was another 10-15 hours or something like that. Of course it only costs around 7,000 yen - without any batteries........ Link to post Share on other sites
indosnm 0 Posted December 14, 2003 Share Posted December 14, 2003 I am going to make the purchase tomorrow! But are any of you who have ipods using any 3rd party software to import tunes from IPOD to Itunes? Any help on this would be much appreciated! Ta Link to post Share on other sites
sunrise 0 Posted December 15, 2003 Share Posted December 15, 2003 You don't need it on a Mac (have no idea about PC situation). On a Mac there's an invisible folder that you can make visible. Forgotten the name offhand, but it's documented on the web. Link to post Share on other sites
danz 0 Posted December 16, 2003 Author Share Posted December 16, 2003 I have been playing around with the jukebox player called J.River Media Center...it is pretty amazing, and meant to handle all your media (images, movies, audio). It has tons of plugins to handle portable devices too like iPod... you can get a 30^day trial version from their site... www.jrmediacenter.com check it out... danz Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts