I need a portable entertainment device for my vacations...

[ZeZipster]

<img src="http://www.eyesonff.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=15322&stc=1">

Out in a few months.

Don't think that site allows hotlinking. All I see is dapreview.

Fixed. ~Yams

[Destai]

And how many of those do you actually NEED?

I dont need any of them. I bought the mp3 player for portable entertainment and killing boreddom. It does that very well.

Every MP3 player has ID3 tags, so your artist/album/compilation point is moot, and all Creative players have those ways to find songs split up like that. Audiobooks are just MP3 files, and Creative players come with a bookmark setting so you can save where you were in a track.

Bookmark? What like a pause button? Even ignoring the pause button you can fast forward through a track comfortably with the click wheel and quickly also. Not a big deal on either players part. All those ways of slpitting songs up have different effect but theyre all handy.

Now comes the rest of it, why do you need a calender, games, photos, or things like that IN AN MP3 PLAYER? When you know, the point is to play MP3s.

Because its fun and handy. Calenders to know the date, games to kill boredom (the games are pretty addictive also), me and my friends love looking at the different photos wether theyre funny or just interesting in sme other way. If I can have a good(to say the least in my op) music player and all those things in my pocket Im very pleased with the buy.

By sound quality, I mean that the iPod cuts out large portions of the actual music, because it lacks the range to cover them, yes MP3s are a lossy format, but most people encode them at 192 or 192 VBR, but iPods can't handle much beyond a very narrow range, so you miss out on a lot of the music, in the same way that a bad pair of headphones won't help either. Like, a bass beat in the background of a song, or some parts of drum beats, certain vocals and backing, things like that.

Ah now I undersand the meaning. I used a disc man with a digital bass boost for months before I bought the ipod listening to the same songs over and over again. Well you seem confident that theres some loss of quality so you're probably right but I havent noticed any loss of quality in my ipod so its probably not a large cut in sound quality.

So really, put like that, the Creative player I have can do everything your iPod can, without the extraneous crap, at a much lower price.

So the creative player can do everything my ipod can except for the stuff the creative player cant do that my ipod can but it just so happens that stuff all sucks anyway? Ok got it, thanks.

Oh, and it charges to full from empty in about an hour too, after the first charge anyway, rather than taking three like your iPod.

Of course the ipod takes longer. Its so much more. But at least the time taken to charge is worth it.

[Lindy]

Bookmarking is saving a point in a track, so that you can pull up the bookmark again at any time and switch to it instantly. I forget how many bookmarks you can set up, but there are plenty.

You know you could use like, a real calender to know the date? I know it's shocking to actually involve something solid and physical, but that CAN sometimes work. And on my Zen NX, along with the time as a screensaver, it has the current date as well, scratch another "fancy" iPod function.

So the creative player can do everything my ipod can except for the stuff the creative player cant do that my ipod can but it just so happens that stuff all sucks anyway? Ok got it, thanks.

You're so cute when you're confused.

Creative = MP3 player with useful functions
iPod = MP3 player with the same functions, most likely less than the Creative Players, lower music quality, shorter battery life, but to make up for that you get games and photos, and it costs a whole lot more.

Wow, great tradeoff.

What do you mean "Of course the iPod takes longer, it's so much more"? It really isn't. Creative players have either the same or better battery life, yet charge faster, so how does that make sense for iPods? Add in, as Yams said, the fact that you can remove and replace batteries and you can go on forever without needing to charge if you just carry around a few spare batteries.

The "innovative" iPod scroll wheel is simplified on most Creative players in the form of just a small wheel on the side you scroll up or down, the rest of the buttons lay on the sides so you can use them while the player is in it's case, unlike iPod which must be removed from it in order to change whatever you want. The Creative wheel works just as well as the iPod, if not better.

The whole point about the iPod is style over substance, and if you want that, you get what you pay for. Basically, just a sub-standard player coated in gold.

You can go on all you want about "opinions" too, which I expect will be the next line of argument, but in factual terms it's just like this :

iPods are expensive fashion statements, they lack real substance, comparing sound quality, battery life, format-compatibility and technical specifications, the iPod loses out on every turn to Creative players. But, people still buy iPods because they want to be fashionable, and that will sadly always be the way it is.

[Destai]

Bookmarking is saving a point in a track, so that you can pull up the bookmark again at any time and switch to it instantly. I forget how many bookmarks you can set up, but there are plenty.

So If Im 2.05 minutes though a song I "bookmark" it and return to it some other time from where I eft off anytime I want? Thats a pretty crap feature. After an ammount of time Ill just want to listen to the song again from the start.

You know you could use like, a real calender to know the date? I know it's shocking to actually involve something solid and physical, but that CAN sometimes work. And on my Zen NX, along with the time as a screensaver, it has the current date as well, scratch another "fancy" iPod function.

Why would I bother checking a real calendar anytime I want to know the date whenI could check it on my ipod? Because you needed a comeback and the well was running dry?

So the creative player can do everything my ipod can except for the stuff the creative player cant do that my ipod can but it just so happens that stuff all sucks anyway? Ok got it, thanks.

You're so cute when you're confused.

Creative = MP3 player with useful functions
iPod = MP3 player with the same functions, most likely less than the Creative Players, lower music quality, shorter battery life, but to make up for that you get games and photos, and it costs a whole lot more.

Well it doesnt cost a whole lot more and yeah, games and photos do make up for the unnoticeable lack of sound quality and slower battery life and way more options and enjoyable features.

Wow, great tradeoff.

umm...yeah, pretty much.

What do you mean "Of course the iPod takes longer, it's so much more"? It really isn't. Creative players have either the same or better battery life, yet charge faster, so how does that make sense for iPods? Add in, as Yams said, the fact that you can remove and replace batteries and you can go on forever without needing to charge if you just carry around a few spare batteries.

Yeah it is more. It has all those extra features, and now the photos and better quality on the screen. "Omg but the battery life!1-"

The "innovative" iPod scroll wheel is simplified on most Creative players in the form of just a small wheel on the side you scroll up or down, the rest of the buttons lay on the sides so you can use them while the player is in it's case, unlike iPod which must be removed from it in order to change whatever you want. The Creative wheel works just as well as the iPod, if not better.

You mean half a small black wheel sticking out the side. Yeah in comparison to that the ipod wheels pretty innovative and nicer to handle. its just a cooler accesory, excuse me for not being old school enough.

The whole point about the iPod is style over substance, and if you want that, you get what you pay for. Basically, just a sub-standard player coated in gold.

Yeah and all the added features and alot of songs in campariosn to most mp3 players(Not the creative its safe to assume) and the colur screen and photos and other fun stuff. Its good to say the very least on the inside and if the outside is considered stylish well thats an added bonus. it seems more like winwin all round. Even if other players and items can top particular features it can still do alot more than most or at least thats the impression Im getting.

iPods are expensive fashion statements, they lack real substance, comparing sound quality, battery life, format-compatibility and technical specifications, the iPod loses out on every turn to Creative players. But, people still buy iPods because they want to be fashionable, and that will sadly always be the way it is.

Possibly or maybe ipds just really are pretty good all round. Alot of people feel like theyve made a deep statement in pointing out just because somethings popular doesnt mean its good. Oddly enough the ipod is pretty darn good even though its popular if you can understand that it can actually be both.

[ZeZipster]

Pros


* Size. iPod is still one of the smallest and lightest hard-disk player on the market.
* Weight. At under 6 ounces, you can barely feel it in your pocket.
* User Interface. Simple and efficient. It needs almost no explanation for new users.
* Fit and Finish. Top notch - no gaps or screws visible, excellent materials.
* Durability. The touch-wheel reduces the number of mechanical parts.
* Available accessories. Dozens of stands and cases and even a custom parts availble.
* Fan base. As the best selling MP3 player there is a large community to become a part of.
* Company support. Apple is a stable company offering a 1 year warantee when most companies only offer a 90-day warantee. Apple offers an extended warantee called AppleCare.
* Mass Storage Device support. Data files can be offloaded from the player with no software required.
* 3rd party software. Ephod is an excellent software interface for loading music, and its free. Anapod is another option for $25.
* PDA functions. Contacts and Calendar are handy.
* Screen. The hi-res screen is easy to read even from waist-level.
* In-line remote. Small, metal and handy. Feels durable.



Cons


* Price. iPod is the most expensive MP3 player, but its also the smallest hard-disk player.
* Included Software. For PC users, MusicMatch Jukebox is included which many people strongly dislike. Like me. However an excellent replacement called Ephpod is available for free.
* Transfer interface. Firewire is more applicable to Apple uses, most PC users have USB1 or USB2.
* Scratchable base. The chromed bottom of iPod is sexy but easily scratched.
* No on-the-fly playlists.
* Not upgradble. The built-in hard disks are custom built for apple, so there's no way to increase the storage beyond the orignal capacity.



Wanted


* Better battery replacement policy. Note: Replacement batteries have been located for $50 at www.iPodbattery.com (Laptops4Less)
* View text files for ebooks, notes, etc.
* When browsing, album titles and song titles that are long will extend off the screen. For instance, with an album title like "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Symphoney #1000", you won't see the last half because it has too many characters to fit on one line. They need to make the highlighted song title or album scroll horizontally if it goes off the screen, with user-selectable speed settings.
* Display more ID3 information during song play, like file type, bitrate, file size, etc.
* On-board file manangement. Ability to delete tracks that you don't like from the player itself.
* .Ogg support and support for a lossless compression scheme (FLAC, Monkey Audio, etc).
* The in-line remote needs a better clip.
* The included nylon case is high quality material but isn't very useful since they didn't have a cutout for the screen or controls. You have to completey remove the iPod from the case in order to control it.
* Built-in FM radio would be nice in future versiobs - but not if it would force an increase in the iPod's dimensions.
* More lines of text when browsing. In other words, an option to decrease the font size. In comparison,
* Direct iPod to iPod music transfers. Wishful thinking, but it can be done, considering the firewire verison of Zen has this function.
* Instead of breakout for the built-in game, which sucks, how about tetris?

Yeah... It has it's advantages and disadvantages. Whether or not the advantages are worth the extra pay is a matter of opinion. So you two should just agree to disagree.

[Rye]

The bottom surface of the iPod is NOT sexy. It's awful. It's all finger printed and scratched. My screen got scratched within a week of owning it. :/

[Destai]

Fine, I'll agree to disagree but some the cons have been improved and added to the new ipods at the same price as the old ones for anyone whos interested.

[Lindy]

Right, you have bookmarks still totally wrong.

Say I'm listening to a 10 minute long track, I set a bookmark at 2 minutes, one at 5 minutes, one at 7 minutes.

I stop listening to it, go back to it any time, and I can just choose from the bookmark list and hop to that point, you're not FORCED to do that, you can if you want it.

Well it doesnt cost a whole lot more and yeah, games and photos do make up for the unnoticeable lack of sound quality and slower battery life and way more options and enjoyable features.

I know how you keep going on about this, but really, we went through it, but whatever, lets do it again. So you've said photos and games are extra features, what OTHER extra features does it have? Please, enlighten me, because all you say is "photos and games, photos and games".

[Destai]

Well I wont spam this thread much further but Ill pm you the answer to your questions.

[Lindy]

No kid, you post them here, it's a discussion, I think the world needs to see the vast features of the iPod.

[Endless]

Have the White one

£134 from Currys

So do I. I <3 it.

[Destai]

No kid, you post them here, it's a discussion, I think the world needs to see the vast features of the iPod.

That wasnt me chickening out of a response if youd like people to think that but fine,

One thing thats very nice and has alot of quality to it is the colour screen. Its classy. The main menu is customisable so you can have as many features as you want on the front page or as few.

These are a summary of the options leading from my personal main menu.

Music -

Playlists- which opens up into different categories of x0's music (whatever year) , My top rated, Recently added, Recently played, Top 25 most played and on the go which is acessed by holding the center button an any song and that song is added to that playlist.

Artists- Displaying artists name
Albums- " Albums "
Songs- listing the collection of songs.
Genres- Lists genres
Composers- " composers
and audio books.

Photos- displayed in perfect quality list you total pictures, your slideshow settings which contains all the details on the slide show. (slideshow is activated by clicking on any picture) and theres diffderent folders dividing up all your photos

Extras-

Clock- which gives the time in large numbers in 12 or 24 hr, has alarm clock, has sleep timer and date and time all of which lead into a list of deifferent categories for setting them and theyre details

contacts- stores up to one thousand contacts. Showing the details of name, occupations, company, telephones, email address, office address and normal address per person. and intructions and smaples for using them.

Calendar- Showing a full years calendar, a to do list marked on it and alarms to remind of occasions as well as different noises for the alarms.

Notes- just notes to check up on.

Games- including brick, parachute and solitaire as well as a music quiz which plays a quick sample of one song and you mucst answer what song it was from a selection as quick as you can.

Settings-

About- shows my personal details and the details of my ipod

Main menu- which is for customizing whats on your main menu

Shuffle- for shuffleing either songs or albums,

repeat- for one song or all of the album or choices you have playing

Backlight- for checking how long your back light stays on

Audio books- for the details on your audio books

EQ- I dont know what this is. You can have it off or set to acoutsic, bass booster, bas resucer, classical, dance, deep, electronic, flat, hip hop, jazz, latin, loudness, lounge, piano, pop, R&B, Rock, Small speakers, Spoken word, Treble boosterTreble reducer, Vocal booster

Compilations- dont know what theyre for, turns compilations off or on

Sound check- dunno, turns off or on

Clicker- chooses wether scrolling through list makes a click noise on headphones, speakers (outloud), or both

Date and time- goes into time zones, time in title screen and setting date and time etc.

contacts- for sorting details on your contacts list

language - decideds language of ipod, includes japanese symbols (which is kinda cool)

Legal- legal disclaimer

Reset all settings- undoes all your changes to ipod.

And thats pretty much it.

[Endless]

For the record, I have a Zen Micro 5Gb, white.

That wasnt me chickening out of a response if youd like people to think that but fine,

One thing thats very nice and has alot of quality to it is the colour screen. Its classy. The main menu is customisable so you can have as many features as you want on the front page or as few.

These are a summary of the options leading from my personal main menu.

Music -

Playlists- which opens up into different categories of x0's music (whatever year) , My top rated, Recently added, Recently played, Top 25 most played and on the go which is acessed by holding the center button an any song and that song is added to that playlist.

Ah, I have to admit I can't customize the menu. Big whoopdeedoo.

Artists- Displaying artists name

I have that too.

Albums- " Albums "

That too.

Songs- listing the collection of songs.

Same.

Genres- Lists genres

Same.

Composers- " composers

Difference with Artist?

and audio books.

Never listened to one. Paper book ftw.

I can also choose my recordings, my bookmarks, and the DJ menu (album of the day, most listened to, less listened to, random play all).

Photos- displayed in perfect quality list you total pictures, your slideshow settings which contains all the details on the slide show. (slideshow is activated by clicking on any picture) and theres diffderent folders dividing up all your photos

I prefer watching my pictures on my comp, or if I can't, on my laptop. Otherwise I don't need it, my camera displays pictures fine, why would I watch them on my mp3 player?

Extras-

Clock- which gives the time in large numbers in 12 or 24 hr, has alarm clock, has sleep timer and date and time all of which lead into a list of deifferent categories for setting them and theyre details

I have that too.

contacts- stores up to one thousand contacts. Showing the details of name, occupations, company, telephones, email address, office address and normal address per person. and intructions and smaples for using them.

I don't use it, but it's available to me (not sure about what is displayed, however, I can sync it with Outlook).

Calendar- Showing a full years calendar, a to do list marked on it and alarms to remind of occasions as well as different noises for the alarms.

Month per month calendar for me. Not that I use it anyway.

Notes- just notes to check up on.

I have that too.

I have a microphone, does your iPod have that?

Games- including brick, parachute and solitaire as well as a music quiz which plays a quick sample of one song and you mucst answer what song it was from a selection as quick as you can.

*hugs his handeld consoles* Don't need the iPod/cellphone games.

Settings-

About- shows my personal details and the details of my ipod

Main menu- which is for customizing whats on your main menu

Shuffle- for shuffleing either songs or albums,

repeat- for one song or all of the album or choices you have playing

Backlight- for checking how long your back light stays on

Audio books- for the details on your audio books

EQ- I dont know what this is. You can have it off or set to acoutsic, bass booster, bas resucer, classical, dance, deep, electronic, flat, hip hop, jazz, latin, loudness, lounge, piano, pop, R&B, Rock, Small speakers, Spoken word, Treble boosterTreble reducer, Vocal booster

Compilations- dont know what theyre for, turns compilations off or on

Sound check- dunno, turns off or on

Clicker- chooses wether scrolling through list makes a click noise on headphones, speakers (outloud), or both

Date and time- goes into time zones, time in title screen and setting date and time etc.

contacts- for sorting details on your contacts list

language - decideds language of ipod, includes japanese symbols (which is kinda cool)

Legal- legal disclaimer

Reset all settings- undoes all your changes to ipod.

And thats pretty much it.

And comparing the settings menu doesn't make much sense. On the feature list, I too can disable the clicking sound, the backlight, use shuffle/repeat 1/repeat all/shuffle repeat, change the language and use different EQ settings. Oh, almost forgot the FM radio. Does the iPod have a radio?

[Destai]

For the record, I have a Zen Micro 5Gb, white.

That wasnt me chickening out of a response if youd like people to think that but fine,

One thing thats very nice and has alot of quality to it is the colour screen. Its classy. The main menu is customisable so you can have as many features as you want on the front page or as few.

These are a summary of the options leading from my personal main menu.

Music -

Playlists- which opens up into different categories of x0's music (whatever year) , My top rated, Recently added, Recently played, Top 25 most played and on the go which is acessed by holding the center button an any song and that song is added to that playlist.

Ah, I have to admit I can't customize the menu. Big whoopdeedoo.

Artists- Displaying artists name

I have that too.

Albums- " Albums "

That too.

Songs- listing the collection of songs.

Same.

Genres- Lists genres

Same.

Composers- " composers

Difference with Artist?

and audio books.

Never listened to one. Paper book ftw.

I can also choose my recordings, my bookmarks, and the DJ menu (album of the day, most listened to, less listened to, random play all).

Photos- displayed in perfect quality list you total pictures, your slideshow settings which contains all the details on the slide show. (slideshow is activated by clicking on any picture) and theres diffderent folders dividing up all your photos

I prefer watching my pictures on my comp, or if I can't, on my laptop. Otherwise I don't need it, my camera displays pictures fine, why would I watch them on my mp3 player?

Extras-

Clock- which gives the time in large numbers in 12 or 24 hr, has alarm clock, has sleep timer and date and time all of which lead into a list of deifferent categories for setting them and theyre details

I have that too.

contacts- stores up to one thousand contacts. Showing the details of name, occupations, company, telephones, email address, office address and normal address per person. and intructions and smaples for using them.

I don't use it, but it's available to me (not sure about what is displayed, however, I can sync it with Outlook).

Calendar- Showing a full years calendar, a to do list marked on it and alarms to remind of occasions as well as different noises for the alarms.

Month per month calendar for me. Not that I use it anyway.

Notes- just notes to check up on.

I have that too.

I have a microphone, does your iPod have that?

Games- including brick, parachute and solitaire as well as a music quiz which plays a quick sample of one song and you mucst answer what song it was from a selection as quick as you can.

*hugs his handeld consoles* Don't need the iPod/cellphone games.

Settings-

About- shows my personal details and the details of my ipod

Main menu- which is for customizing whats on your main menu

Shuffle- for shuffleing either songs or albums,

repeat- for one song or all of the album or choices you have playing

Backlight- for checking how long your back light stays on

Audio books- for the details on your audio books

EQ- I dont know what this is. You can have it off or set to acoutsic, bass booster, bas resucer, classical, dance, deep, electronic, flat, hip hop, jazz, latin, loudness, lounge, piano, pop, R&B, Rock, Small speakers, Spoken word, Treble boosterTreble reducer, Vocal booster

Compilations- dont know what theyre for, turns compilations off or on

Sound check- dunno, turns off or on

Clicker- chooses wether scrolling through list makes a click noise on headphones, speakers (outloud), or both

Date and time- goes into time zones, time in title screen and setting date and time etc.

contacts- for sorting details on your contacts list

language - decideds language of ipod, includes japanese symbols (which is kinda cool)

Legal- legal disclaimer

Reset all settings- undoes all your changes to ipod.

And thats pretty much it.

And comparing the settings menu doesn't make much sense. On the feature list, I too can disable the clicking sound, the backlight, use shuffle/repeat 1/repeat all/shuffle repeat, change the language and use different EQ settings. Oh, almost forgot the FM radio. Does the iPod have a radio?

Whats with my game boy can play games too, theres pictures on my computer too. etc. Wow no <img src="/xxx.gif"><img src="/xxx.gif"><img src="/xxx.gif"><img src="/xxx.gif"> sherlock, The point is theyre all on one mp3 player that fits in your pocket.

[Endless]

Whats with my game boy can play games too, theres pictures on my computer too. he point is theyre all on one mp3 player.

Yes, you said it: <b>mp3</b> player. To play games, I use a console, and to look at pictures, I use a real screen (or the camera that took the pictures). To read, I use *gasp* paper books. If I cared for organizing contacts and notes and all, I'd use a PDA (which, btw, would smoke the iPod as far as displaying pictures go).

Edit: you can compare that to all the crap that MS Word <i>can</i> do, but that 99% of the users will <i>never</i> use.

Edit2: not to mention that the iPod mini 4/6Gb, which is the main competitor against the Zen Micro, doesn't do pictures/games, and yet still costs more (the ipod mini 4gb costs the same as the zen micro 5gb).