MP3 Players?

[rubah]

My parents are making no secret about the fact that they're considering getting me an outright MP3 player.

The only problem is that they're technilliterate and judge the quality of these things in the number of songs they can hold.

I don't want an iPod (although it would be cute), and Azar mentioned the Zen Touch line by Creative.

I was wondering which ones you guys had personally used and liked very well. How much does it cost, what harddrive sizes do they have, do they come with peripherals of any sort, etc.

[GooeyToast]

The Zen Creatives are great. They cost less than iPods, and you don't have to convert them to the stupid iPod format.

The one I got for my birthday was a 20G Creative Zen, and was only $215. It works well and has good sound quality, and comes with a leather holder. It says you can add a voice recorder for it, but I guess that costs extra. For mine you just have to install this program on you comp which you use to transfer the music from your comp onto your mp3 player.

The reason I got the 20 was because the 5 costs $180, so I figured why not get an extra 15G for another $30?

[Killy]

I much music do you plan to put on your Mp3 player, it would help to know how much space you need.

[rubah]

Nothing less than 10 gb.

[GooeyToast]

I found a 30 GB Creative online for a measly $196.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16855102127

Strangely enough, it's the same price as the 20

[rubah]

30 would probably be overkill xD although if it's the same price, what does it matter? xD

[o_O]

I've used a Creative Zen and own an <a href="http://www.iriver.com.au/iriver/index.cfm?pageID=2&sID=2&prodID=9&">iriver H340</a> (<b>not</b> related to iPod), and I can say that in my opinion, Zens are better than iPods; H340s are better than Zens. I would go for iriver if I were you.

[Kirobaito]

I found a 30 GB Creative online for a measly $196.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16855102127

Strangely enough, it's the same price as the 20

Is $196 for a 30GB mp3 player not an insanely good deal?

EDIT: I mean, like, a complete ripoff of the seller? That's the price you can find for 5GB players.

[Shoeberto]

It's Newegg. All of their prices are insane.

[Dr Unne]

I got a Muvo2 made by Creative. The first one they sent me was defective. They made me pay shipping to get a replacement sent out, even though I reported it the day after I got it (and it was late getting to my house too, but anyways). They also only offer a three month warranty on it; if it breaks after that, you're screwed. I read a lot of reviews about the hard drives in them failing.

This may or may not be indicative of the quality of Creative's MP3 players as a whole. I would never buy another from them however. I would also hesitate to get an iPod, perhaps due to the fact that they've been sued (successfully) for putting out defective hardware in the past, and have likely done it again recently with the whole screen-scratching fiasco. If I had to buy a new one I'd likely get an iRiver, though I haven't done a lot of research into them.