Wanted: a decent MP3 player

[snowcrab]

I'm about to be in the market for a new MP3 player and there's a possibility that you, journal reader, could help me with this. This is because I have no specific player in mind right now, having not been able to find one that fits my specifications.

A brief history...My first MP3 player was a Creative Zen Micro with a 5GB capacity and I loved it

Comments

[ponpoko]

...unclear why, if you already like the Zen, you're going with some reviews from other sources. Don't you trust your own experiences?

Personally, I just took my iPod and made up my own playlists and the whole categorization crap was irrelevant to me anyway. I was neither here nor there on the iPod. I found the wheel a bit clunky, personally, and disliked some of the software's limitations regarding pulling data -- it wasn't as user friendly as it was made out to be. Despite the hype, it wasn't all that. And I own four iPods, so I guess I should have some opinion. I mean, I'm a heavy user.

Oh...and Apple's proprietary crapola leaves me cold. Their iPod's battery life is bullshit. I have a new iPod that currently has a use-life of about 10 minutes before it dies. They will charge me several gallons of life's blood to replace the battery, or I can buy a new unit for slightly less. Guess which environmentally unfriendly option I would tend to go with? Not buying an iPod, but buying a new unit would be correct!
* new = about 6 months old...

For all its beta clinks and clanks, I prefer the social aspect of the Zune myself, even though I accidentally deleted an entire chunk of my catalog by mistake (they have issues with their playlist function that I dislike heartily). At least the current incarnation of the Zune team is taking in some critique of their software, which is nice. By critique, I mean useful critique, not the usual "You suck! I wanted to plug in my Zune and use MIND POWER to image my firmware and put all my MP3s on my player and use the Zune to control my Wii games but this doesn't work!! I want my money back!!!!!!"

[ponpoko]

Some peoples' expectations are ridiculous, in my opinion. When they post their stuff on the public board, they should read their shit before they do so with an eye for whether or not they are being reasonable or not. I mean, really.

Products are made to appeal to as broad an audience as possible, and nothing can be all things to all people. When a feature/item doesn't work for you, either ignore it or work around it. If it's totally something you can't deal with, then it's clearly not the product for you, then move on. But don't go onto the board where people have spent years working on what is a very good product and offer non-constructive and insulting commentary. Yeesh!

Some people, I want to look them up and find out where they live, so I can go laugh at them. They are so clearly just not right in the head. I should start a tour called: I Make Millions, But I'm a Moron.

[snowcrab]

This is true. I try to assess reviews for reasonable content but also that the reviewer is of sound mind. For example I looked up my apartment complex on Apartmentratings.com and found a review where someone was complaining for two paragraphs about (and I'm not making this up!) the fact that the apartment management installed a custom wood panel above the Microwave slot in the kitchen to cover up excess space, and it didn't completely match the color of the rest of the cabinets. after reading that kind of bitchfest over a minor detail in an apartment (one I barely even noticed myself), it's pretty clear that person's opinion can't be taken seriously.

When it comes to hardware/software products I find that some reviews are too self-centric i.e. "I had a problem installing this product so it must suck" (as opposed to everyone having problems) -- the strangest ones you occasionally see are where someone is complaining about the shipping time and gives the product a negative review.

Anyways, I found a refurbished Zen Vision:M on Overstock.com for under 200. For some reason Creative stopped making these players after like 2 years. It's close enough to what I have now and I'll figure out how to load the MP3s the way I want them... incidentally I found a review of that complaining about the software being TOO modular (4 different programs instead of being in one big suite - but I kinda prefer it that way after the bloated, annoying iTunes...)

[ponpoko]

Personally, I dislike iTunes. I only continue to use it because I still actively use iPods for things, and they still have the larger share of downloadable items and free stuff, which I get weekly.

I've used winAmp, which was fine for what I needed it for (ripping stuff, basically) but I like the Zune software because of the Social sharing aspect and the easier drag and drop capability. The playlists on the Zune software is annoying, but I just have to figure out work arounds with anything then I just ignore what doesn't work instead of focusing on them.

In the end, my opinion is that you have to focus on what pleases you. For you, apparently it's the software loading process and technical aspects. Me, I don't do that as often as I use my device for other things, so once I have it configured the way I like it, the software is a non-issue. What's important to me is the "fun" aspect of the player, so the Zune fits me better with the Social, the card, the badges, etc. I like the whole design element, etc. You can see how that works with people's personalities and interests.

[ponpoko]

My Zune Social!