Political Crossfire Forums

[DarkMerlin]

So, tonight I finally filled up my old 20 gig (read: 18.3) mp3 player made by a company called iRiver. It has been a good machine, and has served me well, but the interface is clunky and it just isn't large enough for my purposes (podcasts take up alot of space, and my music collection is growing quite quickly). I am rather loathe to get an iPod, both for stylistic reasons and because of all the potential for DRM hangups. So, I'm wondering if any of you know of a good 30-80 gig mp3 player, preferably one that can also display pictures, videos, and possibly text, and preferably one that is fairly reasonably priced (under or around $250)? What do you think?

[FCTE]

DarkMerlin wrote: So, tonight I finally filled up my old 20 gig (read: 18.3) mp3 player made by a company called iRiver. It has been a good machine, and has served me well, but the interface is clunky and it just isn't large enough for my purposes (podcasts take up alot of space, and my music collection is growing quite quickly). I am rather loathe to get an iPod, both for stylistic reasons and because of all the potential for DRM hangups. So, I'm wondering if any of you know of a good 30-80 gig mp3 player, preferably one that can also display pictures, videos, and possibly text, and preferably one that is fairly reasonably priced (under or around $250)? What do you think?

The only other manufacturer that makes a decent mp3 player is Creative, but I don't think it can do everything you need it to do as far as pictures and videos. I think they still just handle music. $250 isn't going to get you past 30GB for one though. You're looking at either a new iRiver or an iPod, but even the 30GB are going to run you $300 and only give you an extra 10GB of space. The 60GB iPod is an extra hundred bucks at $399.

You must give in to the iPod, resistance is futile.

[sparsely]

the iRiver model you currently have (if it was purchased ~1+ years ago) is probably the best player you can get in term of usability.
The iRiver was one of the only models to incorporate features like a color screen and picture viewer, while still allowing you to access your device
as if it were simply another storage device (no transcoding or library software needed, no DRM).
Now even the iRiver has been muscled into the 'Plays for Sure' bulls**t.

personally, I'd hold on to the one you have (if it is one of the pre-drm models).
Even though it's less attractive and 'cool', I still use a mp3-disc player rather than have to deal with that.
CD's are a dime a dozen (almost literally), so I have no problem burning a new 700MB disc anytime i want a new mix.
That's the nature of middlemen....to take an innovative and useful invention, then constrain its abilities and
obscure the technology for the benefit of perpetuating pseudo-monopolies.

[DarkMerlin]

sparsely wrote: the iRiver model you currently have (if it was purchased ~1+ years ago) is probably the best player you can get in term of usability.
The iRiver was one of the only models to incorporate features like a color screen and picture viewer, while still allowing you to access your device
as if it were simply another storage device (no transcoding or library software needed, no DRM).
Now even the iRiver has been muscled into the 'Plays for Sure' bulls**t.

personally, I'd hold on to the one you have (if it is one of the pre-drm models).
Even though it's less attractive and 'cool', I still use a mp3-disc player rather than have to deal with that.
CD's are a dime a dozen (almost literally), so I have no problem burning a new 700MB disc anytime i want a new mix.
That's the nature of middlemen....to take an innovative and useful invention, then constrain its abilities and
obscure the technology for the benefit of perpetuating pseudo-monopolies.

Interesting. Do other mp3 players not allow you to simply use it as a storage device? I do suspect I have the model you are thinking of, the H320. I guess what I'm really looking for here is just something with more storage. While I love being able to use my iRiver as portable storage, I rather dislike the interface (the worst has been trying to search into the middle of a hour long podcast after accidently switching to the next track; I have to hold down the >> button for like three minutes...). Still, maybe I should simply see if I can find one of the H340s...

Of course, I can always just move music I don't use onto my laptop or something. I just like having it all in one place.

Any other thoughts?

[Gus]

I've experienced a bunch of MP3 players, and my iPod is hands-down the best. Plays video, audio, can hold notes, has a few games, other bells-and-whistles, and can be used as a storage device (you can even boot from the iPod). I'm hooked on the interface though, and basically the biggest factor that keeps me with an iPod is not all its features and abilities, but how it looks and works. Everything "just works" flawlessly and beautifully at the same time...the iPod is overpriced, but you pay for more than functionality, you pay for usability and likeability too.

I'm not sure what you mean by DRM hangups, though...the iPod plays non-DRM stuff too. It doesn't play OGG though, which s*cks.

[sparsely]

Gus wrote: I've experienced a bunch of MP3 players, and my iPod is hands-down the best. Plays video, audio, can hold notes, has a few games, other bells-and-whistles, and can be used as a storage device (you can even boot from the iPod). I'm hooked on the interface though, and basically the biggest factor that keeps me with an iPod is not all its features and abilities, but how it looks and works. Everything "just works" flawlessly and beautifully at the same time...the iPod is overpriced, but you pay for more than functionality, you pay for usability and likeability too.

I'm not sure what you mean by DRM hangups, though...the iPod plays non-DRM stuff too. It doesn't play OGG though, which s*cks.

an iPod does not just 'store' your files temporarily, at least music files.
they must be converted to iPods own format, where info is added and your 'library' is built.
They compell you to do this via iTunes, and though there other softwares and hacks you can use, the format is still changed.
my simple $40 mp3-cd player will recognize any properly-encoded mp3 file with no problem at all.
Those cd's may also contain text documents, pictures, database files, or anything I wanted to place on them...
any non-recognized filetypes (mp3,cda,& m3u) are simply ignored.

Any portable mp3-playing device can do this, but most of them have chosen instead to create a barrier to functionality by obscuring the technology
and placing between it a layer which is crafted solely to provide continued revenue to the manufacturer.
They're not satisfied selling you a product, they also want to tie you to a service on the illusion that you need it in order for the device to work properly.


in short: they've taken an open format and made it proprietary for their own benefit and with no technical or functional payoff

[Gus]

I don't see what the problem is, it only "converts" files you want to listen to. You can store anything on the iPod, only music has to be properly formatted.

[sparsely]

Gus wrote: I don't see what the problem is, it only "converts" files you want to listen to. You can store anything on the iPod, only music has to be properly formatted.

it's already properly formatted :?

[Gus]

sparsely wrote: Gus wrote: I don't see what the problem is, it only "converts" files you want to listen to. You can store anything on the iPod, only music has to be properly formatted.

it's already properly formatted :?
Not for the iPod. That is what we're talking about, right?

My personal opinion is that the whole iTunes.db thing is primarily to discourage copyright infringement. But if DarkMerlin finds it extremely inconvenient to drag-and-drop MP3s into iTunes to have them on his iPod, like you, then you're right that it is not for him.

[sparsely]

Gus wrote: sparsely wrote:
it's already properly formatted :?
Not for the iPod. That is what we're talking about, right?

I thought we were talking about mp3 players.

[Gus]

sparsely wrote: Gus wrote: sparsely wrote:
it's already properly formatted :?
Not for the iPod. That is what we're talking about, right?

I thought we were talking about mp3 players.

Reread:

sparsely wrote: Gus wrote: I don't see what the problem is, it only "converts" files you want to listen to. You can store anything on the iPod, only music has to be properly formatted.

it's already properly formatted :?

Like I said, music must be properly formatted for the iPod in order for it to play on the iPod. If that is such an inconvenience for DarkMerlin that it outweighs the benefits of an iPod (or if he is opposed to it by principle, as you seem to be, but of which he has expressed no concern), then he shouldn't buy it.

[sparsely]

i dunno anything about a snow patrol or whatever, but mp3's do not have to be transcoded in order to be read by an mp3 player.

[Gus]

Oops I meant DarkMerlin. But I'm tired of repeating myself, I've said what I have to say about my MP3 player choice, so I'll just let DarkMerlin decide whether he wants to be carrying around 88 MP3 CDs or one 60 GB iPod (or other MP3 player).