MP3 Players

[KillerGremlin]

Well, if you do some memory musical magical math mayhem:

1 minute of music in .wav form = 10mbs

So if you have a 5 minute song, it is going to be 50mbs before compression.

If you compress the song at 128kbps, you're going to get a file size that is roughly around 5mb - which means you will be averaging a megabyte a minute if you encode at 128kbps, give or take.

So, you're talking roughtly 256 minutes of GOOD quality songs on the MP3 player model you're talking about. That is roughlty 4 and a half hours of music - which easily beats out a CD player.

HOWEVER, how many people have songs only encoded at 128kbps? I have songs at 320kbps, a TON at 192kbps, and a decent amount at 160kbps. Chances are you won't fit 4 hours worth of music on that thing, unless you're the opposite of me, and you encode small.

[Joeiss]

Lol. I don't even know how to encode small or big, haha.


Geeze, it looks like I won't be making this decision for a while, then. I gotta get my facts straight on MP3 players.

[jeepnut]

I've been intrigued by mp3 players as of late. As far as cheaper alternatives to the ipod go, the ones from Creative seem to impress me the most. They also make smaller flash memory players like the one you're looking at.

Zen Micro



5GB of space 2,500 songs at 64kbps or 1,250 songs at 128kbps. (ipod mini is 4GB)
Built-in radio tuner (Not standard on the ipod or the ipod mini)
Offered in 10 different colors (ipod mini has 5 available colors)
Removable and rechargable battery with 12 hours of playback to each one. (Comes with 2 batteries in the box. That's like 24 hours of continuous playback.) If you believe companies when they quote battery life of course. ipods do not have removable batteries and they last 8 hours.
Highest audio quality of any mp3 player according to Creative with a signal to noise ratio of up to 98dB.
Some come with a wired remote control, belt clip, and a stand.
Weighs 3.8 ounces. (ipod mini is less here at about 3 ounces)
List price is the same as an ipod mini at 249.99 USD but can be found cheaper.

Their flash memory players include the Creative Labs NOMAD MuVo TX FM 256 MB MP3 Player which has the same memory as the one you're looking at, has a built in FM radio tuner, and is priced at 90 USD on amazon.com.

Back to hard-drive players, you can find the creative zen xtra on amazon in 30GB for 197 USD, 40GB for 220 USD, and 60GB for 278 USD. The ipod may still be the standard, but it has some strong competition and it's getting harder and harder to justify the extra cost to get an ipod.

[GameMaster]

Originally Posted by Joeiss

Lol. I don't even know how to encode small or big, haha.

You don't really have to worry about that. If you're downloading songs off the internet, most of them are at a good, standard size. And if you're not sure, let your ears be the judge, if it sounds good, then just keep it. And if you end up ripping songs off your CDs to your computer to put on your MP3 player, the computer program should already be set to rip the stuff at good, standard size too. So you don't really have to do any encoding.

Later when you become more familiar with it or you turn into an audiophile, you might want to have all your songs encoded very high. It's kind of silly in my opinion though. I just think it wastes space.

[Stonecutter]

Originally Posted by jeepnut

it's getting harder and harder to justify the extra cost to get an ipod.

Scroll Wheel.

That's all you need to justify the extra cost.

[Joeiss]

Those Zen Micros look awesome! I just have to find a place where they sell them in Canada! lol.

I think it is now a battle between an iPod Mini, or a Zen Micros... still not too sure though.

[Acebot44]

Thanks for discussing this stuff guy's! I hadnt read this thread till now and, as luck would have it, I'm planning on getting an MP3 player for christmas too. Ordering a black Zen Micro from amazon right now

[Joeiss]

Did you order it yet? There is a HUGE con to it...

Thereis no volume control on the main unit... you have to go into the menu and change the volume... Which, in my opinion, is absolutely horrible, lol.

[Null]

Originally Posted by jeepnut

I've been intrigued by mp3 players as of late. As far as cheaper alternatives to the ipod go, the ones from Creative seem to impress me the most. They also make smaller flash memory players like the one you're looking at.

Zen Micro
http://www.creative.com/zenmicro/images/color_all1.jpg
http://www.creative.com/zenmicro/images/color_all2.jpg

5GB of space 2,500 songs at 64kbps or 1,250 songs at 128kbps. (ipod mini is 4GB)
Built-in radio tuner (Not standard on the ipod or the ipod mini)
Offered in 10 different colors (ipod mini has 5 available colors)
Removable and rechargable battery with 12 hours of playback to each one. (Comes with 2 batteries in the box. That's like 24 hours of continuous playback.) If you believe companies when they quote battery life of course. ipods do not have removable batteries and they last 8 hours.
Highest audio quality of any mp3 player according to Creative with a signal to noise ratio of up to 98dB.
Some come with a wired remote control, belt clip, and a stand.
Weighs 3.8 ounces. (ipod mini is less here at about 3 ounces)
List price is the same as an ipod mini at 249.99 USD but can be found cheaper.

Their flash memory players include the Creative Labs NOMAD MuVo TX FM 256 MB MP3 Player which has the same memory as the one you're looking at, has a built in FM radio tuner, and is priced at 90 USD on amazon.com.

Back to hard-drive players, you can find the creative zen xtra on amazon in 30GB for 197 USD, 40GB for 220 USD, and 60GB for 278 USD. The ipod may still be the standard, but it has some strong competition and it's getting harder and harder to justify the extra cost to get an ipod.

as always, it still depends on what you want to use em for. but i find it quite easy to justifity the price of an ipod. IMO they have the best sound quality, and its really the only mp3 player with all the addons... www.everythingipod.com just some of the addons and things you can get for em.
A radio feature is nice, however i have like 2000 - 3000 songs, i'd never use the radio part. (and theres an addon you can buy for that anyway.) i mean theres even an addon that turns the ipod into a camera i believe.


and ipod MINI has 8 hours of playback. Normal ipod has 12 hours of playback, and Ipod Photo has 15 hours of playback.

also, from reading reviews i hear that the Zen scroll touch is extremly too touchy. its hard to scroll up or down one song at a time. but that might of been an older version and they might of fixed that.

[Blackmane]

I have wanted an Ipod for a while now, but I don't have the cash for it. I might get it over the summer when I have some extra money working at my internship. I don't think I want to get any of the competitors either. I like Itunes and Apple seems to be the standard for the time being.

[DimHalo]

What about the Dell Jukebox? Is it a good one?

[Joeiss]

Apparently the Dell Jukebox is good, but still not quite up to the iPod level.

[Acebot44]

Originally Posted by Joeiss

Did you order it yet? There is a HUGE con to it...

Thereis no volume control on the main unit... you have to go into the menu and change the volume... Which, in my opinion, is absolutely horrible, lol.

Yeah, but I knew about it and it doesnt bother me. I'll be quick with the menu after a day or two

[Null]

Originally Posted by Acebot44

Yeah, but I knew about it and it doesnt bother me. I'll be quick with the menu after a day or two

just get a headset that has a volume control on the wire, and you just always leave the player as high as it goes. adjust volume with the headset

[Joeiss]

Originally Posted by Null

just get a headset that has a volume control on the wire, and you just always leave the player as high as it goes. adjust volume with the headset

Really? That is interesting... Could you perhaps provide me a link with such a headphone please?