I need a new mp3 player

[Sindo]

So I'm tired of using my phone for music. Now I've always been a Zune guy, but I'm kinda hesitant to pick one up now, with WP7 and all. And as much as I hate Apple, I'm considering picking up an iPod Touch. I have an Android phone, so it'd be nice to have something on the other side.

 

Anyways, I'd like for you guys to recommend your favorite players. I'm looking for something with a relatively large capacity. I'd like to have 64GB, but I'll probably end up getting 32.

[hatch]

have you used the zune software before? because I absolutely hate it even tho I like my zune for anything that doesn't involve me working out. I got one of the bigger 30gb ones from before the hd and it is tough as nails but a little awkward. but seriously the software, ugh. microsoft wants me to install silverlight now to be able to access parts of it that used to be available with no fuss

[Heartless]

I hate iTunes, but I love my iPod Classic. I don't even know what to do with all the storage space. Sometimes I just hold it at night and stare at it and wonder.

 

Also I used to have a Creative Zen: Vision M and I really liked it, but I'm not sure how those hold up with the newer models.

 

iPod Touch is a good choice, too.

[Sindo]

@hatch I haven't used the Zune software in a few years now. And I'm not too keen on installing Silverlight. hmm

 

@heart I hate iTunes too, but I'm willing to use it for sync. I like the classic for storage. I have loooots of music. But I think I'll be fine with 32 or 64. I'm leaning more towards a touch than a classic.

[hatch]

I mean I can still sync/play music with my zune and no silverlight so it isn't a gamebreaking thing but if you think the zune profiles and shit like that is interesting those won't work. I'm not sure about wireless syncs without silverlight

[c hoertjes]

I've got one of the iPod Touch models and it owns, so I'm sure the newest ones are totally boss.

[deanb]

I've had a Sansa (Fuze I think) for a while. It's served me well, no frills player.

Currently using my Android phone with the Winamp app. Kinda sweet but I think now the weather has hit and I'm using gloves I'll have to go back to the Fuze.

The Touch might be overkill if you just want music. Seems now they have the iPod and the iPhone and neither are for phones or..pods, more for the random apps n such.

So if you want random apps, iPod could be okay. You'll end up with having to use iTunes though.

 

So yeah, Apps or no frills?

[c hoertjes]

What's so bad about iTunes? I love it.

[hatch]

for me it's that it comes with quicktime

[Sindo]

Idk. I don't really need apps (I have a Droid), but I still kinda want a touch. Maybe it's for the casual games. You're right though. I have access to apps on my phone, so it'd be sorta pointless. I seem to have a dilemma here.

[hatch]

my music library isn't that big (maybe like 9 gb) so for awhile I just used the grooveshark app for my bb. it costs like $3/month to stream on mobile devices, free otherwise, and you can make playlists of seemingly infinite length. so I would build a playlist at work on the desktop and have like 400 song playlists on my phone at any time. there's never been something I've searched for on grooveshark and not found since its userbase is the one that uploads everything

[superfrogsavestokyo]

Got a Zune HD at the moment and it's alright. I refuse to pay for the Zune pass though. Don't use Zune social either.

 

I tend to use it for podcasts and music.

[c hoertjes]

If my phone had a better battery I would probably just use it, but as it stands my iPod Touch lasts for really long road trips.

[Sindo]

I have a good ~90GB of music without all my FLAC stuff. But I go through phases, so I'm thinking 32 will be enough.

 

@clown I hate how iTunes forces Apple shit on my system. I don't want Quicktime and the other stuff. Not only that, but it likes to be a resource hog.

[c hoertjes]

I'm still amazed at people who have that much music. I have like 14GB and honestly can't think of anything I'm missing.

[hatch]

I used to wonder but I have friends who are like "oh I like that stp song I think I'll download the entire discography" while I'm just like I like that song I will get that song only

[deanb]

Yeah I think it's folks who grab whole discographies. See one Elvis song they like, may as well grab the entire torrent.

Personally my main collection hovers around the 3-4GB range. Not much of a music hound, if I just like one song in an album, that's all I'll get. My collection has stayed pretty static now I use Spotify for most things. I guess if I take Spotify into account I probably have quite a bit more than 4GB.

[Chronixal]

I might have to start looking for a decent mp3 player also soon. I currently run all my music off my iPhone and often connect it to my car stereo via USB but with each subsequent firmware update, Apple seem to make playback and even basic connectivity worse and worse. It's a sodding joke.

[iLjaG]

I would never buy an iPod again after owning one. I have one and I really don't like it. I hate iTunes. I hate Apple's software. I hate that it's so fucking difficult for me just to update the thing. I hate that iTunes is functionally retarded and can't auto detect what song you just put into your library. I hate that, because of that, you have to manually label every fucking song you own. I also hate that there's labels and sublabels that separate your tracks into the wrong categories and makes 1/2 your shit redundant when you're trying to label it. I hate how ridiculously fucking difficult it is to do even the simplest task, like forming a new playlist. I hate that you can't make sub genres within genres to separate your library, or that you can't classify songs with multiple genres. SORRY. YOU CAN HAVE METAL OR YOU CAN HAVE DEATH METAL AND SYMPHONIC METAL, BUT YOU CAN'T HAVE DEATH AND SYMPHONIC BOTH LISTED UNDER A GENERAL METAL CATEGORY. OH, AND DON'T TRY TO LIST A SYMPHONIC METAL SONG AS SYMPHONIC AND POWER METAL, CUZ WE DON'T LET YOU DO THAT EITHER.

 

I haven't added anything new to my iPod in ~3 months now because I refuse to download iTunes again. I don't want to reformat my entire song library just to make it work on my player. I don't want to download Quicktimes and every apple program ever just to have iTunes. I don't want to convert every song I own just to work on an iPod. I don't want to waste 20 fucking minutes syncing my iPod to my PC just to add 1 new song. Everything about it is a mess. Find something not caught in Apple's grip of suck and fail and go with that. I hear good things about the Zune. Try that. It can't be worse than a fucking iPod.

[Sindo]

Yeah I'm one of those who downloads full discographies. But I LOVE music. I have it on almost constantly. And I generally like artists more than songs. Sure I like some songs more than others, but I enjoy listening to almost everything by artists I like. And It doesn't help that I have a very wide taste in music.

[c hoertjes]

I've literally never had any of those problems. It takes maybe 2 minutes to sync my iPod touch. Also, every song I've put into iTunes it has recognized right away.

[Chronixal]

I just use TransManager for all my syncing and whatnot mainly because like you said, unlike iTunes, it just works. In fact, with a slight trick or two you can completely get rid of itunes and use it as a standalone.

[iLjaG]

My biggest complaint (of all those listed), is probably labeling songs. First, they have like 3 different labels for who performs the song. So if you list the artist as, say, Lady GaGa, it might be in a different Lady GaGa than your other Lady GaGa music, because your other Lady GaGa songs only has 1 of the performer labels filled out, but this one has all of them. So you look at your library and you wanna listen to Lady GaGa, but you've got 10 fucking Lady GaGas all listed on your player. And if one is spelled Lady GaGa (2nd G capitalized) and the other is spelled Lady Gaga (lower case), that's ANOTHER fucking degree of separation. WHY?

 

But you'd think with such complexities, there'd be a lot of options. But not when it comes to genre! A song can be 1 genre and 1 genre alone. As mentioned, there's no sub genres. Nor can you categorize the same song as multiple genres (Lady GaGa could be dance or pop, but not both). This means you have to make playlists if you really want to break down your library into manageable chunks. Unfortunately, making a playlist is like pulling teeth on Windows. Why? Why is making a playlist difficult? It's just . . . ugh. Fuck.

 

I guess not everyone has a 10,000+ song, 30+ gig library of music they need to manage, but for me, the lack of organization features is crippling.

[Sindo]

I don't use iTunes so no idea how my library would end up there.

[iLjaG]

If you buy an iPod, you'll have to use iTunes and it will rape format and import your library in whatever fashion it damn well pleases.