[trane_fanatic]

I'm thinking about acquiring one, since target.com is offering, for a little while, a free Vivid 60 mini-speaker set with it for 2 bills. However, I saw there's a huge defective headphone jack issue with it on CNET and other places online. Anyone care to relate their experience with it? I mean, it does have an FM radio, removable battery and voice recorder, which the ipod does not and it's cheaper too.

[GA Russell]

Clave at AAJ had a bad experience with an mp3 player, and it might have been a Creative Zen, I don't remember. You might want to post there and ask her.

[rostasi]

Don't have that player - got an iAudio M3 that I've used for a couple of years.
The best place to check out DAPs is here:

DAP Review

Excellent site!

[BeBop]

I've got a Nomad (30GB) which I like. Apparently some of these have also suffered fromheadphone jack problems, but mine's been trouble-free. And I like it. It's a bit on the large side; the Micro is, of course, different in this respect. The Nomad software interface is great.

I only wish I got to use it more frequently.

[.:.impossible]

Out of curiousity, why are you looking for an alternative to ipod? ipod and itunes really are a nice combo. they make portable music so easy. i've had an ipod for a couple of years now and it has been through the ringer... snow in new hampshire numerous lift tickets, snow in colorado, fishing (salt water mind you), and now here at the beach. no problems. worth every penny and then some i think. i can't imagine having a different player. i've messed around with a couple of them at other people's houses, but they all seem less convenient. they are less popular for a reason. again, just curious. nothing against other brands, and i'm not trying to sell you an ipod, but i do think apple nailed it with this device.

[Alexander]

I'm very happy with my iPod. I've had it for months now, and the only problem I've had was solved by simply rebooting it. No music was lost.

I think its just backlash against a popular product. People see everybody walking around with those little white earbuds (which I hate, btw) and they don't want to join the herd. For myself, I just use my regular headphones (Sony MDR-CD180s) and chucked the earbuds. Even better, I hook my iPod up to my stereo and listen to it that way.

[Big Wheel]

I have the Zen Touch, used in combination with earphones similar to Alexander's model. It is definitely worth it for the lower price. The Zen Touch has no fancy recording/radio functions like the Micro, but it's great for loading lots of mp3s. Only real drawback is that the player will crash every month or two, requiring me to poke the reset button with a pin/paper clip. (No data is lost when I do this.)

[trane_fanatic]

.:.impossible, on Aug 18 2005, 08:38 PM, said:

Out of curiousity, why are you looking for an alternative to ipod? ipod and itunes really are a nice combo. they make portable music so easy. i've had an ipod for a couple of years now and it has been through the ringer... snow in new hampshire numerous lift tickets, snow in colorado, fishing (salt water mind you), and now here at the beach. no problems. worth every penny and then some i think. i can't imagine having a different player. i've messed around with a couple of them at other people's houses, but they all seem less convenient. they are less popular for a reason. again, just curious. nothing against other brands, and i'm not trying to sell you an ipod, but i do think apple nailed it with this device.

I actually admire Mr. Jobs' company. It's more for the reason that I really dig the extra features I previously mentioned and it's much cheaper overall. Other players are less popular than the Ipod IMO because of the Apple marketing machine and the hip factor, not for reasons of inferiority. I've gone over reviews from technical Websites and magazines and the other guys' MP3 players get nice ratings as well.

[Tom in RI]

I don't own an mp3 player but I did notice one recently (can't remember which one) that plays FLAC files, a great plus for people dl'ing from dimadozen ect. Were I to get one I'd look for that feature.

[andybleaden]

I have a creative Zen 30 gb jukebox thingy ......I hve to say it is the best gismo I have ever ever bought!

There you go could not get clearer than that!

:beee:

[mailman]

trane_fanatic, on Aug 18 2005, 05:02 PM, said:

I'm thinking about acquiring one, since target.com is offering, for a little while, a free Vivid 60 mini-speaker set with it for 2 bills. However, I saw there's a huge defective headphone jack issue with it on CNET and other places online. Anyone care to relate their experience with it? I mean, it does have an FM radio, removable battery and voice recorder, which the ipod does not and it's cheaper too.

I've had mine for about two months and so far I've had no problems. I am aware that some people have had headphone jack problems but so far (knock wood) mine is trouble free. :cool:

[RDK]

andybleaden, on Aug 26 2005, 12:42 AM, said:

I have a creative Zen 30 gb jukebox thingy ......I hve to say it is the best gismo I have ever ever bought!

Same here. :tup

[StormP]

The New Soundblasters X-FI (extreme fidelity) is out tomorrow.

Who will be the first to own one and report on it?

[Rob C]

I have had a 40 GB Nomad for a couple of years now, and I have been pretty happy with it. I was all about the space, and didn't want to pay iPod prices. Anyway, the only issues I've had are that it occasionally locks up when it's attached to the USB, and I have to turn the computer off to get it to unlock, and that the buttons on the right side occasionally seem to get their wires crossed--sometimes I press the rocker switch and it pauses. Or I have to hit the menu switch a couple of times to get it to read. This is an annoyance and worries me a little that they might stop working correctly entirely, but it doesn't seem to be getting worse....

Other than that, I've been quite happy with it, and haven't had any jack problems, at least!

[andybleaden]

Ah I thought that was just me...I forgot the locking...yeh that happens when I leave it plugged and charging for ages...not usually though.

I always get gizmo issues of some sort though and this one is relatively free of hassle....and I have really tanked it to death

Only just bough ta smaller one for my cycle to work as it was a little big and I did not need 300 lps for a 45 min bike ride...well maybe I did but I chose a 1 gb matchbox to supplement :D