Comments on: Ask the Readers: Which MP3 Player Should I Buy?

By: CristiP

CristiP — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:10:58 +0000

For me Samsung has the best sound..Just please listen to one!!!

By: murlidhar

murlidhar — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 03:16:55 +0000

since you said you need an audio player , i would suggest you Cowon iaudio 7 . Pretty decent backup with very good sound quality . I advise you to look for the reviews for it before considering it though .

By: Steven

Steven — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 13:39:22 +0000

I bought an Archos 605 wifi a few months ago & whilst I know there are a few problems like having to pay for the web browser plug-in (the new gen6 machines come with it for free), so far I’ve been loving it. The screen quality is amazing (800 x 480) & it’ll even play flv files. Music playback is good & it has an excellent picture browser/viewer. One can add widgets & flash games so all in all it’s a decent little machine.

By: DC

DC — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 01:32:26 +0000

I gotta agree with Susan. I’ve used the Sansa Connect and the Sansa e200 series and they are both great. True there’s not as much space as the Cowon but even Cowon’s website classifies the A3 as a PMP and not an MP3 player. The Sansa View has a decent size screen for a little player. Price is good too for what you get.

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 00:30:00 +0000

I love my zune. I bought the 30 Gig version on www.woot.com for 80 bucks, and I haven’t looked back. Nearly all the features of the new zunes are in my first-generation zune (except for the touch-pad and the bigger screen).

The biggest feature for me is the ability to download music from any wifi hotspot without having to plug it into a computer.

By: CO7DFiRE

CO7DFiRE — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 00:12:52 +0000

I prefer Zune or iPod……. Though I personally use an iPod….. :D

By: Susan

Susan — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 21:26:39 +0000

Zune is great, but for a wonderful compact player, SanDisk Sansa has my vote hands down.

By: yair

yair — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 20:56:57 +0000

rockbox looks amazing, i’ll def check it out.
i own a cowon A3, its not a music player. i love it, i use it to record videos, watch them (great screen res), move files (- its fat32 so no files bigger then 4gig and its usb1 dont belive the hype). its interface is stupid (i hate the tiny joystick), i think the next version will be touch, but mp3 players should be something you can navigate when in your pocket.
i would get a solid mp3 player, flash based if your physical.

By: Bob Shacklock

Bob Shacklock — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 20:07:37 +0000

I would get the iPod simply because I love my iPods. I agree iTunes kida sucks though. You don’t have to use iTunes, there are alternatives!

As for converting the video, are you really planning on watching video on that small screen? If you want to watch video, I suggest the iPod Touch or the Zune. I have a Touch and I realize it doesn’t have the size of the classic, but it is a super piece of hardware.

By: Ben

Ben — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 19:30:32 +0000

I say ipods and and I wouldn’t suggested ITunes but something better like amarok for windows when it is released as a stable version

By: Cindy

Cindy — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 18:42:11 +0000

I’ve had 2 Ipods, and would never, ever get one again, after my horrible experiences with the player itself (the 80GB), customer service, and of course, the infamous Itunes. Every time I tried to synch the Ipod, the songs would simply disappear, or there’d be some sort of error, and it was frustrating.

My oldest daughter had a Zune, she liked it, so I got one, too. And I’d never go back to the Ipod. I absolutely love the Zune (120GB). (I especially like the 14.99 a month or however much it is where I can download all the music I want. So I can’t keep it forever if I let the account lapse. At least it stays on the Zune, unlike the music I paid for that was supposed to stay on the Ipod!)

For videos, I just use freeware to convert whatever I want to play to the format Zune uses. It’s not difficult, and it’s exceptionally easy to add things, once they’re in the right format, to the Zune. I think, too, that there’s an automatic format now on the Zune, where if videos are in the wrong format, the Zune will fix them to be playable. But, I could be mistaken about that.

My youngest daughter has a Zen, and she loves that, too, though she keeps trying to steal my Zune. The Zen is so easy to set up, download music to, and it, like the Zune, is very easy to use with Audible.com if you like audio books.

By: Amos

Amos — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 18:41:21 +0000

As long as you’re happy with one machine, Zune, 100%.

Brilliant interface, smart and creative (if slightly sluggish) software, FM radio, latest X.X firmware updates, stable, strong and well-built, very good sound. Super should be able to encode any videos you want on there: http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html.

By: rockboxluvr

rockboxluvr — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 18:28:45 +0000

The only player worth owning is a player that can install Rockbox with minimal difficulty. Then you are in control of your hardware, and your range of playback and record formats has expanded tremendously.

By: garbanzo

garbanzo — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 18:25:19 +0000

i had an early archos, and it was good while it lasted, but they have always seemed kind of hacked together.

now i have an ipod and i love it. i would recommend an ipod over anything else. there is a reason they’re so popular you know…

By: Rogerebert

Rogerebert — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 18:23:37 +0000

I would go with the ipod and use winamp or mediamonkey to transcode your audio to the unit. That way you don’t have to use apple’s horid software and restrictive formats.

The ipod accessories alone make the choice easy. Too few options for the others. Get cheap docks, and speakers with the knowledge that you beat the apple man at his own game.

By: Mezan

Mezan — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 18:09:31 +0000

Ooops, sorry i addressed you, Cheryl as Martin, i noticed it just now. Sorry for overlooking that.

By: Mezan

Mezan — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 18:04:49 +0000

Hi Martin, you can try the Cowon Q5W, it is the best, 13.8cm tall, 2cm thick, weighs 380gms, it has insanely long list of features, in the box you get, a charger, IR remote, headphones, usb cable, video breakout cable, manual, software cd, even a wrist strap, it plays nearly every audio and video format under the sun, MP3,WMA,ASF,OGG,WAV,FLAC,APE,MPC,AVI(divx,xvid),ASF,WMV 7/8/9,MPEG 1/2/4,OGG etc, and many more, it supports Flash,JPEG,BMP,PNG,and even text files,built in FM,voice recorder, you can browse web by using its Wi-Fi b/g connection, you can plug in any usb storage device and read its contents! Long list, and it is truely a geek toy, and will make you (a technology lover ;-) ) happy!

By: Nicbot

Nicbot — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 17:27:34 +0000

I love the Zune, but don’t forget it’s lack of media player support. You can’t just plug it in to any media player and go…and that’s a huge downside IMHO.

By: Cheryl

Cheryl — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 17:19:11 +0000

Jon, I realize my description of the Zune is very small but the missing video support is a big drawback for me. A lot of my videos are divx/xvid encoded and if I can’t play them then the player isn’t much use to me. Another thing is that it doesn’t seem to support wav, flac, and ogg formats. I will admit that the Zune has an attractive price tag.

By: Max

Max — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 17:16:33 +0000

I have a Zen:M 60Gb for about 2 years and I really love it. go for the ZEN !

I also used it for watching DIVX on my TV and it was working with almost any divx (or other code) I threw in