Closest to my Dream Player?

[fncll]

Looking for an hd player with at least 20gb

It must:
* Connect as a drive (not demand special drivers)
* Play mp3s of all stripes (vbr, etc)
* Have a line-out
* USB 2.0
* Decent navigational interface for playing not just straight through, but playlists/shuffle-- at the very least it should play by album and shouldn't stop at the end of each album like my Rio Nitrus does

It'd be nice if it had:
* FLAC playback
* gapless playback!
* Firewire
* Enough drive to power my real Grado 80s without an amp
* removable battery
* charge with wall charger (not just USB)

It'd be REALLY nice if it had:
* FM radio
* Audio recording
* WMA Playback

Looks like the iRiver H3xx series or the Rio Karma are probably the best matches (none of them does everything

. I absolutely hate having to work through the RIO Music software for loading, but I can deal with it if necessary. It looks like I'd have to spend 100 extra bucks to charge off anything but the USB with the iRiver?

Any other players I should be looking at?

 

[Vashin]

Well, the iriver comes with a wall adapter. You may also want to take a look at the iaudio X5.

 

[blessingx]

Looks like the Karma from your list.

Couple questions though...
Does line-out mean on the player?
Do you want WMA codec support or RMA WMA (Rhapsody, etc.) playback?

 

[fncll]

Line out on the player or some kind of dock is fine...
by WMA just the codec-- I don't deal with any DRM music at all

I am concerned about the Karma's HD instability... a lot of people seem to have their drives go bad, and I've gone through a few RIO Nitrus units myself...

 

[Girdag]

HD instability can be a problem, but is not much more than others. I think ~1% of Karma's have problems. But, as its so cheap now, you can afford a 3 year warranty and still be cheaper than most other players. Only thing is the need for RMM, but I have found it very easy to use, possibly the most simple of any transfer mechanism. And the Karma has a GREAT UI, and is one of the few players that can do gapless and FLAC.

 

[dommica]

Creative Zen seems right for you... although im not sure it matches ALL ur criteria... my muvo 4gb comes up as an external hard disk.. so theres no reason the zen shouldn't!
Dom

 

[stargirl]

Does the Karma come up as an external hard drive (without drivers)?

And just to clarify - iPod comes up as external hard drive for files,
but only iaudio and iriver can move music without drivers/installing a program....right?

 

[IstariAsuka]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fncll I am concerned about the Karma's HD instability... a lot of people seem to have their drives go bad, and I've gone through a few RIO Nitrus units myself...

The Karma is not the greatest product as far its HDD goes, but its apparently still far better than the Nitrus was, as the Nitrus used a really crappy Cornice drive.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Girdag I think ~1% of Karma's have problems.

Apparently that is just the percentage of Karma owners that have called in to Rio with some problem. The actual number is therefore presumbly a fair bit higher.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Girdag But, as its so cheap now, you can afford a 3 year warranty and still be cheaper than most other players.

Yup, it really is an extraordinary deal. You get a nice player, with a longer warranty than other players, for cheaper. In fact, it's doubly good, in that if you're extremely pessimistic you can think of it as an investment; assuming your Karma dies in a year or so, it'll be replaced by its successor--for free! So, for a total price of less than 2/3rds the cost of an iPod, you get both the Karma AND the next generation Rio player.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Girdag And the Karma has a GREAT UI, and is one of the few players that can do gapless and FLAC.

The UI really is fantastic, and gapless playback is perfect if you did your encoding correctly. FLAC playback is also very nice, and it of course plays back FLAC gaplessly as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by stargirl Does the Karma come up as an external hard drive (without drivers)?

No.

Quote:

Originally Posted by stargirl only iaudio and iriver can move music without drivers/installing a program....right?

The Rio Carbon and its spawn also do this--they are the only tag-based DAPs able to do so, as far as I know.

 

[GSTom1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by stargirl Does the Karma come up as an external hard drive (without drivers)?

No, you need drivers for the Rio Karma and the Creative Zen.

 

[Damage]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fncll Looking for an hd player with at least 20gb

You might have better luck looking for a Korean brand players, such as Cowon's iAudio line vs. Rio or other HD DAPS. Very few new HD-DAPs come drag and drop, but from what I recall, the iAudio does facilitate drag and drop (?) as does the first generation iRiver HD DAPs.

Be aware though, one of the iAudio (M5 was it?) has no LCD on unit and requires an in-line remote for navigation.

 

[stargirl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GSTom1 No, you need drivers for the Rio Karma and the Creative Zen.

so just to clarify - for myself and others who get confused..
As far as 20GB players go...

Players that don't need drivers to move files, but do need a program to move music - iPod

Players that need drivers and a program to move music and files - Karma, Zen Touch, Sony HD3, Dell DJ

Players that don't need either drivers or a program to move music and files - iAudio m3 and iRiver H series

 

[rab10]

Stargirl, you have it correct. However, if your primary computer runs any Windows OS, you might need a software driver for the IPOD (plus ITUNES or Musicmatch Software to load the IPOD.)

The iRiver H3xx series has most of the capabilities that you are asking for, (except it doesn't play FLAC lossless format, and DOES NOT HAVE gapless playback, no Firewire interface, and no removable battery.) There is an
external battery case for the iRiver players to extend the player past 20
hours of usage (the same as IPOD.)

As Damage stated, the Cowon iAUDIO (current) M3 Player, and the soon to be released iAUDIO X5 DAP are very good players also. The M3 might drop lower in price once the X5 is released, and the iRiver H3XX are not that expensive as they were when they were first released.

Can't go wrong with either iRiver or Cowon iAudio, but also look into the Apple iPod, Rio Karma, Sony and/or Creative DAPs as they are good also. Depends
on what features you want the most, and how much software you want to
deal with while working with your soon to be DAP.

There is nothing like the speed of connecting your DAP to ANY Computer,
the DAP being recognized as an external hard drive, and drag and dropping
new files onto the player without any software dependence other than my windows explorer.

Good Luck!

 

[IstariAsuka]

Quote:

Originally Posted by stargirl so just to clarify - for myself and others who get confused.. Players that need drivers and a program to move music and files - Karma, Zen Touch, Sony HD3, Dell DJ

I think that none of those require drivers, just programs; just to clarify.

 

[stargirl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IstariAsuka I think that none of those require drivers, just programs; just to clarify.

Really?
I just re-discovered the dapreview database thing ( http://www.dapreview.net/comparisons/compared.html ) and that's what I interpreted from it...

So are you saying the iPod, Karma, Touch, Dell DJ and HD3 can move FILES without installing drivers on the computer? For example - If i wanted to get a word document from my friends computer - I could plug in any of the above players and move it to home without having drivers installed on eitehr computer? (not playing tunes is a given - i know all the above need programs to manage music - only iaudio and iriver can move music and play them right away as far as the larger harddrive players go)

I went through the database a few times and I thought the iPod was the only thing that could.
maybe someone else can clarify?

btw - it wasn't me who made this first post, I just happened to notice "drag and drop" was a want for him and it's one of my top wants as well so. yeah. my birthday is coming up and my minidisc player is getting tired...=) hehe.

 

[IstariAsuka]

Quote:

So are you saying the iPod, Karma, Touch, Dell DJ and HD3 can move FILES without installing drivers on the computer?

Yes. You do not need DRIVERS. However, you do have to have the appropriate programs installed in order to do so. For example, to transfer files with the Karma, you need Rio Taxi. With the HD3, you need Sonic Stage. You'll need these programs on both computers.

The iPod requires neither programs nor drivers in order to transfer files, it works as a mass storage device.

And yes, the iRiver and iAudio players can trasfer music without either, as they are directory based players.

Note that you can transfer music on all of the above, of course, just that music will not be available for play. Like, you can drag a music file onto the iPod just like any other file, and then drag it off again at your friends house. However, you will not be able to play that song on the iPod.

Of course, with the iPod you can use 3rd party programs that allow you to upload the music you've put on the iPod using iTunes onto another computer, but that's another matter. (Requiring programs!!)