[srozzman]

.. or any others you can think of. I want a hard drive player, and will be saving over the summer to get one. what are your recomendations? All my music is in 192 VBR LAME MP3, but i will re rip my library in .WAV when i get the hard drive player that you will help me choose

 

[Dragon Rider]

First decide whether you are willing to submit yourself to the limitations of a closed echosystem player. If not, then you have already eliminated 2 out of 3. The ZVM is a great player, as is the Toshiba and some others that I'm less familiar with. The Zen is so cheap right now that could pick one of those up, and plan to buy something new next year.

 

[rockin_amigo14]

i assume sound quality is your highest priority?

under this condition, you also need to decide how much you plan to upgrade in the future. are you going to use a minimalist setup, only with headphones from the headphone jack? the Zune easily trumps the other two in headphone-out quality.

however, the iPod's sound from its line out is very good, and can sound great with external amp's.

the ZVM has decent sound, but mainly it's just cheap and has decent video support.

 

[wgr73]

Yes, i have both the zv:m and the zune. Once you get past te zune software being hard to deal with the zune is a better player. I do love both, but my zune will get most of my ear

Also get a good video converter if you plan on watching videos. Cucusoft makes a very good zune encoder.

 

[Hanafuda]

if youre saving up over the summer and the ipod is on your list, hold out until September cuz its VERY likely a new ipod will be announced then.

I just bought a Zune that' being delivered tomorrow

, because the SQ from the headphone jack is purportedly superior to the ipod's (you can check this here in about a thousand diff threads). The ipod can sound as good using the line-out signal from the dock slot, but that's a lot of money on top of the initial purchase - line-out cable + amp = $$$. Also, I don't have any plans to buy drm'd music from M$'s Marketplace or Apple's iTunes, but if I was planning to buy music online, I probably would've gone with the ipod.

As for the ZVM, a lot of folks are very happy with them, but I've also encountered many references to the headphone jack shorting out or going loose ... of course those affected are the most vocal, but the Zune's built by Toshiba and I expect it'll be top-notch buildwise.

 

[srozzman]

i am not planning to buy music online. Also, are the current ipods as "flat" sounding as the 4th generation?

 

[wgr73]

I had a 5G ipod 60gb and the sound sucked unamped ( I never tried the lineout + amp)! On top of that the headphone jack crapped out on me 4 days after the 1 year warranty was up. Go figure...That is why I will never buy another ipod again. Though I do still have a 1G Nano, which with rockbox sounds a lot like my Zen V:M(thats a good thing!).

 

[pheonix991]

I say zune. My sister has a ZVM, and lets just say we had to warranty it a month after she got it....t

 

[Norman Hunter]

I have had mine since last autumn and use it for listening to music not to watch videos. I think the sound is really robust straight out of the headphone jack. I don't remember if it supports .WAV or not but at just 192 kbps generic MP3 it really sounds very good. They are getting to be a bit less than the $250 list now at many stores. edit: No .WAV playback

 

[srozzman]

can you describe "robust" for me? oh, and my current headphones are KSC 75; UR 40; and JVC FX 33

 

[lt.milo]

its been said before, the zune is the best bet.
If I hadnt gotten a zune, I would have looked at one of the archos players. I am listing to mine right now, and the sq is just great.

 

[PrototypeX2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by srozzman /img/forum/go_quote.gif can you describe "robust" for me? oh, and my current headphones are KSC 75; UR 40; and JVC FX 33

I think he means robust as in strong and clear output from the h/o. It'll drive all 3 of your cans very easily and nicely.

 

[3X0]

If I had to choose again, I'd probably get the Zune (then again it doesn't work with Linux

).

I'm particularly fond of DAPs with strong headphone-outs as they can be amped handily and still perform very well without the need of a $$$ line-out dock.

 

[srozzman]

another question - does the newest firmware update rid of the slow menu transitions on the zune?

 

[escher]

I can't give any advice on one or the other as i don't own one, but i'm in the same position as you (I'm looking for a hard drive based mp3 player that i can use my best buy gift certificates to purchase).

I'm leaning towards the Zune because:
- although it's slightly larger than the ipod, it's not much of an issue with me. It's roughly the same size as the zv:m
- good sound quality from headphone out
- no need for an external amplifier to sound good (i don't use portable amplifiers)
- although the software sucks, it's passable for just manual sync of music
- battery life isn't that important to me as i plan on having it plugged in most of the time (home/work/car). It just needs enough battery to last through airplane rides/workouts/etc.
- big screen

my biggest cons right now:
- concern about battery life
- price
- supporting microsoft (i kid, i kid, although i do use linux at work a lot, hrm...)