Is any mp3 player more user-friendly than the Ipod?

[aeriyn]

iPod DRM? What DRM? o.o

Maybe what the iPod does with AAC could be considered DRM, but compared to what I used to use (Sony products) the iPod has zero DRM minus one.

 

[skitlets]

I had the old dell DJ15 and now have the iPod, and I find the Dell easier to use. Although the iPod has a faster scroll-wheel, it has no dedicated button to return to the MAIN menu. The Dell, on the other hand, has both a main menu button and a back button, though its scroller wasn't as fast as the Apple's.

 

[thaX]

I agree, the iPod by far is the easiest to pick up and just "use". On the other extreme I recieved an Original 6gig Creative Nomad for Christmas in 2000 from my GF. With 5gig of mp3's, it took 45-60 seconds to boot and it was impossible to set play lists and find anything on. But it did come with 4 NiMH 1500mah AA batteries that I put to good use in other devices

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Good luck with your pre-holiday search.

 

[MartinJ]

Rio Karma was great, maybe even better, and it also had an ID3 tag database. That is coming from an current iPod owner. Both are so easy that it does not matter at all.

 

[meithkiller]

I've had MP3 players by Rio (x2) and Samsung, as well as my 40 GB 4G iPod. My iPod was by far the easiest to use and hook up to my PC. I ended up looking in the manual for a couple of minutes for some of the more advanced features, but for just basic stuff like transferring and listening to music, it was very easy to figure out on my own.

-Keith

 

[milamber]

yeah i'd say the ipod was probably the easiest to use but not by much though compared to a karma.. ipod is pretty much idiot proof and this is coming from a karma user!

 

[Ojjorz]

I think the Carbon is as easy to use as the Ipod Mini at least. A friend of mine owns a Mini and I own a Carbon, we both find them on the same lvl ease-of-use-wize. Nice thing about the Carbon is that it has a database program that does the same as Itunes, but you don't need software to load music.

The controls are all precisely on the right place if you hold the player in your hand, nice design!

 

[Oddball]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wabbajack Thanks for the replys. A lot more Ipod votes. Any second opinions on the Rio Karma or Carbon? Just Curious. Thanks again!

IMO, the Carbon is easy to use, but if your mother has sight problems like my mother does, then you might want to go with a different player, since the Carbon's text size is smaller than the iPod's. I think you should just go with the iPod for your mom....it's an excellent DAP for users not looking for every single feature available. I never had problems with my iPod's DRM interfering with user-friendly goodness. The circular scroll pad is unmatched, in my experience.

If you do get a DAP, no matter which, get a reliable extended warranty! I've known two iPods (including mine) that have broken after a year! Icky.

 

[hugz]

I find rio karma very easy to use.

For demonstration, my dad got a new karma in america (i'm australian) and by himself he installed the software etc, transfered songs, and listened to it. He's in his 50s. So if a middle aged man can use it without worry (or manual) then it's pretty easy

 

[KenW]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wabbajack Thanks for the replys. A lot more Ipod votes. Any second opinions on the Rio Karma or Carbon? Just Curious. Thanks again!

Gimme until the day after Christmas and I can give you some feedback. I've set up two iPods for the kids and I've also had extensive experience with Creatives software. Dear ol' dad is getting the Karma or Carbon for a gift so it won't take long to load it up and put it through it's paces against the iPod's in the house along with my trusty Nomad Jukebox.

 

[Thisp]

I think the Rio Karma is easier. I had everything learned and working *immediately*, the scroll wheel and stick work perfectly with the menu. I tried an iPod mini once and I didn't like it as much. scroll wheel > click wheel.

Here's a gallery of the Karma's GUI - it really couldn't be easier.

Just don't tell anyone it took me twenty minutes to find the power button.

I had an iRiver CD player. I can see why people would consider them 'hard' to use. It actually takes five minutes of fiddling with the interface to understand how to use it, so if you're buying for the brainless music enthusiast, perhaps iRiver isn't the best choice.

The Karma and the iPod are easy enough for *anyone* to use, so it shouldn't be a factor. I think anyone can use an MP3 player and figure out how to tweak its settings, if they dedicate ten minutes to sitting down and learning it.

 

[HD-5000]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrSlacker quoted for truth. i have h120 and i learned how to use everything in 5 minutes and it has a LOT of fetures. when i played with my friend's ipod, i was like "how the hell do i ****" i couldnt figure out anything. and i am the guy that never opens manual unless i spend 2 hours trying to figure something out. i learn how to use most electronic devices in a very short period of time without manuals. but with ipod i needed a manual to figure out how to see your library. help this helps

 

[mdolton]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrSlacker quoted for truth. i have h120 and i learned how to use everything in 5 minutes and it has a LOT of fetures. when i played with my friend's ipod, i was like "how the hell do i ****" i couldnt figure out anything. and i am the guy that never opens manual unless i spend 2 hours trying to figure something out. i learn how to use most electronic devices in a very short period of time without manuals. but with ipod i needed a manual to figure out how to see your library. help this helps

Wow.

I found the ipod ui to be extremely intuitive, I had it figured out within a few minutes. The clickwheel can't be beat, in my opinion. I can get to any of my music in seconds with it, which I can't say for any other DAP I've tried. Other players may have it beat for size/price/features, but the ipod wins hands down in terms of the whole experience (extremely subjective, of course!).

 

[MrSlacker]

well i had IMP 350 before h120 so i knew how to use it. with ipod i just couldnt get it. may be because i am so used to iriver. but one thing is true, the ipod's scroll wheel is much better than iriver's joystick.

 

[mavis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdolton Wow. I found the ipod ui to be extremely intuitive, I had it figured out within a few minutes. The clickwheel can't be beat, in my opinion. I can get to any of my music in seconds with it, which I can't say for any other DAP I've tried. Other players may have it beat for size/price/features, but the ipod wins hands down in terms of the whole experience (extremely subjective, of course!).

Agreed. With about 2200 songs in my library right now, I can find ANY of them within about ten seconds, using the clickwheel - I really think that's hard to beat ... The iPod's UI is ingenious.