[CamelBackCinema]

OK. I am going to buy a mp3 hard disk based player before college begins. I want to know which one I should get but I like so many of them, I dunno which one I want.

I will be using it at work so it needs to be durable. (Actually I will take good care of it so it doesn't matter). I need it to last the whole day because I have classes in the morning and then I work. I need something very portable and not bulky. I am not going to get an amp because I want to be portable as possible so it needs to have a good source headphone out/ line out. I dunno what headphones to buy but I know I am going to get canal phone. Prophonic, etymotic, shure... not sure yet. Depends on HD player I guess. I am looking for ease of use and comfort. I have about 3 or 4 gigs of music I cannot live without and about 10 that are just for ****s and stuff.

Which one would you choose and why?

 

[Achtunghoy]

Since you mentioned the phrase "not bulky", I ruled out the Karma immediately

Then I knew the Carbon is the sexiest, so you could impress your peers of the female persuasion. I consider most Rio products to have good sound, the battery will last you all day, you only need 4 gigs, so 5 should suffice. No lineout, though.

 

[Bolt San]

I'd get the Carbon too.
It seems like you probably go home every day so you can change it all the time, and it looks really hot.
Not that I'm attracted to DAPs...

 

[go_vtec]

Wait until you get to the college, 4-5 GB will not be sufficient

You will most likely get to interact with many people, which may change your musical preference or able to buy box full of CDs dirty cheap. You may find the extra space is always handy. I would vote for iPod 20GB or 40GB using education discount.

 

[terrymx]

i choose the archos gmini400. but my ihp120 is still great. i test the internal mic recording it at college orienteering today, very useful (althogh sound crappy and i prefer an external mic). also its easy to work with 1 hand.

 

[CamelBackCinema]

is directly from Rio the only reliable way to buy? I was wondering if there are any cheaper places.

 

[D-EJ915]

You can buy the Carbon from Best Buy, but it's the same price, and non LE.

 

[CamelBackCinema]

is rio known to be reliable in their products?

Anyways, a 4g 20 gig ipod with student discount + er6i would run up to around 450

 

[enzoferrari650]

Yeah i just got my ihp-140 and i love it so far.

 

[MrSlacker]

i voted for iRiver because i have mine since November and cant live without it. Great battery life, leather case, remote with LCD, all cables you need rea included. And worranty is amazing, sometimes they exchange even if its your foult!

 

[austonia]

Karma is the most advanced and capable unit with the best GUI. only fault is that it's not MSC and needs drivers to communicate with a PC. developers have new firmware on the way that will make it a MSC part. It's music library is organized by iD3-tags (browse by lists of Artist, Albums, Tracks, etc like iPod).

or, if you are the type that really prefers file/folder organization and navigation then the iRiver H120/140 would be better for ya.

 

[Megaman]

Although I'm really pissed on iRiver these days because of that whole firmware fiasco, I honestly still believe that the iHP-1xx is still the best DAP.

*Folder navigation (It also have tag navigation but It's half assed)
*UMS capabilities (no drivers required)
*Fully functional LCD remote
*Recording capabilities (internal/external mic, line/optical in)
*Optical ports
*Awesome build quality
*FM radio

You can't overlook these features. And despite what some people here say, using this player is a breeze. It's so ******* easy and intuitive that I honestly can't understand how people in their right mind will claim that it's not! Sure, some advanced features are not intuitive at all, but from the other hand other players don't even have those.

I don't know about the Karma.. It seems like a cool player, and I gave it a serious consideration when I did my research, but it's features just don't appeal to me as much as the iHP's. And it also seems like a very problematic player judging from the endless failure reports.. So I passed on it and bought the ihp-140. I'm very happy with the player, but I just hate iriver for not giving a sh&%!

 

[hugz]

i didn't vote because i dont know all of those players to recommend for you the BEST one out of the lot, but i did note that ipod had more votes over rio karma. you should note that the rio karma has both better battery life and sound than the ipod. ease of use is also better than the ipod. it's a shorter but fatter player than the ipod, so depending on you, it may have better or worse portability.

If you're thinking about checking out the ipod, i strongly recommend that you look for a rio karma instead. try one in your pocket, and as long as you dont find the size to be a huge problem, it may be worth buying. They're available for around $230 in america i beleive, so should be cheaper than ipod too (which may or may not be a factor).

They are, however, significantly uglier than the ipod.

Oh, and make sure you get an extended warranty. There is a small but existant issue with hard drive failure for rio karma, so it's recommended to get a 2 year extended warrenty (i think various places sell them for $20-30)

 

[CamelBackCinema]

So is the general consensus saying that the file branching the iriver hard disk player is outdated and that id3 tags are the way to go?

I really like both the ipod and iriver equally. Battery life might push me towards the iriver though. I will literally use it all day.

 

[wolfen68]

I think tags and file/folder tree are BOTH the way to go. Take your pick.

I use tags on my computer, but file/folder on my portable.

As an aside, I never understood the obsession with tags on a portable...as the search function is a little limited by not having a keyboard to quickly enter in search characters.

I guess it matters how organized you are.