[Damage]

Been arguing with myself to get one or something else (HiMDs, Flash, miniHD players all come to mind). My cursory research has lead me to believe that certain players fill certain criteria a bit better than others.

If I can sum it up:

Features: Rio Karma. Somewhat distant 2nd places: iHP family and Nomad.

Codec Support: Rio Karma and iHP. Karma has the edge with more codecs out of the box (OGG and FLAC).

Sound Quality: Creative Nomad Xtra seems to have an edge, Rio Karma was was touted. iPod and iHPs also are reported to have good sound quality as well.

Budget wise: Creative Nomad Xtra

Oldie bug goodie: Creative Nomad Jukebox 3 (eBay)

Looks: iPod

Easy to Use/Ergonomics: iPod, then Karma?

Money to burn: iPod

Note: This was supposed to be a reply to a previous thread somewhere, but I musta pressed the wrong button. Ah well.

 

[ProFingerSk8er]

i believe feature wise iHP tops Karma, other then that your list seems just about right

 

[Damage]

Well, I say for the features (excluding codec), the two are fairly even. But, I'd say Karma gets a little more in the plus area thanks to its ethernet jack and perhaps a slightly better ergonomics (which I should've added, then iPod would win handily, I think). The two units are tempting me to splurge however. Then there is that whole Hi-MD thing as well, which would nicely supplement my meager MD/ATRAC collection...

It's going to be hard the next few weeks.