[Stupor]

I plan on buying an mp3 player in two to three months during the Christmas shopping period. I would appreciate some help from all the pros here to pick one out.

My specifications:
-- ~5GB
- Compact and good looking (No ugly Creative Zen Micro)
- Cost less than $300CAD
- Reliable brand (no PNY et al)
- Good battery life
- Good navigation system
- Simple way to tranfer music

I do not need FM, photo, video or voice recording. I just want a music player. I would really love a player that has gapless playback. My first player was minidisc, so that is something I am used to.

Right now my choices are the iPod Mini (either generation), iRiver H10, and the Rio Carbon. Which one is best? Do anyone of them even do gapless? Or are there better choices?

Thanks for any help.

 

[notnormal]

If your buying a player in 2-3 months it might be best to wait till then, as new players may arrive on the market.

The closest current match I can think of is the Sony NWE-407. But it's only a 1 GB flash player and you have to use sonicstage. It supports gapless playback only via atrac.

 

[davidd]

none do gapless

the 2nd gen ipod mini, carbon, and H10 are all great players.

the Carbon and mini have better battery life than the h10, but the h10's is removable. the Carbon is drag and drop and self databases so you don't need to use any software like the other two players. so I'd get the Carbon myself

 

[MIKEp]

Have you ever seen a zen micro. I cant believe you would think it was ugly. It is one of the best looking players i have ever seen, there's other colours than red.

 

[blr]

I have a 6 Gig H10 and so far have been qite happy with it. I had to decide beween H10 and Zen Micro and finally decided on H10 for 3 main reasons: more powerful headphone amp, better screen and reported user problems with the nicro headphone output breaking easily.
If I have to say something negative about H10 it would be battery life. Despite what Iriver claims in real life I haven't been able to get more than 8 hours of playback (playing 192kbs and VBR files, at volumes 20-30 and using the screen from time to time). I may consider purchasing a second battery.
Soundwize the H10 is quite nice. Paired with PortaPro it delivers clean and punchy sound.

 

[Stupor]

Thanks for the suggestion blr. After searching over the internet, I have settled on the Rio Carbon. The way I see it, there are four players in this niche:

Creative Zen Micro - It seems like a very good from all the reviews I read, but as I said previously, I find it very ugly, and that is a deal breaker for a player in this niche (others may feel differently, but this is just my personal preference)
iPod Mini - Everyone has/wants one, and I guess I am too snobbish for it

iRiver H10 - Mostly a good player, but subpar battery life and asinine button placement
Rio Carbon - Sleek, beautiful, and with great battery life. There are no extra features to speak of, but I do not need them anyway. The one bad thing against it is the three-months warranty, but since my credit card doubles it, six months should give me plenty of time to find any problems.

 

[blessingx]

It's good to start looking now, but as others have said there may be new players/models on the market by then. At the very least your faves Apple and Creative will have them. Not sure about iRiver and iAudio.

 

[GSTom1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stupor Rio Carbon - Sleek, beautiful, and with great battery life. There are no extra features to speak of, but I do not need them anyway. The one bad thing against it is the three-months warranty, but since my credit card doubles it, six months should give me plenty of time to find any problems.

With Rio Audio going kaput, will new Carbons still be coming out? Will new and existing warranties be honored?

Just curious...

 

[Stupor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GSTom1 With Rio Audio going kaput, will new Carbons still be coming out? Will new and existing warranties be honored? Just curious...

Rio will stop making them at the end of September I think. Existing warranties will probably not be honored, thought that is up to the main company, Digital Networks.

I figure if there are problems with my player, they will show either within a month, when it is still covered by Best Buy, or within half a year, when it is covered by my credit card (because it doubles the three-months warranty). If you are not happy with that, you can always buy an extented warranty from Best Buy (or wherever you buy it from).