[inukage0029]

I am in the process of updating my music library, so now is the perfect time for me to take a good hard look at this question: Do i still want an ipod?

I have been using ipod since they first came out, and they have been my only mp3 player. But now that i am wiping the slate clean, i want to know if i should break free from itunes and move on to something else.

Back in the day, there were no really good replacements for the apple products. Nowadays, however, it would appear that there are all kinds of potentials.... Sansa, Cowon, to list a few. I am sorry to say that i dont know that much about any of these companies though, so that is where my fellow head-fiers come in.

Do you think i should switch? If so, what should i switch to? I want a lot of space, so theres always the Zune, i like style, so theres the S9. But above all, i want quality. Some of these have line outs, most only headphone outs. I want the ones that will give the best quality with an amp, whether it be from mini-mini or LOD, like an ipod. If i stick with apple, i would go with a classic, not imodded because i don't have the money.

My wallet consists of... well... whatever it takes, but it goes without saying that cheaper is better as long as i dont sacrifice on quality. I dont need gimmicks, such as those on the itouch, i just want good, clean, high quality music.

I also want a player that will continue to be supported. One thing apple gives you is a customer service that you know will always be around.

Thanks in advance for the help and your time.

 

[Oya?]

How important is gapless playback to you?

 

[Navyblue]

I was asking myself to apple or not to apple a while back. I wanted a high capacity player, and hate touch interface. My main candidates were:

iPod Classic 120
Pretty, solidly build, with line out. All is good, but just wasn't so thrilled about the sound when I tried it.

Sansa Fuze
I could live with the size when expanded with with micro SD. With line out but I didn't know back then. What stops me from getting it is the lack of prettyness. (I admit that I am shallow

)

Zune 120
I'm not a fan of Microsoft and proprietory format. No line out. Quite pretty looking in both appearance and user interface, large capacity, reportedly sounds good.

Sony S series
I liked all aspects of my Sony A series,except for the size, unable to play any lossless format and the lack of line out. I know what to expect.

In the end I got the Zune 120 against my better judgement, mainly because of it isn't available locally and it'd be cool to have one

(ok, I'm really shallow) But I'm glad that I ended up with the Zune, so glad that I think I am getting rid of my amp. All along I use an amp whenever I can with my Sony, I think with my W3 and ER-4P they actually sound better unamped. I think that says something about how much I liked the sound.

All in all I'm glad that I didn't apple.

 

[plonter]

to apple!

 

[btnh47]

to apple!

 

[yeahx]

In short, what Onya? said.

I just went through this. But no one else wanted my money enough to try implementing gapless playback after all these years. I felt forced by their lack of efforts. Oh well maybe next time if they care and can figure out something homebrew hackers seem to do just fine. Not saying Rockbox devs are not good coders, but the pros being paid should do better. And it might bother you more than you think. Some people are fine without gapless. Others like me are driven crazy, and it's just not worth it. I really wanted to try one of the "better" sounding players too.

 

[fameh]

I think you should go to a S9, no doubt. I think that the optical line-out is SO important. You can always use a DAC/amp combo which will be better than the DAC of the apple one plus an external amp.
There is some model of Iriver too with optical, look at the forums, i think its HP-120 or something like that.

Fuzes are very nice, accept external cards and they have great SQ.

 

[pata2001]

To me, gapless playback trumps anything, so to Apple. (Zune gapless playback is only reliable with wma).

 

[davidhunternyc]

I just got a 160GB iPod Classic for Christmas. It took be a while to rip my CD's to my hard drive so I just started using my iPod a couple of weeks ago. I just noticed a buzzing through my earbuds and thought that the earbuds were at fault. Apple replaced them overnight. Unfortunately the problem still persists and the latest from Apple is that they are going to give me a brand-new iPod. We will see. Whatever you decide, if you get an Apple, you must purchase the Apple Care Protection Plan. Then your iPod will be covered for up to two years.

 

[Buckster]

the S9 has Optical out ?

party time - didn't realise that

Quote:

Originally Posted by fameh /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think you should go to a S9, no doubt. I think that the optical line-out is SO important. You can always use a DAC/amp combo which will be better than the DAC of the apple one plus an external amp. There is some model of Iriver too with optical, look at the forums, i think its HP-120 or something like that. Fuzes are very nice, accept external cards and they have great SQ.

 

[inukage0029]

The S9 doesnt have an optical out, sorry fameh.

I guess the whole gapless playback thing kind of sold me over already lol. I had forgotten how limited it is on other players.

And since i already have itunes running and a couple older ipods, i guess it will be easiest just to stick with it for a while.

 

[jonhapimp]

not to apple

 

[krmathis]

 

[inukage0029]

lol, as usual Krmathis, your advice is both useful and hilarious

 

[shigzeo]

it is up to you. i went apple in 2007 october with my 1g touch and then sold off my meizu, sony and cowon. but that is me. ipod has gapless and the newer ipods have great bass performance coupled with gapless and their great stage.

i won't say they are the best, but i think if not apple, i have no idea who makes a better sounding music player. my sony has nice tactile controls which is helpful but overall, the sound of my ipod is my fav.

if you hate itunes or songbird and have to have flac or ogg, you only chance with apple is a pre 2g nano, an ipod 5.5 or earlier but if you can live with industry standards: aac, mp3 then you are fine. i know supporting alac (closed format) is not fun but it is still very high quality