[NEO]

And which player is the best among them?

-Ipod 2nd/3rd Gen (I heard that 2nd is better)
-Rio Karma/Nitrus
-Iriver IHP-xxx
-Nomad Zen
-Dell DJ
-others ?

 

[refault]

Quote:

Originally posted by NEO And which player is the best among them? -Ipod 2nd/3rd Gen (I heard that 2nd is better) -Rio Karma/Nitrus -Iriver IHP-xxx -Nomad Zen -Dell DJ -others ?

ipod - 8 hours for 3rd gen, 10-12 hours for 2nd (not sure on 2nd...)
karma/nitrus - 16 hours
iriver ihp-xxx - 16 hours
nomad zen - 14 hours
dell dj - 16 hours+

The listed hours are listed by each company I believe... (correct me if I'm wrong on any of them.) For real world use shave off 2-3 hours (well at least I would) per player.

 

[CheewyMuffin]

Both the Ihps and Karms battery life decreases about a third when playing Ogg due to it being more computationaly intense.

And off course my choice for the best one is the Karma. The best interface period and FLAC + ogg support.

 

[pomegranate]

What is the reason for the big drop-off with the iPod- is it the only one which uses that battery type (I forget the chemicals used), or did Apple do something stupid?

 

[rodbac]

Not to start another flame-war about this, but the iPods all get virtually the same battery life, and it's on the order of 6 hours or so at best (no dif between generations, and less than the published specs).

Further, the iRiver, Dell, and Karma (not sure about others) all get very close to the published spec for battery life in real-world reports (users are reporting 14-16 hours).

As long as we're talking about it, too, it should be noted (if it hasn't already) that those numbers are for mid-volume MP3/AAC only, and assume you're not futzing with the volume, EQ, et al.

EDIT: Not sure why the drop-off with the Pod, either- they all use either Li-Ion or Li-Poly (which is just a malleable form of Li-Ion, exhibiting the same characteristics outside of the form factor), so the tech is the same.

 

[austonia]

my 2nd gen iPod still gets 7-8 hours of battery life. it used to get 9-10 hours, but 8 is still plenty. the newer ones use a smaller battery to help shrink the overall size of the player, which brought the starting battery life down to 7-8 hours. Every year or two it will drop by 1-2 hours, if used several times per week. Every player with a Lithium battery is like that, but it helps to keep it charged all the time and not let it fully drain except when you are away from AC power that long.

The longest battery life of any player is the Nomad Jukebox 3. With 2 Lithuim batteries installed it gets 20-22 hours playback. The NJB3 comes with 1 battery, but holds up to 2, and additional batteries sold separately.

However, I read one review of the Dell DJ where the guy claimed to get over 20 hours playback when he left it playing uninterrupted.

Also consider that even through the Apple iPod only gets 7-8 hours playtime, you can buy a Belkin battery pack which uses 4 AA batteries and will extend the playtime by an additional 15-20 hours. In that case, it's the iPod which goes from the shortest battery life to the longest... and you can get spare AA's anywhere in the world.

 

[rodbac]

Quote:

In that case, it's the iPod which goes from the shortest battery life to the longest...

And from the smallest form-factor to the largest...

(although that is a nice option to have when you need it)

 

[Sidney]

Surprised nobody really mentioned coding impact. Most battery life specs seem to be quoted at 128Kbps. I code at 192Kbps and as your hard drive's accessing more frequently you get a corresponding reduction in battery life. On my Zen Xtra I think I'm around 12hrs

 

[rodbac]

Sidney- none of my music is encoded below 160Kbps (and ranges up to 320), and I got ~15 hours out of my Karma and am in that neighborhood with my iHP (although, I haven't tested it like I did with the Karma).

I don't think it's mentioned as often because it's impact borders on negligible (although, you're right- the industry specs are for 128Kbps MP3/AAC, and at certain volume levels IIRC).

 

[IpaqMan]

For the Muvo2 4gb only, a battery life of 14 hours based upon vendor spec and one review.

 

[AGR]

My iHP-120 has been on steady since 8:30 AM (4.5 hours ago), and only 1 bar is out on the battery indicator.

It has 4 bars.

 

[rodbac]

Non-scientific anecdote #2451:

I listened to my iHP yesterday for most of the day (9 hour workday, so probably 7-8 hours), and I still have 2 bars showing.

No idea what that translates to (whether the last two bars will go more quickly or more slowly, for instance), but there you go.

 

[AGR]

Nearing 8 hours, and still, 2 bars, and 85 songs.

 

[cmascatello]

Playing back FLAC files on my Karma cuts the life down to a bit over 10 hours. Still pretty damn good when you consider that the sound is so much better than mp3 @128 or 192. That is more than enough listening time for me to get through one day.

 

[DJ Fusion]

Neo, people here are not robots created to serve you. You should ask your questions more nicely, add some human element, not "you there, tell me the answer to this."

Y'know?

Just a helpful hint.