[Evilson]

iPod. Very chic indeed.

The iRiver is SOOOO ugly.

 

[Brown Cow]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sweet Spot I say, buy a butt load of CD's ! (Cans would be the obvious second choice, but I imagine you already have some nice cans.)

:lol
Haven't you seen the edit button?
Sweet Spot youse a P.I.M.P

 

[JiPi]

I voted iPod, and wholeheartedly agree with what bangraman said. iPod is a music player, and it delivers everything you would want a music player to deliver... which is great music. And you don't have to take a class to learn how to use it, it's very, very, very simple to use and no matter how 'used' you get to the iHP, I don't think it could ever beat iTune+iPod.

Thing with iHP, as bangraman (I think) said some day, "It does a whole lot of things but can't do any of them right", or something along that line. And it shows from his post in this thread. Anyway, just ask yourself, are you even going to use all those dumb bells and whistles? or just listen to music?



[And 20GB is very plenty, I've got a 2G 10GB iPod and I don't even fill it completly and I never go "Ah damn, wish I had every song in the world in my iPod right now!" But that's all preferences I guess.
Also, tagging and managing with iPod is done once, and only once. You can use a VERY simple program called Tag&Rename if you're a bit picky on the Id3 tags of your files, or simply let a ripping program do it for you, then add to your library in iTunes and forget it! From there, you can add whatever you want, whenever you want, however fast you want... anything to your iPod on the go. With iHP, you have to make your own directories and such each time you want to empty/fill your device, blabla.]

Be sure to let us know what you chosen!

 

[Sweet Spot]

Sorry, but I just can't take all this nonsense I'm hearing. Bangraman, I totally respect your decision to stick with the iPod over the various players you've put through the ringer, as I'm sure you have your own litmus test for each that tells you which is right for just YOU. However, and this is NOT out of zealotry/fanboy-ism or my position at Mistic, I must whole heartedly and passionately disagree with the last two posts which have cast aside the iHP in favour of the iPod in terms of which one is a "music player".

The iHP IS, as much as you'd like to dismiss it, a wonderful DAP which if one wants, plays music just like any other DAP. There's no mystery function here, just very simple make sure your music is tagged accordingly, drag and drop (or inport with now fully functional DB) and um....LISTEN.

This whole "iPod+iTunes just can't be beat" thing makes my skin crawl to be honest with you. You DO know (I know you do) that there are syncing programs which one could use with the iHP, as well as an almost fully featured media player (J. River) which acts as iTunes does.

You also know that most PCr's like having FULL control of their filing system and are used to doing such. It's funny how when we all get into the minute details, we can always find such joyful things to peck at, but the one thing I can not grant you guys, is that the iPod is some magical creature that can "just play music" whilst the iHP can not ! That's just simply a bold faced, stretched out, silly sounding lie. Why, if I really found it that difficult to just say, turn on my iHP, and look for a tune then play it, I'd not own it ! I'm a sort of lazy creature..trust me on this.

And about that half assed stuff...Come on dude. Why is the recording half assed ? Because there are in-audiable clicks inserted every so often, that you can only prove are there with an analyzer ? I'll admit, it would be great if the thing had a line level for on the fly, but this is a bonus feature, and not the main reason to buy the thing. Does the iPod have that feature ? Um no. In fact, you actually have to buy the recording gadget separately, and you still don't get line level or anything else. And in fact, in an up coming FW, we'll be getting some recording fixes, including the glitch one I believe.

And what's so half assed about having a radio ? That you can't record from it ? Oh well. Bummer. But the radio works as advertised. And you guys can call the line out half assed all you want, but IMO, it works AS a line out as I need it to ! Besides, no one has ever truly PROVEN beyond a reasonable doubt, that it is a fake anyway. Too many speculation threads with know it all people to prove that one.

Remote: The most useful thing ever. For those who claim that no one uses it...speak for yourselves. I use it every day. My iHP sits in my back pack, with the remote clipped to the shoulder strap. And as I watch iPodders have to fumble with their DAP in hand, risking a bump, scratch, drop, thief, I effortlessly browse through menus, playlists and folders on my tiny LCD remote. And no, the text is not so small that I can't read it obviously. Perhaps if you're over the hill and wear coke bottle glasses.....

Anyway, sorry men, but there's really no winning this one. Perhaps you enjoy the iPod more, but that's not the point. Point IS, that if you're going to make claims as such, make sure that they're not "half assed"

 

[wolfen68]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JiPi [And 20GB is very plenty, I've got a 2G 10GB iPod and I don't even fill it completly and I never go "Ah damn, wish I had every song in the world in my iPod right now!" But that's all preferences I guess.

20 gig is not enough. I started out like everybody with 128 kbps rips from who knows where. Once I became more concerned about ripping my own music at 200+VBR for quality (and lossless may be in my future)...that frontier of empty space is quick to disappear.

More is better....you will likely need it at some point.

A guy at work has a 5gig 1G ipod. He says he needs no more space than that. However, he's constantly complaining about lack of variety and seems to swap files on that thing at least weekly. No thanks to that hassle...I'll carry my whole collection with me.

 

[Kirosia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evilson iPod. Very chic indeed. The iRiver is SOOOO ugly.

I think both the ipod and ihp look good in their own rights. I always associate ipods with preppies and businessmen, and ihps with punks, rockers, and "people with a dark aura" (me). But I'm crazy, so don't listen to me.

 

[NeilPeart]

Since I have over 300GB of lossless files, I'd have no choice but to swap the tunes every month or so (until a 300GB player emerges).

I prefer to swap 'em every month or so anyways to keep things fresh and exciting (plus I buy a CD or two every week or so). I prefer the smaller stature of the 20GB iPod and the capacity isn't limiting to me. Of course the best option is to live with them both for a while and sell the one that doesn't suit you for a slight loss, but since you gotta pick just one I favor the iPod, and I agree with Bangraman's assessment of the iPod/iHP-140. Plus the iPod is just so sexy!

 

[kunwar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NeilPeart Since I have over 300GB of lossless files, I'd have no choice but to swap the tunes every month or so (until a 300GB player emerges). I prefer to swap 'em every month or so anyways to keep things fresh and exciting (plus I buy a CD or two every week or so). I prefer the smaller stature of the 20GB iPod and the capacity isn't limiting to me. Of course the best option is to live with them both for a while and sell the one that doesn't suit you for a slight loss, but since you gotta pick just one I favor the iPod, and I agree with Bangraman's assessment of the iPod/iHP-140. Plus the iPod is just so sexy!

The Ipod definitely is like the Nicole Kidman of the DAP world, but I don't like Nicole Kidman's looks anyway.
the 140 is kinda like the girl next door (imagine Liv Tyler). that is what is attractive about the 140, it is a sophisticated looking device which does not pretend to be anything it isn't.

the Ipod on the other hand could be mistaken for a cigar case or for that matter a beauty accesory, you know what I mean.

BTW, Neil, I am in a similar situation to you with lossless files and all I do is keep high Quality MP3 backups in a separate section and right now I have about 23 gigs of them.
i am only adding music which I like. SO it helps with the capacity.
I guess when i get the 4G ipod I will findout what the fuss is about.
I have held it for a while, used a borrowed one and still can't understand the fuss about it. Where is the light at the end of the tunnel????

kunwar

 

[bangraman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sweet Spot Sorry, but I just can't take all this nonsense I'm hearing. Bangraman, I totally respect your decision to stick with the iPod over the various players you've put through the ringer, as I'm sure you have your own litmus test for each that tells you which is right for just YOU. However, and this is NOT out of zealotry/fanboy-ism or my position at Mistic, I must whole heartedly and passionately disagree with the last two posts which have cast aside the iHP in favour of the iPod in terms of which one is a "music player".

Drag & Drop... have you ever tried to Drag & Drop manage a large music collection? If you have, you'll know how much of a pain this really is.


The core point of usability has to be stressed for people who just want their player to, well, play. The iPod has no equals in this respect out of the players I've owned.


The iHP can of course play music. Can it cue on-the-fly playlists? Can the bundled software easily create playlists in a flexible manner? Smartlists beyond what j.River does (because that's of very, very limited use to me?)?


I use j.River Media Center with my Clie. It's the nearest thing there is to an iTunes clone (funny isn't it that to be good to you, a product must ape what you obviously hate

). It does not have quite the intelligence of iTunes. Why? Because information is not synced two-way. Only the iPod gives back to iTunes what it's played, when, and what you thought of it. And in terms of usefulness, it goes well beyond that.


Half-assed... OK. Half-assed recording. Let's get on to beyond the clicks and the limited single-section recording. Have you evaluated the recording performance of the truly awful AGC as opposed to Minidisc for example? No? How about the absence of a recording level meter to somewhat accurately gauge what you're recording? No? Oh, that's a shame. The problem is you see, that the iRiver is missing a whole host of functions that allows you to create decent recordings on a predictable level. Any experienced recorder / MD/DAT user will tell you this. And if you can't use it for those sorts of purposes, isn't it a feature implemented purely as a feature? I think so.


As I said and maybe you misunderstood me, I was happy with the radio. It pulled in stations cleanly, although separation wasn't too good... but this has been the case with the JB3, iMP-550 and iAudio. The Line Out is actually an 'official minimum' line-level output as I've confirmed before, but it just happens to lag behind the iPod and the JB3... and not just in the power.


As I said, you have to own both. A cursory glance at another player (as with anything else) in my view is largely irrelevant and any definite opinions professed thereof is simply 'fanboyism'. That's why although I did have a chance to have a play with an iHP-100 I never said anything about it beyond the obvious (looks) until I bought an iHP-120. I've moved on with Hi-MD, iAudio, NW-HD1 and soon (maybe, hopefully, perhaps?) the Rio Karma replacement. Vaio Pocket and most probably the 4G iPod will follow. I'm sorry you can't move beyond the iRiver.

 

[wolfen68]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bangraman Drag & Drop... have you ever tried to Drag & Drop manage a large music collection? If you have, you'll know how much of a pain this really is.

I've drag and dropped my 16 gig, 3800 song library with no difficulties for the last two years.

Last night I added 18 tracks to my player from my computer's rip destination folder. Ten tracks were divided between two bands I already have folders for...so I drag and dropped them right in from my computer. Four tracks were for a new band, so I created a folder and dropped them in. The final four were replacements for inferior rips in one of my artist folders. I copied them over and selected to replace the existing file duplicates. The whole process took about 1.5 minutes....including making the usb connection.

I do this kind of stuff regularly....what's the big deal?

 

[karmypolitics]

get a karma! here's why

1. gapless. you have no idea how good this really is. it is the best feature on the player in my opinion.
2. better sound quality than the iriver, and comparable to the ipod
3. responsive. the karma is uber responsive. I can tell it to play an album, and then flick through all 14 tracks without a delay. my iriver imp 400, when you fast forward a song, it has a 4 sec delay which is really annoying
4. cheap. compared to each of those individually, it's 50 bucks cheaper


I've had mine for about 2 months, and it's fine. don't worry about it crapping out.

 

[deltawalkerl]

A file tree based hierarchy of file organization does present this tricky situation. Since it is hard to describe I will use an example. Suppose my file system hierarchy is as follows: Genre\Album\Song.ext. And suppose I have these two Pink Floyd albums, Piper at the Gates of Dawn and Dark Side of the Moon. I file the tracks from Piper at the Gates of Dawn into the folder "Psychedelic Rock\Piper at the Gates of Dawn". I then file the tracks from Dark Side of the Moon into folder "Progressive Rock\Dark Side of the Moon". Suppose that I have countless other progressive rock and psychedelic rock albums. Now, if I wish to select all Pink Floyd songs for playback, how could I accomplish that?

The database system, which is essentially a dynamic file table, solves these problems. A static file table could not accomplish many tasks. I think Windows Longhorn will introduce the concept of a dynamic file system to all the files that one would have. But until then, a database is superior.

 

[karmypolitics]

oh btw, did I mention that the karma's dock has rca audio outputs? it's really something. seriously, with the karma, and properly encoded mp3's, and gapless playback, it's indistinguishable from source cds. and, you can hook it up to your surround sound system with a better connect than a headphone jack- the RCA jack.

 

[skitzo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by karmypolitics get a karma! here's why

because YOU bought one

 

[AuroraProject]

Quote:

Originally Posted by karmypolitics I've had mine for about 2 months, and it's fine. don't worry about it crapping out.

Because you've extensively tested the longevity!