New Mp3: Creative M:Vision or Ipod video?

Not necessarily true, my 2 year-old iBook on MacOS Tiger runs as quickly as my Athlon 2800 with 2 GBs of RAM on WinXP.

 

It really shouldn't - Try playing some 1080p video with it. My 1.33GHz iBook with 1.5GB struggled all the way through, dropping frames willy nilly. My athlon XP 2000+ with 1GB running XP played it without a problem. The G4 was an outdated chip and I'm glad we've gotten rid of it (coming from the proud new owner of a macbook )

On the MP3 issue, I'd always go with the iPod - Theres a wealth of accessories, and I, unlike you lot, love iTunes on both mac and PC. Ive never noticed any sound quality issues on my mini, which has been a trusty little workhorse for a few years now. Just bin the headphones that come with it (goes for pretty much any device, not just an iPod)

 

Exact Audio Copy (EAC) paired with LAME/RazorLAME is the only way to go for encoding CDs to MP3s.

 

You're right for the task, but I can't advocate encoding anything much to MP3. If I convert a CD to anything, these days it'd be FLAC.

 

Been meaning to try out FLAC but laziness and compatibility issues with current players I own have held me back.

 

FLAC is a beautiful thing, but it can be a pain to get it working with programs on my computer, much less with portable media players.

 

I would never bother using FLAC, due to general size. If I really cared about losslessness, I'd just use my portable CD player.

 

Is it really that tough to get working? Foobar2000 decodes it without any extensions. Foobar is great, by the way - plays anything (played my .mod's and .xm's on a standard install), flexible feature set, no frills, no bloat, and free. Can't ask for more.

It's not much use for portable players, currently, but with the prices and sizes on PC HDDs these days it's not really an issue there.

 

i still use my cd player quite frenquently about everywhere, but poping in a cd for 4 tunes then another one for 2 and then coming back to the first is hell. I can't take my cd player for jogging or working out either.

 

Most CD players you buy new now have Mp3 playback included off the CD. This can be a nice compromise.

 

I have the Creative Xtra 40 GB now, before that I had the 20 GB model. They've both been pretty solid players. I had to the the second one when my first one was stolen. I had to replace one dead battery on the 40 GB after not using it for about 6-8 months, but I got a cheap knock-off on eBay and no problems.

Ease of scrolling and finding songs is really important. My Xtra design is about 3-4 years old now and it isn't a convenient tool for filtering through 5,000 songs. Test out of it works on each model before you buy and realize this is going to be something you'll deal with every time you use it.

I've heard good things about the Apple (especially the interface) and I really like smaller sizes because I have too many gadgets to carry around. But in the end you'll go to the store, see the Creative and iPods, and realize that it's just so much cheaper to go with Creative.

 

I borrowed a Nano from my friend for about two days and was surprised by the quality of the interface and the ease of using it. Plus, it's frigging damn small and fits everywhere without you even notice/feel it. What is the highest storage capacity model just for fun? I doubt i will go with that since the sound quality isn't so great and that i need a high capacity (10gb+) mp3 player, but you never know.

 

Nano goes up to 8GB, but theres been rumours of 12/16gb models recently. Expensive though, And if you're looking at a big one its better value just to get a full fledged 30GB model.
Also, a little hint with apple, is to take a look in their refurb store - Same items, just sometimes with a few little scratches here and there, but up to ~30% savings.

 

I've been using Foobar for months and I love it. My main complaint is that I didn't want to have to convert to another program or install a ton of extensions to play FLAC, but it worked out for the better in this case. I still wish I could play them on my iPod, though (without using an alternative firmware).

Good advice from the_steadster - I bought my iPod refurbished, and it's still going strong. I saved around $75, too. I don't know about refurbished Apple products having scratches, mine looked brand new out of the box.

 

just returned mu dead iriver h10 5gb to best buy ( rest in peace, my lovely) and since they didn't suported the product anymore and that it was a demo unit, they gave me 230$CAN worth of credit, didn't have the cash to buy neither the ipod video 30GB or the Vision:M both at 299$CAN without a 3 year garantee of 79.99$CAN, but i will next week end.

I think i'll go with the creative, even the nano of my friend caught my interest. But before i do, any accessories i should check for it? Are the earphones good enough to be enjoyable, or are they so bad that should i buy another pair right when i do the purshase? And what is Rockbox?

Also, does CV:M supports FLAC, OGG, or AAC?

Edit: Anyone ever heard of the Cowon iaudio X5? seems pretty good, can we still buy it anywhere?

 

Always, always always buy new headphones. Try them before you buy