Portable Music Devices

[TomJoe]

So I recently purchased a Sony Network Walkman, NW-HD1. It holds 20GB of music, it's lightweight, monochrome screen. It was decently priced, at $199, which puts it at roughly $100 cheaper than the iPod of the same size, and slightly cheaper than other 20GB MP3 players as well. The Creative Labs 20GB machine I saw, sold for $219. The only drawback is that currently (before I pay for the firmware upgrade, which must be done prior to March 30, 2006) all my music needs to be transferred in ATRACplus format. It does not natively play MP3's or WMA's and after the firmware upgrade, I don't think it'll play WMA's natively anyways. So ... to see how badly I got ripped off, I want to know what other people have, and how well they like it. My major complaint is the software which comes with the NW-HD1 ... I really do like iTunes and I'm sad I can't use it, but otherwise I'm pretty satisfied.

[JoeP]

You, sir, are a threadslut and a scoundrel. I have an open thread on this very subject as you very well know. You have told us of your purchase on that thread. And "I want to know what other people have" is precisely the purpose of that thread.

nm.

I went Creative (but 5GB only, I'm sure it's obsolete by now :D). I can't imagine buying something that doesn't have mp3 support.

I love it. The device interface is excellent (they have been awarded a patent which may line them up to claim fees off Apple, since the iPod cribbed it). I've only just filled up the 5GB (but of course I'm unhappy with that now...). The PC software is fine, but I treat it as functional. I don't see why media software has to be so aggressively skinned but ho-hum. Nothing has bettered Winamp v2 fitting into 20 vertical pixels. And I don't like the design philosophy they all have (at least windows media player, musicmatch and this) of building a "music library". They're just files, y'know? Find them and play them. Again, Winamp v2 could do this.

[Dingfod]

Holy crap, my RCA little thingamajig only holds 32 MB.

[TomJoe]

A scoundrel, for sure. But a slut? :thinkup:

I was thinking this thread could be more of a "product review" rather than a mere curiousity thread.

[TomJoe]

I can't imagine buying something that doesn't have mp3 support.


The Sony NW-HD1 supports MP3's. That's what it says on the box at any rate, and I specifically looked for that. But, I guess the term "support" means "This player won't natively play MP3's but will convert them to our proprietary format prior to transferring it to the player with our software." At least, that's Sony's line of thinking ... which is funny, given that they call this thing an MP3 player on their website, and it's anything but that. Oh well.

I moved 1.5 GB (~150 songs or so) over to my player last night. It had to convert the files prior to transfer, and it took roughly 45 minutes. I do plan on getting the firmware upgrade though so I can reduce transfer times ... my car stereo plays MP3, but not ATRACplus, so I need to keep everything in MP3 format and I don't know of an ATRACplus to MP3 conversion tool.

PS: Does the Creative 5GB have a slot for additional memory? It would be cool if you could slip a 1GB (or a 2 to 4GB in there when they hit market) flash card into it to expand it's memory.

[JoeP]

Supports shmupports.

Anyway, my Creative Zen also has an FM radio (which costs nothing it seems) and a mic. I can get recordings off it, and have done ... but wait, they're in WAV format so it's not such a big deal.

Product reviews, then. Tell me about the iTunes software and how great it is.

[Ari]

I have a green iPod mini 4 gig. Works great, plays all my files just fine, sound quality is the same as coming out of my computer. I even made up a drink database for its note reader system that I can look up how to make drinks I like.

JoeP: I'm still curious how anyone can patent a basic hierarchy system. It's not like the interface is very innovative, I have menus and folders on my computer that act almost the same way.

[JoeP]

that I can look up how to make drinks I like.Because if you really like a drink, you won't be able to remember how it was made? :wink:

I'm still curious how anyone can patent a basic hierarchy system.I haven't tried to research the patent nor will I. I share your surprise, but I didn't get the "evil moneygrabbers, pathetic patent office" feeling I got from the amazon one-click patent.

[xyza]

Just the other day on one of our consumer shows, there were multiple complaints about ipods.

Seems that the battery dies after a year, once the warranty is up and it costs about £100 to repair/replace. In warranty any damage, even just a cracked screen invalidates the warranty and they won't replace the battery.
It slowly runs down so it says it's fully charged but only plays for 2 hours if you're lucky.

[Veritas]

I use a gramophone.

[Ari]

iPods use Li-Ion batteries just like most other consumer electronics. They generally go bad with use or age. If an iPod battery goes bad beyond the warranty it is most likely because of use or sitting around time. In the US the price to get apple to replace a battery is $59 and it's cheaper if you know how to do it yourself. (similar type batteries from canon for my digital camera can go for $70 for just the battery (thanks to canon markup)).

Don't know about cracked screens but just recently they agreed to replace iPod Nanos because of a manufacture problem that resulted in a cracked screen.