Hi everybody. I've just thinking a lot lately about getting one of those portable mp3 jobbies, since the ol' mp3 CD player isn't quite doin' it for me: I can't stand the fact that at any moment the song might skip (and it does).. so I've been looking into different players and I've found two pretty comparable ones, both in design and price, and I was wondering what your experience with these or other players is.



There are a couple of important factors to me:



-Seamless playback: something that is just really really nice to have, and I do with the WMA format in Windows Media Player on my PC. If you don't know what I mean, it's when you rip a CD with mixed tracks (e.g. DJ mix CD) and when you play back the compressed music file (WMA, mp3, etc.) there's no skipping or break between tracks.



-WMA format compatibility: over the past couple of years I've ripped most of my CDs in this format so I have them backed up this way. This also relates to the issue of seamless playback, because it's the only format I've found this to really work for. I guess some people knock WMA format, though I'm not entirely sure that it's more than just an "I hate Microsoft" thing. Well, I find it sounds just fine, but maybe I haven't listened all that carefully to see how different formats compare in how they really sound.



I know that the iPod doesn't support either of these features, and so I'm leaning more towards the Creative Zen Touch player (which I know plays WMA but I don't know about the seamless thing) or something similar. I don't know a whole lot about what's even out there.



Anyway, thanks in advance for your advice and recommendations, if you bother to read this. :)

I'm one to say iPod, but since you've got a library of WMAs, go with the Zen.

Seamless playback, as far as I know, is not available on either. It also doesn't depend on audio format -- it's all in the audio playback software.

found this enlightening video when searching for info on the iPod:



www.ipodsdirtysecret.com



another reason to go with the Zen for me. thanks for the reply, Glako

Just watched that clip. Ouch! That's pretty damning.



I wonder if that's the case for all ipods (uncluding the new $349 U2 one) or if there's a way to wiggle out of that $250-for-a-new-battery loophole.

iPod will eat you all ;-)

neither have gapless playback, rip your dj cd's an an image mp3



there are way too many reasons an ipod is better than a zen. scare stories about batteries are rubbish. http://www.ipodbatteryfaq.com/#1 you can get batteries cheap on ebay though mine and friends with them have never had trouble.

wayno52 Escribi�:

found this enlightening video when searching for info on the iPod:



www.ipodsdirtysecret.com



another reason to go with the Zen for me. thanks for the reply, Glako

nice video. so you spend all that money on the product and its usless after 18 months. the joke is on the rich people!!!!



nice to hear a bit on NWA on the video to. brings me back to my teenage years. quite an influential album 'straight outta compton' was on me. got me into hip hop beats!!!

wrekked_train Escribi�:

neither have gapless playback, rip your dj cd's an an image mp3



there are way too many reasons an ipod is better than a zen. scare stories about batteries are rubbish. http://www.ipodbatteryfaq.com/#1 you can get batteries cheap on ebay though mine and friends with them have never had trouble.

thank you for further enlightenment and for dispelling a nasty rumour...



but now could you tell me or point me to the "too many reasons" why iPod is better than a Zen? thanks!

build quality / size / remote control design / size of display / quality of display / 3rd party software support(googleget etc.) / not having to install any creative software on your pc / belkin media reader / service(i had mine fail and was collected the day after filling out the webform with a replacement received the day after) / masses of accessories(although expensive)



before you use the zen you have to install the driver from the original cd. with an ipod you can stick it into any mac or pc(win&linux) through firewire or usb and instantly use it as a hard drive, i keep ephpod on it so music can easily be transferred to another pc.



smart playlist also deserve their own mention, i never used to use playlists usually listening to a whole album through each time but these dynamically created playlists are great. for example "play all songs added in the last month i haven't played before from the genre hip-hop" or "play all rock songs from 1980-1990" those playlists are dynamically updated as you add/remove/listen/rate music on the ipod.



and the killer thing for me is the controls, if you can try them side by side in a store you'll get a better idea but i found the ipod far easier to navigate and can't imagine scrolling through 15+ gig on a zen



on a complete tangent i bought a sony viao pocket 40gb last week because i got a silly deal with a laptop and thought it had gapless support, unfortunately sony made the most horrible mistakes in forcing their own atrac file that you have to transcode all your music and the tagging system is a nightmare so i'll be selling that asap.



cheers

thank you, wrekked_train!



I was about to step in here and note that I have two iPods. One is 10 months old, the other is 3 years old. The 10 month old iPod carries a charge for approximately 8-9 hours, and the 3 year old one holds a charge for 6 hours or so.



And on an interesting note, the advantages wrekked_train brought up are all things I take for granted. I'd be damned if I had to use a Zen. Or Windows, for that matter.