Need help selecting a Mp3 player

[sideswipe]

Hey all wanted to come here & get some input on a good mp3 player, yes tons of features between them all but this will be used mainly @ work to replace radio/cds & while gaming on pc maybe occasional video. This will also have to be easily moveable as I don't/won't leave overnight @ work. I have about 30gb of mp3's currently on desktop, not all cd's have been ripped over yet & some files are duplicates. So far, with both input from friends & researching web, have narrowed it down to Zune & ipod now when it comes to the specific models of these unsure how much extra room I would like to allow so as long as minimum is 40gb(want to keep my full list with me at all times).

Software very familiar with iTunes but don't like the 5 pc rule as it takes off everytime I reformate. (I play online games & for speed reformate about every 6mo & iTunes considers it a new pc everytime). Not familar with how the zune (or software) would be.

Any & all feedback would be well received

[Ira Lacher]

HAve you also considered a Zen from Creative? I have used their Zen: M model for a few years and am very satisfied with its downloading software and its interaction with numerous online services such as Rhapsody. Not too familiar with the Zune. As for the iPod, I don't like how the software formats your music files to its proprietary format, making them unusable for any non-iTunes device.

[Cholly]

Either the 32 MB Zen or 32 MB IPod Touch would be a good choice, but the Zen has a short Video playback capability (due to battery drain).You might also want to look at the latest offerings from SanDisk if you don't need the 32 MB capacity.

[sideswipe]

Thanks for the input will look into Zen & see what San Disk has. Also besides what I've listed previously 1 other thing will need is good desktop charger(stand)/speaker(can setup speakers separately) but don't wanna go all out. This as I mentioned is work setup primarily so as long as sound is decent. Size wise figure portable cd/radio size doesn't have miniscule but nothing over-the-top.

[wilbur_the_goose]

Zune rocks. I have 2 and love them.

Zune Pass is fantastic too.

[CoriBright]

Another vote for Zune here!

[Ken S]

Get a Sansa Clip 4GB and just have WMP shuffle on and off new songs every so often. They're so small, the battery life is great and they sound very good. They're not for video...but if you want a great, convenient tiny MP3 type player it's the way to go....and they're inexpensive (roughly $50).

[Mark Holtz]

Keep an eye on www.woot.com and sellout.woot.com . They had a 16GB Sandisk View for $60+$5 shipping and a 8 GB e280 for $42+$5 shipping the past week. Of course, the offers are over now.

[MicroBeta]

I've had Creative(Nomad, Zen), iPod(a used Nano), Dell Pocket DJ, Zune MP3 players. My favorite is the Zune.

I have a Zune 80GB (my daughter does also).

I have my music, some videos(clips ripped from my DVDs), one movie(just to see if I could), and games.

No propriatary formats. The software is easy to use. It's all drag-n-drop for playlists; very easy.

WiFi sync. :)

I use a program called Wondershare to rip from my DVDs (works for iPod also)

Mike

[Bardman]

Another vote for Zune here..

I got a 120Gb for my birthday last month, and have only managed to fill 36Gb of it with my entire MP3 library (need to rip a few more CDs), as well as about 6 movies ripped from DVD (I'm using Cucusoft suite), and some podcasts.

Wife is getting a 4Gb from Santa, and son will be getting an 8Gb next month for his birthday.

Zune software is very good and easy to use. I had a iPod shuffle, and have noticed the last few updates to iTunes seem to make it slower and slower (and the fact that it seems to need updating every week). One of my to-do list items for Xmas break is to uninstall iTunes from both computers in the house.

Go for the Zune.

[djlong]

I'd go for the iPod - and as a person who is no real fan of Apple (because of their products being closed and overpriced) that's saying something. I have an 80GB iPod (the only piece of Apple-branded ANYTHING I own) and here are the major reasons as to why:

- I don't have to deal with the iTunes store. All my MP3s are unprotected so I don't have to worry about "5 PC limits".

- There are a billion and a half accessories for the iPod. FAR outstripping what's out there for anyone else. In my case, I have a 'regular' cable to hook it up to my stereo, an alarm clock in my bedroom with an iPod cradle and a cable that hooks it directly into my car's head unit (the iPod stays in the glove compartment and is completely controllable form my touch-schreen Pioneer unit). Anything I want that's remotely related to an MP3 player, I can be guaranteed that there's an iPod-compatible version of it.

[turey22]

Well I've had an Ipod for the last 3 years and it has been great. i recommend it alot...If i read correctly you were thinking about getting a dock also. I know people do like bose and some people dont but the bose sound dock is amazing with it...so thats my choice

[xIsamuTM]

are there any portable media players that use memory cards (trans flash, sd, etc)? I like being able to just drag and drop files on to my phones card rather then having to _sync it.

[turey22]

yeah but they also have some internal memory....http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8753949&type=product&id=1202649766055

[Ken S]

are there any portable media players that use memory cards (trans flash, sd, etc)? I like being able to just drag and drop files on to my phones card rather then having to _sync it.

The Sansa line has some that that memory cards, but the whole line also allows you to just drag and drop to their internal memor OR sync with WMP.