6 months ago I bought my first 20 gb mp3 player, the rio karma. The reason I did this is b/c at the time, I got it for $150 bucks less than the similar iPod, and the reviews on it were good. I enjoyed this little player for the most part, although the hard drive started to run slowly and after reading more reviews this thing does not have a long shelf life at all. Well, last week it broke on me, and thanks to Best Buys excellent customer service they let me exchange it no problem. I originally set out to bring back the iRiver H120 due to excellent reviews and its ability to play OGG format which all my music was stored as. BB was out of that kind, and they had just arrived with the brand new MPIO player, which I took a chance and brought home. After not finding any info on the internet about it, I became skeptical. Then after trying to boot up the player and having it freeze on me right out the box, I took it back. Next I learned the reason the H120 was being discontinued at BB is b/c they have a brand new H300 series which includes the color screen and the ability to view pictures. The WOW eq setting on this thing was brilliant, and the sound blew me away. However the battery only lasted 4 hours (and claimed 16) and the navigation system on it was stressful to use and made little sense in its set up. So, I took this one back. Finally I picked up the 40 GB iPod. I had delayed this for a couple reasons. One is I always root for the underdog, so I did not want to go out and buy the same player as everyone else. Secondly as I mentioned before it does not support ogg and I had to re-rip 2500 songs off of my CD's which took a full 3 days to do. I could have converted my files but you lose sound quality when you do that. IT WAS WORTH IT. There is a reason this thing is the number 1 seller, and it has more to it than just b/c everyone else has one. Martin, I know you mentioned being annoyed that everyone has an iPod on the subway, but in retrospect there is no other player that is the complete package like this. The WOW eq on the iRiver is still my favorite and I wish iPod would incorporate this eq into its player, but the eq in iPod is not bad at all. I kept thinking of Martin being annoyed if he ever saw me, but it would definitely be worth it!
you are right. everyone seems to agree, ipod is more than just hip, it actually is superior in basically every way to the competition. i would have thought that some other company could make something cheaper and better, but apparently that has not yet happened. apparently all the other mp3 players out there suck. but how hard can it be to make a little hard drive and an lcd display with a couple buttons and some playing software? especially the dell dj. it is 50 dollars cheaper and holds more songs, and it the same size. is everyone too cool for that? apparently they are and nothing is as good as the ipod. i guess that virgin player sucks too. i retract my criticisms of mindless trendy zombie buyers of apple's well marketed hip products. i will go buy one, and put lance armstrong bracelets on both wrists.
Are you really that much of a prick? I was on the same side of the whole iPod trendy deal and gave just about every other player a shot. It reached a point where I could no longer continue this quest of making trip after trip back to best buy to return inferior products. From what I hear the Dell is sh!t also, but feel free to go buy one and let me know. I guess you are just too cool for me! :thumb:
One other thing. If you really want to know why not the Dell Dj, then read the reviews on both. These are unbiased reviews from electronic geeks, or maybe as you would like to call them mindless zombies. Dell actually advertises on their site so if there was any bias it would be towards the Dell. But as you will see the iPod review fares much better, as iPod is the highest rated of all the mp3 players. The only one that comes close to iPod is iRiver and I tried that one already. http://reviews.cnet.com/Apple_iPod_20GB_fourth_generation/4505-6490_7-30978806.html http://reviews.cnet.com/Dell_Digital_Jukebox_DJ_20GB/4505-6490_7-30582925.html
i was kidding about the mindless zombies. in that post i was admitting i was wrong and evidently the ipod is superior. what you interpreted as sarcasm was not. i meant everything until the last sentence, when i was being facetious.
I have a Rio (s50 or something) and its been a pain in the ass. I got it like 2 or 3 years ago and it was breaking after about a month (everytime I tried to play a song the thing shut off). It had a one year warranty so I called Rio and first they tried to make me download something to fix it, but that didn't work so they sent me a refurbished player. That one broke pretty soon and I got another refurbished one and this cycle continuted for a while. I have about 5 players laying around my room, not sure if any of them work. I would get an iPod, but even when my Rio's worked I didn't use them all that much so it probably wouldn't be worth it. Moral of the story: don't buy a Rio.
I apologize...but the lance armstrong bracelet thing threw me. I guess I was testier than normal considering how poorly we were performing against Troy. J Vincent - I do not even attempt to deal with the manuafacturer as they will always give you the run-around. Best Buy has been a first rate orginization when it comes to returning poorly performing items. I purchased their 2 year plan on my rio and they even refunded that money since it was still under manufactuers warranty.
martin, I joined the ipod zombie nation this weekend, and I'll be damned if that thing isn't all its hyped up to be. I love it...went to the gym today and had no problems with it. get an ipod, its worth it.
Speaking of GYM HEADPHONES, I have the Sony Sport over the head kind, but the right ear always goes out halfway into my workout b/c of sweat. This is driving me nuts! Can any of y'all recommend some better sweat-proof headphones!??!! PLEASE! Oh yea, in keeping with this thread, it's paired w/ a Rio Cali that I love, except it sucks through AAA batteries.
