MP3 player suggestions??

[64Guitars]

People who are fed up with iTunes and its DRM might be interested in Ubuntu One Music Store which debuts today. It will offer high-quality mp3s (256 kbps or higher) without any DRM.

Some info is available here (scroll down to General FAQ):

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuOne/MusicStore

More info should be available later today when it's officially released along with the ubuntu 10.04 operating system.

See: http://www.ubuntu.com/

[Greeny]

I have a 5-6 year old Sony Digital Walkman which holds about 8,000 songs. It's served me really well, but the charger is broken, and they no longer make them. So I'm also building up to buying a new mp3 player. And I'm determined not to by an i-pod or have anything to do with i-tunes. Apple have become as evil and Microsoft with their devil-spawn DRM restrictions, imo. It's unbelievable that the stuff you 'buy' on i-tunes isn't actually yours really. If you change players or computers a few times, you'll lose access to everything you paid for. They've been so paranoid about crippling filesharers that they've f*cked every one of their legit customers in the process. I don't want any part of that kind of corporate greed.

So I'm looking for some other mp3 player that I can load my cd collection onto easily and without restrictions, with a 10,000 song capacity. Oh, and a nice colour casing - preferably metallic lime green, lol.

[Ferryman]

Creative mp3s are best IMO. Better sound quality than iPods, been using them for years. I'm not a fan of iTunes either, I use Napster. Just got a Cretive Zen X-Fi that was going cheap in our local store and it is excellent, my son just got an X-Fi 2 which is pretty good (kind of pretend iPod Touch with worse UI but better sound quality). Can't beat the X-Fi in my view, also the ear buds they provide with it are very good as well. 16 gig ones are £70 in the UK.

Cheers,

Nigel

[Vanncad]

Thanks guys,

I bought my daughter an Ipod a couple years ago, so I know all about that ITunes debacle.

I don't really have a music collection, so I guess I just need something I can easily drag-n-drop tunes to, and maybe make the odd song purchase going forward.
The Creative players look pretty good to me.

P.S. - The the iPod touch come with headphones?

Thanks for all the info, its really helpful.

[Geir]

Regarding DRM restrictions, I thought that was solved ! ?

On January 6, 2009 at the Macworld Expo, Apple announced a significant overhaul of the iTunes Plus catalog with Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group and EMI offering all their music in iTunes Plus immediately. As of the announcement, 8 million songs were available in Apple's DRM-free format. As of April 2009, all songs became available in the iTunes Plus format, except from the Japanese iTunes store.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes_Store#The_Consumer_Council_of_Norway_EULA_challenge

Creative mp3s are best IMO. Better sound quality than iPods, been using them for years. I'm not a fan of iTunes either, I use Napster. Just got a Cretive Zen X-Fi that was going cheap in our local store and it is excellent, my son just got an X-Fi 2 which is pretty good (kind of pretend iPod Touch with worse UI but better sound quality). Can't beat the X-Fi in my view, also the ear buds they provide with it are very good as well. 16 gig ones are £70 in the UK.

Cheers,

Nigel

Does the creatives also have playlists, like the iPod. I really like that feature!

People who are fed up with iTunes and its DRM might be interested in Ubuntu One Music Store which debuts today. It will offer high-quality mp3s (256 kbps or higher) without any DRM.

Some info is available here (scroll down to General FAQ):

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuOne/MusicStore

More info should be available later today when it's officially released along with the ubuntu 10.04 operating system.

See: http://www.ubuntu.com/

Now this looks interesting!

BTW Do any of the Ubuntu media players work with an iPod ? (I tried a couple, and tho one of them found the iPod and the music on it I coudn't get it to add any music to my iPod)

[Greeny]

Creative mp3s are best IMO. Better sound quality than iPods, been using them for years. I'm not a fan of iTunes either, I use Napster. Just got a Cretive Zen X-Fi that was going cheap in our local store and it is excellent, my son just got an X-Fi 2 which is pretty good (kind of pretend iPod Touch with worse UI but better sound quality). Can't beat the X-Fi in my view, also the ear buds they provide with it are very good as well. 16 gig ones are £70 in the UK.

Cheers,

Nigel

This sounds exactly what I'm after. And the right price too. Thanks Nigel!

[Greeny]

I may be out of date on the i-tunes situation. I'm out of date on most things though... music, fashion, current affairs.

[Ted]

Apple have become as evil and Microsoft with their devil-spawn DRM restrictions, imo. It's unbelievable that the stuff you 'buy' on i-tunes isn't actually yours really. If you change players or computers a few times, you'll lose access to everything you paid for.

Keep in mind, iTunes haters, that the only time you run into DRM with iTunes is if you buy from the iTunes Store.  If you can resist that temptation, you can avoid DRM. iTunes is free software, and very powerful.

I still buy CDs, and rip the songs directly into iTunes as MP3s.  Occasionally I buy MP3 albums (no DRM) directly from Amazon.com, CDBaby, or someplace like that.

But, as I said before: If I had it to do all over again, knowing what I know now, I'd probably go with a Creative Zen of some kind.

[Tony W]

The Ipod touch does come with standard Ipod earbuds, and they do have a volume control on the cord. which I find really handy. I hate it when a new song comes up that's twice the volume of the previous.

There are applications out there that will convert your itunes purchases into standard MP3's. There's no way I'm buying a song and not be able to play it on another computer/device.

[Oldrottenhead]

P.S. - The the iPod touch come with headphones?

they do but the earphones you get with the creative zen x-fi are far superior in design and quality.

i loathe itunes i feel it takes over your pc and uses up bandwith when you are online etc etc its like getting a virus on your pc imo., creatives software management was great in years gone by but recent upgrades although giving you more bells and buttons have made it very clumsy compared to their older versions, but it is great for creating playlists. i have had three creative x-fis and loved them to bits but all three died on me. when i say died they actually still work but their screens cracked so you cant navigate the menus. the screens are quite easy to replace but cost about £70.
when my cheapo fake ipod dies i think i'll buy another tho. i do miss it.