as the title suggests, should I wait for the ipod minis to be in stock... anywhere, or just grab a regular 15GB ipod?
(apple website) Code: Items you have selected Part No. Est Ship Unit Price iPod mini - Silver M9160LL/A 6 weeks $229.00 iPod - 15GB M9460LL/A Same bus.day $269.00 yeah... 6 weeks... there are places with sooner dates, but no discount
wait for the mini one - you;re not gona need the space for 10,000 songs, but it would be handy in having a smaller + cheaper ipod!
I don't even care what :: kna ::, fathazza, Hamish, Kermet, Mister_tad think, because they didn't specify! and da-dude, your input is valued
Get something else. Creative Nomad Jukebox 3. The best HD-DAP around. Ever. No competition. Crushes anything else. Can be had with a 20GB drive for about $230 or so, but it uses a standard laptop HDD so you can upgrade it to 80GB or even more. Good things: 22 hours of battery life blows away iPod Wireless IR remote Sounds better than iPod Less likeily to be stolen than iPod, due to it's less-than-desirable aesthetics. Bad things: Big Dorky looking Of course, if you want something that doesn't look like an oversized piece of plastic, there's the Zen Xtra, which is a similar price, except not as good battery life and not as many feautures and doesn't sound as good. Almost as good as NJB3, but much cooler looking. Then, the $234 Rio Karma. Lossless FLAC support. Gapless playback. However, there is a problem with the firmware. It may be prone to HD failure, but new firmware should fix it. Also includes a nice networkable docking station with RCA outs. Also dorky looking. Either of these 3 is a better choice than the iPod.
ok, in response to that, I looked at those (and just now, the rio one) in the past, and decided an iPod was the way to go for these reasons; the NJB3 doesn't have usb2 and looks kinda bad the zen has usb2, and actually is pretty good (I may go with that) the rio thingie looks not bad except the lack of backlight and overall, they aren't hardly as sexy as an ipod (mini)
I think the NJB3 might have firewire. it does look a bit ugly, but if you keep it in a pocket or whatnot then ti doesn't matter how it looks. You don't look at your HD-DAP, you listen to them. I don't think they should be judged on aesthetics, rather, how good they make the music. And the music is all that's important. In terms of feautures, sound quality, and just plain coolness the NJB3 blows away pretty much every other DAP. Running notmad firmware, you can do some crazy stuff with it. It's very popular among the modders, programmers, and engineers and if you look aorund you can find plenty of hard and soft mods for it. NJB3 has a battery life that the iPod has wet dreams about. The only drawback I could think of is it's size and looks. *Wishes Creative would make a new HD-DAP that's got all the good things from a NJB3, inside the smaller and better looking Zen Xtra case.
the reason I brought up the lack of usb2 is because I don't have firewire in this comp and I just want to buy a player, not stuff to get it to work, that's the manufacturers' problem and I looked at that notmad firmware, and it looks pretty cool, I'll probably use it on my Nomad 2c (what this thread is about to get it replaced (or something))
Well, USB 1.1 shoul be sufficent. You only need to move the bulk of your music once, after that just a few quickies to transfer a new CD you ripped. I have a Nomad 1, I transferred like 4GB and it only took around 40 minutes over USB1.1
Get a reg one. they look better imho. I got just short of 8500 songs on my pc so it would be needed but you can also use it as an external storage device for photos etc. The ally case looks great and you can add a personal touch by getting it engraved, or get the dremel out and show us a project log.
Get a Mini. I've already got a Creative Zen, and my new Mini pisses allover it in ever department. The significant advantage of Apples mp3 players that too many people overlook or don't consider a major factor is the software and GUI. The Apple player is not only far easier to use, but a lot easier on the eye too. I mean seriously, the Creative PC software is rubbish compared with Apples. My personal view on the Mini is that for 80% of people, it is the perfect combination of capacity and form. I carried a full Zen's worth of music around with me for a year or so, and never listened to 90% of it on a regular basis. So why bother? I much rather have a good 600 -700 tunes (at 192kbps) that I know and listen to regularly than my entire library of CD's. The bonus is that it therefore comes in at a much smaller size by comparison, and it really is tiny by comparison.
But, have you tried any other firmware for your Zen, such as Notmad? What is good about the Zen is that the hardware is good and the price is good, but the software sucks, so people write new software that doesn't suck. Oh, and by the way, I'll take that nasty Zen off your hands for free.
But why should I pay for new firmware or PC software? It should be perfect out of the box... like the iPods. Admittedly the Zen has the edge for the audiophile as unlike the iPod it has a customisable EQ, but the hardware doesnt seem superior to me. It's really quite alarmingly heavy when compared with even a regular iPod. And in terms of connectivity it's a total bitch, as the flaky drivers have meant that on three different PC's that it quite often doesn't even acknowledge as being connected, and that's on both USB and Firewire. I think the thing that drove me to the iPod though was Creatives refusal to release OS X drivers for the Zen, making it totally useless with my iBook. Don't get me wrong, I'm keeping it . But that's only because theres so much music on it...
i was almost swayed by the mini iPod, almost. but i got a creative nomad jukebox zen xtra instead, love it. i also use notmad as opposed to the creative stuff, because: i) my driver cd was cracked ii) the creative software and drivers blew. plus theres people working on a firmware that enables the xen xtra to be used a removable mass storage device, with 30Gb of space, that will come in useful. was so tempted by the mini iPod, so pretty in pink.
It's free. A 30GB Zen costs as much as a 4GB iPod Mini. And with notmad, it's arguably better, not to mention much more storage.
Yeah but as I said in my first post, you don't buy the Mini for ultimate storage size, you buy it for the tiny size and style.
Well, it would seem an agreement between us is unlikeily. Why - I prefer storage, bang for the buck, and sound quality. YOu seem to prefer size and looks.
I'd personally prefer something with electronic memory, just because of the extended battery life and no moving parts. 256MB or 512MB would be more than enough memory for me, as it only takes a few mins to change the tracks for something else when you're bored with them. Many people I know with 10+GB mp3 players, only listen to about 1/10th of the songs they actually have on there, and feel their money was somewhat wasted.
