Music Your choice for an Apple iPod replacement?

I have a Black iPod Classic 60gb, after replacing my stolen Black iPod 5th Gen 30gb.

Its starting to get on my nerves that Apple products lack features hundreds of other cheap basic devices have. (The iPhone is JUST getting e-mail push, copy and paste, video posting, etc) And in the case of the iPod-- FM Radio is really getting to be an unforgivable exclusion.

So given all of that, what do all of you use? Simple, reliable, same features, even more features, similar or same price-- I'm just curious. I've read a bunch of reviews but that's no substitution for some personal feedback.

Thanks.

 

I personally still use an iPod
I'm on my 2nd now, first was iPod Nano 2G, 2nd is iPod Touch 2G. I think that honestly, the interface is just much better than other devices, very intuitive etc.
Not to mention I never listen to the radio. So it has everything I need

So I recommend you just get another one Though if you're that keen on radio... Dunno.

 

just going to throw out the fact that that was completely useless...

I'm pretty happy with my 8gb zune, not having a scroll wheel gets some getting used to, but I like it. I know some people have had issues with the larger capacity ones however.

 

I would either get a Creative Zen or a Zune

 

I use a mix of sansa and zune A sandisk clip 2 gb for when im out and about, and an 80 gb zune for at work. And they both have fm radios.

 

i'd recommend a sansa clip if you just want it for music, a fuze if you want video as well. i'm very happy with my sansa. also, the cowon players are pretty nice. check out the D2, O2 and S9.

 

If you don't require more than 16gb or so of storage then using any reasonably modern mobile phone as your music player makes the most sense these days imo.
If you have your phone with you anyway why carry another box? The sound quality is pretty much the same as any other standalone player, assuming you have a 3.5mm adaptor for some decent headphones. Plus you don't miss calls and most phones (my phone ) have an FM radio.

If you really need more storage than that, then there are many very good non-apple hard drive based solutions, as mentioned above.

Howwwever, I'd personally be tempted to get a stop gap solution and wait for flash based players to decrease in price and increase in storage to a point where they make sense for you (which shouldn't be that long if you are happy with 60gb or so) and reap all the benefits that having no moving parts brings.

 

I really fail to see why people want an FM tuner in their portable music player. The whole reason you get one is so you don't have to listen to all of the crap and commercials on the radio.

Anyways, I've played briefly with a Zune and thought it was OK, but dunno about the desktop software that goes with it. Haven't touched any other non-Apple player in about 5 years.

 

I have a Cowon D2 16gb and I love that thing. I have had 3 ipods before, (1 stolen, 2 broke) and I figured it would be time to get something new. The creative players and the Cowon players supposedly have the best sound quality and the battery life is amazing.

It also has an sd card slot to put more music on which automatically syncs to the library. It also has one of the biggest amplifiers on the market (the ipod ones are crap) so it can power better headphones. The only downside is the User Interface is a little clunky compared to an ipod but you get used to it and mine only cost about 180 usd.

 

The Sansa line is pretty good. Harry swears by a Sansa Clip for his music and I can see why, while I used to use a 4GB standard Sansa.

 

+1 for the D2. Awesome player, you can noticeably tel lthe difference in sound quality between it and and ipod/iphone.

 

Creative Zen; so much easier to move data plus better sound and video quality.

 

on the topic of FM radios. all MP3 players that have this function require the use of a wired remote to act as an antenna. Apple sell a remote for the ipod touch that when plugged in will add FM tuner functionality. sure it costs money but the functionality is there; it would just be useless without the remote anyway. yeah apple should be supplying the remote in the box but hey, this _is_ apple we're talking about.

i like iriver devices, or at least did; i haven't had one in a while. I'd avoid creative like the plague on principle, although their players are getting better they still treat their customers like poo poo. while frankly you won't find a better user experience than the ipod, the zune gives it a pretty good run for its money, but they're a little tricky to find in the UK.

i foresee a big apple backlash coming. it's already alienated its original core audience with the new machines and business models; and the massively negative response to the shuffle was, in my opinion, just a harbinger of bigger things. now if only a company would come along and match their user experience

 

Another vote for the Zen. It just works.

 

+1 still have my trusty standard Sansa, 4GB as well. Sound quality is OK for such a small device.

 

If you want features galore, go for a Zen or perhaps a Sansa (not tried the newer ones myself). If you want an overdriven iPod experience experience, get a Zune- it's worth noting that they tend to add new features every 6 months so my 2007 is no different from the ones currently available.

 

+1 on iPod/iPhone. Yes things are lacking, but I still think that they feature the most innovative and simple to use features on an MP3 player. I've been through around 4 iPods and now have an iPhone 3G. The concept of using anything else is alien to me. I would'nt say I'm an Apple fanboy or anything, I just feel that the features I need are present already. Anything else is a bonus.
The only gripe I have with iPods, in particular the iPhone/Touch, is the limited capacity. My retired (i.e. dead) iPod video was 30GB and I had trouble not filling it up. Now I've had to downsize to a mere 16GB, its even worse.
To be honest, I've never really considered any other MP3 players, but I might now just look into something that I can keep my movies/TV Shows etc. on, rather than using the limited space I have on my iPhone.

 

They don't all need a remote - some will use the headphone cord for an antenna.

 

If you want to listen to FM radio, just get an ipod shuffle, put 3 songs on it and play it on repeat. You'll get the same experience

 

^This. I don't even listen to FM in the house now, it's either on-demand through the Internet Radios or it's DAB. Every single time an aeroplane goes over FM goes stupid (I live under the Heathrow flightpath, so that makes it pretty much continuous all day).

Having said that, the Sansa ones are really pretty good. I'll join in with the recommendations for them.