you're my only hope Obi-Wan

[threeplusfire]

So, I have a $100 gift card from Christmas still in my wallet. I've been kicking around the idea of getting an mp3 player for awhile now. It would be nice at work, or out in places where I want to stop listening to other people. It's not something I need but it is something I want. I think I've read half the buyer's guides on the web and I still don't know what I should get though. So, what else is there to do but post on LJ about it?

My other conundrum is that if I decide to go the Apple route, should I just wait for the iPhone? I have Cingular anyway.

[Poll #913221]

Comment and tell me how much you love/hate your music player.

Comments

[mielikki.livejournal.com]

I've had my iPod for awhile now (3 years?), and I have no complaints of it. I think the battery is coming to the end of it's life, but my recharging habits probably contributed to that. It's keen. I love it. I'd not screw with the phone; you may decide to ditch Cingular someday, and I'm always a little wary of first-generation dinguses. Give them a couple of years to work the bugs out.

[lemonchiffon.livejournal.com]

I love my Ipod. I've had it 1.5 years with no problems. Great design and user interface.

[schmidtybooger.livejournal.com]

I've had my iPod for over 2 years and man have I put that thing through the ringer. I've dropped it too many times to count, cracked it's LCD screen (I replaced it) and popped it open to see what's inside. Honestly, the fact that it still works shocks me.
If you get one I'd definitely recommend a case for it if you're a klutz like me and tend to drop stuff though.

[avidbeader.livejournal.com]

Two years with an iPod here, and perhaps the battery is beginning to wear out since it doesn't hold its charge like before, but 90% of the time I have it plugged into the car or wall anyway. I'm very, very happy with it.

[kythryne.livejournal.com]

We had an old-school iPod (2nd gen? 3rd gen? Back before they had pretty pictures and movie players and all that) and it worked great for years until I left it loose in my purse with some leaky sudafed capsules. Sudafed does not agree with iPods, alas.

Now we have a Shuffle, which rocks. And it's so wee!

[cedarlibrarian.livejournal.com]

I'm an iPod devotee, but I use a Mac so I haven't had the chance to try anything else.

I did buy a Nano when I started running, because I am concerned about the long-term damage to the hard disk in my 30GB. Also, the size of the Nano is much more conducive to running.

[eclipsedeyes.livejournal.com]

I say creative not because I have one but because I'm planning on buying one, not because I have one. Reviews unanimously say it beats ipod on a number of points. + I have heard soooo many horror stories about ipod's inbuilt obsolescence and faultiness (EVERYBODY seems to be onto their second or third ipod) and I really think that from an environmental/anti-consumerist perspective that is really not cool. For every mobile phone made there's 50kg of resources uses and I can't imagine that ipods are much different - buy something that will last.

Hard drive vs. flash is only important because it makes a difference to capacity.

[eclipsedeyes.livejournal.com]

sorry about syntax errors, I just woke up.

[ladyofthelog.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't wait for the iPhone. Noble Boyfriend, Mac guru extraordinaire, told me he wasn't planning on getting one until they improved the anticipated battery life (2 hours running actively, 5 hours when not in use) and it had been sufficiently debugged.

I have an iPod, and I like it, although it got really confused by the switch from my old PC to my refurbed PowerMac and I had to reload the entire library, which sucks with USB 1.0 (REALLY SLOW), let me tell you! But if you have USB 2.0, it's probably less awful if there is a problem.

The most reliable MP3 player I've had is my 64MB Rio, which I bought new in 2004?. It's really small and only works with windows, but I have NEVER had a problem with it. If you can find a Rio, I'd totally recommend it.

[haste.livejournal.com]

I love my ipods as well, but I may just be biased. Still, I haven't come across an mp3 player that's been easier or more intuitive to use. I have a 1st gen shuffle which I adore almost more than my 20gig, it doubles as an awesome flash drive (which the new ones don't; you need to have a dock to plug them in) and they're insanely cheap now. If you want more space and a screen, the nanos are also good, and still flash memory so harder to break. Personally, I wouldn't invest in a big iPod unless you're someone who needs 30 gigs of music/movies/whatever on you at all times.

As cool as the iPhone looks, I wouldn't wait for it. 1st generation anything always runs the risk of being buggy, and they haven't been approved for use yet, so until they do, who knows when they'll go on the market. Plus major $$$, which I suppose is always a factor.

[genetic.livejournal.com]

I don't think the iPods are necessarily that much worse than any other hard drive-based player. I think one of the reasons you hear so many stories about it is simply because there are so many more iPods out there than the competing devices. But I've never seen any real statistics about it.

Hard drive vs. flash is also important because a) hard drives are inherently less reliable than flash, b) if you're doing something like jogging with the iPod, part (a) becomes really important because you're jolting the player around so much.

[genetic.livejournal.com]

Don't wait for the phone. You know it's going to be $600 with a new contract right?

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

What kind of hipster do you take me for? I only have my Razr phone. :P

[cjwriter.livejournal.com]

I've had a Sandisk for over a year (got it in October '05) and have not had any problems with it. You can't sync it with iTunes, but you can replace the battery and listen to the radio, which were huge selling points for me.

[eclipsedeyes.livejournal.com]

Maybe in terms of the moving parts issue, but I was actually referring to ipods notorious battery/non-responsiveness issues, including (well, even particularly, thinking back) the flash models.