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Author Topic: Should I wait before investing in a new MP3 player?  (Read 1855 times)

JaysonG

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Should I wait before investing in a new MP3 player?
« on: May 28, 2007, 03:31:43 pm »

Hi, I'm a pretty big audiophile (I suppose posting on here makes that a given!) I have just under 62GB of music and have previously owned a iRiver IHP-120 and currently own (and love) my 60GB Cowon X5L flashed with the rockbox firmware. In the past I tried to avoid the iPods as there were superior players out for similar prices, and their refusal to recognise the awesomeness of the 'Album Artist/Band' tag combined with my obsessive compulsive disorder about the tagging and file arrangement of my music.

So as I've crept over the 56GB maximum capacity of my X5L and my battery life is starting to become pathetic (something I'm responsible for with almost 2 years of constant use and not conditioning or looking after the battery properly) I'm wondering whether I should bite the bullet and get a 5.5G iPod? I've heard alot about compilation support but is there anyway for an iPod just to recognise the 'Album Artist' or Band tag as the Artist tag to make file searching on it as simple as browsing by directory?

How does the 5.5G sound compared to Cowon MP3 players?

Does anyone have any idea when Apple are going to release the 6G iPod or when iRiver or Cowon are going to make the step up to the 100GB mark as I have a feeling I may reach 80GB very quickly when you take into account the real disk size and video/photos etc?

Thanks
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RFB

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Re: Should I wait before investing in a new MP3 player?
« Reply #1 on: May 28, 2007, 10:30:02 pm »

I can tell you, that as an iPod owner and not much of an audiophile, that you would probably be disappointed in the sq of the iPod, coming from a Cowon player.

The iPod is "just" good enough, unless you decide to go the route of getting a lineout dock/cable and using a portable headphone amplifier.  As I  value convenience pretty highly, I have chosen not to do that.

I guess you could get used to the iPod's sound after a while, but if sq is very important to you I would look elsewhere.  I think I heard mention that Cowon is coming out with an X7 this year.

The other players I'm personally familiar with are the Zune, and the Sansa e200 series (I also had a Rio Carbon, but that is a long discontinued model.)  The Zune's sq is fantastic.  Unfortunately, the software you're required to use is terrible (no MC support) and the player (imo) is big, heavy and ugly. The battery life is poor, too (8-10 hours).

The Sansa series is flash-only and limited to 8gb.  It's sq is worse than the iPods (but not by much).

Rick
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JaysonG

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Re: Should I wait before investing in a new MP3 player?
« Reply #2 on: May 29, 2007, 03:34:48 am »

Oh wow thats brilliant I didn't know there was an X7 on the way!  ;D What happened to the X6 lol
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johnnyboy

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Re: Should I wait before investing in a new MP3 player?
« Reply #3 on: May 30, 2007, 10:18:16 am »

I just bought a Cowon D2 - awesome little player and although its flash based you can use SD cards with it and they're now up to 8Gb so i figure get myself a few of those.
I'm coming from a 60Gb creative player however and getting used to having to choose ahead of time what music to carry around with me instead of just having it all and choosing what I want on the fly is a bit of work.

Having said that, I truely love this little player - the touch screen interface is awesome and its size and weight is great as is the fact its no longer HD based so I could juggle it if I wanted with no problems.

I figure a small pouch of cards like how I used to do with CD's/Tapes would solve the problem pretty easily and efficiently. The size of these SD cards is tiny and 4-5 of them would take up no more space than a packet of chewing gum and I'll just have a card for each mood - party/chilled/frustrated - and that should pretty easily sort me :)

Wish I could get a player this size and good (50hrs playback time!!!) with hd sized storage but just not gonna happen for a few years yet!
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RFB

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Re: Should I wait before investing in a new MP3 player?
« Reply #4 on: May 31, 2007, 01:51:10 am »

Oh wow thats brilliant I didn't know there was an X7 on the way!  ;D What happened to the X6 lol

More info on the X7:

http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9719678-1.html

Rick
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JaysonG

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Re: Should I wait before investing in a new MP3 player?
« Reply #5 on: September 07, 2007, 02:06:05 pm »

Sorry to bring an old thread back up from the pits of obscurity but after hearing rumours the X7 will never come to pass :'( and with the advent of the 160Gb iPod Classic. I'm on the verge of biting the bullet and getting an iPod. But the one question I still need to know the answer to is; can MC12 trick an iPod into thinking the 'Album Artist' field is in fact the 'Artist' field to make searching for songs easier?

Thanks
Jay
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