PMP - MP3 Players

[kaitia]

Hey there folks,

In the world of technology it seems that Apple has got a pretty good market. However, I am sick of their so called wonderful iPod. I have been researching many other alternatives to the iPod and there seems to be an abundance of PMP (Personal Music Players) that top the iPod. For instance, the Samsung YP2 / YP3. This player is not only touch screen but allows for a custom built UI. It also has bluetooth capabilities that allow you to pair your phone with the player. In addition to this it also contains a FM tuner and recorder. I've also noticed these features on the Cowan S9.

So, what's the deal with the iPod?:dunno: Yes, I do have one. No, I don't think it's that great. Any thoughts, comments or suggestions regarding PMP?

[Smith6612]

The deal with the iPod is the marketing hype behind it and because it's from Apple which means it has to work. iPods are good pieces of hardware, and I know this because I have a 2nd Generation iPod Touch on my network 24/7 which I do use when I'm not home. iTunes is quite bloated though (ever seen how many processes it launches when it's open and syncing?) so I'm using an alternative to iTunes to load music up onto the iPod.

Really, a basic MP3 player is all you need, one with a lot of SSD memory or with a large hard drive. A friend of mine has a 4-5 year old Creative Zen. It's taken quite a bit of beating and it still runs like a charm for him, and it has more HDD space than his computer's hard drive has. For me, when I don't have the iPod on me, I'll typically have some songs loaded up onto my PSP for me to play.

[omniuni]

Recently, I purchased a PMP myself. I first got the Sandisk Sansa, but unfortunately, as much as I liked it, the sound was only OK, and the pre-amp did not power either my headphones or speakers appropriately. (I kinda have big headphones and big speakers, so most people probably would not have this problem)

I returned it and got instead a Cowon D2. Like my previous Cowon media player, this is a powerful, featureful, and absolutely amazing sounding player. If you are on a budget, the D2 packs features like playing DivX/XVid, a sketch pad, radio, sound recorder, and most audio you can throw at it into a pretty well-priced package. I got the 8GiB model for $120, and then added an 8GiB SD card to it, so my total storage is 16GiB.

Apple makes media players targeted to mass consumerism. Companies like Cowon are shooting for audiophiles, and people that want to get more out of their device. Did you know that the Cowon players essentially run on Flash binaries? You can actually make new skins, and even full applications by using Flash animations! Cowon even has some special ActionScript extensions so that you can write files that save a users settings, or images onto the device. It even has a beefy enough processor to handle basic flash games, if they're made right.

I love my Cowon, and I love that I can use it on any computer by just plugging it in (no iTunes necessary). Ipod's are not bad devices. The last generation even used a similar sound chip to the Cowon (though weaker). They just don't do half of what I want out of such a device, so they're not for me.