MP3s Player

[MGadAllah]

Dear All:

I'd like to buy MP3s player, but I do not know what would be better,

Is it the MP3s Player with a CD player built in (the one that plays CDs) OR the MP3s with a memory bulit in !?

If any one has a previous experience or know a sure thing, may I know your feed back !?

Or if you have any thing else to suggest, please go ahead.

Thanks

[CoffeeFiend]

I'm almost surprised they still sell CD based ones. I bought one 5+ years ago, because back then the flash based players were minuscule (like 32MB ram or such), and cost an arm and a leg, so it was a good deal. The flash based players only held a few low-bitrate songs (# depending on bitrate), and if you wanted more, you needed to buy and carry more players, whereas the CD based one had far better capacity with a single disc, and if you were carrying a couple extra CDs (cheap too), you had a couple GB on hand. It just didn't compare. (To be fair, the nomad came out sometime after, but that was over 500$, it was just as big, heavier, and capacity was no better than the CD player with a few CDs)

But nowadays there's countless great players out there. From tiny and inexpensive flash based players to very nice HD based ones with large capacities (at least 60GB).

If you only want to carry a few at a time (and don't want to put something else on it), then the tiny and inexpensive flash based players are good. You need more space (lots of music at once/high bitrates/other data files/videos/etc) or things like video playback, can afford to pay a little more and don't mind the extra bit of weight, then the HD based ones are way to go - they typically have much more advanced features too: things like video playback, watching photos (or things like show album covers as you're listening to music), sleep timers, DSPs and equalizers, etc. I can even empty my memory cards directly on mine - very handy as RAW files fill 2GB cards real quick @ 12MB a pop, and I'm already carrying the mp3 player with me (far lighter than lugging around any laptop too). It's big enough that I can carry a couple mpeg4 movies (xvid) with me if I'm travelling or something.

The CD based ones just don't have any advantage anymore (none that I can see at least). Price wise, the flash based ones win. Capacity wise, the HD based ones win. convenience wise, flash/HD ones beat CD players: easily rotate stuff, no need to burn CDs all the time, no need to carry around a bunch of extra CDs, the CD players are the biggest thing and the heaviest to lug around, not very good for things like exercise/running, etc. They were the best thing a while ago, but that time is long over.

Personally, I love my Gigabeat. If it wasn't for that, I'd have likely bought a iRiver instead, or a Zen as a 3rd choice. Now the Zune is coming out, and I'd likely be getting that if I was buying one again.

Just my 2 cents...

Edited October 19, 2006 by crahak

[ripken204]

well get an mp3 player, not a cd player that can play mp3 cds. an mp3 player can hold alot more space and you dont have to worry about a disk not working or a disk being scratched. an mp3 player is also MUCH smaller than a cd player.

[MGadAllah]

Thanks for the input,

I will get a memory based one, with a charger to work on the car & a car kit to work on the car cassette.

Here in Egypt there is no such brands that have been mentioned in your replies, just Creative, MSI, Astra, and San Disk.

The maximum capacity is 2 GB.

I've also asked about iPode for apple, but did not find any feed back about it till now, and I do not know if it is really worth the money or not because All I need is just MP3 player with suitable capacity and easy browse beside suitable output power for voice quality.

Also I've realized that the price in amazon or any other web based shopping site is much cheaper then the local vendors here in Egypt. But did not tried it before because I'm always asking about what if the device is not working during the warranty duration, what shall I do , will I return it back or .... many Qs jump to my mind, so if any one tried it before and has a feedback it will be great to know, because amazon offer great things with small money. Or if you know any others else that deliver to Egypt it will be great too

Thanks a lot guys for your help

[ripken204]

i did not give any brand names in my reply.

this is a good website for technology but they only ship to the US. but you can still look at alot of different mp3 players and read reviews, then try to look for it in a local store or a website that will ship to you.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList....mp;N=2000210023

[CoffeeFiend]

just Creative

The Zen I mentionned is a Creative player But 2GB max... Ouch.

I wouldn't be caught dead buying an iPod.