Apple© iPod© or Creative© Zen© Micro?

I have an iRiver H-120. Black, chrome and shiny preciouss player with an amazing sound quality. I can save my playlist from Winamp and use that in the player. I don't need any app to synchronize it (like the iPod) and it's capable of playing an array of audio formats. It has built in FM tuner and recorder, which the iPod also lacks.

Once it's worn out, I'm probably gonna get a H-10 instead which you might want to compare to the players you mentioned above.

thanks, I've never seen iRiver before.



Whats different about it: It can also show picturs

I forgot I had a Consumer Reports subscription, thanks PixelPirate, they rate iRiver as number one for Flash Drives and Creative Zen as number one for HARD-DISK PLAYERS (20 GB).

G'day, SSOne, a friend of mine and a niece have a Virgin version and recommend it highly, so perhaps you could look into it as an alternative to the dreaded Apple I still turn to my trusty ol' discman for portable entertainment, so I have no personal experience to share, but my niece sings praises about the virgin machine.

I bought an iPod about a year ago, and I have never regretted it.

I have a micro. Just bought it. Works as advertised. Easy enough to move songs to and from using MediaPlayer. Significantly less cost than the equivalent (or near equivalent) iPod. Both do a good job at playing tunes. iPod has way more 'cool factor' (Apple did a great marketing job. Kudos.) Zen has more storage, fm and a replaceable battery for equivalent cost. Basically better 'value' for your money I think. But iPod is way more cool. The controls on an iPod are excellent. The controls on the Zen are good.

IMO if you want cool get an iPod. If you want 'value' get something else.

[Edit] Oh and one other thing... There are a ton of after market add-on for the iPod. Get you things like fm, mini stereo type setups, a multitude of cases, connect to you car's fm radio, etc. Did i say there were a lot of add-ons?

Creative's stuff is cheaper, and has had fewer complaints about long-term stability than the iPod (dodgy batteries anyone?). IMO the iPod is way too expensive for what it is; I'd go with the Zen Micro. (As it is I have a Zen Touch because I have more stuff to keep on it.)

No one thinks Dell's media player is good? It won an award too I think.

I have a 4th generation iPod 20GB that I've gotten for free.

Pros: compact, decent headphones, fast USB2 transfer rates, functional, easy on the eyes (though I don't really see anything of its design from inside its sock in my pants pocket)

Cons: -price is so overrated (google "price+overrated" --> you'll get sthg related to the iPod on the first page)
-not compatible with protected WMA files, you'll have to burn your WMA files on CD's and rip 'em + you must use iTunes for anything
-very fragile, screen is not scratch-resistant, my iPod's gotten lotsa scratches from staying in my pocket and it looks so bad now!
-the 'Apple remote' is not included ($40 extra) and it looks as fragile as the rest
-short battery life (~10hrs)

Oohh! I like the look of the iRiver player! Gonna have to look into it more...

Oohh! I like the look of the iRiver player! Gonna have to look into it more...

lol, yeah awsome isnt it?

Aight, thanks everyone that posted, as much as I love coolness damoose, like the new thing where apple writes 2 lines of lazer inscribed words that you want to put on the iPod-I think I'll go with performance . Whats awsome tho is the iRiver has both, mega coolness & performance . I'm still comparing tho, tips welcome.

thanks again
SSOne

No one thinks Dell's media player is good? It won an award too I think.

Um, no. If I was going for "coolness" I would def. not go with this one .



For performance, dunno.

P.S. I'm going for perormance first - coolness second

I'll go with performance.

Indeed... You'll note I did not chosse an iPod.

the iRiver has both, mega coolness & performance

Agreed.

^One of the more popular 'mods.' (Micro in an altoids box)


^Some of the different colors...


^Sweet glow thing goin' on...


^Looks great in the dark...

Aside from the great looks, the Zen micro has the highest sound quality of any player on the market (98db-snr), a removable battery (unilke the iPod) WMA support, Data-Storage, built in FM radio/recorder...Plus you wont look like a bandwagon-jumper.

Personally, I think the iRiver is ugly, but thats me.


Btw, the 5gb zen (w/accessories) had its price dropped to $200...

Must be a presonal taste thing. I love the look of the iRiver, but I think the Creative one is quite ugly, one of the ugliest players I've seen actually. The colors are blah, and the screen looksjust like a regular 2 colors LCD, unlike the full color display of the iRiver.
The iRiver is actually the first MP3 player I would ever consider buying. BUt the price is still a bit too steep for my budget. Over 350$ Canadian... Yipes...

Cowon iAudio M3 is a great portable media player
it plays ASF, MP3,WAV,WMA,and most importantly Ogg Vorbis
here is a great site with specsLink

Thanks EventHorizon. That altoids thing helped .

Hey, can someone with an iRiver take a pic of it compared to an altoids box or deck of cards or something? The website doesn't have one.

Arges86, I'm goin for one with a screen.

Personally, I think the iRiver is ugly, but thats me.

ahh! Well, I guess ppl can have their own opinion

1 thing Ive realized about "seeing .jpgs on the screen" of the iRiver is that I have a digital camera (ultra thin Casio) that has a 2.5 inch LCD and the iRiver only has a 1.5 inch. So I guess I dont need it for that .

All these Hard-drive MP3 players....all dinosaurs waiting for a graveyard.

If it's not solid-state it's a waste of battery life...

But are there any flash memory players with "cool" screens?

I have a question: Are there any players that support mp4 format?

Link

Link

Link

Link

just search online

Thanks but it looks like those are all MP4 video players. I was talking about an MP4 audio player.

ahhh, mp4 audio? ill have to educate myself on that