Looking for hard drive MP3 player

[Grimwell]

So... somewhat related.

If I wanted to buy a kickass MP3 player, and didn't want an iPod or Zune... do I have any options that don't suck?

I want huge storage, not some flash drive to jog with. I sit at a desk all day and want every CD I ever purchased in the last 20 years to fit on it, with room for more impulse buys.

[Righ]

If I wanted to buy a kickass MP3 player, and didn't want an iPod or Zune... do I have any options that don't suck?

http://www.cowonamerica.com/products/

[UnSub]

So... somewhat related.

If I wanted to buy a kickass MP3 player, and didn't want an iPod or Zune... do I have any options that don't suck?

I want huge storage, not some flash drive to jog with. I sit at a desk all day and want every CD I ever purchased in the last 20 years to fit on it, with room for more impulse buys.

I like iRivers, but my experience has just been with the smaller end of their range.

[Trippy]

Well if space is all that matters and you don't care about poor design something like the Archos 605 at 160 GB would probably work. Is there a reason why you don't want a Zune? The 120 GB model would seem ideal for you. Archos has models with even more storage but then you have to go up to their larger (in size) "Internet Media Tablet" models.

Edit: fixed the "they"

[Ookii]

Has anyone mentioned iPods yet?  Because you want an iPod.

[Grimwell]

I don't want an iPod because it's an iPod and I don't want to be in the Apple trap of paying too much for their over priced but attractive hardware and accessories. I don't like their business model either. They upgrade slowly so people will buy a new iPod every second year.

I don't want a Zune. It is going to work best only with Microsoft software, by design. I don't fault them for it, but I tend to not like the flow of MS software.

I do care about it being a good product, with straightforward features and ease of use. I don't need it to play music videos or display my porn cache; though that's a perk I suppose.

[Azazel]

I've had a 40gb iRiver for the last 4 years, and I think it's great. No iTunes, no bullshit, just drag and drop. It's also useful as a portable HDD if you happen to not have a USB drive and have a USB cable handy. My next MP3 player will be whatever the new version of my current one is.

edit - 40gb was quite big for an MP3 player back in 2005.

[Hawkbit]

Off topic, but since you mentioned drag and drop MP3, I got a question.  I have a small 4gb player and when I drag and drop albums to the player it treats it like a set of tracks, not an album.  So in between every track on the album there's a pause.  Kinda sucks listening to something like Dark Side of the Moon and having a 1/2 second pause anytime it switches tracks. 

Cheap MP3 player or am I doing it wrong?

[Trippy]

It's a side effect of using a lossy compression scheme. There might be ways around it depending on your player and software used to create the tracks. Or you could just use lossless PCM files (WAV/AIFF/etc.) and not worry about it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gapless_playback

[Trippy]

I've had a 40gb iRiver for the last 4 years, and I think it's great. No iTunes, no bullshit, just drag and drop. It's also useful as a portable HDD if you happen to not have a USB drive and have a USB cable handy. My next MP3 player will be whatever the new version of my current one is.

Better hope yours doesn't break anytime soon then cause I don't think iRiver makes MP3 players with hard drives anymore.

[Sky]

It's a side effect of using a lossy compression scheme. There might be ways around it depending on your player and software used to create the tracks. Or you could just use lossless PCM files (WAV/AIFF/etc.) and not worry about it.

Or just click the option to not have gaps in itunes 

[Lum]

I don't want an iPod because it's an iPod and I don't want to be in the Apple trap of paying too much for their over priced but attractive hardware and accessories. I don't like their business model either. They upgrade slowly so people will buy a new iPod every second year.

That used to be true, but the hard drive models are essentially a commodity product for Apple now, and from a price/performance aspect will be your best deal - you can get a 120gig model for $250, same price as a comparable Zune. If you don't want to use iTunes, don't - format it as a hard drive and use it with anything. From a hardware standpoint the current versions are the best mp3 players you can get in terms of reliability and (especially) battery life.

[Viin]

How about just a portable HDD with USB/Firewire to plug into your computer and listen to from that?

[Trippy]

It's a side effect of using a lossy compression scheme. There might be ways around it depending on your player and software used to create the tracks. Or you could just use lossless PCM files (WAV/AIFF/etc.) and not worry about it.

Or just click the option to not have gaps in itunes 

Older iPods don't support gapless AAC playback. You also need a newish version of iTunes to create said files. So like I said above if you using a lossy format it depends on your hardware and software whether or not you can get gapless playback.

[Grimwell]

Ok new thought. I'm going to get a new phone this fall. Currently leaning toward a Blackberry Storm.

I should probably just wait and stuff that with micro-SD cards that have my tunes eh?

[schild]

Ok new thought. I'm going to get a new phone this fall. Currently leaning toward a Blackberry Storm.

I should probably just wait and stuff that with micro-SD cards that have my tunes eh?

Second gen androids will be out by then, but yea, sure, I mean, if you don't need a seperate device. But you'll never have an SD card as big as the biggest HDDs.

[Grimwell]

Yeah. I'd love a huge HDD, but I really don't want to hunks of technology on the belt.

Android is cool, but company email is only open to iPhones and Blackberriess, so it's not a consideration unless something changes. I'm not too worried about that.

I want phone, text, music, and interweb all in one device. I can give up on some storage and buy phat SD cards to balance out the loss I suppose.

[Oban]

Wow, not the Storm.  So many issues from software stability to text input and on and on...

I have had blackberries since 1995 (well, it was just called a 900 back then) and I avoided the iPhone craze until last year.  Have to say, the iPhone is so much better for business use.  My wife still uses an 8830 and I tried to add a calendar event on her phone... wow, forgot how awful the BB OS is now.

Hey, if you can wait a few months, the new iPhone starts at 32GB.

[Grimwell]

The Storm is that bad eh?

This is really starting to work against my "Avoid Apple, they are just screwing you softly." mantra.

[Oban]

The UI was never designed for touch screens, the industrial design is flawed (hello dust under the screen!), SurePress requires that you press the screen for every god damn thing, there is no predictive input and it is slooooow as molasses.

Get an iPhone, put 3.0 on it and you have an amazing device.

[Sky]

I like my 5G ipod, since I only need it for music.

edit Oh, wait, you changed your requirements to all that other jazz, woops!

[Grimwell]

I forget where the other half of this thread went... but Best Buy sent me a coupon that made the Blackberry Storm $69.99 so I bought one. So far it can do more than I understand but it's already pounding the shit out of my Helio.

I can surf the web like a badass mofo on it (Helio sucked in this department) and will be loading up the songs tomorrow ( to make it relevant to this thread ).

Soon I hope to be able to talk on it. I'm waiting for my number to transfer.

Necroposting for the win!

[Tebonas]

Let us know how you fare with it. Every manager who got one bitched about it and its at times unresponsive touchscreen. It would be good to know if they only are bitching because they are managers and its their job to do so.