Ipod is very nice, but you have to buy accessories at like $35-$50 each for additional features (fm radio/voice record/fm transmistter/etc..) which can add up... It is, however, my favorite 'large storage' player.

When it comes to smaller (flash based) units, my favorite is the IBead.

-- Aaron

 

Ipod. The design is so well done. Not perfect, but better than anything else I've handled.

 

If you don't want to break the bank on an iPod, I would recommend the RCA Lyra. I have one, and find it great for the gym. If you get the cheap one, it only holds 1 hour worth of music, but that's really all you need. I don't understand the need to hold 16 hours worth of music at a time. Not that I'm bashing the iPod, I would love to get one, but would rather spend the money on other things (like my car). For what I use an MP3 player for though, I find that 64MB is plenty enough. That's the beauty of an MP3 player, if you don't enjoy what you listened to one day...simply download new songs onto it for the next day.

 

It is too hard to say which MP3 player is "the best," since there are so many different models. For memory card-based devices, there are a ton of options, depending on your intended use.

And hard drive-based models are pretty varied, as well. I don't think there is any one "best." It really depends on what you need out of it. For jogging, a memory card-based player would be ideal, for car/travel/commuter use a small HDD unit would work great, for a portable jukebox you won't be carrying around with headphones, some of the larger harddrive models would be a better choice.

I think the question of which MP3 player has the best "sound" is almost non-relevant. Sure, there are likely differences in the fidelity of different units, but when you rip a CD to MP3, you are already sacrificing sound quality for portability or some other benefit. If sound fidelity is important for your use, buy a portable minidisc player/recorder with optical input and digitally copy your CDs, because MP3s are not a good-sounding audio format.

 

Minidisc is also a compressed format so you WILL sacrifice some sound quality. The ATRAC format is supposedly better than MP3 though.

 

how long do the ipod batteries last after a full charge?

 

Did you guys know ,that the small hard drive that is in the Mini Ipod can be sold for about 500 bucks? hmmm....

Oh, and IPOD is be best MP3 player....so far...

Get the "regualar" one. The Mini is way over priced...well unless you consider you can sell the hard drive for 500 bucks...

 

any of the IHP-xxx series by IRiver

better sound
more featuers
great styling
no need for propritary software
and supports many file types

all this for the around the same price as an ipod.

 

I think I'm going to get one by Rio. I saw one cheap at BJ's Wholesale, and it came with an armband (gym use).