Ipod or IRiver?

Nope, I just rechecked. There is no preference for file associations, even under advanced options. I actually overstated a bit. I went through the file associations manually through My Computer and changed it back and iTunes isn't changing it now. The only thing it was a problem with was .M3U files which it stole from Winamp. I absolutely loathe software that doesn't ask before changing associations. It's just a big pet peeve of mine.

IRiver cause they is prudy ^_^ I own one and they is tight. Sure Ipod holds more songs but do you really own liek 2 gigs of music X_X

Ipods are hard to sue to me and I'm not a fan of Apple at all so IRIVER wewt!

Yes there is Chip, just look again under the first tab, general. There's a box next to " use iTunes as the default for audio file".

Okay, I'm blind Apple can still kiss my ass though Thanks April.

I'd hardly think iTunes sucks because it steals your file associations - it is no different from WMP or WinAmp on that matter.

From what I have heard the iRiver is difficult to use - much like how some of the minidisc players were. This is what I have HEARD from others who have them. As for ipods, they just work.

Seriously, what do you want? something to play music? or something to play music, watch videos, cook you breakfast, clean your teeth, and then clean your house.

Buy the product that best suits your needs, not has the most whizzbang features.

I beg to differ. WinAmp gives the choice during installation if memory serves, and WMP is already part of the OS so it already has the associations, and does not steal them once they're assigned to another app.

Quite allot, but even with the limitation it’s not really a problem. With a PocketPC PDA I can surf the net. So I can go to any place with WiFi (McD’s for one) and get music. With Gmail having 1 g e-mails or with Yahoo groups or MSN Groups I can put what I want up there and get it when I want it.


Set a list and then start it and then start running. I don’t see a problem here, what is the problem?


My father has one on a construction site. Had it for 3 years. Dropped it on concrete floor more then once. Still working. Don’t see this as a problem.



So you want to spend twice the money to do something you can do with one thing? OK so in that say was do you want to buy one TV to watch DVDs, then buy one to watch TV, then buy one to play games? Allot of wasted money. If you only have $400 and you are looking to have a PDA and you want to play music a PocketPC can do it, IPod can’t.



Because with WiFi it is really not something to address.


No you are wrong again.
Ipod
Iriver
Other

A IPaq would fall in other. So what is your point?


I know people that agree with you. I also know people with Ipods that disagree with you.

Now you have asked why I never talked about your points how about you addressing my points??

Batters
When the Ipod first came out you could not replace the battery. Now you can but for $99. Even the $99 ipod cost $99 for a new batter.

Freezing (One I didn’t bring up before)
I have 3 friends that has had this happen. They go out running or driving and the Ipod locks up. You can’t reset it till you get home and plug it in to your computer.

MP4
With the MP4 about to become the new big thing will your IPod play it? Will Apple let you upgrade your ipod? After all they did want a Battery upgrade, they have upgrade problems with there computers.

High cost
You pay allot of money for what? A hard drive that plays music that is all. Does not sound like good money management to me. I can go by a 80G HD and a portable travel case for 1/4 of a IPod.

Where do I find one of these machines?! I hate cleaning...

Seriously.. I'd use FM Radio and Voice recording, I don't have more than 5 gig of music, I'd use a color screen for JPG viewing..

And the IRiver is the cheapest thing that does all of those, with the possible exception of a PDA, and I think most of the extra features on one of those would be lost on me atm and I wouldn't like it as my main portable music player, but I'm looking into buying one in the future on the advice of Lupo

Zap

I've got an iRiver iHP-120. Wouldn't trade it for an ipod.

Things I like:
- It has more stuff. Recorder, microphone, optical connectors, 2nd headphone adapter, etc. Mostly though, I like that it has an FM radio.
- No intrusive software. Standard USB mass storage device. Plug it into your computer, start copying music on to it. That's it.
- No DRM features. A classic example of making you pay for technology that's working against you.
- Battery life. Uses lithium polymer. Will actually last longer than your work-day.
- It actually acts as a storage device. I can use it as a backup for my MP3s/ogg/etc. With an iPod, music that goes onto can't come off. (without hacking your ipod)

I've got a Nokia 5510. I love it. It has 64 megs and can be used as a pen drive or mp3 player. I don't usually use its mp3 features though. Then again I hardly ever use it as a pen drive either! LOL

Nice Eggy! I might've got an MP3 phone but I'm happy with mine atm.. And they cost a bomb if they have a decent amount of space.. From what I've seen..

So much stuff to buy, so little cash.. Oh well

Two years ago I bought an Archos Multimedia Jukebox. 20 gig storage, built in color LCD screen, played MPEG4 movies, MP3, displays several still image formats. It also has optional (snap on) attachments that: Let it act is a low-resolution digital camcorder (I never bought this one), Read memory cards (bought this), and play to televisions or record from a DVD player, as well as let it be controlled by a remote control. (bought this).

Been overall very happy with it... The battery life is not what I would like it to be, since it actually has a tiny spinning hard drive inside it, but it suffices for what I need.

I'm also pretty happy with using my PSP as a portable MP3 player via the memory cards... A gig of music is PLENTY, for me... But, then, I can change whats on the card daily. For long, long trips, I might want more.

Hmm battery life is a point, I'm not sure about the battery life on either the Ipod or the IRiver.. I think the IRivers closer to what it says it is.. But not sure as I haven't owned either yet

In the past, the iPods have had some serious batterlife issues. They may have gotten this sorted out or not by now, I dunno. I do know it's pretty darn expensive to get a new battery for an iPod though. Thats something you might wanna look into.

I river h320. put the korean firmware on it and it can play movies (yes the menus still stay in english) It is not tied to a propriatary program like iTunes. supports more formats than the iPod (MP3, WMA, ASF & Ogg Vorbis).l you can pull music off of it because it acts like a portable drive when pluged into your computer. You won't be the victim of theft while sporting distinctive stylish white headphones. Hackable and skinable, wtih a good comunity for support.

I easily get 10 - 11 hours from mine - but I don't use the back light much. I usually keep it plugged into the charger and cabled to an external amp during night usage, so it's always near full charge.



_/_/

Yep that was dealt with two years ago. Batteries will last in direct proportion to how often you play them to depletion. Most users keep their pods either on the craddle, or on the charger when not out-and-about.

Thats another thing that confuses me about ipod, all the 1st, 2nd, 3rd generation stuff, and you have to get the accessories to match whatever kind you have..

With IRiver I think they have firmware upgrades rather than releasing new models..

Neither one...

iMonkey

iPod isn't tied to iTunes, especially on the PC. It stores the files in a hidden folder with hashed file names, but they are easily extractable. The newer generation ones may not even hash the filenames.. I'm not sure. There are a multitude of apps like anapod, ephpod or xplay (is that still around?) to manage your iPod without iTunes.

Format support is true, but they are niche formats. The iPod will play mp3, aac, apple lossless, and raw audio files (wav or aiff). Let's be honest here, ogg, wma, mpc, flac, etc are not exactly mainstream formats. If you're serious enough to be encoding in one of them for quality reasons, you're likely encoding at a high enough rate you can dumb it down to the portable. (Especially true with a lossless format like FLAC).

Scary tales of theft because someone wears white earbuds are overblown (and the white ones are pretty bad anyhow).

The battery story is the iPod equivalent of "omg lol one buttun mouse!~!!1!!!!1!!". If it's under warranty, it's under warranty, and you can (and have been able to) get it replaced. By the time it needs replacement, assuming you don't run it 24 hours a day, it will be out of warranty, in which case you can crack it open and replace it yourself.

Upgrade to mp4? I would advise you to fastforward to the present day and see that everything Apple is doing in the music area is pushing the mpeg 4 audio codecs (AAC) over the old mpeg layer 3 (mp3) standard.

I think the uncut sentence between your rants in this quote is telling.

I would agree if it is under warranty. The problem is when the batter goes out after the warranty is over. Buy a $99 iPod and then you have to pay $99 for a new batter. Ya that is reasonable. Apple only sells the batter if they put it in. Now you can get after market ones but again do you know who they are? Do you trust they will work right? Remember there was some after market Cell phone batteries that blowup.



Is your iPod MP4 ready now? Is it ready to go? OR are they going to push you to get a new player? What about buying one today that is MP4, what happens when MP5 come out? Apple was all for multimedia but yet just 6 months before DVDs became the thing to have in your computer a friend got a Mac. He wanted to put a DVD player in. He was told nope. Apple has always had a upgrade problem. The problem is they feel buy a new machine done’ make your old stuff work. Sounds like a waste to me.



What that I can’t see spending with a company that has over the last 20 years shown it’s costumers little to no respect? I will not shop at many stores because of how my self or people I know were treated. Many places Apple being one feel they are always right not the costumer. I will not deal with that.

Wow, that was something. I have been an Apple user for 20 years and they have treated me wonderfully. They have given me excellent virus free computers to use that have allowed me to be creative in many ways.

I don't understand your animosity.

I have had several iPods and have been very happy with them. I had a MiniDisc before the iPod came out and it would stop working for no reason. The battery life sucked and I was stuck with 74 songs or so on each expensive cartridge.

I'm sorry Apple hasn't made you happy but you can't make a blanket statement like that.

I love my iPod, I love my Powerbook, I love my PowerMac. My PC is difficult and full of bugs and is hard to use. I only got it because the Mpeg4 files from my ReplayTV were not Mac compatible and I mainly used the PC to burn shows to DVD. Now that Quicktime 7 handles mpeg4, I gave my PC to my little sister.

So the 300% mark-up they had till the mid 90’s was a wonderful way to treat you??



And I have had friends that have had iPods just lock up till they got home to plug it in to there computer to unlock it. Many programs did that. My pick the ipaq does not have that problem.



Oh I can and I will make a blanket statement. I have the faces that bake it up. Like the 300% mark-up.



Well I don’t get that but ok. I can’t see how XP is hard to use. It’s just like a mac, point and droll. I am a Windows person and I would be the first to say it’s so simple that even the mentally challenged can use it. If you want the real power you go to Unix and that is just way more then any one really needs (I hate Unix yet even I know it’s more powerful) I have used a Mac and don’t see it and different then Windows, but it has been 10 years.

Funny people talk about how Mac can do every thing but you point out that you need a PC. This is not really a Mac or Window topic. It’s portable music device topic. PocketPC fits ONLY because it is portable and can play audio clips.

By all means if you are happy with them good for you. Still sit and think about how the have treated you badly. I can point out all the faults of MS and yet I like them as much as you like Apple. Can you look me in the eye and tell me they really have treated you fair at all times? And before you say yes think about your 300% mark-up you use to have when PCs were at a 30% mark-up.

I'm sorry you are sad about Apple. I am very happy with Apple.

The price of an Apple computer in the past has been more but you get more quality. I don't expect to pay the same price for a Lexus as I do for a Hyndai (sp?)

On the XP when I need to uninstall a program, I have to ask the computer nicely and sometimes it still won't do it. Sometimes I have to reinstall to uninstall. On the Mac, I just drag the program to the trash. Oh and let's not mention viruses and security updates that cause more problems than they solve.

But Lupo, the bottom line is that I've been happy with my Apple computers. Lots of my friends are happy with their Apple computers.

Are you happy with your PC? Lots of my friends are happy with their PC.

Then all is well.

You can't say that we haven't been happy. You can't say Apple is doing something aweful to us when they aren't.

When most people were using Windows, everyone said because it was a better computer. Now you can see the Apple iPods everywhere. What could be the cause of this? People are happy with their iPods.

Hate is bad all the way around.