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segaslave · Apr 24, 2002, 06:01 PM

ok i need a cheap mp3 player that works well on the mac, i was looking at the iomega hip zip one but im not sure if it will sync up with itunes, i deffinetly want something that will sync up with itunes and have decent storage for cheap as i can eheh

so anyone with cheap mp3 players with suggestions hook me up.

suprz · Apr 24, 2002, 07:09 PM

i can only offer you this advice from my personal experience...... "AVOID RIO PLAYERS LIKE THE PLAGUE!!! they suck and their customer service is even worse than the products (and believe me that is hard to do)

RWoelk · Apr 24, 2002, 08:35 PM

There are no "real" MP3 players besides the iPod. Save yourself lots of headaches and frustration. Better yet, save your pennies and buy the "real" thing. I liked mine so much... I bought 2 more.

segaslave · Apr 24, 2002, 09:16 PM

i wont spend 400 bucks on an ipod when it doesnt do what i want it to do... i want a cheap small player that i can skate with and i really really dont want to fall and land on an ipod with alot of moving parts in it to breack and have myself a nice paperweight. i need an hour or so of music thats it so an ipod is total over kill at a huge price and risk of it breaking it easy. rather than a cheap 100$ player that does exactly what i need and i wont worry if i break it... so ya go buy all the ipods you want i guess.

Originally posted by RWoelk:
There are no "real" MP3 players besides the iPod. Save yourself lots of headaches and frustration. Better yet, save your pennies and buy the "real" thing. I liked mine so much... I bought 2 more.

SirCastor · Apr 24, 2002, 09:36 PM

I say this to everyone who asks me about my iPod, which is a lot of people.

It is hands down the best music device I have ever owned. It is worth every penny I paid for it.

Save up, it's worth it.

RWoelk · Apr 24, 2002, 10:51 PM

It's also quite rugged. It takes a licking and keeps on a ticking... Jezzz., did I really say that??? Seriously, with a modicum of protection like the sportsuit case, it would be perfect for skating.
http://www.marware.com/SportSuit-iPod-Final.html

[ 04-24-2002: Message edited by: RWoelk ]

G4ME · Apr 24, 2002, 10:54 PM

If you want somthing small go with a simple nomad they have decent compacity and you can find them pretty cheap.

G-mac · Apr 25, 2002, 01:18 AM

My Rio 800s worked fine for me. Holds around an hour of so of music and syncs with iTunes and OS X with no problems at all. I run and work out with it with no problems. Pretty sturdy. The customer service at SonicBlue (Rio's maker) really stinks, but apparently, so can Apple's. I'd definitely buy an iPod if I had the money, but for something "disposable" when skateboarding, I'd hardly take the iPod along since I'd hate to even scratch the thing. Take a look at the Nomads - I think they're X and iTunes compatible too. Very nice. Also, the Samsung's are really nice as well - except apparently they only work in OS 9.

jtc · Apr 25, 2002, 09:14 AM

Originally posted by suprz:
i can only offer you this advice from my personal experience...... "AVOID RIO PLAYERS LIKE THE PLAGUE!!! they suck and their customer service is even worse than the products (and believe me that is hard to do)

I second that. They have an unsatisfactory rating from the Better Business Bureau (this is the lowest rating they give) for:

Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the Bureau. Specifically, our records show a pattern of non-response to consumer complaints brought to its attention by the Bureau.

I've had problems with them, too. Their products suck - when they break (which they will), if you send it in for repair you may never see it again.

segaslave · Apr 25, 2002, 01:07 PM

sigh people just wont listen i swear, ipod in any case would be in a millions pieces if i fell on it once. imagine this for me if you will, 5'10" 190lb me skating launching out of a 6 foot bowl with an ipod in my pocket(or strapped to my waist or arm or whatever) then crashing down on that ipod from a good 7+ feet outa the air... ipod = dead

even the shock to the HD if i landed(which i do land safely actually alot) the HD would take too much shock, i can see the ipod for runners and fitness skating but not ... i hate to use the word but 'extreme' sports. so come on no more 'buy an ipod its cool' posts please.

Originally posted by RWoelk:
It's also quite rugged. It takes a licking and keeps on a ticking... Jezzz., did I really say that??? Seriously, with a modicum of protection like the sportsuit case, it would be perfect for skating.
http://www.marware.com/SportSuit-iPod-Final.html

[ 04-24-2002: Message edited by: RWoelk ]

RWoelk · Apr 25, 2002, 02:19 PM

Not a problem, sir. It's a free country and as such you are welcome to throw your money away on anything you wish.

Good luck

Paco500 · Apr 25, 2002, 05:12 PM

Perhaps one of the many satisfied iPod owners has a lesser used model for sale for this guy?

And don't hold all the "buy an iPod" remarks against folks. It sounds like the wrong solution to your needs, but trust me, if you had one, you would be singing it's praises to. It's that good.

Paco

Paco500 · Apr 25, 2002, 05:16 PM

An addtional note- I could be wrong here, and everyone feel free to correct me if I am- buy folks keep asking if and saying that various players "sync" with iTunes- to the best of my knowledge, only the iPod "syncs" with anything. Other players work w/ iTunes, but it is a matter of manually moving songs and playlists over to the player.

Not a big deal for small capacity devices, but it's worth noting.

Paco

SupahCoolX · Apr 25, 2002, 10:42 PM

Iomega quietly discontinued the HipZip earlier this year.

That said, my HipZip is pretty good. iTunes doesn't have builtin support for it, but that's not big deal. I just make a playlist, plug in the HipZip, then select all the songs in the playlist and drag them to the PocketZip disk icon on the desktop. No problem.

I have 3 disks (my 4th just died earlier this week), and that's really not enough for my daily commutes and such, but that was all I could afford at the time (and the iPod hadn't been released yet). I could just buy more disks cheaply, but I hate the hassle of going in and adding a few tracks at a time and then switching disks when I'm on the run.

Therefore, ASAP I'm getting an iPod. I've done my share of research, and the size/capacity formula of that is just simply the best. There are cheaper players with more capacity, but they can't touch the iPod's size and syncing.

So, you'd probably be fine with a HipZip or one of the good flash-based players on the market (Rio 600, Rio 800, Nomad II, etc), but, like me, it would really end up being a temporary until you can get an iPod (unless you don't have more than a few dozen songs, but that's no fun

).

Paco500 · Apr 25, 2002, 11:06 PM

A downside of the Hip-Zip for you would be that I looks quite a bit more fragile than the iPod. Moving parts and plastic case. Bad combo for skateboarding.

Paco

phantomdragonz · Apr 25, 2002, 11:49 PM

go for a rio 500, slim, small and if in some sorta case it will be hard to break, upgreadeable to 128Mb Ebay it or something.

P.D.

P.S. I had one until i sold it because It would not hold enough, my friend still uses it everyday, Hees had it for about 2years now?

segaslave · Apr 26, 2002, 05:10 PM

dont get me wrong i think the ipod is totally sweet and id love to have one... But its just not for what i need in a music player right now, even if i had an ipod id use it for everything cept skating and id love it for sure : ) but id still need a kick around one that isnt so pricey and fragile...

but thanks for all the info from everyone i do appreciate it.

Originally posted by Paco500:
Perhaps one of the many satisfied iPod owners has a lesser used model for sale for this guy?

And don't hold all the "buy an iPod" remarks against folks. It sounds like the wrong solution to your needs, but trust me, if you had one, you would be singing it's praises to. It's that good.

Paco

SupahCoolX · Apr 27, 2002, 05:19 PM

A downside of the Hip-Zip for you would be that I looks quite a bit more fragile than the iPod.

Actually, I've dropped my HipZip quite a few times (from several feet high onto both carpeted and tiled floors), and it still works perfectly. The outer casing is a very hard plastic, and it has rubber on the sides. It's actually one of the more solid mp3 players I've seen.

MGossett · Apr 27, 2002, 06:07 PM

I got a HipZip last October, and it managed to break beyond repair after about 5 days. One of the disks got stuck in it, and I couldn't get it out with pliers, paperclips, etc, so I just sent it back to Amazon.com, and got a Nomad IIc.

The Nomad is a good player, but the screen gets scratched up and dusty after a little while. Although that doesn't affect how it works, it does get annoying. On the plus side, it works well with iTunes, as you just have to plug it in and it appears in iTunes.

-Mike

Matsu · Apr 27, 2002, 11:45 PM

Hip-zip is just a premature version of this concept (just the idea, the tech behind them is totally different)

Some interesting notes about dataplay:

-It is very nearly a super-tiny CD device.
-Data-Play drice support Mp3 (11 hours)
-1MBps bit-rate (is about 6.5x faster than 1x CD) and it supports MPEG4
-500MB and 250MB media will be available on media roughly the size of a dollar coin. The drive is also incredibly tiny!
-3 major record lables are set to roll out music on the format next month. It will not be just a recording format, labels will look to publish material on the format.

This could be interesting cause DataPlay discs would give users the ability to make their own discs for MPEG4 video, still images and mp3 in drives roughly the size of a PC-card, and also to buy published media in it as a native format. It could provide similar performance to CD in postage stamp size. If it takes off as a format it might accomplish something that the battling flash memory formats have not been able to achieve -- namely, a universal standard for both data and published multimedia content that will fit in pocketable devices! Discs that transfer from your MP3 player, to your PDA, to your camera, to your stereo... think about it. It might be cool.