[mikithecrackhead]

I'm looking to buy a portable mp3 player. The rio seems to be the best buy so far, by reading the specs ( mac compatibility a plus )

[jack daddy]

CREATIVE NOMAD. i love mine. i have the original nomad. it's a lil thing that plays music. easy to use..tiny. perfect. it doesn't play music r4eally really really loud though. plays louder than what you should be listing to. i dont really like the nomad IIs so much in desing but they have a MG one that looks even better than my original. all feature, tech support and etc. pricey but nice.

after that. IOMEGA Clik thingies. they are pretty dope.

[BigMark]

I would say the Rio.
I use a Rio 500, and although haven't used the 600 or 800, would think that the 500 is lighter as well as being smaller, and easier to store on your side or in your pocket.
With 128MB SmartMedia cards now available, you can have 192 MB of mp3s available to you (64MB built in). Powered by 1 x AA battery. Lasts a good couple of days if you are playing music about 4-5 hours a day.

[GORDYmac]

I use the Rio 600 (32MB). The player is great, but the headphone/earbud things crapped out a month ago.

Shortcomings
- Just 32MB (read my workaround below)
- No software storage support for Mac (for transferring non-music files from one Computer to another)
- Flaky headphones (The ones I use now are better anyway)

Strengths
- Playlist Support. I have a slow & fast mix set up on the player for 17 MP3's. To workaround the 32MB, I encoded my files as mono.
- Great sound. Even on the train I seldom set the volume over 8. It goes up to 20!
- Great battery life. I use it daily for my 30 min train ride to work. I put a fresh battery in last Monday (7 days ago). A week later the battery is only half drained.
- Cool/Ergonomic/Durable Design
- Expandable up to 340MB with proprietary add-ons.

The Rio 800 has more memory (64MB(?)), with the same or more features than the Rio 600.

Good luck.

[SupahCoolX]

I've been doing my research lately too, and here's what I've come up with about the top candidates for my $$$ hopefully in the next week or two:
Rio 500- Good deal for a 64MB player. Lacks some more modern features though.
Rio 600- Great style and good price. Only problem is the 32MB. However, www.riohome.com has it for $230 with an extra 32MB backpack, which isn't too bad.
Rio 800- Good system with 64MB. Would be the best except for...
Nomad 2/ 2MG- 64MB and the same price as the Rio800. However, the Nomads come with a builtin FM tuner, so you can listen to the radio if you run out of music in the 64MB, which I think is a big plus.
Also, there are the hard drive based players (the Nomad Jukebox and Archos Jukebox 6000) which have 6GB hard drives (like 150 CDs worth of music). These players, though, are more expensive ($350-500) and lack the incredibly small size of other MP3 players (they're comparable to portable CD players). Also, they only get 4-5 hours on 4 batteries, compared to the approx. 10 hours on 1 battery that the other players get.

[exa]

Blah! Get a Mini disc player, unquestionably better sound quality...

[jack daddy]

cool dude...

this is where i chime in about the nomad again.

1. FM tuner is fantabulous.
2. I use it non-stop and it is rugged as hell. paint is falling off but it works perfect.
3. It is smaller than the rio.
4. rio tries to conform to the recording industry, nomad could careless and will play ANY AND EVERY MP3 you stick into it.
5. the connection to it is really really quick. dl songs lighting quick
6. batterlife is great and with just triple AAAs. they come with rechargeables but if you feel like carrying extras...AAA s are much smaller. and battery life is not bad, considering you can recharge anytime without worries (nickel metal hydride)...you should be fine.
7 you dont need to expand...the thought has never entered my mind to expand, the download to my nomad is so quick (and the creative software so easy to use) i just change it before i close my pc and leave.
8. do you know how light the nomad is? it is mad light...those aaas make it feel like a feather and it's a noticeable difference over the rio.
9 rio is gay
10. nomad tech support is the bomb...just call em' and you get a western dude toa nswer all your questions. (creative is midwestern)
11. Creative makes all the great sound software. so you can make effects to the music you download. i mainly use the "Live" sounds to make my music sound if it were live
12. It's a voice recorder.
13. you can use it to transfer files in cases of emergency.
14 it can take a drop...i am a runner and i have dropped it a few times.
15. sometimes when i drop it...it doesn't hit thw ground because it is so light. it actually hangs onto my headphones and swings around. ( i use headphones that go around your head but plug in your ears....the foldup track and field ones) it is crazy light
16 screen is perfect size
17. buttons are perfect because it's easy to remember what they do and they cant be pushed by accident because it needs a direct push. plus the hold button is there. i dont use the hold switch because the buttons are not built so that it is easily touchable.
18. docking station is nice...not sure if the mg has it.
19 rio is real gay


and thats it. dont buy the rio..they are gonna go out of business soon because they suck. creative is clearly the innovator here and i'm talking about the oldest model. i dont have the MG man! if you get the mg..you'd probably be able to add 5-10 more things onto my list and without including "rio is gay" 2 or 3 times

[mikithecrackhead]

I just want something that plays about 1 to 2 hours of music. Correct me if I'm wrong, the Nomad cost 2x more than the rio.
originally posted by jack daddy

4. rio tries to conform to the recording industry, nomad could careless and will play ANY AND EVERY MP3 you stick into it.

Oh I really need it to play Live music tracks that I dload from napster or the like.
does anyone who has a rio have a problem with this? I believe the reason why the recording industry sued rio was because the rio played ALL MP3 songs legit and illegit songs? My purpose is for Live Music not pirated mp3s.
The Nomad sounds good but it costs 2x more than the rio. Is the nomad 100% compatible?

------------------
YOU - off my planet!

[jack daddy]

i went to the rio site...and they probably will play mp3s from napster. BUT (correct me if i'm wrong) they used to make you rip your own cds and convert your own music collection to mp3s and that would be the main way/only way to get the rio to play mp3s. or you had to strain your bootleg napsters stuff through thir software. A

ANYWAY....i support napster. Rio used to try to prevent the distribution of music and i think they go out of business for their crimes against today's people and culture. Therefore i support mp3 players that don't care how we get music and only care about bringing us quality products.

I think you should check ot cnet.com and do a search for the lowest price. you might be surprised.

[mikithecrackhead]

thanx

[SupahCoolX]

Well, I just got a Rio 600 (got a really good deal on it), and it plays Napster MP3s just fine. I'm going to post a review in a few mins in the peripherals forum soon.

[Macfreak7]

Originally posted by jack daddy:
CREATIVE NOMAD. i love mine. i have the original nomad.

how do you connect it to your mac?

[Riddler]

I'd have to suggest the Creative Nomad JukeBox SIX GIGABYTES OF STORAGE!!!

I've had mine for about 3 months and am really impressed. It basically has a 6Gb 2.5" Hard Disk plus 8Mb of flash memory that acts as a buffer. It works great with iTunes and SoundJam and is future proof as the firmware is upgradeable for use with new audio formats, only a few weeks ago they brought out an update that adds .wma support.

My only gripe is the battery life is a bit bad at 4 hours but they give you 2 sets of Lithium Ion batteries, plus it's a bit on the bulky size - like a slightly fat portable CD player. It's a bit more pricey than the flash memory based players but you can't beat it for sheer storage capacity, I have 50 albums on mine and it's just over half full !

I'll put my 2� worth in for the Iomega HipZip, nice little player, rock solid, plug and play USB on mac. Have not been able to make it skip in any trial that i was willing to put it through. Biggest plus ... storage at $10/40MB, try that with a flash card. Also doubles as a portable drive if you need to move files. Average 12-14 hours per charge on internal rechargable battery. Overall, good sound, low operating costs. As with most MP3 players, toss the included headphones, and buy a decent pair.

[paour]

You should check out the i2Go eGo. It's a bit bigger than the other players, but it's firmware-upgradable, uses standard CompactFlash memory (including 1 Gb IMB Microdrive), and is built by a great little outfit that doesn't try to stuff copy protection schemes down your throat.
http://www.myaudio2go.com/

[P]

I have a Rio 600, for one reason only: Sound quality. It's better than any other PMP out there, and yes it does play all sorts of MP3s, even VBR-encoded ones

If you have the cash, maybe a Rio 800 would be a better choice - 32 MB is a little low. 340 MB expansions are on their way, though. If a mechanical player is OK, ie you don't need to move it that much (such as when jogging), consider Iomega's HipZip or a player that plays MP3s of a CD, such as the Rio Volt.

In the case of MiniDisc: Sure, if you want to reencode all your files (it doesn't play MP3s) and transfer them in realtime (I fill my Rio with 40 minutes of quality music in less than a minute, a Minidisc would take those 40 minutes to fill), the Minidisc is an alternative. It's easy to pack a bunch of those discs.

[pcurtner]

Rio 500 used standard SmartMedia cards, but the volume was always too low for my tastes. Otherwise fine.

But the Rio 600s now use this crappy proprietary 'backpack' that doesn't work with anything else; I could use the extra SmartMedia cards in either my digital camera or my 500, and since they are standard media, it's easy to find more for a normal price. Go with the 600 or 800 and you're stuck with S3 or SonicBlue or whatever the hell they call themselves these days..

So after losing my 500 on a ski trip (wahh) I'm going with the Creative Nomad 2 MG. FM tuners are useless in New York City, but nice to know I have one anyway. Great little unit, highly recommended.

-p

I just bought the Rio 800 Extreme (256MB internal with a 128MB backpack... 384MB total memory). It works flawlessly with iTunes. I currently have seventy 160kbps MP3's loaded on it.

I have a Rio 600 and i think it is one of the best MP3 players out there. The Rio 800 is even better, but the Rio 600 still kicks the Nomad's behind. I don't understand why jack daddy referred to the Rio as "gay". What does that have to do with anything?
Anyway, the sound quality is amazing, even MP3 files encoded 64K sound really good. And the Rio can play songs really loud. Playing the songs at level 9 is uncomfortably loud and it can go up all the way to level 20. The support staff is really awesome. The set of earphones that came with my Rio was really staticy and poor. When I called tech support, they sent me a new pair of earphones just like that, and it was at my door in 3 days.
Using the Rio 600 with iTunes is so cool. Just connect the Rio to the USB port, and just drag & drop. Downloading a 5MB song takes only a few seconds. You can always add more memory with its rechargeable backpacks. Plus the Rio looks cool, and sonicBlue/Diamond (the makers of RIO) are the pioneers in the MP3 player market.

I bought the phillips expanium mp3CD player back in the summer. I've been very happy with it. It reconizes mac formatted cd-s, though the song's file name needs to end with .mp3. It also reads all cd-r and cd-rw media. so i can also make rw mix discs on data cdrws.

the rio volt looks good now with id tag support, window media file support (for when you save a stream), and it has a ni-mh recharging feature built in.

Recharge support is the only thing I wish my expanium had.

A ten pack of mp3 cds gives me 60-110 hours of music.

Just a few general questions: If your MP3 player has 8MB of Ram, how much time does it take to completely fill it up with MP3's via the USB cable? Is the Ram EXCESSIVELY slow? Is it easy to remove one song and replace it with another while keeping everything else where it is? 160kbps is my favorite bitrate for playback on my iMac/stereo combo. Headphones (good ones anyway) are better able to pick up the wow and flutter of MP3 encoding (ala JPEG artifacts.) Is this a problem with your MP3 players? Do you have to have higher bitrates to enjoy the music, sacrificing the number of songs you can carry with you? Thanks in advance for your replies. Hope to pick one up soon!


Need a LOGO FAST? www.acorncreative.tv

[skeedog98]

I bought the iomega HipZip. It was almost an impulse buy, I had wanted a Rio but the small memory always made me hold back. The individual PocketZip disks only hold 40MB but they were on sale when I bought the HipZip. I like it, bigger than the Rio but it is good. What I need are some headphones. The ones that came with it were Labtec they fit my ears great with the little rubber over the ear pieces but they crapped out. I bought some Koss headphones like them but the over the ear piece if hard plastic and they don't stay in my ears when I run. Does ANYONE know of any good headphones that will sound good and stay in my ears? Please.

[jack daddy]

Originally posted by Macfreak7:
how do you connect it to your mac?

what up, Mr Freaky, i got a scsi converter, and the software is fine if you download the drivers from the site.as of late, i've been so lazy i leave the nomad on my pc and have my scsi printer and zip drives on my mac. stevie j screwed me when he ditched the scsi interface
>>i have to admit, pc is better for the internet and when i download from napster, i just leave it on the pc. so there you have it, i see no reason the Creative Nomad is not a reliable mp3 solution for the macintosh. In fact they have recognized the mac market and software is included for the mac/pc on the newest models. Creative Nomad MG is da bomb.

[PeteL999]

I have a nomad 2 but I wish I got the MG 64 mb is a little cramped when your mp3s are encoded at 128 kbps
http://www.dataplay.com/jsp_files/en...blankmedia.jsp

If this works the rio will be the best player hands down. Dataplay is coming out with these small discs sorta like minidiscs but they will have 250 mb or 500 mb of storage. They will only cost about 10 dollars too! Sonicblue is putting the disc in a backpack making a 500 mb backpack for about 20 dollars! (when you add up he price of all the other components

[This message has been edited by PeteL999 (edited 03-20-2001).]

Originally posted by sloby roby:
I bought the phillips expanium mp3CD player back in the summer. I've been very happy with it. It reconizes mac formatted cd-s, though the song's file name needs to end with .mp3. It also reads all cd-r and cd-rw media. so i can also make rw mix discs on data cdrws.

I agree. It's $200, comes with car adapter kit, plays CD's and MP3 CD's. (This means hundreds of songs, several, several hours of songs!) Is pretty shock resistant, too (for a CD player). It is invaluable for road travel - I make a 6 hour road trip a lot and never have to change the CD once! And instead of paying out wads of cash for memory cards, I spend about $.50 per 6 hours of play time (for a blank CD). The only negative things to me are that the LCD doesn't display the ID3 info and the buttons seem small.

Go ahead and spend hundreds of dollars for your limited capacity MP3 players - I'm going to listen to the entire Beatles catalogue on one CD in my car!

-s'fit

[Macfreak7]

Originally posted by jack daddy:

what up, Mr Freaky, i got a scsi converter, and the software is fine if you download the drivers from the site.as of late, i've been so lazy i leave the nomad on my pc and have my scsi printer and zip drives on my mac. stevie j screwed me when he ditched the scsi interface

hey, i just need the converter now. as for the driver... could u get me a direct link please? i couldnt find it on their site. thanks!