iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

I need the benefit of the .org's opinion:

iPod Nano

or

Sony NWZ-S639FB

Or is there something better for about the same dosh?

TIA

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

if the sony still uses sonic stage software then forget it as it is pony!

i had an NWA3000 for about 3 years now have a nano and it is far superior IMHO.

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

Nope.... seems like it's gone (or comes with something better). D & D from Windows, works with iTunes and WMP11 too.

What about sound quality, gadgets like FM transmitters and the like?

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

If it came down to the software they use, then Ipod/Tunes everytime, SS is utter rubbish.

However, i am sure that SoulKiss will be along in a moment to tell you that all fruit based electronic products are bad news!!

jabba, i would also look at Iriver stuff. Verna used to have an old 256mb MP3 and the sound quality was supereb, but again, that had to use some sort of software to load up the tracks.

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

Cheers Viney - noted with thanks :D

Next.....

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

With regards to FM transmitters etc, one rule, you get what you pay for! A colleague bought a cheapo one, and they said the SQ was very poor even if they clipped it on the radio itself. Most of them come with a 3.5mm jack so will fit all MP3 players. The thing with ipods is that you can get one that fits your cigeratte socket so charges the unit whilst it plays which is cool and does not use the internal amplifier of the ipod using the line out instead (Slightly better qwuality)

I use a thing called Drive n Play from Harmon/Kardon. Its designed for use with an ipod, it charges, has a screen and controller and can either plug into your car radio via a line in, or via an FM modulator

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

MP3's by the very nature of them are poor sound quality so there won't be any comparison to be made between either player. The MP3 format is the weakest link as it were.

So it comes down to the software and battery life really. I personally think iPod's are the most user friendly device on the market and that is what I would choose.

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

Did someone call????

iRiver did good stuff, Vixis had one, liked it.

For that price bracket I would go with this beauty

Cowon I7

Doesn't do video, but will play for 60 hours on a charge.

If the budget is available, then one of these

Cowon S9

Had got to be the one - AMOLED screen and 55 hours playback.......

I pimp for Cowon because I have one of these

Cowon A3

And its a brilliant piece of kit which is ALSO a great recorder.

Also as you will see, thay will play back almost ANY codec you care to chuck at them - including FLAC and OGG if you dont want to compress your music.

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

That looks interesting....... more to think about :D

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

The main advantage of the ipod, over all of the others, is the vast number of third party accessories available. You can get everything from cases and chargers through to car stereos and TVs with ipod docks.

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

+1 i have yet to see anything dock with my old sony, other than the dock they sold me for 50squids...

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

I love my Sandisk E280, its only gone flat once in a year, and it gets around ten minutes charge a week!

Steve

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

I have tried both and the Ipod is better. Itunes is a bit funky but I much prefer to use MediaMonkey (www.mediamonkey.com).

MediaMonkey is a great music player and it is particularly talented at organising and correcting music collections. It also has the ability to compress music on the fly when putting music onto music players like Ipods so that you can get more music onto the player than with just the basic files.

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

I read a lot of reviews and went for the Sony. It scores better for everything except looks... and tbh who cares? Sonic stage is gone for this for those who asked. Though you didnt have to use sonic stage on the old ones either, heh.

This one I got.


Those who say that there are lots of accessories for Ipods... You can as easy get accessories for phono jacks and mini USB connectors so thats kinda a mute point. :rolleyes:

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

In my house we have two nano's and 20 gig sony , the sony's battery is quality compared with the Ipods' sound quality is ok on them all unless you are a real audiophile . The ipods are better to use through the menu system but the battery life is a winner for me depends what you use it for . Sony's great for holidays .Ipods are cool if your a yoof though .

I think I must be the only person that still uses Sonicstage It took me a while to get used to it but now find it really reliable . Itunes does my head in Its just set up so that apple can dig a bit deeper into your pockets. I cant be ar$ed with it . New sony's drag and drop the way it should be .

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

you will find that with the sony which i bought couple of sundays ago that you can load on something from the disc which lets you use ITunes anyway.. or windows media player, or drag and drop.. plus if you have a ps3 it works well with that.. and u got the FM radio on there, battery is good... and i would prefer to be a rebel and not get an i pod. and i recommend going on bbc i-Player and getting loads of top gear on there.. memory goes on forever.

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

and how many songs for example can you get onto them?

i have a sony now and it's getting a little old and agree that sonic stage software and the replacement connect player are both pretty rubbish, so i'm looking for something better with a fairly large storage capability.

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

16 gb aint enough for you? i have about 4 gb of listenable music i think... the other 8 is just crappy novelty stuff like the mr bean theme tune. oh yeah you have themes on the sony one and can choose your own wallpaper.. i have cheryl cole on mine!

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

Rule of thumb is 1Mb/Minute of music.

Average Song length = 4 mins (unless you are a Meatloaf fan......)

So 4Mb/Song

that means 250 songs/Gb

So 1000 songs for every 4 gig.

Time wise that equates to over 16 hours/gig - so 64 hours for the 4 gig = 2.5 days.

So the Cowon with the 60 hour battery life can only play 4Gb of music between charges.

My thoughts on MP3 Player capacity is that 8Gb is probably plenty, its not that big a job move stuff about and more than that and you can't find what you want to listen to on it.

I dont see the point in carrying my complete MP3 collection around.

That said I would go for a bigger device and use the extra space for moving files around - ie portable hard-drive mode :)

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

remember as well, you lose some storage space to formatting, seems to vary quite a bit. for example 120gb xbox hard drive only has 107gb for usage. think the sony player s639f had about 13/14 left for use.

an easy way to see, is to hover over the My Music folder or right click it and view properties. you can easily see how much music you already have compared to what you could fit on there.

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

I got myself and my wife a Vusys from Ebuyer a couple of years ago. Ok they're not as cool and funky as the latest gen Mp3 players. But at the time they cost £64 for 20gb of storage! Ipods were only offering 8gb at over £100 I think.

I've got mine hooked up via USB cable to my car Cd player with all my favourite music, and I've still got loads of storage space.

But the point of my post is that Amazon is giving away £3 worth of FREE MP3 downloads from their catalogue. Its DRM free as I understand it too.

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

what is the new o/s?

and will it now allow me to use all the features of the NWA that have always told me to connect compliant software since new...

on a side note, my new nano has held out for 12 hours and the battery still has half left.

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

custard you can use the Sync function on windows media player 11, or you can install something from the supplied CD which allows you to use i-tunes. or you can drag and drop. what more could you want? i haven't used i-tunes yet but i guess that is best for podcasts. you plug in the player and it takes about 10 seconds for it to be ready to use, i think there is one driver. and it is recognised as a portable device and everything.. it works silky smooth, however you ask it to.

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

rayray - this thing is about 4 years old... it only came with the connect software and then found out about sonicstage...

any idea if this software is available on line?

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

Basically now you fill a Sony like you would a hard drive, simply copy and paste in the drive. Dead easy :) Only thing is you have to make sure the file's are named right... Infact I used to do this with my old Mini disc player which was meant to use sonic stage, you sure you cant do it with your old MP3 player?


Thats not formatting that does that, its because 1GB is actually 1024bits... So when they say 16Gb space they mean 16000bits, but in actual GB its 16000/1024 = 15.625GB... ;)

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

looks like it is sonic stage only for me. the latest models can use itunes and the drag and drop thing.

the NWA series/sonicstage convert all files to ATRAC which can not then be converted to MP3 or anything else for that matter if you are looking to transfer your library to anything else. They also can not play anything downloaded from Itunes.

it seems the general feeling about the NWA series of players is pretty grim.

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/12...y_mp3_players/

The Reg did a review of the Sony Walkman S series a little while ago and seemed to like it mightily

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

i had a HD-5... which is now a brick but that used sonic stage. you can choose the option under setting to not convert tracks? sonic stage is so slow though. are you sure its not worth just upgrading?
my pc is all sorted now so i'm gona try and use the i-tunes thing i was saying about... wanna see what the playlist support is like

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

nah, saw the light a couple of months ago and it was nano shaped...

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

I got a Nano 16gb and love it, my favourite toy at the moment :-)

Was going to get a Touch but decided I wouldn't use any of the extra features it comes with..

Go have a play with them both in a shop and see which one you get on with better..

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

Thanks for all the help guys..... read a few reviews and listened to the advice on here.

I went for the Sony NWZ-S639FB 16GB. It seems like the best option for what I want and how often I'll use it. Always been pleased with Sony equipment in the past and that swung it.

At the time of typing, Amazon are selling them for £78.29 - that's a heck of a price :-D

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

Jeez that is a great price! Meant to be like what £140 isnt it!?

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

i got mine from comet for £89, they r doin promotion... 16gigs for the price of 8 and stuff. thats the best price i have seen them for if you don't want immediate pickup

Re: iPod or Sony MP3 player?
 

Woohoo.

Vixis (via Santa) only went and bought me a 16Gb S9 for Xmas.

And she got on two :)

Its REALLY nice :)