Would you reconmend an iPod or Creative Zen?

[edsbelly]

Ahoy thar all,

I did a quick search before, but failed to find any threads with the same question as me.

Christmas is around the corner and I've been thinking about what to use my santa fund on. I've been contemplating over whether I should ask for an 80 GB video iPod or a 60 GB Creative Zen Vision: M.

I've googled some comparative reviews on the two, but they've left me inconclusive. I've asked my friends on their opinions and they've all said something different.

So what do you think?

What are teh main points you'd consider?

Which do you think is better overall?

All input greatly appreciated.*

Ed

Oh. I forgot to add; I'd be mostly listening to music I think. Probably watching the odd video though. Also I'd use it for a lot of file storage.




*All input might not be greatly appreciated.

[Into the blue]

I have a Zen Creative and find it fine.
The best thing about it is the radio function.
The worst thing about it is the small lid that covers the battery. It is held in place by a teeny tiny piece of plastic which is very easy to snap.
Bit of a design flaw there.

Other than that, it's all good.

[ivan]

Ahhh, I thought this thread was about listening to music on your iPod vs. meditation. I vote for meditation if anyone asks. Its screen doesn't get all scratched up and it works fine even if your friend spills coke on it.

[iridemymuni]

ive had a video ipod for over a year now. works great i love it no complaints.

[Da Doofus]

ZEN!! I'm really tough on mp3 players in general, and went through two ipods before finally switching to the creative zen, and its the best thing ive ever done. Unfortunately, if you are already using itunes, and didnt change the import format, you have to convert your music, as the only player allowed to use apples aac format is the ipod...cheap.

go with the zen (I havent had any problems with the battery cover, and ive had mine for a year

[habbywall]

If you have an apple then there is no choice you should be getting an ipod, cause I know that file storage is easier than being hand feed apple sauce.
But with a PC I'm not sure.

[James_Potter]

ZEN!!
I had an iPod, it broke. And when I say broke, I mean the battery died.

Also, iPod's dirty secret (http://www.ipodsdirtysecret.com/) is no longer exactly as that video says, but the fact that it once was exactly true makes me want to never deal with Apple again....

[milk]

ZEN!!
I had an iPod, it broke. And when I say broke, I mean the battery died.


I know a hell of a lot of people whose iPods decided to die on them, so I'd say get a Zen. There seems to be some sort of iPod plague going around.

[habbywall]

The battery fix is now really easy though.
And is there anything were there weren't bugs in the beggining?
The only reason no one else had this problem is because the ipod was the first out there, so all the bad stuff was already known when the other companys put there mp3 players out there.
[/applefanboyrant]

[James_Potter]

I know a hell of a lot of people whose iPods decided to die on them, so I'd say get a Zen. There seems to be some sort of iPod plague going around.
That plague is actually a well devised SCAM by Apple. See, they give it a one year warranty, then shortly after a year the battery dies and they need to buy a brand new iPod. That's how it used to be anyway, they changed it so now you only need to pay $99 every time the battery dies.

[Jerrick]

The battery fix is now really easy though.
And is there anything were there weren't bugs in the beggining?
The only reason no one else had this problem is because the ipod was the first out there, so all the bad stuff was already known when the other companys put there mp3 players out there.
[/applefanboyrant]


Hehehe, Ipod was definitely not the first out there. Not by a long shot.

If anything, Ipod should of learned from all the other companies before them, but they didnt.

Ipod are good, but Zens are more trusted.

[habbywall]

You only have to pay 50 to fix it yourself James.

[Da Doofus]

ya, Ipods were not at all the first ones out---years before the ipod came out I had a smaller mp3 player, smaller capacity though, made my iriver, and before that a different one made by creative---its hard to say who made the first mp3 player, but creative would be my bet.
*edit* thats why they (creative) just won a ??20 million?? (i dont actually remember the numbers) dollar lawsuit with apple for copyright infringement involving the format of the player

[habbywall]

Why not a zune?

[thefish]

I had a Creative Zen (not the vision) 40 GB and that thing was a BRICK. After about 6 months, it started getting all weird on me and then I found a gnat under the screen (yea there was a bug in my mp3 player) the interface was just boring blue against black, but it was pretty fast. The things I didn't like in the zen are all made better in the vision.
The only reason I would consider getting an ipod is because everything is designed for it. There are tons of cool accessories for the ipod that wouldn't fit any other mp3 player. That will probably not be the case for very long though. Creative and some other companies are starting to catch on and make more stuff.
Ipod only seems like the first mp3 player because they marketed it so incredibly well. However, a nice commercial doesn't make up for a crappy product (not that ipod necessarily is, there are just better, cheaper options out there).

[captainkrunk61]

iPod. I used to be all anti-apple, anti- ipod, etc. but after owning and using an iPod, it simply can't be beat. Anytime a competetor comes near to it, it crushes them witha new feature. All i'm saying is, once you go iPod, you don't go back.

[Unitik908]

DO NOT GET THE CREATIVE!!!!! i went through three of them before i got fed up and got a sansa.

hard drives ftl

Chase

[Jerrick]

I dont like all of Ipods little features. I just dont find them that usefull.

[johnfoss]

I've googled some comparative reviews on the two, but they've left me inconclusive.
Did the reviews cover software and ease of use, or just features? The main strength of the iPod is its ease of use with iTunes (whether or not you buy anything from the store). I have mine set to rip and eject music CDs. If I stick a music CD into my computer, iTunes will open up, find the playlist from Gracenote (or wherever), rip the album, and also download the cover image if it's in the iTunes database. It will also download album art for your other songs, even if you didn't buy them from Apple (long as they're in the database). I encode my songs as 192 kbps MP3 files. No need to be stuck with the Apple codec unless you buy from the store. I've owned/worked with three different iPods. One for Jacquie, one for me, and then a new one for me as part of a hand-me-down thing.

I haven't used the Creative product. If having radio is a factor, the iPod can't compete. Not sure what the other plusses are; obviously not storage space, and probably not battery life.

Yes it's true two or three years ago iPods had batteries that didn't last much beyond the device's warranty, and were not user-serviceable. Within about a month of when this was discovered to be a problem, there were step-by-step instructions online on how to do it yourself, and third-party companies selling replacement batteries. Another company offered a service where they would overnight your iPod to their offices and back, and fix it in 24 hours or something. So yeah, there used to be a battery problem, so beware if you buy any old, outdated iPods. Also be careful if you buy a Chevrolet Corvair, or a Ford Pinto from the early years. :)
I'd be mostly listening to music I think. Probably watching the odd video though.
We all seem to like watching odd videos here...

[ntappin]

Have you looked around at other comparable products? I think Archos has some similar stuff, and I really love their products.

I have a gmini 400 (very old, they don't make it anymore), when I bought it it was the same price as the iPod, but back then it was the 20 GB iPod with no colour screen or anything, whereas the Gmini had a colour screen, better software (worked with any software such as windows media player and alike) that wasn't constantly throwing advertising at my face, video, photo, games (any Mophun games for phones worked, and later it was hacked for emulators).

It is definatly worth your while to look around at other products. I would be surprised to hear that those are the only two choices at that price range that have the features you want.

[johnfoss]

There are tons of cool accessories for the ipod that wouldn't fit any other mp3 player. That will probably not be the case for very long though. Creative and some other companies are starting to catch on and make more stuff.
There are enough iPod-compatible accessories out there, especially at Christmas, to make you puke. Some are actually very good! Most will "work" with other MP3 players, but usually just through the headphone jack, meaning they won't charge the device and may lack other functionality.

iPod accessories will be miles ahead of specific accessories for other brands for years to come, just because there are so many more iPods on the market. iPods outsell all other brands of music player *combined* by many times.

Accessories we use:
- Bose Sound Dock (only works with iPod dock connector). Works very well, but there are now cheaper equivalents out there that are probably almost as good.
- Newer Technology FM transmitter and charger for the car. This was a great one at under $30 instead of around $100 for most others. I just went to get a link for it, and apparently they're not making it anymore! So I dug this up:
http://tinyurl.com/y3qbsv (I bought that one, for $5.00)
- I also have an Apple Air-Port Express wireless adapter that would allow me to stream music from my computer in one room to the big stereo in another. I just haven't set it up...

NOTE WHEN BUYING ACCESSORIES: Make sure they work with the iPod version you have. Especially if you're shopping on eBay, there are tons of products out there that may not work with newer iPods, and some of today's products won't work with the older ones. Mostly its a question of whether you have a docking port, or the physical size and thickness of your pod.

[pixystix6]

I think a zen is better then an ipod, even though ipod has a bunch of fansy features, but you really don't need that, the ipod battery only last about not even 2 years, and a zen just runs on a normal battery and your song don't delet when the battery runs out, so it's last soo much longer then an ipod, I have a zen and I love it!

[onewheelinwierdo]

Zen! iPods are over-rated. the zens have radios and encoders built in and sturr like that.

[johnfoss]

...your song don't delet when the battery runs out, so it's last soo much longer then an ipod, I have a zen and I love it!
I don't think you lose songs on *any* music players when the batteries die. Hard drives and flash memory keep the data there unless something comes along and overwrites it.

[tobbogonist]

Hehehe, Ipod was definitely not the first out there. Not by a long shot.

aahh but they where one of the first mass storage, reliable ones out there. true there was the Iriver and creative and the Ebay non-name spinoffs but they where all limited to about 512mb at the maximum.

I had an ipod and one of my friends have the Zen. if i have noticed anything, the more you pay for one and the more it is worth is a good reflection of how it is going to work. Both the 80GB ipod and 60GB Zen should just about match eachother in performance unless one is faulty.
damn i hate selling electronical goods for a living, it gives me too many opinions :(

[ntappin]

aahh but they where one of the first mass storage, reliable ones out there. true there was the Iriver and creative and the Ebay non-name spinoffs but they where all limited to about 512mb at the maximum.

I had an ipod and one of my friends have the Zen. if i have noticed anything, the more you pay for one and the more it is worth is a good reflection of how it is going to work. Both the 80GB ipod and 60GB Zen should just about match eachother in performance unless one is faulty.
damn i hate selling electronical goods for a living, it gives me too many opinions :(

They weren't even the first reliable ones out there. But they were the first to advertise heavily and create a culture based on their devices.

[tobbogonist]

hence the reason i am saying they where the first, offcourse there where others. I went through a stage of wanting every single mp3 player under the sun, say unicycling is your hobby, back then Mp3 players was my hobby. they where not the first, first. But name any of the others that are still around today? Apple developed something that worked and was simple and easy to use, one of the first ones to do it and just to show how good it was, the originals are still around today and working.

[grim_reeper01]

dont get a zen or an ipod there both bad but the creatives are realy good

[grim_reeper01]

ive had one of these for about 3 years and the batteries last me me about 3 moonths before i have to replace them http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Labs-NOMAD-MuVo-Player/dp/B00006JHWQ

[Jerrick]

What about Rio? They had massive storage size, and I remember wanting to get one of those before I even knew about Ipods. =p

[johnfoss]

What about Rio? They had massive storage size
The Diamond Rio was one of the first (don't know what the others were). Here I found a link to a later version, with a whopping 64MB of storage. Wow! So what's Jerrick's idea of massive? :)

As mentioned earlier, the main reason for the iPod's success, along with a hefty marketing budget, was its ease of use and integration with software that made it easy for non-geeks to use.

[Jerrick]

The rio riot was a 20gb mp3 player.

Too bad it isnt as portable or small as other though.

[evil-nick]

I'm never buying another creative product... I had issues with both my Soundblaster Live and Creative Zen JukeboxXL. Namely it died a couple weeks after the 1 month warranty died, and they wanted $20 just to tell me what was wrong. iPods are good, but the only reason I got one was because it came free with my Macbook (and I'm actually running RockBox on it instead of the Apple firmware ;)) otherwise I prolly would have gotten an iRiver.

[onewheelinwierdo]

dont get a zen or an ipod there both bad but the creatives are realy good
But creative makes the zen!

[pixystix6]

I don't think you lose songs on *any* music players when the batteries die. Hard drives and flash memory keep the data there unless something comes along and overwrites it.


You're a liar!!

[johnfoss]

You're a liar!!
You're a crappy debater.




In the unlikely event you have something more to tell us, what is it? If the hard drive is reading or writing when it loses power you can lose some data. There is also the chance you can screw up the file system on the HD, which *could* make your music inaccessible. In the case of an iPod with iTunes, you just plug it back into your computer and download your music again (after charging and resetting the device, assuming no HD damage).

I don't know if the same is true for Flash-based (non hard drive) music players, but Flash memory does not require power to retain the stored information.

[James_Potter]

The battery in my iPod mini dying didn't directly cause data loss, but I had to 'reboot' it many times because of the battery, which means I hold the select and play buttons till the apple appeared, then hold the menu and select buttons until it reboots. And that does delete all the memory....

[john_childs]

I don't know what the best player is.

Instead I'll add my choice for the best MP3 player accessory. That is a portable amp with some good headphones.

I have a DigiZoid Zax (http://digizoid.com/products.html#Product_Page_Dual_HP) (dual headphone version) that I love. Great sound and runs on two AA batteries. Gets great (really great) battery life.

Then get some good headphones for listening at home. I like Grado headphones like the SR-60 (http://www.headphone.com/products/headphones/all-headphones/grado-sr-60.php). They're not good for portable use, but are great for when sitting at home or at the computer. They sound better with the amp (more bass, better bass, fuller sound, wholesomeness, wellness). Then get some other headphones for portable use or (shiver) stick with the earbuds.

Best set of accessories you can get for an MP3 player no matter which one it is.

[edsbelly]

Ahoy again.

Thanks for all of the input everyone!

I think at the moment I'm leaning towards the Zen at the moment. It's cheaper and I think I've read more good stuff about that than the iPod.

You've given me a lot to think about.

Thanks again,

Ed

[tobbogonist]

i would like to add, just in the final moments, that in my experience the Ipod can go louder than the Zen volume wise.

[johnfoss]

The battery in my iPod mini dying didn't directly cause data loss, but I had to 'reboot' it many times because of the battery, which means I hold the select and play buttons till the apple appeared, then hold the menu and select buttons until it reboots. And that does delete all the memory....
What you're describing is a "reset," not a reboot. It resets the device to factory settings. Kind of like "restoring" a Windows computer with the disks that came with your Compaq. It puts up a fresh installation of Windows, your drivers, and everything else that came with your computer, after formatting the drive.

A dead battery shouldn't require a reset, which is clearly a pretty drastic situation. There may have been something else going wrong with your iPod. In any case, all it meant was you had to re-download your music after charging it back up.

Mine doesn't get proper battery conditioning. It either sits on the dock connector of my Bose SoundDock, getting charged, or in my car plugged into an adapter that also charges it. I rarely use it by itself, such as on the occasional airplane trip...

[James_Potter]

What you're describing is a "reset," not a reboot. It resets the device to factory settings. Kind of like "restoring" a Windows computer with the disks that came with your Compaq. It puts up a fresh installation of Windows, your drivers, and everything else that came with your computer, after formatting the drive.

A dead battery shouldn't require a reset, which is clearly a pretty drastic situation. There may have been something else going wrong with your iPod. In any case, all it meant was you had to re-download your music after charging it back up.

Mine doesn't get proper battery conditioning. It either sits on the dock connector of my Bose SoundDock, getting charged, or in my car plugged into an adapter that also charges it. I rarely use it by itself, such as on the occasional airplane trip...

I just reset my iPod because I didn't know what the heck was wrong with it, it wouldn't ever turn on...but yeah, it did delete all the songs. Eventually I learned that the iPod battery has a habit of dying, so I bought my own for $30 and successfully replaced it, before it kinda died again but this time I think the hard drive just pooped out because the new battery didn't last NEARLY as long as it should have.

[tomblackwood]

Why not a zune?
I have a new Zune, and so far I love it. This is my first MP3 player, so I really can't compare it to Zen or Apple products in terms of ease of use, blah blah blah, but I found the Zune easy to set up and easy to navigate once you have the tunes loaded in. It also has an FM radio which I love, as I can go cokering on the weekends and tune in to Cah Tawk, This American Life, and other fun NPR programs. I also like the large screen...nice for traveling with the odd family photo album.

If you are someone planning on doing most of your music acquisition online, I think Zune forces it all through the Zune Marketplace. Some reviews I've read have panned that aspect of the product. I've bought a few tunes that way, and pricing is comparative, but I don't know how it stacks up to other sites from a features or selection angle, as I've never shopped other sites. For me, it's all about dumping lots of my favorite CDs onto it, so I can travel with tons of tunes and very little weight. Under that criteria, it's a winner. Once I figured out the CDs I wanted, it was one weekend's worth of production time at the computer while I was busy paying bills, cleaning the office, etc. Now I have what I need, and am loving it.

Disclaimer: I am employed by the company that makes the Zune, although I am not in that group and not a paid spokesperson.

[johnfoss]

I have a new Zune, and so far I love it.
I hadn't heard much about this one yet so I checked it out. Oops, not for Mac users at all, at least not yet. iPods had a similar problem at first, with iTunes being Mac-only. They only really exploded when the PC version came out. Otherwise looks like a pretty cool device, though a little bigger.

[Jerrick]

I really dislike Itunes. Just they way they deal with the music files and being able to burn the songs and other things like that.

I think PC media programs win against Itunes. Like real player, or windows media player. I always use Real though. I can play any file there, and only needed a codec to watch DivX movies.

Real player also detects all the mp3 players I have used. Iriver, Zens, products from sony, and another one my friend brought over. I dont remember that brand name but it wasnt one listed above.

I dont know, with Itunes, it just feels like once you put music onto it, it becomes Itunes music, and not yours. With Rea player, it still feels like your music cause you can do anything to the files.

[john_childs]

I think PC media programs win against Itunes. Like real player, or windows media player. I always use Real though. I can play any file there, and only needed a codec to watch DivX movies.

Real player also detects all the mp3 players I have used. Iriver, Zens, products from sony, and another one my friend brought over. I dont remember that brand name but it wasnt one listed above.
Are you using the free version of RealPlayer or the $20 Plus version?

RealPlayer is a capable media player. But the ads in the free version make it unusable as a media player. Video ads that slow things down, and worse they have audio ads. The last thing I want is an audio ad (or a video ad with audio) when I'm getting ready to listen to a CD.

RealPlayer does have good features. The free version has a good MP3 encoder and does a good job of tagging. It plays audio and video well. It organizes things well. Unfortunately the ads in the free version ruin it.

[Jerrick]

Are you using the free version of RealPlayer or the $20 Plus version?

RealPlayer is a capable media player. But the ads in the free version make it unusable as a media player. Video ads that slow things down, and worse they have audio ads. The last thing I want is an audio ad (or a video ad with audio) when I'm getting ready to listen to a CD.

RealPlayer does have good features. The free version has a good MP3 encoder and does a good job of tagging. It plays audio and video well. It organizes things well. Unfortunately the ads in the free version ruin it.


I use the free version too, though I bet I could get the free one easily, but I wont. =p

I never have a problem with the ads. When I first run real player, it opens up and starts to load the real guide. If I leave it on that for too long I get the video/audio ads and other news about the program and sites they offer. But, usually, right when I open Real player, I click right on the Music & My Library tab.

I guess there is one add in the bottom-left corner, but I actually just noticed it, and its not even working, so that one doesnt bother me.
16842.

Seeing how I always leave it in that section, playing my playlist, that's all I see and have to deal with.