Author Topic: MP3 player suggestions ... (Read 5883 times)

queenmetroid · « **Reply #20 on:** July 09, 2009, 08:03:33 PM »

Quote from: Mele on July 09, 2009, 07:59:58 PM

I get the tagging issues too. For artists it's because the Zune reads and displays the Album Artist tag rather than simply the Artist tag. The only way to solve this is to remove anything from the Album Artist section or change the Album Artist to match the Artist. I find this extremely inconvenient and cumbersome.

I absolutely love the Zune design and hardware, but I can't stand the small quirks or forced software usage either.

MP3tag makes that easy enough to change, so it never bothered me, but yeah, the Zune software could be slimmed down a bit resource-wise.

Mele · « **Reply #21 on:** July 10, 2009, 12:51:23 AM »

Quote from: queenmetroid on July 09, 2009, 08:03:33 PM

Quote from: Mele on July 09, 2009, 07:59:58 PM
I get the tagging issues too. For artists it's because the Zune reads and displays the Album Artist tag rather than simply the Artist tag. The only way to solve this is to remove anything from the Album Artist section or change the Album Artist to match the Artist. I find this extremely inconvenient and cumbersome.

I absolutely love the Zune design and hardware, but I can't stand the small quirks or forced software usage either.

MP3tag makes that easy enough to change, so it never bothered me, but yeah, the Zune software could be slimmed down a bit resource-wise.

I use TagScanner, which also makes it easy to change tag info. The ease of changing the info isn't really the issue though; you shouldn't have to do it at all. Not to mention the fact that when you're working with ~150 gigs of music it becomes exceedingly labor intensive.

Also, sometimes I'll add something to the Zune software not knowing it has an Album Artist tag, so I'll then have to remove it, update the tag and add it again. This is highly inconvenient and it makes no sense that Microsoft decided they wouldn't base the Artist listed off of the Artist tag.

Nanonanol · « **Reply #22 on:** July 10, 2009, 01:09:11 AM »

I was using Easytag, which apparently doesn't show the AlbumArtist, so I switched to Mp3Tag and got everything working. Nevertheless I'm going to have to agree with Mele - the ordering should just be based on Artist/Track number. Although, it's not like the AlbumArtist tag is redundant or anything ... who wouldn't want to have to copy the Artist over to the AlbumArtist field?

queenmetroid · « **Reply #23 on:** July 10, 2009, 01:28:04 AM »

Honestly, I have no idea why it's different. My only theory is that is has something to do with the Zune Social in tracking plays of certain albums, and also lets you use a different artist for each song if necessary.

Nanonanol · « **Reply #24 on:** July 10, 2009, 02:16:42 AM »

Hmmm ... to me it seems more like Microsoft is actively trying to make their products shitty. First they give you this glimpse of hope, and then they just ram a shit covered product down your open mouth. Take Vista for example ... they were working on it for years, and right before its release the nice new interface, ReadyBoost, and other shit like that was all hyped over. Then it turned out that Vista was a slow OS, that required ridiculous hardware specs to be able to run well, and included a bunch of useless features (not to mention hardware compatibility issues).

And of course something similar happened with the Zune ... a new mp3 player with plenty of storage, competitively priced, FM tuner, wireless, larger screen than the Ipod. And then Microsoft somehow managed to fuck up every feature of the Zune that would have made it better than the Ipod (i.e. crippling the wireless, shitty format support, awful software). Honestly, I bet if Microsoft had put a teenager in charge of deciding the features of the Zune, we would have a device that could browse the web, play music, run a torrent client, all while you're running an SNES emulator on it. Ok, well maybe that is what I'd have the Zune do, but still Microsoft fuck up with the Zune on so many different levels, and to my dismay, they haven't improved any of those glaring faults, nor has the Linux community been able to hack the device....

fohfoh · « **Reply #25 on:** July 10, 2009, 03:30:31 PM »

Microsoft makes something super secure... too bad the thing they're securing is a steaming piece of shit...

I hate bad software... it's damn annoying.

Nanonanol · « **Reply #26 on:** July 10, 2009, 06:35:01 PM »

They are probably just proud of the fact that they finally made something people weren't able to hack ...

Remember that whole High-Def content protection thing on Vista that would downgrade the video output if you didn't have a video card digitally signed by Microsoft? I don't recall that lasting very long. Microsoft needs to learn that locking down products with its shitty software is just hurting its customer base, and makes puts them up there for the biggest Douche award, just barely in front of Apple.

Now back to the actual topic of MP3 players, does anyone know why the Creative Zen 32GB is so expensive? ($399), whereas every other model (16GB and below) can be had for less than $200 on Amazon.
I'm also a bit disappointed in the lack of a 32GB Cowon D2 (I wouldn't be able to fit all my music on a D2 even with an extra 32GB SDHC card on the 16GB model), as far as price and format support goes for at least 64GB of flash memory, the Cowon O2 (32GB) with a 32GB SDHC seems to be the best choice ...

cubensis55 · « **Reply #27 on:** July 10, 2009, 07:28:01 PM »

Cowon is pretty much top dog in terms of sound quality. (their players support flac too!)
Their players only go up to 16gb though... (which I'm personally okay with).
When my current ipod dies, I'll probably buy an iAudio 7.

Heard good things about Zen as well...

queenmetroid · « **Reply #28 on:** July 10, 2009, 07:36:17 PM »

As an ex-Zen owner, I say no, but your experience may vary.

mgz · « **Reply #29 on:** July 10, 2009, 08:10:24 PM »

Quote from: cubensis55 on July 10, 2009, 07:28:01 PM

Cowon is pretty much top dog in terms of sound quality. (their players support flac too!)
Their players only go up to 16gb though... (which I'm personally okay with).
When my current ipod dies, I'll probably buy an iAudio 7.

Heard good things about Zen as well...

no their newer players the O2 and the S9 both have 32gig models available

all their older flash players are limited to 16gb

and while typing this i remember they have the big spiffy player with internet and windows ce running on it.

fohfoh · « **Reply #30 on:** July 10, 2009, 09:23:36 PM »

Seriously though... 60GB of songs? How much of that is archived? Sounds fucking annoying for playlists or scrolling... I blatantly claim you don't listen to that much music.

PixieSkull · « **Reply #31 on:** July 10, 2009, 09:37:19 PM »

Cowon D2 with SD cards, hands down. I got an 8gig D2 refurbished through JetAudio (parent company) on Amazon for $117 plus shipping. The 16 gig SD cards were $64 for 2 and that holds any music I could ever bring with me. I also recommend getting some good headphones, like the Um1s from Westone. Yeah, $100 on sale from the manufacturer, but amazing and totally worth it.

I owned a shitty Samsung... HORRIBLE customer service and their players aren't that great.
Apple products, ew.
Creative MP3 players are okay but not very high quality.
The three Cowons myself and my fiancee have owned have all run perfectly, are customizable, highly reliable, and customer service (when we've needed it... once in three years) was great.

Seems like a lot for a player, almost $200 for 40 gigs of space, but it is well worth it. No issues with the cards being read, no issues with transferring, no issues with firmware updates that brick the thing, great options for little games and customization. HIGHLY recommended!

Nanonanol · « **Reply #32 on:** July 10, 2009, 10:42:50 PM »

I have about 33GB of music , and then another 14GB of audiobooks (helps me learn Japanese and remember German

. Either way, that amounts to about 47GB of audio alone, without considering any anime I might want to watch - and the available space after firmware and such will definitely be less than 47GB if I get a 16GB D2 and a 32GB SDHC card.

And I'm fine as far as headphones go - I have a pair of Grado Sr60's for when I'm lounging at home, some Senn PX100's for when I'm walking around, and Yuin PK3 for when I work in lab ... and I'm not a huge fan of canal headphones, I always find them uncomfortable (that, of course, might be due to the fact that I've never invested in a more expensive pair)

Either way, I still have to wait until I get my new debit card to order something, so in the mean time some pros/cons of Cowon D2 and O2 from first hand experience would be appreciated

mgz · « **Reply #33 on:** July 11, 2009, 07:10:11 AM »

Quote from: fohfoh on July 10, 2009, 09:23:36 PM

Seriously though... 60GB of songs? How much of that is archived? Sounds fucking annoying for playlists or scrolling... I blatantly claim you don't listen to that much music.

i use all 32 gig of my s9 for music and random that shit all day

fohfoh · « **Reply #34 on:** July 11, 2009, 09:09:52 AM »

Well, anime and stuff is different. But pure audio alone... it's quite a bit.

Firmware.. You're not going anywhere over 50-100MB, don't bother counting firmware space lol.

bloody000 · « **Reply #35 on:** July 11, 2009, 10:04:44 AM »

Quote from: Nanonanol on July 10, 2009, 06:35:01 PM

Remember that whole High-Def content protection thing on Vista that would downgrade the video output if you didn't have a video card digitally signed by Microsoft? I don't recall that lasting very long. Microsoft needs to learn that locking down products with its shitty software is just hurting its customer base, and makes puts them up there for the biggest Douche award, just barely in front of Apple.

It's called HDCP, and it's from Intel. The media source provider can decide what happens when it's played on non-HDCP compliant systems: play normally(by not using HDCP), doesn't play at all or play with lower resolution.

mgz · « **Reply #36 on:** July 11, 2009, 05:10:06 PM »

Quote from: fohfoh on July 11, 2009, 09:09:52 AM

Well, anime and stuff is different. But pure audio alone... it's quite a bit.

Firmware.. You're not going anywhere over 50-100MB, don't bother counting firmware space lol.

download for last firmware was what 15mb or sometyhing ?

Nanonanol · « **Reply #37 on:** July 11, 2009, 05:25:06 PM »

Ok, what I meant was that after the format, and and installation of firmware, the available space will not be 48GB, ergo I'd have to buy additional SDHC cards, or cut down my collection. If only they were to release a 32GB D2.....

fohfoh · « **Reply #38 on:** July 11, 2009, 06:25:42 PM »

Not 48... but is 47.9 Ok?

queenmetroid · « **Reply #39 on:** July 11, 2009, 06:36:06 PM »

Well, uh, that's assuming they mean 48 billion bytes and don't go in powers of 2 and all that fun math stuff.