[adwight]

Lately I've been debating which Music Player I should buy when I get enough money.  Should I get and iPod or something else?  Please help me find the best one that is out there.

[Deepblue]

If you jog, get a flash player like an iRiver. If you just want to sit down and listen, get an iPod or another hard drive player.

[Mongoose]

I have a 512 meg SanDisk player that works well enough for me.

[Marauder]

Get an iPod.  Buy it a soft belt case.  You're set.

[KappaWing]

Get an RCA Lyra with a few memory cards. $50 for the player and $50 for the cards. IMO, it's the best quality-expense compromise. I would not recommend getting an ipod.

[adwight]

How much do those Memory Cards hold?

[Nix]

GAH! Evil Apple and Ipod and Itunes GARBAGE! unless you own a mac, then yeah, it's perfect.
With the minis... I had a friend who bought 2 of em and the little thumb scrolly-wheel mechanism is goofy, I had a hard time actually controlling the thing unless I sat down and got used to it.  From what I understand, Creative's stuff has simple, tactile buttons instead of this thumb slidey-hovery thing that's just wierd.

Look at Creative Lab's Zen Micro.  Same stuff as the Ipod Mini, Same space, but it's less expensive than apple's offerings.  Yeh, thier software might be lacking, but it wont have that --== I ==-- feel of apple, hardware and software.  

And dont go buy a shuffle.  Dear god, if you're gonna go that route, buy a cheap Pocket PC and a 512 MB SD card and store your music on it, and play your music on that... while you manage appointments, play tetris, post on HLP, whatever.   (I love my Axim)

[aldo_14]

I have a Creative Zen (20GB one), albeit I only chose that because it was 50 quid cheaper than RRP......  um, I wouldn't recommend it if you don't get a decent discount, as the controls are really fiddly and the 'scrollwheel'* in particular is over sensitive.

I've heard/read the iRiver get very good reviews.

*Actually, it's a touch sensitive vertical pad that functions like a scrollwheel

[Zarax]

Grab a Creative Muvo, it's small, cheap and works fine... Just grab another pair of headphones because the standard ones aren't the most comfortable around.

*Pats his custom MVP Muvo*

[vyper]

Anything using solid-state storage.

[Zarax]

The Muvo uses it.

[Nix]

Muvo's, Sandisk Mini MP3's, Pocket PC's with SD or CF Cards, the Lyra mentioned above that's all solid state.  

What'd really be cool though, is a pocket pc with a new 6GB hitachi microdrive.  Mass music storage with the functionality of a portable PC! YES!

[vyper]

Cause we can all afford a microdrive... or a pocket pc.

[KappaWing]

Originally posted by adwight
How much do those Memory Cards hold?

That depends on how much you are willing to fork over.

I got a 512 megabyte card for only $30. A good deal, IMO.

I would rant about the i-pod until I get carpal tunnel, but I've already done so on other forums and I'm sure you wouldent appreciate it.

[Zarax]

If you got the money for a pocket PC you might want to consider a PMC...
I beta tested the Creative one and it was pure coolness, shame is that the final version doesn't support bitrate overclocking...

[WMCoolmon]

If you're thinking about an iPod, I've always thought this looked fun:

http://www.ipodlinux.org/Main_Page

Edit: Someone's made a mod player...and a password cracker for the ipod.

"Hey, what the hell is that kid doing with his ipod on the university scoring servers?"