What mp3 player

Two major questions.....

What kind of lossless format?

Are you planing on using this with accessories such as receiver or car stereo docks?

The large capacity players now are Ipod Classic, Zune 120, Archos, and Cowon. I'm not aware of any others. They all do lossless files, although both Apple and Microsoft support their own proprietary formats(Apple Lossless and WMA Lossless). Archos and Cowon generally support FLAC. I know Ipods can also do AIFF and WAV.

With the Archos and Cowon you get a better variety of file type supported, but they are bigger with big screen and are in many ways more video than audio devices. The Zune and iPod are smaller and have more accessories.

After much debate, i decided to get the large capacity ipod 160gb(which is no longer made), mainly because of the accessory options. have my music library ripped in Apple Lossless and have been very happy with the sound quality.

If just Music, the Sansa Clip (The Clip (

Im in the market for a new MP3 player as well. Mostly using it for audio, I want to hook it up to my receiver, as well as, car/truck/suv. I was looking at an iPod touch, any thoughts on that one?? I also have a computer with Vist, as well as XP, not sure if that helps. Any help would be great.

Thanks,
Kyle..

If you listen to a lot of FLAC files you're going to have to compromise somewhere. At this point there aren't any high capcity 80GB+ players that are also not bricks that play FLAC. If there were I would have purchased one!

If you compromise on storage capacity the Sansa, iriver, and Cowon have small players with 16GB or less but they are compact.

If you don't mind the brick, Archos and Cowon have some amazing players with >80GB capacity and FLAC support.

If you have to do FLAC, Zune and iPod are out.

There is also the option of getting the smaller players that have SD or microSD expansion slots to boost your capacity. That might help because particularly WAV files tend to be HUGE and fill up space quickly.

A thread on the ipod touch

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1075380

My personal opinion is that the ipod touch is it contains a lot of "bells and whistles" that I would never use. It is a very powerful device that can play games, surf the internet, email, etc, but is very limited without the phone component. The storage capacity is small, so if you listen to music in 128k this isn't a problem, but if you either have a ton of music or listen to lossless files(I have accumulated over 100GB of music) it's not much of an option.

I have watched a movie on the ipod touch before which also looked outstanding as the screen on the device is excellent.

It also has the compatibility that comes with Apple stuff which makes it perfect for connecting to other components like car stereos, AV receivers, etc.

iTunes works fine with Vista and XP. I have both.

Wcoast,
Thanks for the input...I read the touch thread, I was just seeing whatelse is out there as well. I also looked into the archos, but all the extras add up quick so I doubt Ill go that route.. I don't have ton of music at the moment, a few thousand songs, but I always add, so I will need one with some size eventually. I may go with the Touch, I would get the Iphone, but verzion doesn't carry it, and I can't switch contracts at this point and time.
IF anyone else has any thoughts please share, thanks.. Back to the search.

Enjoy the search. It's always fun looking through new electronics. The only thing that really bothered me about searching for MP3 players was that you could never really do a head to head comparison on sound quality. What I always wanted to do is load the same MP3 on a number of players with the same headphone and compare sound, but that was just never an option. Frustrating!

How many hours of music do you want to store? That should be your first question. WAV files are around 700Mb/hr and FLAC around 400MB/hr, so if you get an 8GB player, you get roughly 11 hours in WAV, or 20 Hours in FLAC.

Personally I would try to stay away from WAV, most players use ID3 tags to catalog the music, and WAV does not accept ID3 tags, plus it takes up more space for no extra quality.

Sansa players accept both FLAC and WAV, and have excellent sound quality. The very small Clip (Shuffle size with a screen) goes up to 8GB. So does the Fuze (Nano Size) but you can add an SD card for more storage, I think the largest SD is around 16GB, so you can boost it up to 24GB. iRiver and Cowon have similar models.

Above that you are looking at the "bricks" with hard drives that go up to 80GB.

Yes, it's always fun looking at what to buy next.. I have one MP3 player already, I use it just for the gym. SO the new MP3 will be for music for my car and Home use only. I don't need it for anything else, so I guess that's why I was looking at the touch or the Archos, is there another line I should be looking at??

Cowon A3 and Q5, zune 120, and iPod classic. All good devices from what I've read.

Thanks, choices, choices, choices. lol After I do more research, I'll report back on which way i'm going, or what I bought..

I don't know why but that Archos 5 120GB has really grown on me and I am REALLY considering purchasing it. [IMG]http://www.***********************/track/img/3358/m09d0317xktz/2.gif[/IMG] It's not flash memory like the I-Touch but looks better in every other aspect. What you guys think?

That device is practically a laptop. Would buy as large a capacity as you can afford because if you buy that thing you're going to fill it with video. There was a guy on this site that reviewed the Archos 5 and has mostly good things to say. I'm sure it's awesome.

If you do get that device, would take a look at the thread on this site about ripping DVD's to portable media players. You could fill it with lots of excellent entertainment.

The Cowon S9 will be available in a 32gb version early next month. It'll play most lossless formats. Great looking and durable screen. It's getting regular (monthly) upgrades, and has great user support. Very customizable. Users have resolved every problem I had with it in my initial review with early firmware. Should be $100 less than the 32gb Touch.

Hey 4Dthinker,

Any chance you had the opportunity to compare the cowon S9 to any of the archos models?

Sorry, but although I'm frequently tempted to try an Archos, I always back down when I add up the relative cost. I hate companies that nickle and dime customers with add-ons that should have been there in the first place. The only hard-drive player I've got is a Zune 80, and that'll probably be all I ever get. My 16gb iriver P7 (4.3" screen) has a microSD slot and I've just ordered a 16gb card for it. 32gb will be far more space than I'll need in my pocket for a long time.

i can't think of any branded mp3 player since, if i'll get an mp3 player myself. i would choose ipods. but i have to admit that i was amuse by the so called "MP5 Players"

quite a mouthful huh? MP5....hah.

Those look like the electronics equivalent of a fake pair of sunglasses you would buy from a street vendor in new york. I'm sure it's not an accident they look like an ipod touch! Certainly never seen an MP5 player before!

you bet, Mp5 is actually just a made up kind of term. you know. mp3, mp4, then mp5. cared to try one though. let's see if it meets my expectations.

If you don't mind the size get an Archos 7. 7" screen and 320gb HDD. Wifi and support for flash web sites.

I've got an Archos 605 and thee sound quality is crap, these things are set up for video, I personally woundnt recommend Archos. Why not just audition all the players first?

I've had problems driving high impedance line level inputs through iPod and Zune headphone jacks, even with good quality gold plated connectors. If you like either of these units, pick up their associated home or mobile dock kits when you buy.

I think the problem with these players is that their tiny 3.5 jacks do not have enough spring force on their connector wipers for anything but headphone use.