MP3 Players

I have the Creative Zen Vision M and love it. I did a ton of research on IPods and the Creative line of MP3 players before I made my final decision. Read the various reviews of each on Amazon.com and Cnet.com. The only issue I ever had with my Creative Zen was the inital setup, which I found out is common since the Zens that are sold have an older version of a software installed and you have to go through a bit of hassle to get the upgraded software installed but once you do, it works amazingly well. I also love that it doesn't limit me to itunes. I've transferred hundreds of songs and photos on my player and still have plenty of room left. IT has a capacity of 30 Gigs and has plenty of room for audiobooks, movies, music, etc.

Good luck!

-M.

I have an iPod and LOVE it! I say you can't go wrong with the original! Apple was the first and always the best! I have a 30g and it holds more songs than I know what to do with (about 4000! My mom has a nano and it's perfect for her (holds about 1000 songs)! There are many different options for playing it in your car! Good luck!

My husband surprised me with a Zune last Christmas and I absolutely love it. I have the car pack so that I can listen to it in the car. It was super easy to load all my CD's (and I have a lot) on it. I never wanted an iPod or an MP3 player at all...now I don't know what I did without it. I never listen to the radio anymore. I didn't like the iTunes idea so I much prefer the Zune product.

Hi H.,

I got an IPOD Nano for Christmas this year and I LOVE it! It's easy to buy/download songs and it's super easy to use. On a side note, I had ordered a ZUNE and once it came in, I found it difficult to set up, navigate and use.. I took it back and got the IPOD. BTW, the only reason I didn't get the NANO first and got the Zune instead was because I liked the hot pink color and the fact that it had a radio.. I can honestly say I don't miss the radio and the silver is growing on me :) ... Good luck!!

Definitely an iPod. They hold their resale value much better than any others, and they ROCK!!

A.

I have a Sansa mp3 player. I have had no problems with it. We got a free trial subscription on the Best Buy Rhapsody player where we got music. It sucks!!! We had continual problems with them. Plus, you can't just buy songs. You have to have a subscription ($15 a month), & then pay $1 for the songs!! Their customer service is terrible, too.

I finally bought an iPod classic, & I love it. You don't have to pay a monthly subscription to iTunes, & I haven't had a problem with them. They also have moviess & tv shows you can download where Rhapsody doesn't. That's why I bought the iPod.

BTW, I can listen to both with my car speakers.

H.,

I don't know why everybody is on the ipod bandwagon. (Sorry folks!) I have no doubt that they are good, but there are alternatives out there!

1. I would stay away from Creative Zen. My daughter got one for Christmas, it didn't work. We replaced it. The next one didn't work.
2. She finally settled on the Zune. She loves it. There was a little bump in the installation of the hardware, but it lasted maybe 30 seconds. With the Zune, you can only get music from the Zune network. But, the price is comparable to ipod, if not cheaper.
3. My son got a sony mp3 for Christmas. It has been compared to the ipop nano, but it also has a FM Tuner. He is thrilled with his. He can download music from itunes, rhapsody, etc, etc, etc.
4. The two mp3's listed above can both get the "free" music from limewire. Actually, it is the easiest form of download for my kids. I heard with ipod, you MUST get your music from either itunes or cd's that you already have.

Just my two cents. EVERYTHING out there is made for ipod. In home speakers, docking stations, etc. You will be able to find stuff for non-ipods, but it can take a search to find.

I have never owned an ipod, so they just might be the greatest things on earth, but it kinda seems like ipod is a big o bully!

You can get a good transmitter for your car just about anywhere. I would recommend that you do look for it online though so you can see the ratings it got.

Good luck, and enjoy your music!

I-pod Nano .....ALL the Way...It's FUN....FUN....FUN:)

I got the i-pod Nano from my hubby for x-mas. I LOVE it. It was super easy to put baby pictures on and download music too. The thing my DH bought to connect mine to the car speakers was fairly pricey and is not always the best in my opinon but I'm still learning out to use it so it could be usere error- it's a Belkin but I would read some reviews on those before you get one. I've downloaded a bunch of kids music on mine and can listen to that in the car with my daughter too- it's nice to have so much variety without carrying all the CD's :)

Hi H.,
I own a IPOD Video and I love it! It is a bit pricey but if you intend on using it I think the price is well worth the product. I never wanted one because I thought they were to expensive but after my husband gave me one as a gift I can not picture myself without it! They sell an F.M. tuner for about $20 and it works great on any radio. I also like the apple itunes web site because it is easy to use and you get to sample unlimited music. We purchased my neice an Insignia video from Best Buy for her birthday and when we tried to load/purchase the music from Rhaposdy (the required music download site) we found it more challanging than itunes (ipod download site). There was also a limit on the amount of songs you could sample (25 I think). So my suggestion would be any one of the Ipods. Hope this helps! Have a great day and happy hunting!
J.

I'm just going to be repetive here and say Ipod! I bought myself an Ipod Nano 3rd Gen for my b-day in December and I LOVE it! It is so simple to use and Itunes is so user friendly. W/ Itunes, yes you do have to pay for your music, like many players out there, but it is just so user-friendly.

You can also put your own music on your Ipod from your cd's. I was not able to xfer the music from Windows Media Player (that I bought from Walmart for my previous MP3 player) though.

After I got my Ipod, my dd loved it, and I wanted to get her one similar for Christmas, but not break the bank. I read practically every review on every mp3 player w/ video on Amazon.com and a few other sites, and thought a few looked great, but they were out of my price range.

So I ended up buying her a Philips Go gear mp3/mp4 plus video (simply b/c it was in my price range for her - it was about $70 from Amazon.com) - I HATE that thing! It's 2 gigs (my Ipod is 4) - so it holds enough songs for her, but it is such a pain. It is so slow to scroll through your songs! It is video capable (which was the #1 thing she wanted), BUT I dont' know where to get the videos to put on it! W/ my IPOD, I just buy videos from Itunes, they download to my computer and I sync them - easy, w/ hers - there is a program to convert video, but I don't know where to get videos from, and the user manual and website are NO HELP in that department! There is also a program to convert video into the correct format to put on the player, I tried to convert a video she made w/ her digital camera, the program keeps telling me it's the right kind of file, but no matter what I do, I keep getting an error saying it can't covert it. It may just be a user error, it may just be me -- but still, there should be more support from Philips for that issue!

Here is the one I recommend staying away from (and you can see my review of it there as well - so not worth it!):

http://tinyurl.com/3d7c2u

Honestly, I used to be "anti-Ipod" simply b/c I thought it was overpriced and overhyped -- then I got one and I really get the hype now. It really is just so easy to use, so user friendly, basic enough to be easy, but w/ enough options to really customize the way you want!

I plan on getting my daughter an Ipod for her birthday in September and trying to sell her Philips on Ebay or something, it just really wasn't worth it!

Good Luck! God Bless!

I have been looking at these as well. I've seen a lot of reviews online and it seems like the Creative Zen is a good one for your money. I'm pretty sure that's the one I'm going to buy. It has a card slot so that you can expand the memory. Which also means that you can store extra music or videos or pictures on a memory card(s) and then swap out to play what you want. It's yet another way to catalog.

I got my reviews from mp3.com and amazon.com. There's more out there, I'm sure, but it really just all depends on what you want and how you will use it.

K.

Seriously, the reason that you hear about the iPod all the time and most all digital music players are generically called "iPod" is for one reason: they are the best. You won't be disappointed with an iPod of any type that suits your needs.

I love my iPod! Just got a new one for Christmas! Its got my music, pictures, all my contacts on it, podcasts are too cool! Love it!

My oldest daughter has an iPod Nano. She loves it. The co. has been wonderful with all her concerns. Since it is well known, the accessories are easy to find, which makes my life a bit more simpler.