Re: ipod like device
 

No, it's not an anti-apple thing, I stupidly listened to people on here fawning over a substandard audio player and bought a 4th gen ipod (with a decent set of replacement headphones), it's utter crap, the iriver H340 I bought to replace it is FAR superior in both battery life and sound quality and you'll find just about everyone who switched to iriver from apple say's the same thing.

Re: ipod like device
 

I will say the EQ on the iPod is pants, mine is set to off and with the Senheiser noise reducing headphones the thing sounds great.

Re: ipod like device
 

Well, I have given up on my iPod..

The first one I got was DOA (the screen worked for ten minutes then died).

The second one I got crashed and wouldn't restart. It did this just after a year, so I ended up paying £80 to get it repaired. It already had a loose headphone socket, but this didn't bother me, and it would have cost another £30 to repair, so I didn't bother.

Now, a few months after the repair (but again, just outside the warranty), the firewire connection died. This was OK, and it could still attach via USB. Then, this week, I charged it (fully) on Sunday night, By Monday night, the battery was empty, so, figuring I had left it on overnight or something, I charged it again. I got two hours use on Tuesday before it registered the battery was nearly empty.

So, with the option of spending another £150 (£80 for a logic board, £40 for a battery and £30 for new headphone socket) on repairs to the iPod that might last a few months, or spending £200 on a new player, I have now bought myself one of these. Even though I currently only have MP3s on it (I am currently re-encoding my CDs as Atrac files), and only have the supplied earphones, it already sounds a lot nicer than the iPod.

I've also used it a fair bit (longer than 2 hours) and the battery indicator is still showing full.

The only downside is that I don't really like the software you are forced to use, but then I have never really like iTunes either.

Re: ipod like device
 

Funnily enough I was looking at getting one of them ..... tell me more about software and usability ... :D

Re: ipod like device
 

I have just found the menus on the player not all that intuitive. Not bad, and certainly no worse than many other MP3 players. The off-putting thing about the player is that all the buttons are the same shape, so it can be difficult to find your way around it if it's in a pocket or bag. Having said that, the iPod suffers from this as well (and is actually slightly worse when you consider that the wheel can control many things, depending on what mode the iPod is in.

My main gripe with the software supplied is that if you try and upload an audio file to your player that is not an MP3 or Atrac file (such as WMV), it has to convert it to Atrac. I also find it staggering you cannot add support (even a converter) for M4A and AAC (the two audio standards the iPod uses).

Re: ipod like device
 

i have a i river h320 v good ,if you want a mp3 player with 6GB an a fm tuner ,mp3 recorder and can be keeped uptodate over the web look here i like my one .

Re: ipod like device
 

Theres a MP3 player thats available in the PCWorld mag that you buy and build your self it memory card is CF and I don't know if you get one with the kit (you can buy the PCB for about £65 with all ICs soldered on for you or about £55 and you solder them yourself)

I'll search for the mag and publish details ASAP.

Re: ipod like device
 

http://www.myplace.nu/mp3/

click on yampp7 link

Re: ipod like device
 

........and my au-pair.........
__________________

Is that carbon fiber it's made of?

Re: ipod like device
 

Although lots of people are going for the Ipod Mini's, I wouldnt reccomend them if you have a large CD collection. The 512mb or 1gb versions are not good enough if you have a big collection of CD's and you dont want to compress them all to rubbish quality.
If its just to stick the odd few albums to go jogging round the park or for your lunch break then do go for them as in this case they are good.
I agree with you that the EQ on the Ipod isnt great so I just dont use it. With a decent pair of headphones the sound on the Ipod is pretty good.
The only annoying thing can be the battery life but people say the newer ones have sorted this out now. I have a 3rd Gen but it does me fine.
A lot of people I've talked to reccomend the Irivier as I believe it offers gapless playback (eg. if listening to a mix album) too and better battery life.

Re: ipod like device
 

CPC have some manufacturer's refurbs for £79.95 + del + vat.

http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/endecaSea...=SB02689&N=411

Re: ipod like device
 

I would suggest an ipod mini she will love all the accessories you can get.

Women love accessories you can get ipod ones at loads of places but ive tried

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You can call them which always helps as no sites seem to have numbers these days!!!:erm:

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