Mp3 Player Recommendation

[k4ng]

I'm going to buy my little sister (12 years old) an mp3 player as a good bye present since I'm going off to college. I would like it to be pretty sturdy so that she won't break it in the first month (she's still a bit careless with her possessions) and I'm sure she would prefer it to be sleek and stylish.

Any recommendations? I myself have a 80GB video ipod so I figured that I'll just get her a nano but I'd like to look into other brands first rather than just going straight to apple.

[ArmpitOfDeath]

http://www.creative.com/products/mp3/zenstoneplus/

[tokenuser]

There are a stack of MP3 players out there, but I hate to say it, iPod still seems like the best option.

Not so much for the hardware - Zen, Zune, or iPod ... all much of a muchness (hell, I bought my wife a purple Sony MP3 (http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=11039252) player recently that she loves), but because of the software.

iTunes is easy to use. Updates are automatic.

The Sony MP3 (bought via Woot - 2GB, noise cancelling earbuds, $49) is sexy, and my wife loves it, but the software sucks.

The Zen and the Zune software are OK, but still not as easy to use as iTunes.

[darknessgp]

http://www.creative.com/products/mp3/zenstoneplus/

I agree. Creative makes some good mp3 player, also they tend to be cheaper than any iPod of similar comparison, I got a Zen Vision:M for $180 and then it had a $50 rebate.

[crorse]

I'm going to buy my little sister (12 years old) an mp3 player as a good bye present since I'm going off to college. I would like it to be pretty sturdy so that she won't break it in the first month (she's still a bit careless with her possessions) and I'm sure she would prefer it to be sleek and stylish.

Any recommendations? I myself have a 80GB video ipod so I figured that I'll just get her a nano but I'd like to look into other brands first rather than just going straight to apple.

I don't like iPods for several reasons
the software does kind of suck as far as PCs go, I've got a fairly new Alienware comp. (1 g of RAM, and over 3.0 Ghz) and it crashes my computer. although it probably runs just fine if you've got a mac.
another is I've noticed it's a LOT more likely to be stolen since the software, and all the connections, is much more readily available than the others.

soooo. . . I don't like ipods anyway.

[woody56292]

There are a stack of MP3 players out there, but I hate to say it, iPod still seems like the best option.

Not so much for the hardware - Zen, Zune, or iPod ... all much of a muchness (hell, I bought my wife a purple Sony MP3 (http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=11039252) player recently that she loves), but because of the software.

iTunes is easy to use. Updates are automatic.

The Sony MP3 (bought via Woot - 2GB, noise cancelling earbuds, $49) is sexy, and my wife loves it, but the software sucks.

The Zen and the Zune software are OK, but still not as easy to use as iTunes.

but that is the great thing about creative players, no hardware needed. it plays virtually every format known to man, so just plug it in, open it up in windows explorer, and throw some wma,mp3,aac onto it.
ofcourse, it doesn't have the iTunes store, but you could always buy the drm free tracks or use one of the other playsforsure or drm-free services.

[darknessgp]

but that is the great thing about creative players, no hardware needed. it plays virtually every format known to man, so just plug it in, open it up in windows explorer, and throw some wma,mp3,aac onto it.
ofcourse, it doesn't have the iTunes store, but you could always buy the drm free tracks or use one of the other playsforsure or drm-free services.

yep. Also, I just use Windows Media Player to "sync" my music and videos with my Zen, which works great.

[esophagus]

The only real problem I've noticed with ipod is the amount of software that goes onto the machines. My 30 gig will only fit 27 point something gigs, and even that hold less music than some, with 7000 as opposed to almost double that.

[tokenuser]

The only real problem I've noticed with ipod is the amount of software that goes onto the machines. My 30 gig will only fit 27 point something gigs, and even that hold less music than some, with 7000 as opposed to almost double that.THe problem isn't the amount of software, it is the difference between a MARKETING GB, and an ENGINEERING GB (as reported by software programs, because despite what markets say, WE know how to calculate a GB properly).

Engineering vs Marketing
1bit ... 1bit
1Byte = 8bits ... 1 byte.
1kB = 1024Byte ... 1kB = 1000Byte <= hmmm, we just lost 24 Bytes because the marketing dept can't handle binary.
1MB = 1048576Bytes ... 1MB = 1000000Bytes <= where are those Bytes going?
1GB = 1073741824Bytes ... 1GB = 1000000000Bytes
30GB = 32212254720Bytes ... 30GB = 30000000000Bytes.

So, an "engineering" Byte, MegaByte, GigaByte is larger than the ones used by marketing people, but at some point the markets won the war, and instead of giving people an "extra" 2212254720Bytes, they said "we want the drives to be 30GB in size. Not YOUR GigaBytes, but OUR Gigabytes. By selling less bytes we can save money ... Bytes dont grow on trees ya know."

And so suddenly turned out that things that WE expect to be 30GB (Engineering) are actually 30GB (Marketing), and in reality that is 27.9GB (Engineering). We just "lost" 2GB.

So the moral of this tale is - dont blame Apple for loading the hard drive up with software, blame their marketing department for over riding the engineers and stealing our 2GB away from us.

On the Apple website they say "1GB = 1 billion bytes; actual formatted capacity less." Formatted? FORMATTED??!!! Why is this a formatting issue ... it is a "loss" due to the numeric conversion between a marketing GB and a physical GB.

Apple aren't alone - they have taken a leaf from the hard dirve manufacturers marketing handbook who have been ripping us off the same way for many years.

[tokenuser]

Oh yeah - another reason to buy the 12 yo sister an iPod rather than anything else ... kids are "brand conscious". No matter how technologically superior you think your MP3 players are ... they don't have the Apple logo on them ... and that will result in ridicule in the play ground for being "different".

Sucks doesn't it.

[ArmpitOfDeath]

I don't like iPods for several reasons
the software does kind of suck as far as PCs go, I've got a fairly new Alienware comp. (1 g of RAM, and over 3.0 Ghz) and it crashes my computer. although it probably runs just fine if you've got a mac.
another is I've noticed it's a LOT more likely to be stolen since the software, and all the connections, is much more readily available than the others.

soooo. . . I don't like ipods anyway.

The fact that you've bought an Alienware is pretty much testament to the fact that any sense of taste, eye for detail or design is missing :p

Dunno, a Nano might be good, I just don't think it's kid-proof enough but it is a no-brainer in the sense that it's what everyone else will have... which isn't a bad thing, since it is one of the best pure audio players out there if you just want stuff to work all the time.

However the Zen Stone Plus is an attractive player in it's own right, sturdy, it's drag & drop via Windows (or load MediaMonkey for iTunes-like use). The battery life is a bit of an issue in comparison to the marathon Nano.

Did I mention the iRiver Clix2? Now that's one player which will have the iPod-owning kids feeling a little jealous. Once again it's MTP and it's quite fun to use, and has a high likelihood of winning the kids over.

[spage]

ipod is made from the apple company and many people trust them then other mp3's...

everybody knows that the computer "apple" is the best computer because it gets less viruses and less problems then a pc does.

[tokenuser]

ipod is made from the apple company and many people trust them then other mp3's...I think what you are trying to say is that people have brand recognition for the Apple product. Calling something an iPod is like calling something a Walkman back in the 80s/90s - not all MP3 players are iPods (as made by Apple), just like not all portable cassette/CD players are Walkmen (as made by Sony), but if you refer to an iPod or a Walkman, we all know what you are talking about.everybody knows that the computer "apple" is the best computer because it gets less viruses and less problems then a pc does.1. MacOS X as it runs on Apple hardware IS suceptible to viruses - there just aren't as many of them out there.
2. An "Apple" is a PC. It is a personal computer. It just happens that the manufacturer of the hardware, and author of the operating system are the same company.
3. You could say that a Dell computer, running Ubuntu (as it can now be purchased) is also as virus free as MacOS X.
4. Apple hardware and OSX is just as suscptible to the spinning beachball as Windows XP/Vista is to the BSoD.
5. What does this have to do with MP3 players??