Gotta get me one of these and plan to do it this weekend in Gaillimh. Had decided I was going to get the Sony Walkman but have heard a couple of bad things. Firstly, the software is supposed to be crap (it wasn’t Bandage who told me this - I would’ve disregarded it as he is IT retarded). Secondly, one lad told me to get an I-pod because so many people have them and one can transfer I-pod to I-pod really easily. However, my understanding was that I-pods had reliability issues and also I find scrolling down the menu on an I-pod quite fiddly. Creative just doesn’t attract me tbh. And while I’ve heard that I-river is the business I’m put off by the fact that no one has one. Any recommendations from the forum members?
I’d love to help you but I really don’t have a clue. I-Pods are crap though. That much I do know.
I’ll get back to this in greater detail later but as a starting point:
- Don’t get an ipod. Too much proprietary software and cables on board. You can’t share music with non ipod users very easily at all and you need a non-standard USB cable to connect to a pc
- I’ve had 2 creative machines over the years. First was a beauty, but a beast, second one was shite. They have better reliability these days but I was put off forever to be honest by the problems I had with my Zen Micro - and I saw plenty of others have the exact same problems.
- IRiver have a great reputation. I had the lend of one for a week and did like it. Not sure it’s worthy of all the fuss and sometimes I think people are trying to be clever in choosing the third candidate. Still I wouldn’t rule one out
- Cowon are an excellent brand but might be hard to come by in Galway - are you against purchasing online? Very stylish but again they’re a bit overhyped by technophiles I think.
- I’ve had 3 archos machines (I made it my business years ago to be ahead of the curve on mp3 players which is an expensive habit) and I have to say they’ve been the best to me. Depends hugely on what you’re looking for in the machine - do you want size over style, do you want to be able to watch videos etc. but Archos do some really fantastic machines. If you’re going down the mp4 route then I’d definitely choose archos or cowon.
Let me know more about what you want in terms of:
- how many songs
- does it have to be really small
- do you want video (big trade-off between physical size and video quality because of the screen obviously)
- how much you willing to spend
- does it have to be from a bricks and mortar store
- is ease of use/simplicity a factor at all (how far evolved from bandage are you?)
Cheers for that rock.
Basically I’m looking for ease of use, as much song storage as possible, don’t want to watch anything on it, reliability. Would prefer to buy in a shop rather than purchase online. Willing to spend about 400 bucks. Wouldn’t mind a good speaker dock type thing too as all my CDs are in Dublin and I’d like to have musique when I go home to Galway which occurs quite often.
i-pod’s are useless,tried to update mine there on my computer the next thing I know all my songs are gone and they wont go back on,Now im going to have to buy a new one…not a ipod though.maybe a mp3 player?
Hard to know what players will be in what shops because they tend to stock more ipods and creatives than anything as the brand names of choice. I’d be leaning towards any of the following if avaiable:
Archos GMini Xs200 (20 Gb so lots of capacity, nice and small and simple to use - might be just online though)
iAudio X5 (Cowon: can be 20 or 30 GB - you can get them for 330 in Peats in Dublin anyway includes a radio which can be handy)
Whatever iRiver’s current 20GB model is.
Stay away from the ipod in my opinion but they’re obviously not a disaster, I just don’t like them and don’t get a Microsoft Zune if they’re available in Ireland yet.
Try and price these online before you buy because there are huge variations in prices.
Finally don’t underestimate how nice a video one would be - it’s crap for watching movies because you’d get bored of the small screen but family guy and stuff like that is very watchable on a small player.
On the subject of the Sony Walkman. The software is useless. Large transferal of songs is almost impossible. I myself have been reduced to just setting up playlists and listening to a few songs at a time which means if im away i wouldnt be able in indulge an urge to listen to something that takes my fancy at any particular time.
There is alternative software that works well as long as your PC is in perfect working condition. Sony connect player is a lot more reliable than the actual software provided with the Walkman
Whereabouts is Peats?
There is a Peats on Dame Street in Dublin - near College Green. The main branch is on Parnell Street near the cinema. Not sure if there’s one in Galway but I doubt it.
Picked up a 60GB Cowon at lunch. Delighted with myself. Set me back 400 bucks. Thanks for the help.
Was it in Peats? Is it that X5 series? You’ll hav eno capacity issues with 60 GB anyway.
my mental capacity is full.
any craic rocko? what do i have to do to get banned from this site. im off to golf 365
Yes and yes. Raging that I have to fooking audit rather than mess about with it. Any boarders up for a pint at 8 or 9 ish? Myself and farmer and possibly ox are going for 3 or 4.
Did you get it up and running yet CC? Let me know your impressions - have you any videos on it?
Had some teething problems but am operational this morning. It’s slow to get albums onto it but I assume that’s common to all MP3 players? I’m taking the music from the CD in WAV format and then converting to mp3 and then putting it on the MP3 player. When I take it directly from the CD into mp3 format it bypasses connection to the CD Database Server which automatically puts the artists, track names etc. on it. I get the feeling I’m as IT retarded as Bandage tbh.
You shouldn’t need to use WAV format at all - that will take up loads of space on your pc and it’s useless to you. What program are you using to rip the tracks? Try ripping them in Windows Media Player.
Under Tools>options>rip music tab
specify the format to be mp3 (or WMA but MP3 is probably easier because it will work with an ipod if you ever change in the future and I don’t think WMA does). Make sure you don’t have copy protection turned on through this screen.
On the “Library” tab make sure “automatic retrieval of information from the Internet” is turned on.
On the “privacy” tab make sure the options about getting info from the Internet are checked.
Are you using a Cowon specific program to rip the music from the CDs? If you are switch to Windows Media Player and do it as I’ve just described. You’re going a long and inefficient way about getting the music - not as IT retarded as Bandage (he still can’t copy music to his mp3) but still it’s not the right way.
The transferral of songs from the pc to the Cowon shouldn’t take that long - not as long as ripping the music in the first place, or anything like it. If you’re using an old PC it may be USB 1.0 instead of USB 2.0 which is just an older (and slower) connection but that’s a function of the computer itself and not the pc.
Would you believe I actually figured that out myself. Fierce proud of myself I am. Tis USB 1.0 but it’s only taking about 5 or 6 minutes to rip an album and about 2 minutes to stick them on the Cowon. This is great. Although I’m supposed to be auditing today. Cheers for all the help anyway rocko.