[GarryMac]

Thinking of getting a hard-drive MP3 player for my daughter for Christmas; any thoughts on which is better between the iPod and the iRiver? Thanks.

 

[ariza]

If its for your daughter I would go with something like the iPod mini in Pink, she will love it, you can even get in personalized with her name. Go to the apple web site, they offer laser engraving for free. This is a good idea for kids incase its ever lost or stolen.

The iPod is also much easier to use and a lot smaller and sleeker. Very well designed. In my opinion the iRiver is only good if all your intrested in is holding the most music.

The hardware is just the half of it, Software on these devices are very important. iTunes is the easiest to use, and you can even set up an allowance for your daughter to spend on the iTunes music store.

 

[leebay88]

Agree the I Pod Mini in Pink. Easiest to use and very fashionable. IMO It's not the best designed MP3 but by far is the "in thing" to have.

 

[GarryMac]

LOL -- You don't know my daughter. Pink is not for her! She's 16, and her favorite music is metal. No face piercings yet, thank god! (But straight A's in honors classes, so I can put up with her taste in music.)

 

[ShadyJC]

I have a Creative Labs Zen Touch right now which I'm pretty happy with - they just came out with a Zen Micro which looks really cool and comes in multiple colors.

http://us.creative.com/products/product ... duct=10795

Another one I would consider is the Rio Carbon.

http://www.digitalnetworksna.com/shop/_ ... ?model=267

 

[cantdrv55]

Don't waste your money on the iPod mini for $269 which only holds 1000 songs. Costco sells a 20gb iPod package deal for $279.99 and it holds 4000 songs. I have the 20gb iPod and my brother has a 20gb from another maker. As for ease of use, software support and music sharing, the iPod wins hands down. His machine costs less but you get what you pay for.

 

[ariza]

I also like products from Creative, the Zen micro definetly looks cool, cheaper than the mini and it comes in Black which i;m sure your Daughter will like given her prefrence in music.

I'm not sure how I feel about an all touch button interface on the Zen, I have a 3gen iPod and all the touch buttons kinda bugs me.

 

[kcrudup]

I'm thinking of buying an .MP3 player, but I need something that's (1) got a FireWire port and (2) lets you load .MP3s as a regular file-system (I run Linux and won't be able to run any Windows-based loader software). Do any players do that? I have a "Key Player" that's a USB mass-storage device that does that, so I'm assuming at least one of the big-storage players are also capable of it.

 

[clkkelley]

The IRIVER'S are FANTASTIC. My family has two. The I-Pod's are fine but very fragile. My I-River 20GB that I bought last summer flew out of the windshield bag of my Harley last summer at 75 MPH and bounced crazily down the Interstate before ending up on the shoulder. After I turned around and went back to pick up what I assumed would be the shattered remains, I picked it up playing the same song, and now it has some very interesting road rash for extra conversation on airplanes and during other travel and raod trips!!

 

[LibTech]

I'm thinking of buying an .MP3 player, but I need something that's (1) got a FireWire port and (2) lets you load .MP3s as a regular file-system (I run Linux and won't be able to run any Windows-based loader software). Do any players do that? I have a "Key Player" that's a USB mass-storage device that does that, so I'm assuming at least one of the big-storage players are also capable of it.

This looks promising
http://www.cs.duke.edu/~geha/ipod/

I'm a Linux newbie, so I still use my XP Pro for iPod.

 

[GAMacky]

I have a Creative Labs Zen Touch right now which I'm pretty happy with - they just came out with a Zen Micro which looks really cool and comes in multiple colors.

http://us.creative.com/products/product ... duct=10795

Another one I would consider is the Rio Carbon.

http://www.digitalnetworksna.com/shop/_ ... ?model=267

I too decided on the CL Zen Touch. I absolutely love this unit. I was surprised that it even supports Chinese characters for my Chinese songs. The Zen Micro looks great too.

 

[GarryMac]

I'm thinking of buying an .MP3 player, but I need something that's (1) got a FireWire port and (2) lets you load .MP3s as a regular file-system (I run Linux and won't be able to run any Windows-based loader software). Do any players do that? I have a "Key Player" that's a USB mass-storage device that does that, so I'm assuming at least one of the big-storage players are also capable of it.

You can use the iPod as a mass-storage device; it's essentially just a hard-drive. http://www.apple.com/support/ipod/tutorial/t9.html. As you probably know, the Mac OS is Linux-based. And the iPod comes with a FireWire connection.

 

[9719]

I'm thinking of buying an .MP3 player, but I need something that's (1) got a FireWire port and (2) lets you load .MP3s as a regular file-system (I run Linux and won't be able to run any Windows-based loader software). Do any players do that? I have a "Key Player" that's a USB mass-storage device that does that, so I'm assuming at least one of the big-storage players are also capable of it.

You can use the iPod as a mass-storage device; it's essentially just a hard-drive. http://www.apple.com/support/ipod/tutorial/t9.html. As you probably know, the Mac OS is Linux-based. And the iPod comes with a FireWire connection.

FYI common feature with most MP3 players today.

Ergonomics and looks go to iPod. Audio quality generally goes to creative. More format support and native drag/drop goes to iRiver. It's a toss up.

Rio has had a ton of issues but does have some nice features like support for lossless formats like FLAC, digital out on some players, ethernet port, but that is offset crappy support and a 90 day warranty for most of their products. I wouldn't take a product of theirs if you gave it to me. Carbon has been out for a few months and they finally fixed the grounding issue with the headphone socket.

It really boils down to small form factor or large, less storage or more... then drill down from there.

In terms of software... iTunes works fine with the iPod. Ephpod is a solid, free alternative if you don't want to use it.

The software that comes with Creative/iRiver sucks. Don't even bother installing it. http://www.redchairsoftware.com makes a great app for the most popular MP3 players.