Debating between 2 different MP3 players

[OCNewbie]

Debating between the iRiver H320 & the Rio Karma 20GB.

Assuming I could get both of these within $20 or so of each other, the iRiver being the slightly more expensive one, which one would be the better choice?

I've yet to own an MP3 player, and I've read the iRiver can play/show movies/pictures, which seems like a nice added bonus (albeit fairly limited quality-wise).

Thanks =)

Just noticed the iRiver has FM tuner built in, which sounds pretty nice. Maybe I'm leaning more towards that one, seems like a better deal for the money.

 

[nortexoid]

iRiver is better. i think they have comparable battery life, but as you said, the h320 has more features, drag and drop file transfers with id3 tag sorting (no 3rd party software), and the dimensions are larger but comparable to a thick ipod, whereas the karma is more of a fat blob. some people like that however. the karma dock has ethernet but i'm not sure if it's even functional (it wasnt' initially -- they may have added this functionality via firmware update...still useless for most).

basically, go read a few reviews yourself. mp3 players choices are totally user-subjective. it really depends on your specific wants, needs and likes.

 

[Deckham]

Slightly off from what you asked - but I thought I'd let you know that I bought my 1st mp3 player about a month ago.
It's a Creative Zen Touch, 20GB.

I've read good and bad about it - but I can tell you that mine is fantastic - does everything I want, looks great and superb audio quality. A lot better imo than friend's Ipods.

Edit:

Also has all drag/drop functions and ID3 tags.

 

[Wiktor]

Can Zen Touch play music when plugged into a wall outlet (not on battery) or when recharging?

And do you mean you can transfer files to the player without any software that has to be installed? Was there a firmware update for that (I thought Creative MediaSource was necessary)?

 

[Deckham]

- Yes, it can run as normal on A/C power

- No, you need to install Nomad Explorer, then it becomes a simple drag/drop file system.

Edit: spelling

 

[twitchee2]

one word IPOD

 

[Childs]

Get an iPod.

EDIT: Shouldn't say geeks. Anyways, you'll appreciate the iPod when cute girls ask to play with it. When you have a zen or iriver, they ask you why you have a pacemaker on your hip.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: twitchee2
one word IPOD

Why? Creative Nomad Zen Xtra 30GB for $200. iPod 20GB for $300. If you have a lot of music you can carry around another 100+ CDs while saving $100.

I've only had my Zen for a couple of weeks but it's nice so far. I spent another $30 for a 2-year warranty at buy.com, vs. $60 for AppleCare.

 

[twitchee2]

the eze(spelling) of use ina ipod is unbeleivable and they are durable

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: twitchee2
the eze(spelling) of use ina ipod is unbeleivable and they are durable

OK, I guess for the cognitively challenged the iPod can entertain them while riding on the short bus.

 

[dwcal]

Rio Karma has a 90 day warranty vs. 1 year for the iRiver. Newegg has a 1 year extended warranty for $20. Don't know about other stores. Look in the Hot Deals forum for deals on all kinds of MP3 players. I got my 15GB 3G ipod for $235. Love it, but I'm having trouble with the button now registering double keypresses. Time to use the warranty. :-/

 

[mrudd]

I have a 15g (3g) IPOD - It is a wonderful thingi. I use it in the car, at home... The software/hardware work together SEAMLESSLY

 

[Cerb]

iRiver tends to have non-critical firmware bugs, constantly updating the firmware, and good quality (though don't expect mroe than a couple maintenence updates once the product is replaced with a newer version...but most companies are that way ).

Karma has gapless playback. Sony's new MP3/Atrac player will also have gapless, and iAudio's newer HDD one might get it, but the Karma has it.

Rio hasn't been known for their products being durable in the last few years
(I'd have a Forge right now if there weren't 90+ day horror stories)
90 day warranty plus bad stories on forums (for iRiver, such accounts are quite few) would make it not worth risking, IMO, even for gapless playback.

 

[KayKay]

I have a rio karma, i use it everyday, it has gapless playback, you can transfer songs using ethernet, it comes with a dock that charges, syncs and it has a light that can pulse to the music while it's playing. The battery life per charge is longer than the ipod, 15-16 hours about. It also has 5 band parametric equalizing, multi language support, and a super intelligent "RioDJ" which creates playlists for you on the fly, super fast. The irivier is really good, because it has fm tuner and voice record, which the karma does not, and it has picture viewing too. Either one is a good choice, depending on what you need. I dont really need picture viewing so i went with the rio. good luck

 

[thecrecarc]

iriver is soooo much better. it is color it has a remote amd fm radio. and once rockbox firm ware comes out for it (www.rockbox.org) it will be able to play games.

 

[oneshot47]

If you care about the quality of your music, youd get a karma and encode everything in FLAC. Course that 20GB starts to fill up real fast then.

 

[LtPage1]

get an ipod. i have the first gen, its perfect, youd be a fool to even think about anything else.

 

[halfadder]

I love the iPod for its simplicity, and I love the iRiver for its features and the fact that it's from "the little guy".

If you need the features and the specs, my vote it for the iRiver.

 

[LifeStealer]

Most user reviews I've read say their Karma player goes out on or after the 90 day warrenty lol so I'd consider buying it from someone you could get an extra warrenty for.

 

[phisrow]

From my experiences with friends' Ipods and my own IHP-140, I must agree with halfadder on this one. The Ipod has a nice interface and rather high "just works" value; but the IRiver gear has vastly superior features for the money and doesn't require messing around with extra software(Sure, Itunes is pretty well integrated into a modern OSX box, and doesn't particularly suck on any recent Windows boxes, if you don't mind it breaking every norm of Windows interface design; but if you want to have something work without any tweaking on pretty much any recent Mac, Windows, Linux, and for all I know, BSD and Solaris as well, machine you really don't want an Ipod).

 

[Baked]

Get the iRiver H120/140 if you can find it. But if you want the color screen, H320 is a fine choice. Rio Karma supports MP3, WMA, FLAC, Ogg Vorbis.

Go shove that iPod up a crack. You can't even enable line-out unless you use the dock or buy a pocketdock or SiK din. Then again, most people enjoy the cheap iBuds that come w/ any iPod, so whatever.

 

[LifeStealer]

Originally posted by: Baked
Get the iRiver H120/140 if you can find it. But if you want the color screen, H320 is a fine choice. Rio Karma supports MP3, WMA, FLAC, Ogg Vorbis.

Go shove that iPod up a crack. You can't even enable line-out unless you use the dock or buy a pocketdock or SiK din. Then again, most people enjoy the cheap iBuds that come w/ any iPod, so whatever.

Baked is my favorite AT'er

 

[Sentinel]

RIO is freaking garbage, cant use it for shit. I have the old 800, that thing is so torn up and I hardly got my moneys worth...