Ipod or Nomad Zen

[littlebitstrouds]

I basically have $300 to spend on either a 20gb Nomad Zen or a 10 gb Ipod. The obvious advantage is twice the size of capasity at $50 less for the Nomad. However the physical size and style of the Ipod is so apealing. Any personal experiences with both would be apreciated, or a direct comparison link would be great.

 

[mrgoblin]

Dell jukebox. 229 free shipping and 20 hours battery life vs ipods 6.

 

[Paulson]

I love my ipod...

But it was expensive as hell...

 

[randomlinh]

can this question be entered into the faq yet my vote would go to ipod, but it's all personal preference.

 

[kitkit201]

zen, u get more for less, ... say no to apple's itune software!! it takes 35mb running in my background!

 

[tomwolfman]

i bought a used zen recently.they say the zen has better sound quality.if size is an issue maybe the ipod

 

[krackato]

I'd get an iPod. They're very sweet and they're smaller than the Zen.

 

[VegasRobb]

I like the Zen alot but I'd say it's still worth it to shell out for the ipod. After you get it, you'll wonder what took you so long.

 

[Piano Man]

zen xtra

 

[Eug]

iPod of course.

iTunes, seamless usage as a hard drive, PDA functionality, size, OS ergonomics, etc.

 

[jdogg707]

Originally posted by: Eug
iPod of course.

iTunes, seamless usage as a hard drive, PDA functionality, size, OS ergonomics, etc.

 

[JustMike]

If you can stand to look at the Dell without feeling nauseated, it's probably the better unit than the iPod. I am a huge iPod fan, but I think at this point, I'd get the Dell because of the battery life issue.

 

[Breezie]

Ipod's dirty little secret

 

[Jeff7181]

I love my 30 GB Zen... here's why I chose it over the iPod...

For about the same price, I got 30 GB of storage as opposed to 10 GB
The Zen has a replaceable battery, so if it sees heavy use and goes bad, it's no trouble at all to replace it
The battery in my Zen lasts about 10-12 hours
It's not an apple product, so in a way I'm contributing to Apple's demise by not giving them any of my money, and that's a good thing

 

[Corporate Thug]

i would go with the Zen just cuz u get more for the price

only way i would ever buy an ipod is if i can get it refurbed from apple.com

 

[EdipisReks]

Originally posted by: Breezie
Ipod's dirty little secret

do a little searching on the MacAch at Ars Technica and on MacNN and you'll find that the "dirty little secret" is BS. get the iPod. i love my 30gb to death.

 

[crip11]

Go for the new IRiver MP3 Player, way more features than the Ipod but looks almost identical.

https://secure5.nexternal.com/shared/StoreFront/product_detail.asp?CS=iriver&RowID=44&All=

 

[TheDebater]

If you dont have the $400 for an iRiver my vote would probably be for the Dell. This thread needs a poll!

 

[addragyn]

We'll likely see a few new players in January.

 

[Czar]

http://www.lunarstudio.com/images/ipodwheel.jpg

 

[littlebitstrouds]

Originally posted by: addragyn
We'll likely see a few new players in January.

Hmmm. What sources would you have on these new players? At this point I'm so up in the air if I knew something nice was comin out soon it would be easy to wait.

 

[Derango]

Originally posted by: EdipisReks

Originally posted by: Breezie
Ipod's dirty little secret

do a little searching on the MacAch at Ars Technica and on MacNN and you'll find that the "dirty little secret" is BS. get the iPod. i love my 30gb to death.

Correct. I find it extremely annoying that anytime the iPod is mentioned, someone posts a link to this site without doing a little searching first. Most iPod batteries last longer than 18 months (There's still quite a few functioning first generation iPods around...don't believe me, ask at the iPod lounge forums (www.ipodlounge.com) ). The site also fails to mention that apple now has a $99 battery replacement program instead of having to pay $200 or whatever the site said.

Think $99 is expensive? Well laptop batteries typically go for that much, and you can get it for $59 (I think) from a 3rd party if you're brave enough to open the iPod and replace it yourself.

About iTunes...true, it is a bit of a memory hog, but you don't have to use it. EphPod, Anapod, or J River Media Center are just a couple options. The first one is free, the second one has a limited (features, not time) demo which works well and the third is a $40 that does a lot more than just iPod syncage.

I'm sure whatever creative bundles with the zen is flawless

(Last time I had a creative mp3 player, they bundeled it with playcenter, which cannot even be mentioned in the same sentence as flawless. bah, I just did )

What it comes down to is if you're willing to pay more for a slightly smaller package and, IMHO a much nicer user interface. If all you want is a player with a large hard drive, I'd go with the zen. If you're willing to spend more for the size and the (still IMHO) nicer interface I'd get the iPod.

Also, another alternative is the Rio Karma, which looks like a really nice player (although still as expensive as hell). If I were buying another hard drive based mp3 player, I'd probably be getting this one for the Ogg Vorbis support, as well as the ethernet connectivity

 

[grant2]

rio karma. 20gb for < $300. Sizewise, has about the same volume as an ipod. Has a slick docking/charging port to keep it on when you bring it home. Batteries will last a lot longer on a charge than an ipod.

I dunno how you ended up stuck on ipod vs. zen, because zen is probably the worst alternative to ipod, behind iRiver (pretty slick) Dell jukebox (cheap!) and Karma (also pretty slick)

 

[Eug]

I took my several month old iPod on a recent trip to Costa Rica.

Travelling many many hours per day, I never ran out of juice. I just charged the iPod every day. I usually listen to music while playing Solitaire on the iPod at the same time.

I dunno, some of you might listen to an MP3 player for 12 hours straight, but I don't. I'd listen for say 2 hours, take a break, listen again for an hour, take another break, and listen again for 2 hours... By then I'd have already arrived at the hotel - plug the iPod in for charging or further music listening.

 

[Breezie]

haha i've done my research and i know about mac's policy and ipods battery not dying after that period. i even know you can change your own battery yourself if you want- just posted in good humor- dont get so serious- In fact i even like the ipod over the zen if you want my true opinion- it just looks soooo spiffy =)