[jbcohen]

It seems to me that IPods are priced to be terribly expensive but give the memory space to match. Other MP3 players are much more resonably priced but don't have the memory capacity that the ipods do. So it seems that if one is anticipating putting somewhere around 150 CDs on the player then a ipod is the best bet, but if one only anticipates a few CDs then an MP3 player is a better idea.

[zmatt]

Many players have high capacity. Just do a search around newegg or buy.com for mp3 players. There are many companies that make feature packed and high capacity players. Sandisk, Creative, Sony, RCA

Here is a quick list of 8gb players
Newegg.com - 8GB, MP3 / MP4 Players, MP3 Players & Accessories, Electronics

16gb
Newegg.com - 16GB, MP3 / MP4 Players, MP3 Players & Accessories, Electronics

30gb
Newegg.com - 30GB, MP3 / MP4 Players, MP3 Players & Accessories, Electronics

And they get much bigger.

[Puddle Jumper]

Just for the record the ipod is a mp3 player

[erkster]

*sees thread and rolls eyes*


it's all personal preference.

[Mak213]

150 CD's on a MP3 Player can be accomplished with a 4GB unit as it can be with a 30GB or 160GB unit. It just all depends on how you rip the CD's to MP3 format and what bitrate you use. If you use 64kb bitrate you can get 150 CD's easily on a 4GB. But if you go with 128 or higher you will need a larger MP3 player cause the MP3's themselves will be larger in size.

So what bitrate do you plan on using? That will determine what size MP3 player you need. From there you can decide on which player to get.

As Puddle and Erkster said it is all personal preference. iPod's are the most common but there is Zune, iRiver, SanDisk among many others out there that can do what you want and are not as expensive.

[zmatt]

I recommend using 128k as the bare minimum bit rate. Even then the songs sound terrible, but if you are pressed for space it will work. I put all of my music in .FLAC and convert it to 192k mp3 for use on my player. Some models will support formats like .ogg .wav or even FLAC. If they do this is a big bonus to sound quality.

[erkster]

ug anything lower then 128 bitrate is often horrible

[Fairuza]

Originally Posted by Puddle Jumper

Just for the record the ipod is a mp3 player

I was always under the impression, the Apple ipod uses the AAC format...? How does this make it an mp3 player... or will it do both?

[veedubfreak]

The ipod, along with everything else apple makes is crap. Buy something for what it does, not because its "pretty". That being said i bought an iriver 20gb mp3 player over 4 years ago for just over 200 bucks and its still going strong. I use it for 8+ hours every day. It also works as an external hard drive and doesnt require me to use itunes.

[zmatt]

Originally Posted by Fairuza

I was always under the impression, the Apple ipod uses the AAC format...? How does this make it an mp3 player... or will it do both?

It plays mp3s. AAC is the Apple proprietary format. I guarantee you the iPod plays mp3s, it also plays .wavs, or it did last time I checked. That's the reason the term media player is more suitable because almost all players can do a lot more than mp3s now.