MP3/Portable Video Players.

[Noir_Dark]

I need some suggestions.
About a month a go I broke down and got an Mp3 player. It’s a simple little 512 with hardly any options. I had no idea how much I would like this thing.
But it’s time for an upgrade.

Here’s what I’m looking for in order of their importance;
Something with 20G or more.
Something with a removable battery
Something that will play multiple video files
It has to have both audio and video output


P.s. I’m not a big iPod fan. That doesn’t mean that I’m not willing to listen to reason.

[wader0069]

Do not get an IPOD..ever. I bought a 40g a bought a year ago, and then it kind of just went. No longer recognized by my computer, can't put songs on it, have to restore it constantly.

When I called their customer service they told me I had to pay 40 bucks a year to get help from them. Mind you when I bought this one, it was the best out, spent almost 600 on it. Now I have to pay 40 to get some help over the phone. I took it to an IPOD genius ( it's what they call them, egotistical a-holes ).....Not only is it hard to make an appointment ( make an appointment...what the hell is that ) but he cliamed nothing was wrong with it. He took it back came back out, and said it was fine. Then told me I should pay another 60 bucks to extend my warranty, becuase right now the year is almost up, and after the first six months anyways you still have to pay 30 bucks for tech issues. I told him no I plan on getting abetter one soon.

I have no idea what he did, but it worked for 3 days, and surprise my warraanty has no run out. So instead of 30 bucks to ship it in to get fixed it will cost me about 80 bucks. IPOD sucks ass. They don't care that you spend a lot of money on the product, they just want to make more. Go with a sony something, or iriver. They have better warranties, and support.

[Callie]

I'll give you the skinny on AppleCare Tech Support.

It's $79 for the AppleCare Protection Plan on an iPod. That's 2 years of troubleshooting software issues and two years hardware coverage. You still have a limited one year warranty on the iPod though and you can call tech support for help for $49 on software issues if you opted not to get the APP.

It sounds nuts, but generally every computer manufacturer charges for tech support in some fashion. Whether it's through a call-by-call purchase plan or through a warranty plan. Tech Support is a blackhole in every company; you don't make money from helping people with their purchases. That's why most are starting to cut costs by outsourcing to India. I have a very good inkling that these other companies you listed also charge for tech support and also have limited warranties. It sounds like you are making a blanket statement about two companies that you really have no experience with. Have you ever tried Sony for tech support? I tried them for EverQuest once. There was no real support.

Apple Store Mac Geniuses are free. And everyone recognizes this. So yes, you need to make an appointment because there are probably ten people in line waiting on talking to a person before you. For whatever their issue is...from hardware issues to software issues to How Tos on any Apple product (including the really obsolete ones).

[wader0069]

I'll give you the skinny on AppleCare Tech Support.

It's $79 for the APP on an iPod. That's 2 years of troubleshooting software issues and two years hardware coverage. You still have a limited one year warranty on the iPod though and you can call tech support for help for $49 on software issues.

It sounds nuts, but generally every computer manufacturer charges for tech support in some fashion. Whether it's through a call-by-call purchase plan or through a warranty plan. I have a very good inkling that these other companies you listed also charge for tech support and also have limited warranties. It sounds like you are making a blanket statement about two companies that you really have no experience with. Have you ever tried Sony for tech support? I tried them for EverQuest once. There was no real support.

Apple Store Mac Geniuses are free. And everyone recognizes this. So yes, you need to make an appointment because there are probably ten people in line waiting on talking to a person before you. For whatever their issue is...from hardware issues to software issues to How Tos on any Apple product (including the really obsolete ones).

Still doesn't justify the fact that I paid $600 for my ipod, and he said nothing was wrong, basically scamming me out of my warranty. Now I have a year old $600 dollar IPOD that has no use to me.

[Callie]

They're not being paid to scam you out of anything. Your iPod costs less than most of their computers. If he couldn't find anything wrong with it at the time, then you should have pressed him on the fact that it was an intermittent failure that resetting seemed to fix. Which points to a hard drive issue of some kind. Sounds like you got a shitty Genius basically.

If it kept occurring, why didn't you go back? They keep records in their system. They would see your old chat with them.

[Callie]

So arguing aside...

Noir, I would suggest that you check this site out for reviews. http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,1874,2359,00.asp

I would sell you on an iPod because frankly, I think iPods are rock solid and their tech support is top notch. Not to mention that due to their popularity, you've got thousands of accessories out there to meet your needs. However, since you want removable batteries, iPods would not fall in your requirements.

On a side note, if you spend $600 (I'm still wondering what you bought for $600, wader-- my friend got the 60 GB several months ago for $399?), you should definitely get a warranty. I can't imagine buying ANY expensive device and not getting a warranty, but that's just me. And if you don't, then please read the small print that tells you of your support options. If you have a problem 11 months into it, make sure it gets fixed before month 12.

[Noir_Dark]

Here’s a true iPod horror story

A friend of mine bought a pricy (I think it was $500) iPod that was top of the line at the time. She had a warranty
As expected after a while the battery stopped holding it’s charge. It was near the end of the warranty. She called Apple and told them her dilemma. And of course. She had to make an appointment.
The initial appointment was going to fall outside the end date of the warranty. She explained this to operator and was assured that since she made the call before the expiry date that it would not be an issue.

You guessed it!
No dice! The tech jerk told her that the proper channels were not notified within the time limit so any repairs that had to be made were going to come out of her pocket.
(this is the reason I want a removable battery.

Ipods are nice machines, but the guerilla sales approach really turns me off.

[Callie]

Batteries don't fall under the warranty because they are consumable objects. HOWEVER, Apple got sued for that and she might fall under the people who qualify for reimbursement on battery replacements. I'd have her look into it.

From Engadget:
http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/apple-agrees-to-settlement-in-ipod-battery-class-action-suit/

[Noir_Dark]

Noir, I would suggest that you check this site out for reviews. http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,1874,2359,00.asp .
Done and Done
My initial thoughts are that the video players might not be viable. So for now I’m just looking at Mp3 players.
Here’s the top runners right now.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1623026,00.asp

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1623000,00.asp

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1424624,00.asp

[wader0069]

So arguing aside...

Noir, I would suggest that you check this site out for reviews. http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,1874,2359,00.asp

I would sell you on an iPod because frankly, I think iPods are rock solid and their tech support is top notch. Not to mention that due to their popularity, you've got thousands of accessories out there to meet your needs. However, since you want removable batteries, iPods would not fall in your requirements.

On a side note, if you spend $600 (I'm still wondering what you bought for $600, wader-- my friend got the 60 GB several months ago for $399?), you should definitely get a warranty. I can't imagine buying ANY expensive device and not getting a warranty, but that's just me. And if you don't, then please read the small print that tells you of your support options. If you have a problem 11 months into it, make sure it gets fixed before month 12.

It was $499 about a year ago. The best they had to offer, click wheel, and 40g. I had the money, and really liked it. I brought it back about three days before the warranty expired. When he came out and told me it was working, I told him no it's not. He showed me, my music was all there, and it was playing fine. So I told him to go back in there and hook it up to the computer, bc my computer was not recongnizing it. He did, came back out, and said it was fine.

I took it home, added music, and it worked fine for 3 days..Ironic....huh? then bammm worse than before. I reset it, updated it, and even restored it. I have to restore it about once a week and reapply some music. I have a 40g ipod, but for some reason can get about 1g on there, before it mess's up.

The IPOD comes with a semi year warranty. The first six months completely covered, the last six months only hardware, and you pay for shipping and handling. I my eye's Apple does not stand behind their products as much as they should. I have never owned a product that I had to pay for cust care for, or that didn't last more than 12 months. My cd player is about four years old, and not a single problem with it.....

[Callie]

Yeah, they are expensive at the moment. The Archos is the only one that looks good (though a Toshiba Gigabeat is coming out soon that looks cool), but it's really really expensive. You could have two iPod Videos for the price of one.

Out of the ones you picked, I'd say the iRiver looks pretty nice. Pricy though. Gateway makes me nervous. I haven't heard very good things about Gateway at all in the past couple of years. Their desktop tech support is subpar according to Consumer Reports and that probably carries over to their portable media players too. And it's not free either. You either call a long distance number or a fee-based toll free number.

[Slappy san]

Don't get an Ipod. It looks nice, has a ton of accessories and promotion but is not a good value.

I don't know what you could get. The removable battery is a sticking point.

[west3man]

This probably isn't the way you wanna go, but I just use my phone and my girlfriend, whose Lyra was stolen, is going to use the insurance money (it was stolen from her insured vehicle) to purchase a phone like mine.

I've got the Treo 650 (the new 700w model uses a Windows operating system), which is a phone/pda hybrid. Among other things, it plays mp3's. You can store them on the internal memory or use your sd cards. That's not the 20GB+ capacity you wanted, but, depending on what other devices you have or plan to purchase/upgrade, this all-in-one could meet your needs... and it has a removable battery.

I usually use my 1GB sd card in it. Buy some extras and you could have quite a bit of storage, without some of the iPod trip-ups.


There are pro's and con's to this kind of thing, but I wanted to put it out there, as it plays video and audio files... and does so much more. Anyway, good luck.

[Jeff Brady]

Here’s the top runners right now.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1623026,00.asp

I have that one. I love it so much. SOOOOOOOO MUCH! I've had it for over a year and had ZERO problems with it. However, if you're going to, ahem, "borrow" some of your friends' mp3s, you'll need to install the iRiver software on his comp, too.