Topic: Digital Player Question

[raheen_M_Shabbazz]

Hi Gang,

Never posted round these parts before, but I figure you all are the right group to pose this question to.

I'm considering taking the leap and going ALL DIGITAL.  The stacks of discs and tapes cluttering up my life have GOT TO GO!

I'm going to get a few huge HDs and build up a virtual library instead of pissing around with discs and such.

I know, many of you are WAY ahead of me.

But, my question is this :: Which digital player would you all recommend?

There are so many of them out there -- Ipod, Neuros, Nomad, Rio, etc.

What do you all recommend?  I know Rio supports FLAC, but do any of these show hope for supporting SHN?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...

[jpschust]

well i love my ipod :-)  most others who own ipods will tell you the same

[RRobar]

I love my iPod as well.

I don't think there will ever be a player that supports .shn as it is a compressed format not a audio codec. WinAmp plays them with the .shnamp plugin. Unlike FLAC, Mp3, Ogg, AAC which are all audio codecs.

I've been converting alot of stuff for personal playback to AAC (I'm all mac) for use in my iPod and I backup everything as I go to a 250 GB external Firewire drive (just to make it easier to load stuff back to the iPod when I want to change whats there and to avoid redoing work). I'm sure that the other player can all do what you want to do. I just really prefer the ease of use with the iPod, with my iBook it's seems less with iTunes and it's just very easy to tote around and play every where I go.

(Side note: Jonny do you still want to sell that FM transmitter/Charger you offered me awhile back?)

[heath]

I love my iPod as well.

I don't think there will ever be a player that supports .shn as it is a compressed format not a audio codec. WinAmp plays them with the .shnamp plugin. Unlike FLAC, Mp3, Ogg, AAC which are all audio codecs.

I've been converting alot of stuff for personal playback to AAC (I'm all mac) for use in my iPod and I backup everything as I go to a 250 GB external Firewire drive (just to make it easier to load stuff back to the iPod when I want to change whats there and to avoid redoing work). I'm sure that the other player can all do what you want to do. I just really prefer the ease of use with the iPod, with my iBook it's seems less with iTunes and it's just very easy to tote around and play every where I go.

(Side note: Jonny do you still want to sell that FM transmitter/Charger you offered me awhile back?)

curious what type of 250 gig firewire drive you've got.  I'm looking at a quantegy right now, but haven't shopped around much.

[todd e]

lacie makes a good hard drive, but as damon pointed out, you must follow all steps before unplugging these units!  not exactly un'plug and play'.

[jpschust]

yah id love to sell it to you drop me a pm and we will work things out

[RRobar]

Heath,
It's a Maxtor 250 GB drive. Was around $300 or so a few months back. Work bought it I get to use it. I do plan on getting one for home though. Or a few 100GB drives Those can be had pretty cheap.

Jonny, I'll pm you about that transmitter

Raheen,
Sorry for the thread jack.

[thoman8r]

What do you all recommend?  I know Rio supports FLAC, but do any of these show hope for supporting SHN?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...

There are no players that support SHN and my guess is there probably never will be.  It bears mentioning that the iPod now supports Apple Lossless Audio, which I believe is synonymous with mp4 lossless (could be wrong about that).  Filesizes are comparable to shn.  And no, it's not OSS like FLAC but then again neither is SHN.

To answer your original question, I believe that the iPod is far and away the best portable digital music player available, in every way imaginable (except price).

Dave

[Sean Gallemore]

My Neuros has been a good friend for the week I have had it.  It records upto 16/48 as well

[Cooker]

go with th nomad jukebox 3 and you can be a patcher as well.

[Chapper]

Just curious why folks are preferring the Ipod over the JB3?  
I use my JB3 in the car everyday and it's become my primary recorder (haven't bought DAt tapes in a while now).
Perhaps it's a Mac thing?

[Kindguy]

When you listen to shows on the Ipod does it have gaps or clicks like TAO discs?

[Cooker]

ipod has gaps.

[rokpunk]

iPod's are just the flavor of the week. The JB3 works just as well, has gapless playback, records at 16 bit 44.1/48k .wav, and is about half the price. Yeah, they aren't as "cute" as an iPod....but whatever.

[Nick Culbreth]

Just curious why folks are preferring the Ipod over the JB3?  
I use my JB3 in the car everyday and it's become my primary recorder (haven't bought DAt tapes in a while now).
Perhaps it's a Mac thing?

my guess would be that the ipod is significantly smaller than the jb3.  i have a jb3 and there are many times where i wish it was small enough to fit in my pocket.