I'm looking to hook up an MP3 player to my new IS250 and I'm wondering if anyone has ideas on the best sounding unit for the IS. I hear pros & cons on the IPod Nano and others on the Samsungs, but I'm just wondering what this group's experience has been. Thanks!

 

uhm.. i dont thnk the actual mp3 player has anything to do with sound quality. sound quality is more reflected upon the quality of the music and the speakers. anyways, i would recommend to join the most of the mp3 crowd and get an iPod nano/video.

 

There actually is a difference in sound quality. Since the music is in digital form, the player needs to a digital to analog conversion. This is where the quality can differ. These D/A converters can vary widely in quality.

 

If you have thousands of songs saved as .MP3s on your computer, you'll have to convert all those files to Ipod Format. Not sure about the Nano, but my Ipod Mini required it and now I have 6Gb of Mp3s and 5GB of Apple Ipod Formated Music.

Napster and it's unlimited downloads for a months subscription does not work with IPODs (or didn't in the recent past).

If you download .MP3s from the internet, I've had trouble converting it to Apple's Media Player ITUNES (I buy elsewhere where it's cheaper). I get it done but it's a bit of a process. I also have 2 IPods and sharing/duplicating all the songs on Apple's Media Player is a pain. It has a hard time recognizing new Ipods with different names, sometime having to reboot my PC.

The size of the Nano is awsome. Again it's the quality of the connection/stereo/speakers, not the player. Which ever you like better.

 

You don't have to convert your mp3's to Apple's own format. The Ipod is capable of playing mp3's just fine.

 

That is what i was thinking . . .

 

I'll second that.

 

You couldn't be more wrong! iPod audio formats:

- Protected AAC (from iTunes Music Store, M4A, M4B, M4P)
- MP3 (8 to 320 Kbps)
- MP3 VBR, AAC (8 to 320 Kbps)
- Audible (formats 2, 3, and 4)
- WAV

 

Go with creative Zen

No Itunes

Plays all file formats
all video formats

No gay Quicktime pro / licensing BS

Apple doesnt play WMA's nor WMV 's

Ask yourself do you really want to pay 99 cents a song ?

 

I just picked up a 2GB sandisk E250. For $132, after 12% off coupon at Best Buy. Its pretty cool looking. about the size of the Nano, but 2x as thick. It supports most audio formats as well as images and video.

You can get the 4BG for $176.

 

I use an iPod Nano in an Agent 18 Case with a Ground Loop Isolator and a DLO Car Charger

I can close the center console without a right angle adapter.

-Brian

 

That's a misleading statement. You make the implication that in order to use the iPod you would pay $0.99 per song.

That's only if you decide you want to buy songs from iTunes.

What about the rest of the world that uses LEGAL sites like AllOfMp3?

-Brian

 

And even if you decide to buy them from iTunes, who pays $1 per song? I'm averaging around 60 cents.

 

Why would anyone buy anythinng from iTunes? They restrict your right to play the file on any device that you like, and they are not natively MP3s (when purchased). Of course, you can burn the music to CD, then rip the CD, but who wants to do that?

-Brian

 

Good info here guys. It seems that many of the other players offer more features than the IPod for the same price. But am I correct in my understanding here that if you do have an IPod it doesn't convert an MP3 to its own proprietary format? In other words can you put a straight MP3 on an IPod without the player converting it? If so, how is that done? I thought by adding the song to ITunes, it automatically converted it to Apple's format.

Aterrex and tqlla3k, the two players you mention are two that I've looked at as well as the Samsung.