screw yer i-pods, i want this!

[ClicheGuevara]

How are you best to use the battery? I've always been told to ALWAYS run anything rechargable right down to flat' date=' then fully charge again, to avoid "false memory". Worked for my mobile, me old netMD, camera etc. Anyone know any different?[/quote']

No no no, it's always best to keep it charged as full as possible at all times. It's to do with the type of battery, ipod's takes its life away if it's left till totally empty.

I'm not 100% on this so check on a website like www.ipodlounge.com for details, i think it's in the FAQ.

[framheim]

the hd5 has a cool function called 'follow turn display' where the display on the screen is always the right way up no matter which way you are holding the actual player. and you can get it in other colours, i just linked to the red one cause i like it. i agree the hd3 looks better though.

i just hate the fact that everyone has an ipod, they look shit too. just looks like a bar of soap. so white and square.

[medichi]

No no no' date=' it's always best to keep it charged as full as possible at all times. It's to do with the type of battery, ipod's takes its life away if it's left till totally empty.

I'm not 100% on this so check on a website like [url']www.ipodlounge.com for details, i think it's in the FAQ.

Coolio - check it out and you're right, it SHOULDN'T be run flat regularaly, just every 30 charges or so. In between it should be kept moderately charged up....

[Pierre Von Mondragon]

I totally rate my Creative Zen, gets v close to stated 24 hr battery life, unless you satart playing loads of wavs, or do a lot of up/downloading. Good for weekends away if not used continually, I'm just back from the weej and it's good for journey there & back + about 4 hrs misc use, and I could use it for a while tomorrow without a charge (not to mention sleep music). Control pad can be a bit fiddley though, but gets better if you use it a bit. Anecdotal evidence suggests it is also louder than iPods. Its just the whole concept of the portable music library that makes life that bit better.

[rudolph]

I have a small complaint about the ipod...It picks up scratches very, very easily & quickly....I hadnt even taken mine outside & it had several hairline scratches/marks.....

Unless you buy one of those "jumpsuites" I think its un avoidable.

So whats the deal with the battery? Your now not meant to run it completely flat before charging? My manual states something like, 2 hours is 80% charged & 4 hours is 100%....

With all this conflicting information how can you ensure your doing the right thing?

[Doc Ascension]

you can;t... they probably make it like that so that when the battery fails to live up to their impossible claims, they can turn round and say "well you didn't do x y z, THE N do a b c and plug it in precisely 14 milliseconds after you take it out while standing on your head, bullshit...

conspiracy unravelled!

[HummerOfIntenseEvil]

I got an iPod cos my mate went to Yankland last summer and said he'd bring one back for me if I wanted, so I thought I might as well. The battery life is an absolute pain, but it got better after the first few weeks. I've never gotten anything like 8 hours out of it though. That's the one thing I don't like though. I think the wheel (I've got a 3rd series one) is an excellent input device, and I like the HCI as well. Simple, but effective. The back's scratched to fuck from putting it in my pocket with my key, but I think it adds character. I can totally understand the "everyone has one" argument though - it does make you feel a bit of a sheep.

Also' date=' when the battery does die i can get another one [url']http://ipaq-battery.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=27. For pure aesthetics you cant beat an i-pod.

Is that completely legit? Won't Apple say you've invalidated the warranty? And how does it get fitted? Do you send it to them, or is there a way of doing it yourself?

[rudolph]

"This will prevent iPods battery from fully discharging (never a good thing)"

"To fully charge the iPods battery takes approximately three hours. It takes only one hour to charge it to approximately 80% capacity."

Just a few peices of information from the previously mentioned site, both of which conflict with whats stated in my manual....?

[pandy]

And how does it get fitted? Do you send it to them' date=' or is there a way of doing it yourself?[/quote']

they send you out a littl;e tool type thing to do it yourself

[Allan]

forget any ipods - actually any other mp3players, get an iriver!! SOO much better, I've had mine just over a month now and i love it! For under 200 it's amazing! With its colour screen, picture viewing, video playback (once newest firmwire is downloaded) radio, 16 hours battery life, 20 gb storage, drag and drop system (no need for shitty itunes etc) no mp3 player can beat it!!

http://www.tek2.com/beyondhifi/acatalog/i_River___H320_MP3_Jukebox_20GB.html

[Doc Ascension]

Yeh I should have said something bout iRiver, both iRiver and Creative Zen have the iPod owned.... except - people still flock to the iPod when it's clearly not the best player?

Why... I think you can imagine... the "status" symbol im betting on .... some people might have bought it cuz they liked the looks, etc, but less than 8 hours battery life - that is death row for a portable media player i'm afraid.

[jaimi]

its a sony granted that sonys can be good. BUT they use a magic gate system that means that you have to check the song out and in agin like a libary.

the end run is that your player has a 20gig storage and you have to keep the 20 gigs of music on the drive. A player that doubles as an msd (mass storage device, if you be unsure) is a better idea.

thats said there are plenty other BETTER players out there than both that sony and the ipod. and that are around the same price. Granted 40hrs is fantastic tho

[jaimi]

forget any ipods - actually any other mp3players' date=' get an iriver!! SOO much better, I've had mine just over a month now and i love it! For under 200 it's amazing! With its colour screen, picture viewing, video playback (once newest firmwire is downloaded) radio, 16 hours battery life, 20 gb storage, drag and drop system (no need for shitty itunes etc) no mp3 player can beat it!!

[url']http://www.tek2.com/beyondhifi/acatalog/i_River___H320_MP3_Jukebox_20GB.html

sorry did not see this post b4.

[David]

I don't see any of these beating the ipod's operating system' date=' or the scroll wheel. It's dissapointing how apple was/is so innovative, and then then came out with the shuffle....[/quote']

i like how apple take a blatent problem, ie the lack of screen, and make it something cool (not knowing what you are listening (personally i hate random play, its great for a single album, or one band, but i hate it with everything i have in my walkman, it is just annoying skipping from pavement to megadeth..)

as for batteries, it depends on what type of battery it is, i think its Ni-cad batteries that need discharging completely before recharging, while ni-mh batteries can be trickle charges (topped up when its half full or whatever) and suffer no problems

the battery in my old minidisk player suffers from the memory effect now, the first couple of bars will run down in about half an hour, but the last bar/flashing bar last for fairly long, this is from me charging it up when it got down to about a bar of battery left.

(if i got the battery types wrong way round, please ignore me)

David

[Alvin Starclusk]

My NW-HD5 just arrived today. Got the silver one and it looks *beautiful*. Photos really don't do it justice.

Have ripped everything as 320k MP3s so far and the sound quality (with a different set of headphones) is as good as any portable device I've heard. Will give the ATRACs a try and see if there's any noticeable deterioration (it's supposed to be better at lower kbps).

SonicStage doesn't seem that bad - having heard bad things, was expecting the worst - think that maybe it's evolved from the dog it once was. Stated battery life for MP3s is 30 hours.

Complaints:

1. The screen *doesn't* tip round automatically. It's only when you switch it off and back on again that it aligns itself

2. People on the Gracenote CDDB are apparently incapable of distinguishing between a track name and a band name on mix albums (not the players fault obviously).

[jaimi]

My NW-HD5

Sorry its a sony

Have ripped everything as 320k MP3s

Thats far beyond a cd it is around 144k that a cd operates

Will give the ATRACs

Realplayer used to do this format as it own one. Not bad actually. About as good as a WMA

SonicStage doesn't seem that bad - having heard bad things' date=' was expecting the worst - think that maybe it's evolved from the dog it once was. Stated battery life for MP3s is 30 hours.[/quote']

The batt life is great , especially considering the machine has a screen.

I bought the i-RIVER H320 a month ago and its fantastic. Not only does it do, mp3/WMA/OGG(vorbis)/WAV it does movies, tells the time, FM radio (from witch you can record at any bitrate), voice records, picture viewer and it can display ebooks.

Not only that but it can br connected to another device (i.e. digital camera, mp3 players, external hard drives) via its host port and you can browes the files on hte other devices.

comes with 2 mics (internal and external sennheiser) and a set of Sennheiser ear phones.

for 179.99, thats a f*****g bargin. The h340 can do all this aswell it just has double the storage and is a little fatter

I could rant all day about t but i have to go to work to pay for the i-RIVER

[Skull Commander]

Jeez. Just listen to your music and be happy!!

[Tav]

Thats far beyond a cd it is around 144k that a cd operates

I bought the i-RIVER H320 a month ago and its fantastic. Not only does it do' date=' mp3/WMA/OGG(vorbis)/WAV it does movies, tells the time, FM radio (from witch you can record at any bitrate), voice records, picture viewer and it can display ebooks.

Not only that but it can br connected to another device (i.e. digital camera, mp3 players, external hard drives) via its host port and you can browes the files on hte other devices.

comes with 2 mics (internal and external sennheiser) and a set of Sennheiser ear phones.

for 179.99, thats a f*****g bargin. The h340 can do all this aswell it just has double the storage and is a little fatter

[/quote']

You forgot it has line in and out connections as well headphones out and wire remote + headphones out...thats 4 x 3.5mm connectors! Means you can record spur of the moment guitar ideas straight to it...woo!

As for CD I thought it was 320kbps at 44.4KHz?

[Alex]

just 16bit at 44.1 khz. You could calculate 705600kilobits/second from that if you want, but it's not relevant.

The sony one has totally fucked up copy protection. I got my Iriver H-320 a week ago and it's damn good.

[jaimi]

You forgot it has line in and out connections as well headphones out and wire remote + headphones out...thats 4 x 3.5mm connectors! Means you can record spur of the moment guitar ideas straight to it...woo!

As for CD I thought it was 320kbps at 44.4KHz?

thats true i did.

Buy "i-RIVER" not "i-POD" or the "i-POD Photo"

[khay]

as for sonicstage' date=' i have been using the 2.1 that came with my walkman and its been fine... i recorded all the music i listen to from my cds, and really cant see why people complain about sonicstage...

[/quote']

Can you transfer files onto it without using sonic stage ?

[Guest Vis]

2. People on the Gracenote CDDB are apparently incapable of distinguishing between a track name and a band name on mix albums (not the players fault obviously).

Hahahaha, so true. Spelling is such a pain in the ass for some that they end up submitting track titles that sometimes barely resemble the original. Sure, I could do it manually but where's the fun in that?

[medichi]

My NW-HD5 just arrived today. Got the silver one and it looks *beautiful*. Photos really don't do it justice.

And thats NOT a "Yuppie Wank Toy"?

I saw SpackPacks HD3, which was a sexy bit of kit, so I'd imagine the HD5 is even nicer, but I'm FUCKED if I'm ever going back to SonicStage....

[Alvin Starclusk]

And thats NOT a "Yuppie Wank Toy"?

I saw SpackPacks HD3' date=' which was a sexy bit of kit, so I'd imagine the HD5 is even nicer, but I'm FUCKED if I'm ever going back to SonicStage....[/quote']

No, no it isn't (well, maybe... )

I have already discarded the Sony headphones in favour of a pair of bashed-to-shit Panasonics, so anyone walking past me'll think that I'm listening to a 1980s Walkman anyway - hence no yuppie toy.

[KarmaTsunami]

i got my i-pod mini as a christmas present and it does me just fine. although they DO scratch really easily. mind you, i'm a clumsy fuck and have dropped it at least twice. still going!