Another mp3 player thread

[tranzformer]

Hopefully you guys dont get tired of these type of threads. Been looking a few weeks at mp3 players and doing research. I really want a small hard drive based player and have narrowed it down. I really want something with a removable bettery, long batter life, small/sleak, good sound, built in microphone (to record class lectures) and something around $200. I am not interested in the Ipod as it is overpriced for me and many features that come with other players are extra add ons. So I have come across the:

Rio Caron: http://www.digitalnetworksna.com/sho...del=267&cat=72

Really nice, small and sleak player and love what you get for your money. Get extra long battery life (20hrs per charge), built in microphone, easy to use and did I mention its really small? The con's are that the battery is built in.


Creative Zen Micro:

http://www.creative.com/products/pro...&product=10795

Another nice player but gets lower ratings than the Rio. The battery is removeable, has AM/FM radio (dont know how much I would use that but still nice to have), built in microphone, but it is a little bigger than the Rio and I have heard the touch pad is annoying. Any opinions?

[HRDCORESNOWRIDE]

Da Rio rocks my world mang. No complaints as of yet. i've gots it for almost 1.5 months know and love it. Use it at the gym, on the bike, and on the road. go for it. good bang for you buck.

[fez]

I have the zen micro. had it for about 4 months now and really like it. I thought the touch pad was easy to get used to and find the menus easily customizable and intuitve, much more so than an ipod. the radio sucks, i get basically no reception. probably the only real use of the radio is listening to the tv on the treadmill at the gym. i havent tested this so i have no idea. The battery is removable, so its possible to carry an extra. however, the only way to charge a battery is to put it in the player so i think this feature is of limited use. The battery life is good, i probably get 10+ hours between charges. Sound quality is outstanding and in most reviews i checked this was a common comment.

as far as size go, even if the rio is smaller, people are modding empty altoids tins into hard cases for the zen micro. it is hardly a handfull.

I bought the zen partially because of gnomad, which is a Linux client for managing the player (im a geek). Gnomad is actually much better than the software that comes with the player which i thought sucked. The Rio can be mounted as a usb drive and music loade through drag and drop. I think the rio is the only player you can use to transfer music between computers without loading any software.

what i find to be the biggest drawback to the zen, as well as for any non-ipod mp3 player, is that every company in the world makes ipod accessories. hardly anyone makes them for the other players.

[tranzformer]

Just curious if both of you would recommend going for the 5gb, or spend the extra 50-60 bucks for another gb and get the 6gb?

[fez]

i dont know. i dont mind switching my music up. i get like 900 songs on mine (most of my stuff is ripped at a pretty high bitrate and includes some pretty long songs). I doubt i would kick down 50 - 60 for another gig when you can get a 30 gig player (creative zen touch xtra) for less. its a trade off, you can get a smaller player with less storage or a bigger one with more for about the same money.

[tranzformer]

I found the rio for $149, which I feel is a really good deal

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-qEsoISx...rch=Rio+Carbon

[nightpanda]

The Rio can be mounted as a usb drive and music loade through drag and drop. I think the rio is the only player you can use to transfer music between computers without loading any software.

The Creative muvo series(including the zen "nanos",creatives attempt to phase out muvo name (same as muvo micro)) can do all of the same stuff except on win98 systems you have to download drivers.