Looking for a little advice. Iv looked at both and still dont fully understand the difference. Basically need a player for mainly listending to music in the car via the aux in and also same for the home using the surround sound system. Is there a better way to go? ie Apple or one of the other major brands? Sound quality is important, along with the option of having albums within the player and not one long playlist. 4gb is the minimum and the option of video will be good. Both Ipods and the Sony and Samsung players seem to offer the same spec so some swaying to one would be good.
There really is no difference between an mp3 and an iPod. A long time ago Apple made the only nice mp3 player because they offered many useful features. It was never about sound quality. In some ways, their software is still the best.
Sound quality is not an issue. It is cheap to produce perfect audio at low power levels. A 9 dollar mp3 player will produce way better sound than your car sterio can replicate.
What you want is relibility and features. Unless you really NEED to have massive amounts of tunes get a diskless player. Diskless are more relyable and have better battery life. Disk systems sold now start dying fast after a year (the wareentees last a year). If you buy a disked system buy an ipod and keep it under warentee. Stick to brand names for relibility. Chipods, not a brand name built in China, are getting much better but they still die early. A few years back they averaged a month before they died.
I normally, play mine on random, but there are times when I want to use a play list. I would never buy one that didn't support play lists. All brand names will support artist and album playing. Not all support play lists imported off your computer. More support an on the go play list. I find those are a pain in the ass to build and are probably ruined the next time you sync. I have an aerobic, hard rock and a mellow play list on my ipod at all times. They may not be the same play list but I find those types are 'must haves'.
I own an iPod but I would buy a Sansa Clip it when it dies. It does not do videos but then I will not watch a video on a tiny screen. If videos are important, the Clip is not for you. Sansa, a division of Sandisk, continues to erode market share from Apple. That says it all. They make other models but the clip is probably the best mp3 player vs mp4 player (music+video).
Sansa is Apple's only serious competition. The ipod has great software however they write their name funny iPod not Ipod, they have that hated scroll wheel and since I got mine 3-4 years ago, 95% of the updates were about security not trying to please the user. I do not like paying money to put a cyber cop on my computer. That can be circumvented by NEVER installing itunes. Use Media Monkey instead. That has great syncing features for small storage units. It also has allowed me to keep the 3-4 year old software on my ipod. It will not self destruct if I do the 'wrong thing'. It is easy to swap music on and off the player. Then having only 50 hrs of music is fine since you replace it before you 'wear it out'.
Lastly, if you buy a diskless player buy a refurbished one. They don't refurbish any mp3 player. When they are returned, they make sure it works then they have to sell it as refurbished even though it is new. I would use google shop to find a deal. This is a good time to buy. Before X-Mass Apple dropped their prices to keep their sales up.
Also check out mp3 CDs. I bet your car player can play them. I spent 60 bucks for a fancy ipod connection to my car sterio and I never use it. I prefer mp3 CDs. They are about the size of a good sized play list ( 7 hrs +/- 2 hrs). In a car, it is easier to switch CDs than it is to fool with an mp3 player. I can swap CDs while driving. I need to pull over to select a new play list. Even a stop light may not give you enough time to swap a play list.
Lastly, buy a set of good ear buds. I am happy with Philips. For about 20 USD you can get some real nice buds. Their range is 5 - 20,000 Hz. They do not make car sterios that I know of that have that kind of range. Only an ultra high end HiFi plugged into house current will do better than that. Philips ear buds aren't the best. For 5 times that you might get a bit better quality 4-22,000 hz. Bose makes great ones. The perfect human ear can hear 20-20,000 Hz. Anyone can feel sub sonic tones. Studies for can humans feel ultrasonics are mixed and the studies that prove you can were not straight forward while less creative studies 'proved' we can't. It is for sure ultra sonic tones for in the ear buds destroy your hearing faster than sonic tones in the ear and faster than ultrasonic tones out side the ear. Ultrasonics produce for ear buds sealed in the ear, rip up your earing. I don't need that.
In my opinion, in the ear blows away out side the ear. In the ear buds make a seal. It is the same as burning gun powder contained and not contained. A cherry bomb has less power than a fountain but the cherry bomb has destructive force. By making a seal, the ear buds become increadably efficient. That is how they can reproduce the sub-sonic notes with hardly any power. With out that seal, only massive amounts of current can produce the sub sonic tones. That is why car stereos have poor base.
Because the copper wires work harden none last more than a year with heavy use. I refuse to pay 100 bucks for throw away buds that may be slightly better than what I have.
I just bought a refurbished Sansa View 16g at ecost for under 70 USD for about 80 I have a 2 year warrentee as well. It claims to have a 35 hr battry life for audio. That is a GREAT deal. I believe the Sansa to be a bit superior to the Apple product costing more than twice that.
