Portable Media Player, which one? Help please.

KonfuSed

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Hi All,
Planning to get a portable Media player (PMP). But not sure which one to go for. My main criteria is play movies on the go and some music. Also I should be able to copy movies directly to the player like that in a HDD. I hate the iTunes software.
I've found the following options and their pros and cons from what I've read on the net.
Archos 5 250GB :
Pro: Big screen, good audio, support for many video formats and loads of storage. Also can be used as storage for my photo trips(this is very tempting as I won't have to carry the laptop anymore).
Con:bit bulky and am not sure about their service in India.
Cowon O2:
Pro: Supports almost all the formats, better audio quality.
Bad: Less storage, only 32GB
IPod Touch:
Pro : Very user friendly.
Con: iTunes. Less storage, 64GB. Not all formats are supported and will have to convert the movies
Sony PSP:
Pro: Can be used for games. Can connect to my PS3. I would've really loved to have it but..
Con: Very less memory and probably not exactly a PMP like the others.

So guys, please let me know, from your experience or what you've heard/read about these players. Also let me know if there are other options availables. And if there are some vital points which I missed about these PMP's.
Regards,
 
Hi All,
Planning to get a portable Media player (PMP). But not sure which one to go for. My main criteria is play movies on the go and some music. Also I should be able to copy movies directly to the player like that in a HDD. I hate the iTunes software.
I've found the following options and their pros and cons from what I've read on the net.
Archos 5 250GB :
Pro: Big screen, good audio, support for many video formats and loads of storage. Also can be used as storage for my photo trips(this is very tempting as I won't have to carry the laptop anymore).
Con:bit bulky and am not sure about their service in India.
Cowon O2:
Pro: Supports almost all the formats, better audio quality.
Bad: Less storage, only 32GB
IPod Touch:
Pro : Very user friendly.
Con: iTunes. Less storage, 64GB. Not all formats are supported and will have to convert the movies
Sony PSP:
Pro: Can be used for games. Can connect to my PS3. I would've really loved to have it but..
Con: Very less memory and probably not exactly a PMP like the others.

So guys, please let me know, from your experience or what you've heard/read about these players. Also let me know if there are other options availables. And if there are some vital points which I missed about these PMP's.
Regards,

For movies on the go, why don't you buy a netbook (Ion based for better video performance)? They're really compact nowadays, and are only slightly more expensive than a large-screen PMP device. No point in watching a movie in a cellphone sized screen anyway.
 
Out of your list, PSP and Cowon seems to be the best choice.

For music only, none can beat Sansa Clip Plus due to its sound quality and add on cards.
 
Out of your list, PSP and Cowon seems to be the best choice.

For music only, none can beat Sansa Clip Plus due to its sound quality and add on cards.

Hearing a lot about sansa clip.. is is that good?????
Anyway how is flac playback on it? How you will compare withaverage CDP?
 
If you can live with iTunes, there is nothing even close to the iPod Touch. The iPod touch can be used for a host of things like mail, calendar, browsing, gaming etc... the uses with apps is endless.

If you need it mainly for the music and not the other features go for the cheaper and more storage capacity iPod Classic
 
Hearing a lot about sansa clip.. is is that good?????
Anyway how is flac playback on it? How you will compare withaverage CDP?

I own a Sansa Fuse - 16GB (8GB on board and 8 GB micro SD card) and have owned ipods from 1st gen onwards as well as creative and sony players......

I second Sansa as a very very good portable music player. I have done lots of comparisons with ipod and sony players and this comes out on tops.

Apart from the quality and DAC, drag/drop, ease of use and not working bloatware like iTunes is a major win for this.

Ofcourse, I have also realised that the stock headphones are crap with all players. I woudl invest in something like a Sennheiser Px100 or Grado SR60 to get the best out of this for active lifestyle.

You cannot - and should not compare portable players with CDPs as they are not a fair comparison. Always, headphone based systems sound better and richer than speaker based audio as you remove the room acoustics from the picture.

I know a no. of people who enjoy Sansa along with media monkey.....
 
Guys, I already have a iPod classic 80GB for music. What I'm looking for is a good video player (music is ofcourse a plus). I found that Cowon probably the best but Archos has a much bigger storage. I don't mind the small screen size than of a Laptop/notebook (already have laptops too) as I want this player for the ease of use (no boot up time), smaller size so ease of carrying anywhere and ability to play movies on flights etc. I'm somewhat inclined towards the Archos now as it has a huge capacity compared to others and a bigger screen.
I would've loved a iPod touch if not for that stupid iTunes software.
 
If you can live with iTunes, there is nothing even close to the iPod Touch. The iPod touch can be used for a host of things like mail, calendar, browsing, gaming etc... the uses with apps is endless.

If you need it mainly for the music and not the other features go for the cheaper and more storage capacity iPod Classic

+1 to that, used ARCHOS and own PSP and iPod touch and I can vouch nothing comes close to touch when it comes to interface, ease of use and applications. Plus............ Once jailbroken it becomes THE BOSS of all PMPs available. And iPod video support is not that bad at all

H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; H.264 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 3.0 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

The only drawback is no FLAC support and that stupid iTunes to do every thing........
 
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The only drawback is no FLAC support and that stupid iTunes to do every thing........

Although APL is equal to it, Only niggle being you can't play it on all devices. But I'm far happy with iTunes integration.
 
I use a PSP for only one reason. It is very easy to mod it and use emulators, some cool programs, and make your experience more entertaining and unique. As for ease of use and effectiveness for only music tho I would suggest the Ipod. You can use winamp and no itunes so it isnt so bad.
 
I'm happy with my Cowon A2, which is a few years old now, except on one major count: I cannot connect my Canon camera directly to it and transfer photos. If you ever want to use your PMP to store photos, check that it supports your specific camera.

It may be a decade out of date prejudice, but I wouldn't have i-tunes in the house, let alone on my PC. I also would not use any portable gadget that required anything other than drag'n'drop within Windows. Notwithstanding the extra-ordinary design superiority of Apple's products, I've never given them practical consideration.

Others tell me, anyway, that Apple's beauty is skin deep, and that the sound quality of cowon and other makes is greatly superior.
 
the Sansa clip+ FiiO E5 headphones amp- for pure music listening ...(FLAC and sound quality)
Cowon D2 - sound quality ( wide format support and drives most headphones pretty well)
 
ipod touch 3g: (+) very large soundstage, wide channel seperation, very clean audio, great treble extension,powerful amp (-) poor bass, thin mids, no depth in music, final output is somewhat like it's scratching only surface of the music notes.

Sansa clip: (+) damn cheap, blackest background, good attacking tight bass although slightly rough , good full bodied mids, reasonably loud (-) narrow soundstage , very low pitch, grainy treble, the soundfeild scale dosent quite match touch or the sony.

Sony a726: (+) liquid/warm/smooth sound, deep & extended bass although somewhat lacks attack of the clip , very nice mids, very good tone, good soungstage & scale although not comparable to the touch (-) quite hissy/noisy, average treble extension, weak amp, needs some sensitive & upmarket iem's to really shine.
 
I had a Cown D2, lost it, and bought another one.

I had the option to try the newer Cowons when i was buying my replacement, but decided against for the following reasons.

1. Sound quality
2. Size - Cowon D2 is compact (Sansa Clip too is) and has a touchscreen feature
3. Add on SD card slot. It takes the capacity to 48 GB. You could also carry a couple of extra cards around. It seamlessly integrates in built memory and add on card.

I would still not touch Apple, unless i turn into a girl overnight.
 
Hello all!

I am looking for a good sounding 4- 8 GB MP3 player for using in my car. My CD drive is giving some problem and was thinking rather than looking at rectifying would use a MP3 player for music. Am not so particular about video display, but the sound output should be pretty good and cost southwards of 5K.
Please advise.

BTW has any one tried Transcend T.sonic 860 or Transcend 330.

Many thanks
 
For videos.i would recommend you Archos which has been a leader and pioneer in PMPs for years now.I have the old Archos 504 (40gb)with Dvr which is over 3 years old and use it everyday,I also have ipod touch(1st gen). Archos has just launched its new line of Tablets,do check their website,If video and storage is high on your list then i would recommend Archos to you.
 
Hello all!

I am looking for a good sounding 4- 8 GB MP3 player for using in my car. My CD drive is giving some problem and was thinking rather than looking at rectifying would use a MP3 player for music. Am not so particular about video display, but the sound output should be pretty good and cost southwards of 5K.
Please advise.

BTW has any one tried Transcend T.sonic 860 or Transcend 330.

Many thanks

If you haven't bought something yet and can wait a month or so, Check out the Archos Android Tablet Series:
ARCHOS
You will get Android 2.2 PMPs from 2.8" to 10.1" screens in $99 to $299 range. Totally worth the wait.:licklips:
 
If you haven't bought something yet and can wait a month or so, Check out the Archos Android Tablet Series:
ARCHOS
You will get Android 2.2 PMPs from 2.8" to 10.1" screens in $99 to $299 range. Totally worth the wait.:licklips:

Thanks @iluvmusic. I bought a Transcend MP 860 (8 GB @ Rs3450). I wish I had seen your post earlier. This does looks very inviting.
 
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