Since the unfortunate demise of my Pandu, life has not been the same. Begging and pleading for a Poddy session in front on family relatives hasn’t been very pleasant. So after giving it a considerable consideration, I have decided to go in for a change. Yes, you heard it correct – No more iPod for me.
One of these three finalists shall be my replacement for Pandu. And I need your valuable inputs in order to pick my winner. * As an incentive to you for your generous help, I shall name my newest multimedia companion as per your wish.
So without any further a due, here are the nominees.
General Specifications:
Plays music, video, photos and more
4GB internal storageâ€
Supports subscription music services*
Ultra-bright, 2.2†AMOLED color display
Built-in digital FM tuner
Integrated voice recorder
Up to 24 hours of battery life***
Skip-free listening
Fast USB 2.0 transfers
1 year limited warranty
Cost – Approx $200
General Specifications:
Plays music, video, photos and more
30 GB mini hard disk drive
400MHz DSP (Digital Signal Processing) processor
4.4 x 2.4 x 0.58 inches size
Screen Size 3.75 inches diagonal with 320×240 resolution
Media Types Supported – WMA, MP3, AAC, JPEG, WMV, MPEG-4, H.264 media playback
Li-Ion battery, 12 hr battery life for audio, 3.5 hr video
Built-in digital FM tuner
Wireless Connectivity
1 year limited warranty
Cost – Approx $200
General Specifications:
30 GB mini hard disk drive
Li-Ion battery, 13 hr battery life for audio, 4.5 hr video
5.27 x 2.95 x 0.87 inches size
4.3-inch WQVGA wide aspect high-resolution TFT LCD color screen (480×272 pixels)
Media Types Supported – WMA, MP3, AAC, JPEG,WMV9, MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4-SP, MJPEG, DivX 4.x/ 5.x, XviD-SP
1 year limited warranty
Cost – Approx $250
Your effort would be highly appreciated if supported with valid and convincing reasoning. Also if you know of any sites where I could get them at a lower price than what’s mentioned above, that would be super cool.
So put on your thinking cap and help me, will ya!
*Conditions Apply.
Comments
15 comments | Add your comment »
vinz
May 30th, 2007 at 12:42 pm | #
go for the iRiver Clix, its a good product with style & substance
Shaan Khan
May 30th, 2007 at 2:49 pm | #
Wait for Apple’s IPhone. It will blow away the competition. Phone, IPod, +++ all roleed in one.
Born a libran
May 30th, 2007 at 3:23 pm | #
I am not a fan of Microsoft and I am not a fan of small memory… However, the Zen has a very short battery life… Off the 3, i think the iRiver is the best in terms of reviews IF you do not mind changing your music collection now and then (only 4 GB is rough)… But if your lazy like me and want to carry all your music collection without any problem and need battery life too, then I would regretably have to say that the Zune is the best in all these specifications… If your not too concerned about battery life, then the Creative Zen Vision might be what you are looking for. It depends on your specifications totally. Overall of the 3, the Zune comes closest to replacing the iPod 20 GB but the iRiver is a good replacement for the Nano…
prasoon
May 30th, 2007 at 5:52 pm | #
Look, you and I and everyone knows it – nothing beats the iPod – so, I’d suggest – go for another one. Nothing is as durable as the iPod – I wonder if any of these would survive the toughness test – drop/smash you iPod n it works. Will these match up?
Melody
May 30th, 2007 at 8:06 pm | #
Yes yes madam, make us lesser mortals jealous with all your great decisions to be taken.
Boo-hoo-sob @ not having any Pandu to call my own
Pramod
May 30th, 2007 at 9:41 pm | #
I would have a say the choice is between Ipod or Zune. I have both. Yes i know you are thinking why you need both but… that is another issue.
If you are used to or like Itunes software then Ipod is must. You can play songs on your computer too from Ipod without syncing like you have to do in Zune.
But if you are rough user then I think Zune is better option then iPod. In order for you to play songs on your computer you need to sync playlist on the computer which i don’t like. But then Zune has Radio in it, Wider screen.
plus Zune gets less scratches then Ipod
I have enjoyed both.
I have not tried other so can’t talk about them..
shadows
May 31st, 2007 at 6:51 am | #
Well, if you are really *want* to watch movies or carry lot of music(over 2 GB), then any of these devices would be good enough. iPod is the best among them.
Otherwise, what I do is carry a good Nokia smartphone and load it with around 200+ songs. Its enough for listening to music on the move (I dont carry videos). Who wants to carry so many devices in pockets? Its better for gals, they carry a purse. Its generally more fun to listen to the good old heavy rock on big computer speakers, rather than iPods and phones. Go for the Nokia N73 music edition (2GB card bundled), its cool. And its lighter than iPod. And it has good battery life. And the sound on the headphones is very good. The inbuilt speakers arent that good though. Dont know about stability issues though, Nokia seems to be having quite a few of them lately. But its still much sturdier than iPods and Zunes and laptops. You may want to check reviews of SonyEricsson W-series/MotoRokr etc too.
Hey, why not the Apple iPhone? And , you also have a Sony Portable Playstation, dont ya? (IIRC, from some old post of yours) Does it not play music? If it does, try to spend money on expanding its memory, etc.
Saakshi O. Juneja
May 31st, 2007 at 9:44 am | #
iPod is out of the question simply because we already have one in the house. As far as iPhone is concerned, I will for sure buying as soon as the unlocked version is out on eBay.
But I doubt whether an iPhone would be as good as the iPod in the music quality department…iPhone would serve more of the mobile features than a MP3 player. In a way it’s like Apple is cutting down it’s own share of the MP3 market…but making iPhone and iPod equally good.
With regards to using Mobile phones as a Music player, I am not too sure frankly. I do have the Sony W900i (besides my Cingular 8125)…which is good but I still prefer having a seperate gadget for playing music while driving, sleeping, etc.
To me from the three mentioned players – Zune appears more attractive.
shadows
May 31st, 2007 at 2:07 pm | #
Frankly speaking, Sakshi, I hardly find any difference when using headphones (of course, not considering Bose
with noise cancellation). You can find the difference in sound in bigger speakers and highend sound cards, with different mp3 encoding bitrates beyond 128 kbps. With headphones, 128 kbps on my N70 sounds good enough. The music edition of 70 and 73 has slots for normal headphones, so you can buy a good one separately. Sony Ericsson W-series sound quality on a headphone is wonderful. (I tried out a cousin’s W550i).
Like I said, if you really are into “music and movies on the move” or while driving (bad idea!) or sleeping, then a separate player makes sense.
>>> With regards to using Mobile phones as a Music player, I am not too sure frankly.
Yep, memory is the biggest constraint in phones. But soon, phones are going to catch up with players. See the N91 (8GB memory in the music edn!!) Or the more recent N95. Not for nothing has Apple chosen to invest in cellphones
(wisely, I think). They know that the iPod will soon face the heat from the phones. Already, the biggest manufacturer of digital cameras is not Canon or Minolta or Nikon, its Nokia (if we count the camera phones they have sold)
Shaan Khan
May 31st, 2007 at 4:23 pm | #
The iPod within iPhone will be as good. In fact you will be able to down load music using the phone itself. This one is a winner. In my area it is coming out within the next 30 days (or so they say). Finally one gadget which replaces a few.
Pramod
May 31st, 2007 at 4:30 pm | #
The problem with IPhone I think would be battery life. They got to have Supper Battery Life on that.
I have Sony W900i and I have hardly ever used as music player.
shadows
Jun 1st, 2007 at 6:47 am | #
Yesterday, someone distantly related to me, who runs a mobile phone shop part-time, told me that N91 is the worst phone in the Nokia N-series. Others are good.
Saakshi O. Juneja
Jun 1st, 2007 at 9:53 am | #
Well I have come across many Nokia users complaining about the latest handsets made avaliable by the company. I myself use to be a big Nokia fan but after using Sony Ecrisson…I found Nokia to be really outdated. I guess the Nokia influence in the Indian Cell Phone market is so deep that even better products find it difficult to get buyers.
On the topic at hand, spoke to a friend who uses Zune. He said its quite reliable, sterdy and sound quality is fantastic.
Maybe Zune is the one for me then…any last thoughts??
shadows
Jun 4th, 2007 at 8:46 am | #
Go for Zune then. This might help you.. 2 tech sites reviews.
PC WORLD
NEW EGG
Saakshi O. Juneja
Jun 8th, 2007 at 9:23 am | #
Okay…it’s done. Bought a spanking new Black Zune on Ebay for $190 including delivery charges.