h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Following this post on 'Where's that thread'

F19585?thread=612457&skip=203&show=1

and an extensive rummage through the last lot of dots on Askh2g2, I began to think I imagined it. So here it is.

Which of the kinds are worth looking into? What attributes are desirable?

Pros, cons, any interesting information? Or at least useful information.



KB

Well there's probably a lot to do with how much you want to spend, how much you want it to hold, ease of use, etc.

My iPod has 30GB of space. I've nearly 3000 songs (over 8 days listening time) stred onn it and it's not full yet. It's greazt in terms of having the choice, but you never get to listen to it all.

I got one a few weeks back, I went for ease of use and cheapness and size, I'm very happy with its sound quality though, as I use it quite a lot through the big hifi upstiars; Though you can of course tell a differnce between the MP3 player sound and the same then played through CD Tis a Creative Zen Stone, only 2 GB of storage but I've maanged to cram quite a few albums on to it and its dead easy to copy files on to it so easy to change whats on it as and when I want... and best of all cost the same as a night out having a few beers Some of the IPod type ones look very expensive to me which kinda put me off wanting to consider spending taht* much Think they do a newer version of the one I have but which has an FM radio built in too

I could do with some help too! Been promised one for my birthday in May, but it's down to me to do the research!!! I'd want to store photos too...so help!!

Yeah, iPods can be a bit pricey. Yes, you was quality, but not to cost an absolute fortune.

2legs, how much did your beastie cost?

Ok, so storage is simple enough - the more GB the more songs. What other features count?

Flashiness doesn't matter to me for its own sake - is that (and advertising) the main reason so many people chose ipods rather than other brands, or is there anything only they can do for me?

I suppose there are players that use flash memory, and those that use hard-drives. The ones that use flash memory have no moving parts: they can be smaller, the batteries last longer, and they're more resiliant. The ones that have a hard-drive have much larger capacity.

Good points, Bouncy.

I love my iPod (it was an unasked for but very much appreciated present so the price didn't matter to me, anyway)

It's a 60Gb photo one, so I can store loads and loads of songs as well as my photo collection.

The ease of use is probably a big factor, plus likelihood of obsolesence.

And physical size could be an issue. Something like an iPod video can be quite big, but an iPod nano, or a lotr of mp3 players can be a lot smaller. Makes it easier if you intend to use it when jogging or something. Or some iPods allow you to watch video podcasts, music videos and episodes of tv shows on them.

The little zen stone cost me about £30 but if I'd not been so lazy I could have actually gone to teh shop rather than paying for the delivery (which was rediculusly expensive for a device that weights vertually nothing), Dixons I think are the only people still selling the one I got, Creative Zen stone is I think moving now towards more fancier versions of the one I got

Mine's a bog standard 2gb player. Easy to add/delete songs as appropriate. Providing you buy decent headphones (which I have) you shouldn't have a problem with costs around 30 quid.

It depends on what you want, really. Do you really need to see the video for Rob Zombie's Educated Horses when you're walking to work?

Nah, magwitch, I don't really care if things aren't that fancy. Walking to work's the main reason I want it as it happens - it's quite a drab march for me. Although today I noticed mallards paddling in a flooded ditch I never even noticed before. Mazing what you see when you open your eyes.

About 30 notes should sort you out then, KB. The one I've got is not sold anymore, but the Zen Stone ones (as owned by 2legs) will probably do the job quite happily

"the Zen Stone ones (as owned by 2legs)"

Let's face it, celebrity endorsements like that don't come cheap.

I can describe the zen stone a bit more if you want oh, ok then but I will anyhows
Its small, bout the siz eof a zippo lighter but no where as heavy or as 'thick'.
at the top, thin edge, is the 3.5 MM headphone jack, and next to that a switch/button which has three positions.
Positioned in the middle is the resting position, and if you slide it over towrds the headphone jack it skips forward whilst playing to the next folder on the player.
MOved into the other position and it goes on to random play.
On the front of teh player is a big round button, which turns it on, and is the play/pause button.
To the left and right of this is the fastford and rewind,
Above and below it is volume up and down.
The only other thing on it, is the funny connecting socket at the bottom which is wher ethe USB cable it comes with attaches; this also recharges the zen stone from the PC.
It hasn't got a screen; which is why i like it, and navigating through the songs on it is just using the skip forward to next folder (an album in each folder makes sense), and within that use the fastforward and rewind to move between tracks
When plugged into the PC it appears like a external drive in the 'my computer' doobry, and so you can copy things to it, or delete off it using explorer.
There is also a bit of Creative software which isn't necessary but kinda useful; this can rip straight from CD onto the player and does a rather nice job of that (make sure to change settings in it to have the track number as the first part of the MP3 title for each track; that way the songs will be in the correct/origional running order when they end up on the player).
192 seems to give the best sound quality without being too overly bulky I found.
Oh, and the creative software will give the battery statis too which is kinda handy.
and its very small and light so easily can I put it in my shirt pocket jacket pocket or such like I do have to remember to keep leaving it plugged into something so I don't misplace it it takes MP3 and WMA music files.

2legs, never let it be said you talk rubbish. Well, that you *only* talk rubbish.

I'll digest all that tomorrow, my eyes are closing on me. Thanks for the in-depth review though mate.

I am a technical writer remember well I'm sure that is what my Job/person spec claimed

You sure it didn't say you're "technically" a writer?


KB