VS: Happy Face of Doom on Ipod Need Suggestions

[smeakim]

This really pisses me off. I have an HP Ipod that had been replaced three times as defective under warranty. It is less than two years old. It had really been acting up lately. Then this morning it decides to freeze during a song. I did a hard reset and it went to the sad face apple ipod icon. I did some initial searches and it appears if a restore does not work, I am SOL. I looked into replacing the hard drive but thats 170 bucks. I can't even get the stupid thing into diagnostic mode right now. The crappy part is I run alot and listen to it all day at work and in the gym, and now I have nothing. I need some ideas as to what to get, if it can't be restored. I am thinking flash based because I am afraid all my running has and will continue to play havoc on hard drive. I was thinking the Nano but am a little peeved at Hp and apple right now that I couldn't get one that actually worked for more than a year. On top of this Apple doesn't support the HP models, and HP says if its not a software issue then only thing they can do is replace it for 299. I will never buy an HP product again. Thoughts on other MP3 players?

[ialsohaveadream]

I have the greatest mp3 player ever for running. It's called Creative Muvo Sport (alternately called C100). I only has 256MB, but it's got an SD card slot, so you can easily make it 1.2GB (and I think there's a firmware upgrade to allow you to use a 2GB card. I've seen it for as low as like $45 shipped on outpost. And Cambridge Soundworks usually has it for cheap.

It's got a built in stopwatch, and the headphones are perfect for running.

[smeakim]

What kind of battery life do you get?

[ialsohaveadream]

What kind of battery life do you get?
It only uses one AAA, and I tend to get around 20 hours per battery.

[Jeffbx]

:stupid: on the Creative Muvo. It's fantastic. My wife has one for working out & it works great - she has the 512MB N200, which also has an FM tuner built in. It uses regular old AAA batteries, so we just use rechargeables on it.

Don't know the exact battery life since I don't think I've ever run it down - I recharge before I get to that point. But yeah, much smaller & cheaper than an iPod, and you don't have to worry about killing it since it's so cheap. Comes with an armband, too, so nice to run with.

Another BIG plus (for me, anyway) is that you just plug it into your PC & it shows up as a drive letter. Drag your MP3s to it & away you go. No proprietary software to load, no file conversions necessary.

[ialsohaveadream]

Another BIG plus (for me, anyway) is that you just plug it into your PC & it shows up as a drive letter. Drag your MP3s to it & away you go. No proprietary software to load, no file conversions necessary.
That's right, I should've mentioned that. Drag and drop is the best...and one of the reasons I'm hesitant to get an iPod.

[Merlin]

Drag and drop is the best...and one of the reasons I'm hesitant to get an iPod.
:stupid: I need to get a new MP3 player but don't even know where to begin looking for an ipod class device that is just drag and drop.

[smeakim]

Any thoughts on the Nano or anyone heard anything about the new Sandisk Player should be out at the end of March. Sandisk is making a flash based player that is a little bigger than the nano but has 6 gigs of flash storage. My wife also brought up a good point we have some accessories that if we went with the Nano that could be reused like a car adaptor and portable speakers. You get sucked in buying all the stuff and then to change you have to throw away all the stuff as well. All I can say is it sucks.

[ialsohaveadream]

:stupid: I need to get a new MP3 player but don't even know where to begin looking for an ipod class device that is just drag and drop.
Check the Got Deals section now. That Creative player for $250 is hot as hell. I was tempted to get it, but I've got stuff coming up that the money would be better spent on.

(By the way, supposedly it doesn't come equipped with drag and drop, but it's available with a firmware upgrade...or so the rumor goes)

[smeakim]

It is a good deal but its an HD player. I think I will stick to a flash based player. I think they are great but I have had too many problems with my IPOD and its hard drive that I feel that all the jostling while exercising is what killed it prematurely.

[ialsohaveadream]

Yeah, that recommendation was strictly for Merlin. I've bought 4 different Creative flash players for myself and friends/family, and all of them are still working great. But again, I think mine's the best...maybe I'm biased. ;)