Rating: 
Summary: Amazing digital music player!
Review: This is the most incredible digital music player I ever seen!
You can use it as a player or as a hard disk, it's really cool!
The firewire transfer rate is very nice, you don't have to wait so long to get your ipod syncronized or your files copied to your hard disk.Quite nice device!
Rating: 
Summary: iPod doesn't match up
Review: Although the iPod itself has decent features and capacity, price-wise it is junk. For $100 less, you can purchase Creative's Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra 30GB, or even cheaper still the NX version. iPod will get teh job done, but Nomad has a bit better features, adaptability, and BETTER sound quality. When you couple this with the MASSIVE price gap, you have a real winner (Nomad) and a real loser, (iPod). If you want to spend $400 that badly, get the 60GB Nomad Zen Xtra (availible here on Amazon). Oh wait... its still not even $400, so I guess you can keep the extra cash, along with twice the harddrive space you would have had with iPod.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing, even at this price
Review: I am SO glad I dumped my NOMAD Jukebox for the iPod. The navigation just plain works. It's easy to find what you want, it integrates seamlessly with my PC and it sounds great. On top of all that it fits in my pocket, gets great battery life and is a perfect match for the line input on my car stereo. I don't need XM or Sirius satellite radio now that I have my whole music collection everywhere I go.
Rating: 
Summary: watch out for Apples 10 day return policy.
Review: Okay. Here is a write up, that I did, on the comparisons/contrasts on MP3 players. Mainly, the Harddrive versions (I.E. Rio Riot/Apple IPOD -both of which I own) and the flash memory type... (I.E. Memorex 3642 Mp3 Player, of which I own as well).
What prompted this little jaunt (of which you may send to as many people as you like) My $499 Apple IPOD died during a sync last month. Just me copying files over to it, and the battery ran out of juice. I would have not attempted to copy music had I known the battery was low, but the battery read FULL STRENGTH. Anyhoo, I called Apple, they said return it for maintenance. I did. Sent it back. They returned it, still broke. To my suprise, there is only a TEN DAY return policy. TEN DAYS. I did not realize this at all... and will not ever buy another apple product. So, after a month or so of messing around trying to find another MP3 player... I decided to go with a flash memory MP3 player, the ones that use memory sticks. SO, here are the pro and cons of these devices. Pro's for the Memory Stick Mp3 players -Cheaper. WAY CHEAPER than Hard drive types. -If you go into music match and file convert to MP3 Pro and shrink the size of your MP3 to like, say 3o percent... you can really make a good Kompression. Example. My Memorex MP3 player has 32mbs of memory on board. It is expandable to 256mb. 32 mb will basically let you put one cd's worth of music. It is easy to put music on and off of them, due to your computer reading the USB as just another hard drive, so you drag and drop to put on, delete them to take them off. But, after you shrink your files to MP3 Pro 30 percent, you can put twice as many. So, basically a 256mb chip will allow me to put 208 songs on my little less than palm size MP3 player. And it wieghs like 3 ounces. - More on memory. These little chips are the size of the upper part of your thumb, at least my thumb anyway. They come in 128mb, 256mb, 512mb and even though there aren't any MP3 machines out there to handle them YET, you can even buy a 1.5gig thumb size chip thingy. Considering the size of the chips and the shrinking kompression I told you about earlier, I could shrink my whole KOLLEKTION down to 10 of those 1.5gig chips. At the current shrink rate I am at 5 DVD's, which are way bigger and more fragile than these little chips. - Not as fragile as hard drive type. You can drop one of these chips and not scratch it. I wouldn't stomp on one with my foot, nor get one in water, but they are encased in plastic. Ruggedish. - Batteries last for like two days. There isn't much going on here, no moving parts, no laser or hard drive to put power to. Most of these flash Memory types have a single AA battery. I use a rechargeable type, so we are talking very low cost here.
In comparison to the hard drive types, where you will get a solid 8 hours of playing, this really whupps up. - Size. Small. Very small. Mine is three inches by three inches. A square. But, you can get smaller ones. And the memory chips that go in them are the same ones you use for your camera. And you can put files on them. If you want to put a word doc on your memory chip, you can. Your Mp3 won't recognize it, but it is nifty storage. COMPARISON/CONTRAST - Size does matter. In the case of hard drive Mp3 players... lets face it, you can, if you so chose to, put a library of congress on these monsters. They are the caddilacs of the hand held devices, and guzzle batteries like gasoline. But when it comes down to it, size is the only thing they have going for them. I don't mean to downplay the hard drive types, but don't drop them, don't shake them, and after shelling out $499 to Apple you might consider insurance. Apple doesn't care about you or your apple after 10 days of ownership. - Price/Komparison. IPOD ran me $499 bucks. My memorex MP3 player ran me 45 dollars. The 128 memory chip runs you 50 bucks. Owch. There really isn't a comparison to the two. The memory stick Mp3 players just kick butt on this issue. And, you get MORE than a ten day return policy, since you buy these things at Target/Wal Mart etc... So, that is my review in a nutshell
Rating: 
Summary: Super Product, Terrible Support
Review: Other reviewers have heaped well-deserved praise on the iPod itself, so it is worth briefly noting that Apple's customer support does not match the quality of its product design. For the many shoppers who are from the Windows world but are now contemplating getting an iPod after being impressed by the clean easy to use iTunes user interface -- beware! Don't expect overnight shipping of the sort you've come to expect with virtually every Windows peripheral or device and don't expect the same service -- automatic refunds for defective products, cross-shipping of replacements, etc. -- either. Apple's customer support is virtually non-existent. If everything works with your iPod, you may never have to deal directly with Apple and should consider yourself lucky, but even if you are just considering buying it's worth noting: avoid Apple and buy from someone else -- like Amazon -- instead (unless you want to wait weeks and weeks for your iPod to show up).
Rating:
Summary: Save Time and Money
Review: Let's face it, the puny 128 mb players are expensive and worthless. That is why we are moving up to the bigger leagues. Well there has been big competitors trying to run the 20 gb market. Dell has one, rio has a nice smaller one than ipod, neuros, archos, and **Creative**. Now why did I stat Creative? First I will explain why I gave the ipod 2 stars. First off, I have two 20 GB MP3 Players. I have a Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox 3 (Same thing as the Zen) and a 20 GB Ipod. Good: Setup was simple and transferring files to the ipod was fast. It comes with a nice docking station and yes it is small. Bad:
Let me uncover the truth about the ipod that no one knows about and that people never will say because they are now stuck with the pod like me. Apple will tell you I believe when you open the box that the pod is meant for your computer ONLY. That means you can't go over to a friend's house and copy your friends music. Ok well that isn't legal, but no matter what there are people who want to do that everyone knows that will happen, SO WHAT MOVE ON. So you are limited to only your PC. Now here is the tricky thing that no one even think of. Take my computer for example. I had the virus that spreaded across the net and I like to reformat my drive every year to give it that nice fresh start. ****Warning**** IF YOU REFORMAT A DRIVE OR ACTUALLY TRY TO INSTALL IPOD ON ANOTHER COMPUTER, EVERY SINGLE THING WILL BE ERASED!!!! That is what happened to my Ipod. See when you reformat a drive, you have to install the software over again because everything is erased off the computer. So when you reinstall it on your pc or a friend's pc, the ipod does not like when you try to copy so the software has a reset in it and will wipe out everything you have. I have 2,000 songs and 4 months of work (because I have other work to deal with) gone down the drain as if I never touched the d*** pod. Secondly, unless there is some way to change the settings, every cd burned, ipod makes a copy of each song in the library making you have to erase each copy which becomes extremely annoying because it makes a copy of it on your ipod which is so stupid. Unlike the creative, you can't change anything directly from the device, only on the computer which isn't good either. Now back to the Creative. I have the Jukebox 3 which is the SAME EXACT THING as the Zen. Zen has a different style so that is why it is called that. To prove it is the same, check the prices at Comp usa and other stores. They still sell my at the same price as the Zen. Plus all the firmware and accessories are made for both devices. The creative allows you to use it on anyone's computer and it is compatible with everything. Apple is known for having there products strictly work for them. The drastic windows change didn't change that much. Apple you are limited to there firewire and usb attachment and you must have every wire that comes with it or else you have to buy it again because you can't just go to a normal store and buy any usb or firewire because it won't fit your pod. Creative will work with anything. you can go out and purchase any cable for it. Next is the firmware. It comes with a simple easy to use program where you can see everything on your computer and see your device on the other screen. the scrolling is great and the sound quality is superb. You can choose some great accessories for it. I purchased a $68.00 FM Tuner with built in Microphone and mini display with the play, stop, fast forward, and rewind all on it. The biggest difference is the price of the Creative. It is $100 cheaper than the pod and it has more features and works well. Ipod has gotten so much publicity when I feel it shouldn't. Creative has been knocked down just because it isn't white and a couple inches smaller. Creative truly is better. It isn't as if I wanted to advertise it because i am a Creative fan because this is my first product I purchased from them besides the standard soundblaster built into Home PC's. I have both the Ipod and Creative Labs and I would take Creative over ipod any day. My mother went with the hype and bought the ipod and I took the Creative going with my instincts and a lot of reviews. Look who came out as the winner. I still have my songs and less of a headache. Don't make the same mistake like my mother.
Rating:
Summary: My iPod and My PC: A Match Made in Heaven
Review: Now that Apple has released iTunes for Windows, PC owners have no reason not to get an iPod. I waited until the iTunes for Windows was released, because I've known others who had trouble syncing their iPods using MusicMatch. When I first set up my iPod, I tried MusicMatch and found the syncing to be slow and cumbersome. With iTunes, a firewire card and my iPod, I'm one happy camper. My iPod goes everywhere I go. I love it. Some words of advice, get a protective cover for your iPod and save on battery life by creating playlists instead of using the menu's forward and backward keys to select music. Launch a playlist and lock the controls on your iPod and the battery will go for hours without a charge. Also, don't drain your battery down to nothing, top it off and recharge whenever you can. Trust me, these batteries will last longer if you don't drain and recharge. It's not like a cell phone battery that gets a memory.
Rating:
Summary: Top of the heap portable audio!
Review: I've used the Creative Nomad series of mp3 players and they pale in comparison to the ease of use, users interface and software connectivity of this little bugger. I highly recommend this for anyone looking into portable audio. It's worth the extra money. Most others are clunky imitations. You also can't get better integration with the iTunes music store for Windows or Mac.
Rating:
Summary: Track sorting does work... You just need to be careful
Review: I found this info and I thought I would pass it along. There was a reviewer earlier that said his iPod would only play tracks in alphabetical order, instead of the order on the CD. Here is how to correct that problem: The iPod only sees track numbers in the ID3v2 tags. I had been using the ID3v1 tags only. After copying everything into the ID3v2 tags, the iPod sorts corrrectly within an album. I guess the iPod does not support ID3v1.1, which added the track number. After converting my collection, everything is great.
Rating:
Summary: I hate the apple i-pod. It is overpriced and tacky
Review: The apple i-pod is a terrible waste of money, i could have bought a remote-controlled pooper scooper with the money that i wasted on that junk! Maybe when i do get my remote-controlled pooper scooper i can use it to scoop up the foul piece of SH** that the i-pod is. They are so evil aswell, those lousy apple people, they advertise it through celebrities such as 50cent, Obie Trice, Mary J Blige and Dr Dre by sending them free i-pods to show in their videos, they make me sick. My retarded pet monkey could have made a better Mp3 player than those old fossils at apple. In fact, they didnt even make it themselves, did they? They just got a Sony battery and a Toshiba hard drive and put them all into a pathetic plastic case, with chrome plating, which begins to peel off within 2 months of use. I SERIOUSLY reccommend that you do not go anywhere near this Mp3 player, get something worth buying, like a remote controlled pooper scooper.
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