Rating: 
Summary: Lyra vs. Zen vs. iPod: A 40GB MP3 Player Guide
Review: I've owned all three 40GB players available today: Creative Zen, RCA Lyra, Apple iPod. This is the review I wish I had read before I started shopping. It was a originally more comprehensive but I had to trim it to 1000 words. For the most part, the Creative Zen has the best features of the three, as well as the best price. It sounds like a no brainer except for the fact that these things break like crazy! If you read some of the other reviews on here, you'll see a few people mention that their headphone jack shorted out when they dropped the player....well mine shorted out while the player was sitting on my desk not moving at all. I don't know a single person who bought one of these players and didn't have their headphone jack malfunction! Many reviewers suggest buying an extended warranty because of this problem. I would most definitely agree with them on that one, but personally I don't have the patience to wait a few weeks every time the player decides to stop working. Those warrantees are supposed to be purchased just in case something goes wrong; not because something most likely will! The Lyra from the moment it came out of the box to the moment it stopped working for no apparent reason, four hours later, was on the whole a piece of junk. That said...on to the comparisons. PRICE: As just about every anti-iPod reviewer mentions, THE IPOD IS MORE EXPENSIVE AND DOES PRETTY MUCH THE SAME THING. The iPod is basically the BMW of mp3 players...the other mp3 player work like, and cost about as much as a Kia. They all do basically the same thing, but the cheaper ones are cheaper for a reason! SIZE: All three players are smaller than a walkman, so it's kind of silly to even discuss this, but it seems to be a hot topic in the other reviews. From largest to smallest the players are ranked as follows: Lyra, Zen, iPod. The Lyra is the only one of the three which will not fit easily in your pocket. It is the widest /longest /heaviest of the bunch, and personally, I hated the way it felt in my hand. The Zen and the iPod were both a pleasure to hold. CONTROLS/NAVIGATION: iPod gets first place here simple because it's touch sensitive navigation wheel allows you to get from the first album in your collection to the last in seconds and it stops on a dime anywhere in between. The Zen's controls are very good however it takes longer to scroll through your entire collection and when it really starts moving fast, it continues scrolling after you release the button sometimes skipping past another 50-75 albums! The Lyra had decent navigation, but the buttons had to be pushed more than once before they responded almost half of the time! The Zen and the iPod can be operated easily with one hand. PLAYLISTS/SONG RATING: The Zen wins here without a doubt. It is the only one of the three where you can create, edit (even while it's playing) and SAVE multiple play lists on the player itself without connecting it to a computer. The iPod allows you to make ONE play list on the fly, which cannot be edited or saved.
The Lyra allows you to tag songs you like or don't like and it makes play lists of each...yes, it makes a playlist of songs that you tell it you DO NOT LIKE...if that doesn't explain what's wrong with this product, nothing will! The iPod allows you to rate songs 1-5 stars on the player, and then make a play list automatically based on those ratings when connected to a computer.
BATTERY: Again, Zen is the winner here. Not only does it offer a battery that lasts 14 hours instead of iPod and Lyra's 8 hour batt. it is also the only player of the three where you can remove and replace the battery when it deteriorates with age as all rechargeables do. It should be noted that the battery times I listed are the official times given by the manufacturers. The Zen actually lasts about 10 hours the other two go between 5 and 6 before needing a charge. SCREEN: The Zen not only has the biggest screen of the bunch, it also scrolls the album title in the directory screen allowing you to see the whole thing instead of just the first few words. TRANSFER TO PLAYER: All three units use USB 2.0, the iPod also can be used with Firewire. TRANSFER FROM PLAYER: The Zen allows you to transfer music freely from your player to any computer loaded with it's software. The iPod does not allow this however third party software that can be purchased and used to pull songs from the iPod. In all honest, the Lyra broke before I could find out if you can pull songs off of it. </P> SOFTWARE: iTunes is easy to use and offers tons of ways to organize your music. Creative Media Manager takes a lot of getting used to but is decent once you figure it out. Musicmatch, which comes with the Lyra is garbage. It's slow, difficult to figure out at times, and constantly badgers you to buy the upgrade to its premium version. EXTRAS: The only one that actually has extra features is the iPod which comes loaded with 4 different games, the ability to read text documents that are stored on the hard drive on the player's screen, a date book, and an address book. The Lyra's ONLY advantage over the other players is the fact that it comes with a complete car kit (charger/tape adapter)....which is pretty nice, but useless when the player turns itself into a paperweight after just a few hours. All three players come with a case....iPod's is the only one which does not give you access to the player's controls when it's in the case.
Hope this helped.
Rating:
Summary: Worth the upgrade!
Review: A lot of people think 40 gigs is overkill for an MP3 player and I'm the first to concur, unless you've got tons of music. The 20 GB model will suffice for most people. However, if you're looking for a drive to backup your data as well, this MP3 player is a great solution for carrying your music as well as your data. The new third generation models of the iPods clean up loose ends from the 2nd generation models. Additionally, they're much thinner. The loose ends that are cleaned up are as follows:
1) The new backlight is a light shade of blue, compared to white for the 2nd generation iPods. Additionally, the backlight doesn't wash out the contrast on the LED screen for battery status.
2) The new players feature an "on-the-go" playlist, so you can set up new playlists without having to connect the iPod to your computer.
3) There are some minor interface changes, but nothing major.
4) Batterylife suffers slightly due to the smaller size, but 8 hours of batterylife versus 10 hours won't really impact the way I use the iPod because I seldom listen to it for that duration of time.
5) The height and width dimensions are basically unchanged, but the new 40 GB is about 20% thinner than the 2nd generation 20 GB model. Works for me!
Rating:
Summary: Amazing Product, but Not Perfect
Review: After getting my whole music collection onto my computer and transfering it to my iPod, I can't tell you how proud I was to be able to carry all of those great tunes in my pocket. The design is so simple, yet has some great features and is very easy to use once you get the hang of it. This learning curve is like 10 minutes. A few things about this product are a bit misleading, however. Although the iPod is marked as being 40 GB, you can only use about 37GB of this space. For a music freak like myself, that means a lot. The most important however is battery life. I have read a lot of poor reviews on battery life of the iPod and unfortunately they are true. I can't recall getting more than 6 hours of battery life out of my iPod when it is suggested to give 8 hours. One of the things they suggest is not to jump from one track to another, put the light on, or use many of the other extra features that are available. I hardly consider this a good solution to the problem. I am sure Apple will solve this problem in time, but until then I strongly suggest spending an extra 50 dollars for the extended warranty. You never know when this battery may die on you.
Rating:
Summary: IPod has so many great uses!
Review: After reading a few inaacurate ratings here, I decided to set the record straight. How could anyone rate an IPod 1 star, when it controls 93% of the mp3 player market? I have never met an IPod user that complained about software, etc....they all love it.
I have 4 computers, 2 PCs (lap and desk) and 2 Macs (lap and desktop) and am a musician and a serious electronics nut. I have owned Archos players, and as in anything I buy, I did my research before I decided to get my IPod.
I am so happy with this product, it really has so many great features and I use them all! I find that it sounds much better than the PC Mp3 files played on WM.
I have used the heck out of my IPod, I use it in school to record lectures, listen to them later for review purposes, I download audiobooks and the other day I listened to a book while waxing my car! it's so convenient, and extremely easy to use.
You just plug it in, it updates automatically, I use it with my desktop or laptop, and I just can't say enough good about it. The prices on ITunes are great, no need to go to a store and pay $13.99 or more for a CD that's $9.99 on ITunes in the convenience of your home too!
Software is so simple to use, a child could load and transfer, like all Apple products a breeze setting up/in less than a minute I was using it with my computer, after months of use and still my battery lasts the entire day! the Belkin ITalk for mic, and ITunes for FM transmitting, Bose speakers for home are all great accesssories to have.
I never thought I'd use it as much as I do, lately I have been transferring study notes to the IPod, great for studying anywhere! no books to carry! the music quiz game is great! I download directions to it, it's a PDA, a player, a book, notes, I can't say enough, Apple products are the best, well thought out and worth every penny.
Oh, I forgot great for music I have 3500 songs on it, a Dickens novel, many lectures, study notes, and it is only 1/3 full!
GREAT PRODUCT
Rating:
Summary: A HUGE WOW!!!
Review: All my life I have been a huge fan of everything Microsoft like. I never understood what people found in Apple products until I got my iPod. I also own Creative Zen and Creative Jukebox III. There is no comparison here. IPod simply rocks. If you can spend some extra money, you will NOT regret it. I used Windows XP + iSync, and I love it. Sometimes spending more money can get you so much more. Life is very short, enjoy it !
Rating:
Summary: after much deliberation i took the plunge...
Review: and couldn't be happier with the iPod. It's everything everyone says it is. And having all my music right there beats carrying our cd's or a walkman. You can decide you want to listen to something and it's at your fingertips. A couple of caveats: (1) if you have a PC, make sure to buy the firewire/UBS2 connection when you buy your iPod, (2) it does scratch easily, but there are different types of cases to choose from, especially on the Apple Store website, (3) when loading cd's onto iTunes, some songs will come out with a slight pause in them if they elide into the next song on your cd; make sure to choose an advanced option on iTunes for joining songs together, then the pause will disappear. These are minor annoyance for such a great idea in portable music listening.
Rating:
Summary: 40Gigs is Finally HERE!
Review: Apple announced the release of the 40gig iPod Monday morning, and I was downloading my music collection onto mine later that evening. I have approximately 44 gigs of MP3s converted at 192kbps equalling about 7400 songs on my external hard drive. I own 99.9% of them on CD, and now they all fit (except my Christmas and Classical CDs) onto the iPod AT ONCE. Now when I play music on random I have 6552 songs cycling through. I can listen to the iPod all day and not even hear the same artist twice!! With the advent of iTMS I can download songs I hear from the radio, preview them for a while, and purchase the albums later. I can't wait to see what happens to all of this when the windows market gets their version of iTMS. Instead of Apple bragging about 10 million MP3s sold, it will be something like 100 million. Get on the wave of the future, get yourself one of these iPods. I owned a first generation that had a moving wheel. The new versions sport touch wheels with no moving parts and are both sleek and elegant. The only advice I would give is to test out better headphones after a while, as I've found the stock headphones deficient on sound quality (although excellent on comfort.) You can't miss with this product. 10/03 Update: iTMS on iTunes for Windows is here. Now anyone anywhere can access books, radio programs, and 400,000 songs legally downloadable and put it straight onto their iPOD. Coolest part: your favorite artist may soon list his own personal favorite MP3 playlist that you can download to hear what they like. Michael Stipe has one that I'm thinking about getting. As for problems, anyone with a minute of time can problem solve anything that might happen wrong with this iPOD. You'll really be missing out if you don't hang on to the iPOD. 1/04: Just got a digital camera. For the same price of a larger compact card, I got a card reader that transfers images and stores them onto the iPod. Works effortlessly and perfectly with no hassle, as expected. Now I have Gigs of space for digital photos while on vacation, as well as all my music and whatever else I might need on the 40 gig harddrive.
Rating: 
Summary: The Only Decent Player Available
Review: Apple has made a fantastic product in their newest generation iPod 40gb model. It offers the highest quality sound available, Arguably the best organization, and hands-down, the best looking player on the market. The Competition it faces does not make the cut.
Archos mp4 series - extremely expensive, extremely big, poor quality materials (a weak plastic cover hides the inner chipset) and battery life is only 4 hours, 3 if you watch all video feed Creative Labs Zen xtra series - a decent player, but do not buy until you have actually held it, its gargantuan, humongous! good sound, price, and looks, BUT ITS HUGE! An the organization on this product is terrible, the scroll weel is innaccesible while holding this with one hand iRiver Hard disk players - They are hideous, let's face it, and they are very big to boot. Rio Karma - This player is ugly, but probably the closest competition to the iPod, good battery life etc. rio is a great company, again, unfortunately, this player is very ugly and thick
Rating:
Summary: Steve Jobs wants you to be cool!
Review: Apple's always at the top of their game - whatever game that is - and this top of the line iPod is no exception. Let's pause a moment for the analysis: 40 GB. That's roughly 40,000 megabytes. Using today's AAC or mp3 music encoding technology, a 72 minute album rarely consumes more than 80 megabytes - even at near-CD quality. What does that mean to you? Yeah, you did the math right - 500 albums. You could sit there and play music 24/7 for nearly a month without repeating. Or head down to your local club and be DJ for the night - just slip the iPod out of your pocket and plug into the sound system! OK, so it'll hold all your music. But what the numbers don't tell you is that it holds your music in STYLE. About the size of a stack of 8 credit cards, and only a trifle heavier, this'll fit on your belt, in your sleeve, in your backpack's cellphone pocket, in your purse, or wherever else you want to put it with no hassle. The controls lock so jostling around doesn't accidently push buttons. And what cool buttons they are - the 'scrollwheel pad' and no-click touchbuttons make for an easy, fun and durable interface. Also, the thing just looks darn cool - with its white front, silver back, and little backlit screen, it's got instant 'bling bling' credibility, day or night. It comes with everything you need - belt clip, earbuds, dock to recharge the battery and transfer music over from your Firewire- or USB 2.0-equipped computer. But I'd recommend two additions: first, the optional FireWire cable makes this into a portable 40G hard drive, highly useful in today's information age. (I carry a copy of the human genome around on mine.) Second, ditch the included headphones and grab a pair of the Sony neodymium-magnet earbuds, model #MDR-EX70LP. They transform your iPod from merely great to INSANELY great. Cool tunes to ya, my friend!
Rating: 
Summary: Windows users, beware!
Review: As a former Apple loyalist turned Windows user by professional necessity, I am shocked and appalled at the "Windows version" of iPod. I just spent $500 to be a beta user and spend hours of time trouble-shooting a product that DOES NOT WORK FOR WINDOWS. I have to assume Apple rushed this to market for Christmas business.
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