mp3 player recommendations?

[backstept]

don't say iPod

my Creative Zen Micro 5gb player died this week
the headphone jack was flakey, my dad fixed it, then it went flakey again, and recently it didn't want to boot up . . . it just stayed on the creative splash screen, and it ultimately would not turn on
I bought 2 new batteries for it, and 1 of them I haven't even used

I don't want another Zen Micro, but I want a player with similar storage size, maybe plays video too

what kind of players do you guys have? any problems? any defects? what's your favorite?


the main 2 I'm looking at are the Creative Zen Vision M, and the SanDisk Sansa e280

[ghall]

Originally Posted by backstept

don't say iPod

Okay. I won't.

[IRML]

Originally Posted by backstept

don't say iPod

good to know someone here has some sense!

[today]

SanDisk makes a quality player, good battery life too

[Alec Trevelyan]

iPod.

Oh no he didn't!!

[Samurai]

It's pretty hard not to recommend the best product on the market.

That was a common fault with the 5GB Zen- how far out of warranty is it?

Genuinely, I'd say iPod, due to the lack of anything decent on the market to compete right now. Sony aren't even close, and their software is somewhat flaky to say the least, Creative dont have a great reliability record- I see as many Creative units as iPod's returned faulty, which isn't good considering 75% of my MP3 sales are made up of iPods- surely I should see 3x as many iPods?

You can take a gamble on a smaller brand, but none of them really offer value for money- the Samsung YP-K5 is a nice unit with good sound quality, but is expensive compared to other 4GB players on the market. The Sansa E280 is quite well screwed together, but fiddly to use in comparison to the other brands- SanDisk's lack of experience creating user interfaces shines through there, though I'm sure they'll progress rapidly in terms of quality.

To quantify some of the above opinions and statistics, I'm an electronics retailer by day.

[farcry]

Originally Posted by Samurai

I'm an electronics retailer by day.

And god knows what by night!

I havent had much experience with MP3 players. Only had 1 nobrand and 2 ipods so far. The nobrand was pretty cool, i got it off eBay before i had any idea about the MP3 player market. I had an ipod Nano for a year untill i wanted one with video, so this year i got an 80gb ipod for christmas. Havent experience any problems so far (other than itunes ). But as you dont want an ipod, i guess i cant say much else.

Oh how many times did i say ipod? too many for this thread

[backstept]

Originally Posted by Samurai

It's pretty hard not to recommend the best product on the market.

That was a common fault with the 5GB Zen- how far out of warranty is it?

very . . .
very out of warranty
to fix the headphone jack we had to open it up, and that pretty much voids the warranty . . .

Originally Posted by Samurai

Genuinely, I'd say iPod, due to the lack of anything decent on the market to compete right now. Sony aren't even close, and their software is somewhat flaky to say the least, Creative dont have a great reliability record- I see as many Creative units as iPod's returned faulty, which isn't good considering 75% of my MP3 sales are made up of iPods- surely I should see 3x as many iPods?

You can take a gamble on a smaller brand, but none of them really offer value for money- the Samsung YP-K5 is a nice unit with good sound quality, but is expensive compared to other 4GB players on the market. The Sansa E280 is quite well screwed together, but fiddly to use in comparison to the other brands- SanDisk's lack of experience creating user interfaces shines through there, though I'm sure they'll progress rapidly in terms of quality.

YP-K5 . . . don't need a speaker on it that's a little much in my opinion

I've been reading reviews on PCmag.com, and I'm starting to think my final decision will ultimately hinge on price, and if the local stores have a display model . . .
I prefer not to buy something I haven't tried

Originally Posted by Samurai

To quantify some of the above opinions and statistics, I'm an electronics retailer by day.

it shows, man
thanks for the advice

[Dallidas]

I cant say i have any other experience than with my ipod. Ive had it for 2 years and my only problem is the hold switch.

but since you dont want an ipod(why not??), I think creative makes a good one(my friend has one)

[Samurai]

No problem Andy- good luck finding what you're looking for.

Incidentally, why were you so specific about not getting an iPod? Is there some sort of use where you're expecting incompatability?