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The Search Continues
Last week I posted about my search for a portable music player. Here's the results of my research so far:
Apple iPod: Even looking at it objectively, without my natural aversion to all things Apple, this player just doesn't meet my needs. It only supports 3 common codecs -- MP3, AAC, and WAV -- and none of those are lossless. In addition, Apple has shown in the past that rather than release a firmware upgrade when new technology is available they'd much rather you throw away your iPod and buy a new one. The most disturbing thing, though, is their monopolistic use of the iPod in conjunction with the iTunes music store. Music files downloaded from other online music stores (Rhapsody, Yahoo, Napster, etc.) can be played on many music players on the market. Songs downloaded from iTunes can be played only on iPods thanks to a DRM system that Apple won't license to anyone else. Now if Microsoft, or any other company, did something like this they would be ripped apart by the open source crowd, but because it's Apple it's somehow ok. How is this any better than Microsoft including a free browser with their operating system? In the end, the only reason to buy an iPod would be to download iTunes songs, which is a desirable reason, but I'd have to install a 3rd party firmware like RockBox if I wanted to listen to any of the rest of my music losslessly.
Microsoft Zune: This is vaporware at this point, but they seem to suffer from the same problems as the iPod. Limited codecs (although they also claim that they *could* support FLAC in the future through firmware upgrades, I doubt that they will) and the same stupid closed system for downloading songs that can only be played on the Zune make this a flagrant ripoff of the iPod without improving on any of the drawbacks. The only thing that makes this even quasi-attractive is the large screen.
Rio Karma: Plays FLAC lossless audio files but is 2 years old and the company has gone out of business.
Cowon A2/iAudio X5: The winner at this point seems to be Korean outfit Cowon, whose players support FLAC, OGG, and all the standard audio files as well as allowing you to download songs from all PlaysForSure sites (MTV Urge, Napster, MSN Music, etc.). The A2 also has a gigantic screen (compared to the video iPod) and plays DivX and WMV video.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
Comments
Me again :) You're right that Apple has definitely cornered the market (maybe unfairly)...but as long as you don't mind using iTunes to rip and encode your music, there is the Apple Lossless format if you don't want any compression. Also, its my opinion that an MP3 Player's uniqueness is that it is a portable way to bring all your music with you...quanity over quality----otherwise, you might as well toss your CDs. Unless you're listening to classical music, encoding at 192 higher will more than suit you. Bringing all your music with you is what is key and liberating.
I'm totally biased toward Apple. Don't get me wrong. But I buy a CD, pop it in my computer, rip it, sync it, and I'm good to go. I have only purchased maybe 10 songs from the iTunes store. 128 quality is too low in my opinion. My iPod is almost 2 years old now, and it is still completely supported...iPod updates every 6 months or so.
The click wheel is engineering genius...you have no idea until you try it. No one else can offer that.
But, if your investing money in anything, you should buy something that suits your needs. If you're already on the Mac-side, like myself---it's pretty much a no-brainer.
Posted by: Bob at October 1, 2006 3:12 PM
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