I hate how well the tiny little iPod shuffle is built and how perfect it is for working out with, but I HATE iTunes! its super slow takes up a bunch of space and there are no viable alternative media players that will work with the iPod so easily! Grrr, maybe I don't want to convert my FLAC and WAV files to the useless formats known as AAC and ALAC, why can't you just be compatible like everything else! I strive to have a crapple free lifestyle but nothing works like the shuffle, had a zune and that was almost as much garbage as the user rights dept. at apple. OOOoo my panties are in a huge bunch right now.

/rant

 

Apple has some nice devices true. I just can't stand the " oh everything has to be apple to be compatible" mentality. Great from a marketing standpoint, but horrible from user end. That said, I bought a cheap eBay knockoff of the shuffle for 8 bucks a couple years ago, played standard formats and worked as good as my shuffle, course it had no instructions and battery life was round 2 and a half hours but for 8 bucks I got a year and a half of 2.5 mile runs every morning out of it. Every other media player, like you said, has its own tie in to propriety crap. Except the cheapos, maybe because they are knockoffs......

 

I loved my Creative Zen until it locked up. I don't have to sync or anything like that. All you do is dump MP3 or MP4 file to if. Its small and fits easily in my pocket while flying.

I would give Creative product support a zero out of ten after trying to reach them for support.

I can still use my SD expansion card and listen to the radio function but the on board memory and functions are trashed.

Before my Zen I had a Chinese ipod knock off (Chi pod). After 6 months I got the hourglass of death so I won't go that way again.

I'd like to replace my Zen but you are totally correct. I have no idea what is best anymore. I'm not into the Apple cloud thing.

 

I remember the zens yea they were perfect albeit a bit ugly but you just dropped your music in and poof no magic just music. Seems like the competition has given up on music players. I used media monkey for awhile, even payed for it I liked it so much but then they upgraded and my licence didn't transfer!? Needless to say I didn't buy a new one after that.

On a lighter note my dads gf was in the market for a new computer and he asked for my help picking one out - she wanted a macbook pro - now she is very satisfied with her lenovo yoga ultrabook another person converted to lenovo and thinkpads.

 

I am a big think pad fan. Got my first in 03. Love the finger joystick.

 

I use my Android based phone for my primary music player. drag/drop the tunes into a folder and the software automatically sorts/organizes it. Not sure about flac, but I know it reads pretty much any format. I haven't had an ipod since my 160gig classic died randomly shortly after clearing it's warranty period and Apple wouldn't fix it for less than 100 bucks. Eventually I'll probably pick up another classic if I can find one cheap enough though, because my head unit in my truck is setup/wired for one and it works better than the BT connection from the phone.

 

I won't buy any other kind of computer now, I'm on my second T series after the first one tried to pick a fight with a firefighter and he doused it with that stupid foam sh*t. I like using my phone too but its a bit or a brick when compared to the shuffle, especially when I go for a run or cardio. I did that for a long time until I almost broke my phone and found the shuffle for $40 new

 

I agree with the phone being a bit much hen doing pt. I think manufacturers seriously missed the market for compact, portable media players. Especially when catering to the fitness market. For me in particular, when I'm running or what not, I don't want or need a bunch of options and confusion. Just play my music, and let my feet hit the ground.

 

nope just a big play/pause button and enough space for 2 or 3 hours worth of music with a good battery life. The only way to make it better is if it was was open source too. Its not like no one works out or has an active lifestyle, so what gives? They just figure we will just deal with it?

 

The biggest problem I have with music players in phones is that they seem not to be able to truly randomly select any music. They either play "random" selections in the same order or I'll hear the same song twice, or five songs in close order from one album <groan>. Then, when you go to re-listen, you start at the same place.

It's all so... dumb.