£200 to spend on an MP3 player - but which one?

[Funkstar]

Rio karma.

Ipods are for chavs.

The Rio Karma is a brillian device, i got one a while ago. But i wouldn't recomend one. Not because of the device itself, but because Rio has been liquidated and there doesn't look to be anyone coming along to buy it up

Does the iPod do gappless playback of MP3's yet?

[Agent]

I own a IRiver - it rocks.
He wants simple ? - cant get much more simple than drag and drop. Id like to see you do that with an Ipod !

[autopilot]

This thread is like 10 months old now guys! At the time we ended up going for the Sony as we got a good deal on it, which he is extremely pleased with. Sonicstage is rubbish, but has improved a lot since then.

Does the iPod do gappless playback of MP3's yet?

Ipod's do support gappless playback, but not with MP3 as the MP3 standard itself does not support it... well thats not completely true, you can rip a CD to one complete long MP3 and use a .CUE file for the track timing and naming - which you can do with any format, including WAV. But no one seem's to have caught onto this and the only way of playing back MP3's in this way that i have ever seen is with a Winamp plugin.

I am looking to get HHD player myself at Xmas and will probably go for an ipod. Why? Because it has a massive range of good accessories and i plan to use it mainly with my (and my friends) home HiFi and in the car with my car stereo. As far as i am aware, the only payer that you can get a dock with an Ir remote control for this the ipod. The top ipod has 60 gigs (so i can rip all my CD's and good bitrates for my good HiFi amp/speakers) and itunes blows the compitition away. I really would rather buy someting else, i am completely sick of the ipod style and have never even owned one (i agree its a bit chavy now), but it's the only one that technically meets my requirements (although not all of them).

BTW, you can drag and drop to an ipod.

[Funkstar]

you know i never notice the age of this thread, i just saw it had been updated since i last logged in

There are quite a few players that do support gapless playback of MP3, can't name any right now tho.

[autopilot]

There are quite a few players that do support gapless playback of MP3, can't name any right now tho.

All they do is play the MP3's without the usual 1-2 second gap between each track. Unfortunatly, when MP3's are ripped there will almost always be a very slight lead in/out at the start/end of each track. So even if there is not the usual 1-2 second delay before playing the tracks, the playback will not be a completely smooth transition. It is posible with a very good and well configured ripper to start the track at the 'almost' the exact time the last one ended, but it does not always work that well. There will often but not always be a very slight 'click' or 'jump' on some transitions. Even when it's only a split second it can be noticable. It all depends on how well the MP3's are ripped but Sony's ATRAC+ or Apples format are better suited to truely gapless playback.

[dangel]

All they do is play the MP3's without the usual 1-2 second gap between each track. Unfortunatly, when MP3's are ripped there will almost always be a very slight lead in/out at the start/end of each track. So even if there is not the usual 1-2 second delay before playing the tracks, the playback will not be a completely smooth transition. It is posible with a very good and well configured ripper to start the track at the 'almost' the exact time the last one ended, but it does not always work that well. There will often but not always be a very slight 'click' or 'jump' on some transitions. Even when it's only a split second it can be noticable. It all depends on how well the MP3's are ripped but Sony's ATRAC+ or Apples format are better suited to truely gapless playback.

Doesn't Ogg Vobis support this too? (and is actually a proper open 'free' standard too!). I've always got around it by enabling crossfading - it's not quite the real thing but careful configuration can make it unoticable. TBH i don't listen to many albums which 'flow' from one song to another seamlessly and I mostly like to listen to stuff in 'shuffle' anyway..

Anyway, you might find this article interesting - http://www.pretentiousname.com/mp3players/index.html - particularly in that the iPod doesn't seem to score so well with mp3 playback.

[autopilot]

Doesn't Ogg Vobis support this too? (and is actually a proper open 'free' standard too!). I've always got around it by enabling crossfading - it's not quite the real thing but careful configuration can make it unoticable. TBH i don't listen to many albums which 'flow' from one song to another seamlessly and I mostly like to listen to stuff in 'shuffle' anyway..

Anyway, you might find this article interesting - http://www.pretentiousname.com/mp3players/index.html - particularly in that the iPod doesn't seem to score so well with mp3 playback.

Thanks for the excellent link mate. That be one for my bookmarks ok. Gappless playback is a top priority for me because i have so many mixed CD's (and audio books). Looks like i have made a mistake on the iPod, but i am sure i have read in other places that it does support it

I just find it absolutly incredible that manufactures don't support it better when it is such an essential and easy to impliment feature.

[dangel]

Thanks for the excellent link mate. That be one for my bookmarks ok. Gappless playback is a top priority for me because i have so many mixed CD's (and audio books). Looks like i have made a mistake on the iPod, but i am sure i have read in other places that it does support it

You may well be right, now - but only for Apple's own format (at a guess). That wouldn't interest me as i wouldn't transcode my whole collection just for the sake of it. I knew the site because he was a very famous programmer from the Amiga days (pot noodle) and i've always been a fan

I just find it absolutly incredible that manufactures don't support it better when it is such an essential and easy to impliment feature.

I think it's just lack of demand - as I said, gapless albums are few and far apart and many of us enjoy sticking shuffle on with our entire collection. It's not something that would influence me (aside from if the player was adding massive irritating pauses in between tracks, i don't like those [lol] awkward silences!). Hell, most people don't even demand good SNR or good earphones on their players - completely ignoring THE most important feature of player (for me anyway). Stick it in a flash box, put the right badge on the front and 'they will come'

[autopilot]

I think it's just lack of demand - as I said, gapless albums are few and far apart

You must be completely mad* to think that mate. Virtually every dance music CD, Audio book CD, Opera CD, recording of a live gig, and many others depend on gapless tranistion between tracks. Even many non-mixed CD require it two. One example off the top of my head would be Faithless's new album; it's not a mix CD but i think track 2 and 3 'blend' into each other.

It seems you were right though, the ipod does not suport it. Sony's players do, even thier very first HD-1 model supported i perfectly, so i will probably be getting a Sony.

Have a look at this petition (which i have signed) to see the demand is there; http://new.petitiononline.com/mod_pe...cgi?13421509&1



* I mean that in the nicest posible way BTW mate

[Taz]

I've gone an iRiver H140 (40GB, sadly discontinued now and replaced by the H3xx series). Cannot fault it for audio quality - does Ogg Vorbis.

[dangel]

You must be completely mad* to think that mate. Virtually every dance music CD, Audio book CD, Opera CD, recording of a live gig, and many others depend on gapless tranistion between tracks. Even many non-mixed CD require it two. One example off the top of my head would be Faithless's new album; it's not a mix CD but i think track 2 and 3 'blend' into each other.

Only talking from my own way of listening to music But yes, i'll conceed that others like it different

* I mean that in the nicest posible way BTW mate

[TooNice]

If I was to buy one now, I would go iAudio X5. But I think they exceed the budget? Haven't checked lately for the 20-30GB models, I am eyeing for the 60GB version which are still super rare.

[Gunbuster]

The Samsung YH-J70 looks nice for the money £170 for a 20gb one. Maybe not as rock solid as the X5L (equivalent battery life), but it is pretty and cheap. I wish there was a decent review of it though.