MP3 Players and PMPs.

[Tarin]

Recently I misplaced my Portable Multimedia Player, or PMP. A PMP is a handheld device designed to play movies, music and display images and/or text. Many devices we call MP3 players are techinically PMPs, though we all know what people mean. I've one last place to look before I am forced to buy replacement. It got me thinking, what do you have?

 

I misplaced my Cowon A3. Cowon is a South Korean company founded in the mid-90s. They make high-end MP3 players and PMPs, but have limited distribution in the United States (basically you have to but in NYC, LA or online). I bought my A3 for a few reasons.

 

1. Sound quality. Cowon devices have some of the best (if not the best sound quality) of any PMP/MP3 players. I actually had to buy Sennheiser headphones just to do my A3 justice.
2. Video quality. My A3 came with a 4-inch hi-definition screen capable of playing 720p with 16 million colours. It was beautiful and only semi-reflective so it was clearly visible in low to bright light, the only time the screen isn't visible is high-noon on a sunny day.
3. Compatibility. It can play virtually anything except an FLV. The list of audio, video, and graphic codecs and containers spanned two pages in the manual.
4. TV recording. I was able to plug my A3 into the TV and record shows at TV-quality.
5. Memory. 60 GB hard drive. Yes it was a disc, but it was a big disc.

Now, I'm not trying to sell you the A3 (if you can still find one), it had plenty of drawbacks. Battery life was atrocious. 8 hours of music at best and a 3 hour movie was all I could get out of a full charge (which took 4 hours plugged in while off to get). The navigation was clunky. The little joystick was awkward and since it had an HD screen they made it hard for protection (no touchscreen). The firmware was not intuitive once you got past "play" and if you had a long list of music (I had 30 gigs on it) it would take forever to find the artist and song you wanted.

 

However, as an audiophile it was worth the $350 dollars I spent on it about 2 years ago (and $50 for the headphones). I just carried the charger with me and plugged in whenever possible. When I had 2-hour breaks between classes one semester I watched 2 movies a week at school. Sound quality is the most important feature of a device for me, which is why I cannot stand cell phones as MP3 players. The sound quality is just not there.

 

Now that I am facing a possible replacement I've immediately gone back to Cowon. I'm a brand-loyal person with a distaste for certain iThings. My MP3 player before the A3 was a SanDisk which was a great value device I used for years. I realised I was being a bit "closeted" when I went straight back to Cowon, especially when an Amazon search turned up an Archos product. So I have a few questions for the folks here at GA.

 

1. [*]Do you have an MP3 player or PMP?[*]What brand? Model?[*]Are you loyal to this brand?[*]What is the most important feature of an MP3 player/PMP? (

i.e.

[Nephylim]

Recently I misplaced my Portable Multimedia Player, or PMP. A PMP is a handheld device designed to play movies, music and display images and/or text. Many devices we call MP3 players are techinically PMPs, though we all know what people mean. I've one last place to look before I am forced to buy replacement. It got me thinking, what do you have?

 

I misplaced my Cowon A3. Cowon is a South Korean company founded in the mid-90s. They make high-end MP3 players and PMPs, but have limited distribution in the United States (basically you have to but in NYC, LA or online). I bought my A3 for a few reasons.

 

1. Sound quality. Cowon devices have some of the best (if not the best sound quality) of any PMP/MP3 players. I actually had to buy Sennheiser headphones just to do my A3 justice.
2. Video quality. My A3 came with a 4-inch hi-definition screen capable of playing 720p with 16 million colours. It was beautiful and only semi-reflective so it was clearly visible in low to bright light, the only time the screen isn't visible is high-noon on a sunny day.
3. Compatibility. It can play virtually anything except an FLV. The list of audio, video, and graphic codecs and containers spanned two pages in the manual.
4. TV recording. I was able to plug my A3 into the TV and record shows at TV-quality.
5. Memory. 60 GB hard drive. Yes it was a disc, but it was a big disc.
6. 
   Now, I'm not trying to sell you the A3 (if you can still find one), it had plenty of drawbacks. Battery life was atrocious. 8 hours of music at best and a 3 hour movie was all I could get out of a full charge (which took 4 hours plugged in while off to get). The navigation was clunky. The little joystick was awkward and since it had an HD screen they made it hard for protection (no touchscreen). The firmware was not intuitive once you got past "play" and if you had a long list of music (I had 30 gigs on it) it would take forever to find the artist and song you wanted.
    
   However, as an audiophile it was worth the $350 dollars I spent on it about 2 years ago (and $50 for the headphones). I just carried the charger with me and plugged in whenever possible. When I had 2-hour breaks between classes one semester I watched 2 movies a week at school. Sound quality is the most important feature of a device for me, which is why I cannot stand cell phones as MP3 players. The sound quality is just not there.
    
   Now that I am facing a possible replacement I've immediately gone back to Cowon. I'm a brand-loyal person with a distaste for certain iThings. My MP3 player before the A3 was a SanDisk which was a great value device I used for years. I realised I was being a bit "closeted" when I went straight back to Cowon, especially when an Amazon search turned up an Archos product. So I have a few questions for the folks here at GA.
7. Do you have an MP3 player or PMP?
8. What brand? Model?
9. Are you loyal to this brand?
10. What is the most important feature of an MP3 player/PMP? (i.e. sound quality, battery life, price, storage)
11. What do you think of mobile phones as MP3 players?

 

 

Could you say that again in English?

[Tarin]

Could you say that again in English?

o.O

 

 

I thought I was speaking English. What was I speaking?

 

I bought my MP3 player, a Cowon A3, two years ago. I bought it because it sounds great and plays high-definition video. It had some problems but it was worth it to me because I love music.

 

I lost my MP3 player this week. If I cannot find it today I will buy a new one. I went back to Cowon without looking at other companies that make MP3 players, but this is biased. My own bias made me curious about yours.

 

My questions to you:

 

1. Do you have an MP3 player?
2. What manufacturer? (i.e. iPod, Samsung, SanDisk)
3. If you lost it/broke it, would you replace it with the same thing? The upgraded model? Would you consider other MP3 players like a Cowon?
4. What factors do you consider when buying an MP3 player?

[shadowgod]

The s9 looks intriguing... however you sacrifice a lot of memory. Myself, I am rather partial to certain iThings. only because the process of populating and using them was effortless back when they were first introduced. Am I sacrificing quality or other features? Most likely but I've never used them so I'm not missing them.

 

Is being brand loyal limiting. Sure, but if they do a go job in your eyes of delivering what you want and expect, why take a chance of a different company who is just tossing their name into the market just so they have a presence, no matter how scant it may be. If I was satisfied with how a certain companies product, you bet Id be back to replace my missing lost broken player with what ever they had next in the pipeline.

 

Would I consider others? sure... but if they didn't meet and exceed what I was previously accustomed to they would not receive a second glance. Sorry but why step backward?

 

word of warning about the s9 however. It appears to use OLED. Ive heard not great things about this display technology. It looks great in low light, but suffers greatly in bright light situations.

[Arpeggio]

I have an ipod

 

enough said XD

[Nephylim]

o.O

 

 

I thought I was speaking English. What was I speaking?

 

I bought my MP3 player, a Cowon A3, two years ago. I bought it because it sounds great and plays high-definition video. It had some problems but it was worth it to me because I love music.

 

I lost my MP3 player this week. If I cannot find it today I will buy a new one. I went back to Cowon without looking at other companies that make MP3 players, but this is biased. My own bias made me curious about yours.

 

My questions to you:

 

1. Do you have an MP3 player?
2. What manufacturer? (i.e. iPod, Samsung, SanDisk)
3. If you lost it/broke it, would you replace it with the same thing? The upgraded model? Would you consider other MP3 players like a Cowon?
4. What factors do you consider when buying an MP3 player?

 

Thank you. I am so low tech that sometimes I astound myself.

I have my computer and that's all I play music on. I bought my daughter a swanky pink ipod but I don't really do technology.

[Aeroplane]

I have a creative nano plus, its somewhat old now but I do love it to pieces. I also like Creative, in my opinion they are the people to go to for sound quality.

 

My current player is somewhat broken now, but Creative havent released anything Im interested in recently (like: I dont want a video player), so I havent looked at replacing it. I am starting to be tempted into buying a nice phone and using that. I am unlikely to be in any situation where 'quality' audio is required - often I listen to my music on the bus or when walking somewhere. The background noise just makes quality pointless.

 

Factors I consider when looking at mp3 players..

Battery life,

Must be solid state,

Screen has to be big enough to display all the ID3 information but not so big that battery life suffers hugely,

Capacity,

I dont like internal batteries, I prefer to use AAAs, but this is rare nowadays.

[Rilbur]

I like my Zune. Good battery life, and it was built like a fricken' tank, so it can take the punishment I give it. It's charge lasts for a while, too, and it's got the radio which the iStupids lack (I'm not a Mac person, and between durability and lack of radio, iPods were completely out).

 

Disadvantage is movie / music formating (it has a relatively restricted range), it's screen doesn't work as well in bright light as you describe (mind you, I spent most of my time with it outdoors, so...), and pricepoint. The new HD ones were pretty expensive last time I looked.

[Rabble_Rouser]

I have an iPhone 3GS. I'm not an audiophile so the sound quality is acceptable for me (once you realize you should have picked up a good set of headphones). The main reason I got it was to replace my crappy Nokia cell and cut down on the number of electronics I have to carry (week days it was work cell, personal cell, iPod & pager-yes pagers still exist).

 

I've heard that OLED displays are amazing but only in low light conditions but suffer from washout in normal indoor lighting levels.

 

I'd have to say the main reasons iPods are popular are the is the design and dead simple setup & use.

 

Steve

[YaP]

I use a Sony Walkman MP3 player. My decision was based primarily on

* sound quality

* music only (i dont watch videos, and i dont play games etc.)

* battery life

* connectivity with the PC without special drivers (i.e. the player shows as a mass storage device if no special driver is installed)

* size/weight. As i like to listen to music when i run etc., i prefer a small and lightweight device

 

I decided against Apple/IPod mainly because it requires iTunes to be installed (which IMO is a pain...) ... and i decided against using a mobile phone as MP3 player as I wouldn't be allowed to use it on a plane trip (on many planes mobile phones are still banned completely), and because phones are bigger/heavier than a "simple" mp3 player.

 

For me, the Sony works really fine. The sound quality is good, 16 gig for music is sufficient, and i dont need any additional features. Watching videos wouldn't be fun on the tiny display though... as always with those gadgets, it all depends on your requirements

[zland666]

o.O

 

 

I thought I was speaking English. What was I speaking?

 

I bought my MP3 player, a Cowon A3, two years ago. I bought it because it sounds great and plays high-definition video. It had some problems but it was worth it to me because I love music.

 

I lost my MP3 player this week. If I cannot find it today I will buy a new one. I went back to Cowon without looking at other companies that make MP3 players, but this is biased. My own bias made me curious about yours.

 

My questions to you:

 

1. Do you have an MP3 player?
2. What manufacturer? (i.e. iPod, Samsung, SanDisk)
3. If you lost it/broke it, would you replace it with the same thing? The upgraded model? Would you consider other MP3 players like a Cowon?
4. What factors do you consider when buying an MP3 player?

 

Mp3 cause it's easier to use, I do have an ipod but im in the process of learning how to use it.

[Tim the Traveller]

I have a G1 cellphone.

[TetRefine]

iTouch. It works for everything I need.

[Skyline]

oops, deleted for the double post. Sorry!

Edited March 15, 2010 by Skyline

[Skyline]

iTouch. It works for everything I need.

 

I too find myself in the ipod touch clan. Love them, but always had issues with the lack of freedom on apples part. Customizeable icons and backgrounds should be standard, not something you have to jailbreak to achieve. Very unimpressed with apple in the firmware/OS department on those fronts. Their monopoly on the pmp market has left them slipping severely in quality. Besides the less then impressive os I do quite like the devices however.

 

Audio quality is a big deal to me also, however mp3s that I listen too arent always the greatest quality. I like to try and get at least 192kbps out of the files, but even this isnt really amazing. Quite simply if you're listening to MP3's your not as serious about audio as you might have thought lol. Its a convenient compression format, however its a lossy format. If you absolutely must have crystal clear sound, then you need to go lossless, and off the top of my head I dont know of any devices which can play lossless formats. Either way its not a huge issue to me. As much of an audiophile as I am, I'm not one to shell out for sound quality alone.

 

anyways to answer your questions more

Do you have an MP3 player or PMP?

- Yup

What brand? Model?

- iPod touch 16gb, 2nd gen

 

Are you loyal to this brand?

-Somewhat

 

What is the most important feature of an MP3 player/PMP? (i.e. sound quality, battery life, price, storage)

- Combination of the above. I need it to be durable, easy to manage and use, somewhat good looking, not mega expensive, and have decent battery life.

 

What do you think of mobile phones as MP3 players?

-Not really my cup of tea. Convenient for the most part, however the applications I've used besides the iphones have left much to be desired

[Tarin]

Ooh, several iPeople here. My sister is an iPerson. I like all of the applications, but I am not terribly impressed with the interface, like Sky mentioned. Even coming from the nightmare that was my Cowon A3.

 

I just got a new PMP, so I guess I can fill out my own questions.

 

Do you have an MP3 player or PMP?

PMP

 

What brand? Model?

Cowon S9

 

Are you loyal to this brand?

Yes, reasonably loyal. I'm hoping for wifi in their next generation though, that's a huge drawback in my S9. If there isn't, I might go iThing or *gulp* MS Zune.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rknapp]

I have a 16GB Creative Zen X-Fi with Wi-Fi.

 

Love it. Wouldn't get anything from any other brand. It's predecessor was a 30GB Creative Zen Xtra, which I still have. Both of them have very high sound quality. The Xtra had Creative's then-stellar 24-bit audio. The X-Fi utilizes Creative's current X-Fi sound technology, which blows anything made by crApple out of the water. crApple has yet to produce anything even remotely interesting to me. It seems Creative always produces something with equal features and superior quality.