Hi,

Would appreciate a bit of advice as I've never bought one of
these before. I'm looking for something like a 20GB player which
will play MP3 files (not something which converts MP3s to it's
own format).

A decent battery life (10 hours) is important and an FM tuner
would be a bit of an advantage too. (Not essential though).

Can anyone give me some initial advice on brand and/or a
recommended online seller?

TIA (as always).

H.


--
Howard Coakley
e-mail... howarddot}coakleyatcoakleydot].codotuk
ICQ:4502837. (Try ICQ at www.icq.com)

Howie wrote:
Hi,

Would appreciate a bit of advice as I've never bought one of
these before. I'm looking for something like a 20GB player which
will play MP3 files (not something which converts MP3s to it's
own format).

A decent battery life (10 hours) is important and an FM tuner
would be a bit of an advantage too. (Not essential though).

Can anyone give me some initial advice on brand and/or a
recommended online seller?

Are you sure you need the capacity? 20GB is approx 200 albums, and brings
various drawbacks re size, weight, cost & battery life. Something like
eBay 5751178621 would carry 10 albums, and runs forever on one AAA.
Thumbsized, with an FM radio, and trivially cheap.

"Howie" wrote in message
...
Hi,

Would appreciate a bit of advice as I've never bought one of
these before. I'm looking for something like a 20GB player which
will play MP3 files (not something which converts MP3s to it's
own format).

A decent battery life (10 hours) is important and an FM tuner
would be a bit of an advantage too. (Not essential though).

Can anyone give me some initial advice on brand and/or a
recommended online seller?

TIA (as always).

I've got a Creative Zen Micro, only 5GB but very small and about 12hours
battery. I've got a spare USB lead so I can charge it at work as we speak,
oh and transfer stuff to it.

Steve Walker wrote in article :

Are you sure you need the capacity?

I bought an mp3 player last summer. I wanted a hard drive one with
massive capacity too, but I ended-up taking other advice.

In the end, I bought a Sony NE700, which plays ordinary CDs as well as
mp3 and atrac coded CDs using a pair of plain or rechargeable AA
batteries. This was good for me, as I have a solar-powered battery
charger and I was camping.

On the downside, the capacity is limited to 700MB per CD and it has no
radio. On the plus side, it cost less than a hundred quid, is easy to
power and it plays ordinary CDs.

--
Keith Nuttall
www.yammer.co.uk
Re-type the e-mail address how it sounds, remove .invalid

Ian Middleton wrote:

I've got a Creative Zen Micro, only 5GB but very small and about 12hours
battery. I've got a spare USB lead so I can charge it at work as we speak,
oh and transfer stuff to it.



I've got an Archos 20Gb, which I really like, but the battery life is
poor so I was looking at the Zen as well. Does it still require the POS
Creative software to files like the earlier Creative jukeboxes?

Lee

--
Email address is valid, but is unlikely to be read.

"Lee" wrote in message
...
Ian Middleton wrote:

I've got a Creative Zen Micro, only 5GB but very small and about 12hours
battery. I've got a spare USB lead so I can charge it at work as we
speak, oh and transfer stuff to it.

I've got an Archos 20Gb, which I really like, but the battery life is poor
so I was looking at the Zen as well. Does it still require the POS
Creative software to files like the earlier Creative jukeboxes?

Lee I have a feeling that before being upgraded to MTP it appears as a USB
disk (after adding driver) but behaves differently after a firmware
upgrade.I just use the Zen Micro Media Explorer (integrates into explorer)
and just drag and drop files to it.

Also handy for deleting stuff off it as I load up and then find I dont like
it so just delete it off the device.

Ian Middleton wrote:

I've got an Archos 20Gb, which I really like, but the battery life is poor
so I was looking at the Zen as well. Does it still require the POS
Creative software to files like the earlier Creative jukeboxes?


Lee I have a feeling that before being upgraded to MTP it appears as a USB
disk (after adding driver) but behaves differently after a firmware
upgrade.I just use the Zen Micro Media Explorer (integrates into explorer)
and just drag and drop files to it.

Thanks Ian.
I had several problems with the proprietary Creative software that came
with the earlier jukeboxes, so I've been put off them since.
Main reason for buying the Archos was that it appears *just* as a USB disk.
If Creative have improved the software to the point where it actually
*works* then I may have to reconsider

Lee
--
Email address is valid, but is unlikely to be read.

Howie wrote:
Hi,

Would appreciate a bit of advice as I've never bought one of
these before. I'm looking for something like a 20GB player which
will play MP3 files (not something which converts MP3s to it's
own format).

A decent battery life (10 hours) is important and an FM tuner
would be a bit of an advantage too. (Not essential though).

Can anyone give me some initial advice on brand and/or a
recommended online seller?

TIA (as always).

H.



Hi,

I have an iRiver H140 (40gb), but they do a 20gb one H120. the battery
life id fantastic, I get easily 14 hours and the sound quality is great.
They are "old stock" now, as they have upgraded to a newer model, but I
know richer sounds still have them.
I'd definately recommend one, it is a definate iPod beater (IMO!)

Mike

On 15 Feb 2005 14:26:29 GMT, Keith Nuttall
wrote:

Steve Walker wrote in article :


On the downside, the capacity is limited to 700MB per CD and it has no
radio. On the plus side, it cost less than a hundred quid, is easy to
power and it plays ordinary CDs.

If it plays ordinary CDs it's huge compared to what it needs to be.

M.

"Howie" wrote in message
...
Hi,

Would appreciate a bit of advice as I've never bought one of
these before. I'm looking for something like a 20GB player which
will play MP3 files (not something which converts MP3s to it's
own format).

A decent battery life (10 hours) is important and an FM tuner
would be a bit of an advantage too. (Not essential though).

Can anyone give me some initial advice on brand and/or a
recommended online seller?

TIA (as always).

H.


--
Howard Coakley
e-mail... howarddot}coakleyatcoakleydot].codotuk
ICQ:4502837. (Try ICQ at www.icq.com)
I'm pleased with my Archos Gmini 220.

It's a 20GB Hard Disc player and also has a CF slot on the side for sucking
the contents out of camera memory cards. Works a treat, and none of this
Apple or Sony DRM nonsense. Just good old fashioned MP3s. (Might play WMA
files as well allegedly, but as they have a whiff of DRM about them I've had
no interest in that side of things.)

Regards,
Simon.

"Howie" wrote in message
...
Hi,

Would appreciate a bit of advice as I've never bought one of
these before. I'm looking for something like a 20GB player which
will play MP3 files (not something which converts MP3s to it's
own format).

A decent battery life (10 hours) is important and an FM tuner
would be a bit of an advantage too. (Not essential though).

Can anyone give me some initial advice on brand and/or a
recommended online seller?

TIA (as always).

H.


--
Howard Coakley
e-mail... howarddot}coakleyatcoakleydot].codotuk
ICQ:4502837. (Try ICQ at www.icq.com)

BTW Please set followups to just uk.d-i-y (or other globally-accessible
groups) please when cross-posting multiple groups, otherwise my newsreader
barfs when trying to reply to "plusnet.tech.general". Not surprising as I
can't access it as I'm not on Plusnet, whereas you can because you are!

Thank you.

In article , "Simon Stroud"
says...

BTW Please set followups to just uk.d-i-y (or other globally-accessible
groups) please when cross-posting multiple groups, otherwise my newsreader
barfs when trying to reply to "plusnet.tech.general". Not surprising as I
can't access it as I'm not on Plusnet, whereas you can because you are!

Why should other people change their behaviour when it's you that has
the broken software? Try using something that's vaguely standards-
compliant.

"Rob Morley" wrote in message
t...
In article , "Simon Stroud"
says...

BTW Please set followups to just uk.d-i-y (or other globally-accessible
groups) please when cross-posting multiple groups, otherwise my
newsreader
barfs when trying to reply to "plusnet.tech.general". Not surprising as
I
can't access it as I'm not on Plusnet, whereas you can because you are!

Why should other people change their behaviour when it's you that has
the broken software? Try using something that's vaguely standards-
compliant.

You could very well be right. It's OE. The error message was about
"resolving" the names of the two groups, one of which isn't in OE's list of
newsgroups (because it's an internal plusnet one). Actually it then offers
to send the post anyway, but I said No. Sorry - think I was confused. I
foolishly assumed the error was caused by it trying to contact my news
server and then failing, but trying it again I now see that the router light
didn't even flicker - it's just an internally generated stupid error message
from OE.

Thanks for pointing this out and apologies to the OP.

Regards,
Simon.

On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 20:30:43 -0000, "Simon Stroud"
wrote:

|I'm pleased with my Archos Gmini 220.
|
|It's a 20GB Hard Disc player and also has a CF slot on the side for sucking
|the contents out of camera memory cards. Works a treat, and none of this
|Apple or Sony DRM nonsense. Just good old fashioned MP3s. (Might play WMA
|files as well allegedly, but as they have a whiff of DRM about them I've had
|no interest in that side of things.)
|
|Regards,
|Simon.

Well, thanks to everyone for the advice.

Looks like the Archos might be the best option. I'd never heard
of them before, - but their online store seems very good and the
product reviews look great too!
I'll do some more looking around first, but I might go with this
one.

Thanks again all.

H.

On 15 Feb 2005, Howie wrote

-snip-

Before replying to the follow-up thread in uk.d-i-y, I need to see how
XNews (which *is* standards-compliant) reacts to trying to post to
plusnet.tech.general.

--
Cheers,
Harvey

On 16 Feb 2005, Huge wrote

Rob Morley writes:
In article , "Simon Stroud"
says...

BTW Please set followups to just uk.d-i-y (or other
globally-accessible groups) please when cross-posting multiple
groups, otherwise my newsreader barfs when trying to reply to
"plusnet.tech.general". Not surprising as I can't access it as
I'm not on Plusnet, whereas you can because you are!

Why should other people change their behaviour when it's you that
has the broken software? Try using something that's vaguely
standards- compliant.


In what way is trying to post to a non-existent group "non
standards compliant"? If the OP wants to see an answer, he should
do as suggested.

I don't think the OP set the follow-ups to plusnet, though, did he?

If there was no follow-up and he's reading both groups, he'll see the
ones you post to uk.d-i-y.

I've just tested, and my newsreader (XNews) had no problem posting a
response which showed up here -- presumably the one to the plusnet
group (which I can't access) just died in the process -- so like Rob, I
wouldn't expect your newsreader to throw a hissy-fit if there's a non-
existent group listed.

--
Cheers,
Harvey

Markus Splenius wrote in article
:

On 15 Feb 2005 14:26:29 GMT, Keith Nuttall
wrote:

Steve Walker wrote in article
:


On the downside, the capacity is limited to 700MB per CD and it
has no radio. On the plus side, it cost less than a hundred quid,
is easy to power and it plays ordinary CDs.

If it plays ordinary CDs it's huge compared to what it needs to
be.

Okay then: another downside is that that your moby will have to go in
another pocket.

--
Keith Nuttall
www.yammer.co.uk
Re-type the e-mail address how it sounds, remove .invalid

In article , "Harvey Van
Sickle" says...
On 15 Feb 2005, Howie wrote

-snip-

Before replying to the follow-up thread in uk.d-i-y, I need to see how
XNews (which *is* standards-compliant) reacts to trying to post to
plusnet.tech.general.


Gravity says "Removed: plusnet.tech.general" then "Some newsgroup
names are invalid. Send anyway?" and then sends the post with the
invalid group still in the header!

"Howie" wrote in message
...
Hi,

Would appreciate a bit of advice as I've never bought one of
these before. I'm looking for something like a 20GB player which
will play MP3 files (not something which converts MP3s to it's
own format).

A decent battery life (10 hours) is important and an FM tuner
would be a bit of an advantage too. (Not essential though).

Can anyone give me some initial advice on brand and/or a
recommended online seller?

TIA (as always).

H.

I was quite interested in this topic as I also have been thinking of buying
an MP3 player. There may be a feeling that this subject is out of topic; if
that is the case where else could one post to? Plusnet Social Chat is dead,
with only one message from January showing while other groups seem to be
just as inactive. Is there a list somewhere of newsgroups and what they are
intended for and how to get at them? I have only news.plus.com and don't
really know how to get anything else.
Always willing to learn.
Why aren't unused groups closed?

"John Hardaker" wrote
| I was quite interested in this topic as I also have been thinking
| of buying an MP3 player. There may be a feeling that this subject
| is out of topic; if that is the case where else could one post to?

news:uk.rec.audio is thataway, there are also several groups under
news:rec.audio but they tend to be US based

If they're not carried on plusnet's servers then ask nicely and they will
add them, or take your usenet business elsewhere.

| Is there a list somewhere of newsgroups and what they are
| intended for and how to get at them?

In Outlook Depress, the Newsgroups button on the toolbar will show all the
newsgroups available on your server. Otherwise http://groups.google.co.uk

| Why aren't unused groups closed?

Nobody really owns Usenet, so there is nobody to close them.

Owain

John Hardaker wrote:
"Howie" wrote in message
...

Hi,

Would appreciate a bit of advice as I've never bought one of
these before. I'm looking for something like a 20GB player which
will play MP3 files (not something which converts MP3s to it's
own format).

A decent battery life (10 hours) is important and an FM tuner
would be a bit of an advantage too. (Not essential though).

Can anyone give me some initial advice on brand and/or a
recommended online seller?

TIA (as always).

H.


I was quite interested in this topic as I also have been thinking of buying
an MP3 player. There may be a feeling that this subject is out of topic; if
that is the case where else could one post to? Plusnet Social Chat is dead,
with only one message from January showing while other groups seem to be
just as inactive. Is there a list somewhere of newsgroups and what they are
intended for and how to get at them? I have only news.plus.com and don't
really know how to get anything else.
Always willing to learn.
Why aren't unused groups closed?


have a look on www.avforums.com

Recently purchased Creative Zen 30gb and it is brilliant. Paid £140 which
isn't that bad.
"Mike Hibbert" wrote in message
. uk...
John Hardaker wrote:
"Howie" wrote in
message
...

Hi,

Would appreciate a bit of advice as I've never bought one of
these before. I'm looking for something like a 20GB player which
will play MP3 files (not something which converts MP3s to it's
own format).

A decent battery life (10 hours) is important and an FM tuner
would be a bit of an advantage too. (Not essential though).

Can anyone give me some initial advice on brand and/or a
recommended online seller?

TIA (as always).

H.


I was quite interested in this topic as I also have been thinking of
buying
an MP3 player. There may be a feeling that this subject is out of topic;
if
that is the case where else could one post to? Plusnet Social Chat is
dead,
with only one message from January showing while other groups seem to be
just as inactive. Is there a list somewhere of newsgroups and what they
are
intended for and how to get at them? I have only news.plus.com and don't
really know how to get anything else.
Always willing to learn.
Why aren't unused groups closed?


have a look on www.avforums.com

Howie,

you are aware that iPods will also work with MP3s and that iTunes will
create MP3 files for you ?

If everything else about one of the range of iPod suits your needs,
you'll find it very easy to use.

Download iTunes for your type of computer and you'll see that there's a
preference for electing to have CDs ripped to MP3 instead of AAC.

If you want to use existing MP3s, you can still rip your own CDs to AAC
and the iPod will automatically play whatever format it finds. There is
no DRM ( rights management ) on files you rip from CD, only on files
you buy on-line.

It's worth doing that as the AAC compression system ( developed by
Dolby ) uses a very cunning way to reduce the data rate while retaining
the quality, so an AAC recording will sound better than an MP3 one at a
similar rate, or will sound similar at a reduced rate.