Media update: finding my Zen

[cmdr_zoom]

So it's starting to look like I'd do well with a Creative ZEN. Not only did they make my first sound card, the Zen's wide-open and compatible with pretty much anything, unlike both MS's and Apple's control-freak player-and-store setups. (The Zen will even play unprotected AACs.) There's just one little problem, as they say...

This is the current "classic" Zen, $180 for 16 gigs. The price is good, I really like the look and form factor, and it's out now. And I don't mind at all that it only comes in black.

This, however, is the "coming soon" model, the Zen Mozaic. $30 cheaper for the same 16 gigs... but it's covered with chiclets, and I think they've done away with some features (like that AAC compatibility and maybe the expansion cards too). And it's not actually out yet.

I'm inclined to pop for the "classic", and do it soon. Not only do I want it sooner rather than later so I can take it to work(*), but the same delay that might see a price drop (especially in regard to the latest iPod news) might also lead to what I dread, the older model being discontinued entirely. Consumer electronics purchases are always a moving target.

Thoughts?


(*) some of my urgency is because I don't just want to listen to my music, I want to not have to listen to other peoples' music. Right now I'm getting by with a 10+ year old walkman-type Aiwa with a dodgy headphone jack and a tendency to play "low and slow", and mix tapes of similar vintage.

Comments

[z-gryphon.livejournal.com]

Just for the record, my iPods are quite happy playing random MP3s I found on the Interweb, so I'm not sure where you're getting the "control freak player" thing from. The reverse is certainly true (that you'd have trouble playing stuff you bought from iTMS on anything else), but then, if you were buying stuff from iTMS, you'd presumably have an iPod anyway, and it wouldn't particularly be an issue unless you've just got a Serious Principal-of-the-Thing Hard-On about DRM. Which is fine. I don't, but I'm not going to get on a high horse about it. I'm just saying.

That said, 16 GB would be too small for me, but if it's sufficient for you, and the stuff the older model has that the new one won't is worth the $30 to you, why not? If the price drops after you buy one, eh, it happens. As you say, consumer electronics are a moving target.

(Full disclosure: I have a 30GB nth-gen iPod - whatever the generation before they started calling the HDD model "iPod classic" was - and I've yet to have cause to regret it, but I doubt the Apple Store is still selling that model, and mine's a factory recon anyway.)

[cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know that iPods will play mp3s. But they are very definitely designed to work with iTunes, which is not my media player of choice at home - it's really just a frontend for the music store, for me. Even then, I have less than a dozen purchased songs, and those I do buy tend to get burned to CD and re-ripped as mp3 just so I can play them in Winamp and won't ever get bit by the DRM. It's not principle, it's pure convenience.

Apple's stuff is all designed to work together, and that's great. But I'm not an Apple user; haven't been since the company logo was still rainbow-striped. (I miss that, a little.) And while the iPod would probably suit my needs, another device might do so better.

As I said on my last post, my current on-HDD library is about 18-20G. Even if I re-loaded some stuff I've burned off to CD, if I took the time to cull the tracks I don't really care for (at least half of your average Final Fantasy or movie soundtrack, for instance), I'm sure I could get it down below 16. (And if not, the Zen does have an SD card slot.) The reason I'd be tempted by a 20 or 30G player is to not have to bother... but I'm currently leaning toward flash-memory players, now that their capacity is reaching what I need/want, over micro-HDD models.

And you're right, the 30G iPods are definitely no longer available. More's the pity.

[z-gryphon.livejournal.com]

(wow. "principal of the thing"? wtg, ZG.)

[z-gryphon.livejournal.com]

Well, given that, and modulo checking to make sure the management software that comes with the Zen doesn't suck (this has been known to happen), I say again, why not? You've done your homework, and playing the "price drop or discontinuation?" game isn't worth the tsuris, IMO.

[cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com]

(sorry about that. I should pop for some paid time so I can make the inevitable edits to my comments.)

[pjack.livejournal.com]

As a computer user, and not a computer tinkerer, I find the iTunes + iPod combination to be exceedingly convenient. I'm generally happier with product I can use "out of the box" rather than a program I need to tinker with. But you know, buy what you'll be happy with.

If you need a stop-gap media player, you may certainly borrow my CD Walkman.

[cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com]

I may take you up on that.

Much of my urgency is because one of my co-workers listens to a radio station which redefines "heavy rotation." I would estimate one cycle at about 2 hours. This means that over the course of the last work week, I have heard every song they play at least 16 times. As I have no standing to request a change, I am seeking a personal audio solution of my own before I snap and Rage Against The Machine.

[kowh.livejournal.com]

I run the iPod/iTunes combo myself, for free mp3 downloads, ripped CDs and songs purchased in iTMS (some of which have DRM, some of which do not. The latter are referred to as "iTunes Plus"). Works very well for me, but I can understand why it might not work for others.

One thing you might want to look into is players that can run Rockbox (http://www.rockbox.org/). It's an open source firmware that many people seem to like. If you poke around on their site you'll probably find suggestions on hardware to use with it.