I Pod or MP3?

[Esox_Magnum]

Looking for a device to put tunes on for the boat radio, want a good unit that I can just download music off my pc and friends pc's.... Any advantages of one over the other?

[Moose]

In my experience if you're just downloading existing music from another PC the mp3 player would suit the bill. If my boys take music off cds or previously stored on a computer it requires the ipod to sync with itunes and it takes forever. If your looking to use the itunes apps then an ipod is the only way to go. With the mp3 player you can just copy and paste the music from you computer to the mp3 player.

[Kyhl]

Not sure what phone you are using, but I ditched the Ipod and run the free version of AudioGalaxy on my droid. It streams music from your home PC to your phone. It will work anywhere you get 3G. I haven't tried it on less than 3G.

The downside is the computer needs to be on at all times to broadcast the music.

I also added a solid state hard drive to house my operating system and cache which should not wear out when left on 24/7. It is rated at something silly like a million hours. Time will tell how many decimal places that guess is off. It has been running about 4 months now with weekly reboots.

[Esox_Magnum]

Don't have 3G, still undecided, so many more things I can do with the I Pod but also ad added expence...

[LMITOUT]

If you're looking to grab music off of multiple PCs then a regular mp3 player would work best. Plus if something happens to it you won't be out as much compared to an iPod.

[LMITOUT]

Not sure what phone you are using, but I ditched the Ipod and run the free version of Audio. Galaxy on my droid. It streams music from your home PC to your phone. It will work anywhere you get 3G. I haven't tried it on less than 3G.

The downside is the computer needs to be on at all times to broadcast the music.

I also added a solid state hard drive to house my operating system and cache which should not wear out when left on 24/7. It is rated at something silly like a million hours. Time will tell how many decimal places that guess is off. It has been running about 4 months now with weekly reboots.

Have you tried Google Music? It pulls all the music off of your PC (including iTunes) and moves it to the Cloud. As long as I have cell coverage I can listen to my music.

[Kyhl]

I looked at google but was unsure of what it would do to my collection.

My collection is stored three places, lossless flacs, lossless flacs backup, and 320k mp3. AudioGalaxy will stream either flac or mp3.

I don't know what Google will do to the files. At 320k my collection takes up 60G and growing. I'm not sure how much space Google gives us or if it down convertes to 125k, to get to the 20,000 song capacity.

Also, I have spent a lot of effort and cash obtaining certain versions of albums (cd's and lp's). I do not want anyone exchanging my preferred version for a current version.

Bottom line, I know what is coming from my pc is my song.

[itchmesir]

I ditched the idea of an mp3 player for my cellphone.. i really see no need for an mp3 player if you own a cellphone that was made within the past 5 years.. im pretty sure a good majority of phones these days come with sd expandable memory and a mp3 player

[Kyhl]

I ditched the idea of an mp3 player for my cellphone.. i really see no need for an mp3 player if you own a cellphone that was made within the past 5 years.. im pretty sure a good majority of phones these days come with sd expandable memory and a mp3 player

It depends on how much space you need.

I agree in priciple though. My phone paid for itself by:

1.) replacing my broken mp3 player

2.) replacing my outdated handheld GPS

3.) replacing my navigation GPS

3.) acts as a remote to my music server when I listen to my main stereo at home

The list could go on but those were the big financial benefits.

[LMITOUT]

I looked at google but was unsure of what it would do to my collection.

My collection is stored three places, lossless flacs, lossless flacs backup, and 320k mp3. AudioGalaxy will stream either flac or mp3.

You can upload specific folders from your PC and there is a limit of 20,000 songs. They list the supported file types so not all can be uploaded (FLAC, ogg, and aac files are transcoded to 320kbps mp3). I haven't seen anything about a limit on total storage size, though.

It works pretty good for what you pay ($0), and listening to hyper quality files isn't something that is overly concerning to me considering that you're streaming to a cell phone.

[Esox_Magnum]

Ended up with a I Pod classic 80gb, hopefully a good deal for $100. Phone idea was neat but when using Pandora on my cell I only get about 2 hours of battery life and would still need to hook it up somehow to the boat radio and still have to carry a charger for the phone, seems like a hassle, plus some places I don't carry my cell due to iffy service and I only have a small home area and limited shared roaming minutes for media...

[Kyhl]

Did you get a used iPod?

Good to know about google keeping them at 320k. Back when I was searching, I couldn't find info on the coding level they used. I agree, 320k is fine for a portable device.

That may be where I end up if I run into sporadic problems with my home PC or internet connection.

[Esox_Magnum]

Yes got it used, couldn't pass it up after seeing what they get for new ones...

[bigbad401]

I bought used android phones off of an auction HSOforum for my MP3 player. My last one was an LG running android 2.2 for $35. Nice about that is I can buy more batteries and expand the memory up to 32GB ( I know the ipod has 80GB) where you can not do that with the Ipod. Plus I can play games on it, take pictures with it, or anything else that an android system can do. I do not have a smartphone service through a cell phone company as I can not afford it right now, so this is the next best thing.

[Esox_Magnum]

I do run an Android phone but then still have to carry charger ect with me when in the boat, and 32 aint near big enough and I could care less about games or taking pics, I have a cell and 3 cameras for that and can easily transfer them to the I Pod.... Plus the I Pod I can download movies to if I choose....