iPod vs. Creative

I've always been a great fan of the iPod, but ive always wondered why it is so much more expensive than other mp3 players (e.g Creative Zen) which actually do more than the iPod. Some mp3 players have colour screens and are worth less than iPods with B&W screens. Why are they so speical? Can someone tell me what should i get, an iPod or a normal mp3 player with thew same amount of sapce and spend less? thanks

Dom

Well, it all comes down to preference. Do you want a cheaper mp3 player that does more? Or a really sleek one with a smooth, user-friendly interface that does only what it was designed to do?

Me personally? I love my 3rd Gen iPod and don't regret buying it, even at the price it was ($499 at the time).

i asked this question last year... i wanted the Creative Zen Xtra... but i loved the ipod so much... so i got a ipod.. never reget it :bone:

A few months ago the French mac mag SVMMac tested several players including the iPod 20gb, the iPod mini and several competitors. The factors that they used were: Battery life and user replacability, playtime on a full charge, size and design, control actions and convenience, connectivity for charging and music exchange, storage capacity and format compatibility and last, whether there were additional features such as a built-in FM tuner or ability to record. While they did not test the Creative Zen the factors they used may help you to evaluate your choice. (FYI, SVMMac rated the 20gb second, the mini was first.)

The iPod can afford to be more expensive since its interface is arguably easier to use and it has reached a 'cult' status.

Whether is SHOULD be more expensive is a different question altogether, but I suppose apple did create the first "usable" hard-drive based mp3 player so they deserve a premium.

(Yes I know there were other harddrive based mp3 players before iPod, but let's face it -- they all weighed a ton and sucked big time)

iPod, stands for class. simple.

Well now. Recently I found myself in the market for a new mp3 player when my old one quit working. Since I have been looking at Apple products again after being a big fan when I was a kid, I managed to talk myself into an iPod photo 40 Gig.

Now I have, in the past, told people that iPods were over priced and that they were paying extra $$$ for a brand name and that they could spend less money and get something just as good. OK. My new iPod got here today. It's much better than my last one. Much Much better. It sounds lots better. The interface is much better. The click wheel thingy works really well. Much better than I thought it would.

So. I was wrong. The iPod is a really neat, easy to use, great sounding mp3 player that is worth a couple of extra $$$ over the mp3 players I have had and used in the past. I'm glad I got it even though I spent the last couple of days with buyer's remorse for shelling out what I did for it.

PS. Listening to Coltrane "My Favorite Things" right now on the new iPod. If you are into Jazz, even casually, get it!

I have had a million different MP3 players in my lifetime and have liked a lot, no doubt about it. And I love trying new things, buy my last 3 have been a ipod mini, 4th gen, and now a shuffle. Especially with a mac they are a piece, and its all about looks baby, its all about the looks. No one will ever come up to you and say "is that a Nike Jordan Edition Philips 512mb MP3 player". Doubt it

I've never had a Creative MP3 player, but I can say that my Shuffle's sound quality blows away the Rio Nitrus I used to use.

I bought a Creative a long, long time ago (in a Best Buy not very far away) - I found out that there was a recall because the batteries that were shipped with the player were faulty.

Don't get me started on their sound and video cards. Like HP, Creative is a company that I refuse to deal with, ever, ever again.

It seems that you can't use Creative mp3 players with macs. This is correct right?

I know you can use their flash based drives but not sure on the others

Yea I guess that would be so, which is a shame since the Zen Micro really does look and sound like a good MP3 player and has features like FM radio (which I would actually use quite often) which the iPod Mini doesn't have. Plus, I cannot be bothered to transfer the songs I want to my Windows PC before I then transfer it to the ZM. Oh well, I'm gonna be give both a miss and go for the iPod Shuffle anyways.

That would be a pain to purchase an mp3 player, yet have to go back to windows to use it. Most mp3 players aren't very mac-friendly, I'd like to choose from variety, but I still am sticking with the iPod product line.

The reason I gave up on WMA-centric players is one word: Napster.

A year ago I went and bought about $20 worth of music off Napster, and didn't really use my MP3 player for awhile. Well, I went to play that music, and what do you know, it tells me my licenses aren't valid. So I e-mailed Napster's support, and didn't get a response. Mailed them again, no response.

It was just completely maddening. So I gave up on my MP3 player again, but when the Shuffle came out decided to give Apple a try, since their support on this stuff is better (my coworker has had several e-mail inqueries answered regarding his iPod).

Regarding this question:
It seems that you can't use Creative mp3 players with macs. This is correct right?

You can't use a zen micro with iTunes, but you can use it with a mac if you use other software. There are programs out there that allow you to drag iTunes music into your zen, but you can't do it directly from iTunes.

Creative almost released an iTunes plug-in, but then pulled it at the last minute without an explanation.

I really like my Zen Micro, but the headphones suck. Since I just switched from a PC, I'm giving it to my wife though because I want something that will integrate directly with iTunes. Sigh. I guess I'll join the iPod crowd eventually. I think they are over-priced, personally.