How to waste time - the hunt for the cheapest price!

[IBBoard]

I really should learn and stop doing it, but I've just wasted half of the evening browsing rather than working. I'm looking to replace my MP3 player (a not-overly-nice Sony Walkman NW-E series that I got when my wife replaced it with a 3rd Gen iPod Nano - only 1GB and not something I'd have ever bought myself).

Unfortunately I want my new player to play my iTunes purchases and the songs my wife ripped from CD as well, so it needs to support Apple's M4A format, which greatly cuts down the options. The Creative Zen's look like the best option since Apple have locked Linux out of their latest generation of players and the Zen can also be expanded with an SD card.

At the moment I'm leaning towards an X-FI 8GB and have been trying to find how cheap I can get it. Money isn't exactly flowing freely, so the hunt is on for the cheapest reasonable price (i.e. not the "uber-cheap, we're-a-fake-shop-who'll-never-deliver-and-will-run-off-with-your-money" price). The cheapest from a reputable store appears to be just below £90, but a lot of places are "out of stock" so I ended up wasting an hour or more just hunting for cheaper prices!

Hey ho, better get some work done now!

[NBKFuzzy]

I am faithful to all the iPods, iPod touch is great if you dont want to go as far as the movie, or iPhone, but large capacity with cool features. I have the original iPod before the touch wheel(and before they were popular!), the first one with the wheel, the mini, the nano, touch, and the 40g movie, as well as my iPhone. I recently purchased an iLuv for my new apartment.

[IBBoard]

I did look at an iPod Nano (a 3rd Gen rather than a 4th Gen, because it is compatible with Linux) but a) they're slightly more expensive, b) once you buy one then you're stuck at that size and c) while they're improving the battery life, the Zen still wins at 36 hours (according to the product specs). Things like the Touch look good, but £165 for an 8GB player? Seriously? That's just way more than seems reasonable.

The Creative Zen's have SD card slots that can be packed with music, videos or pictures. They don't become part of your main playlist/library, but you can still do "play folder" playlists. That means that for less than a quarter of the RRP of the device I can currently add an extra 200% capacity! In the end I think that was the winner for me because while the wife's Nano is nice, I dislike Apple locking people out of the new iPods and I want a future-proofed player (and the main thing that's likely to change is my amount of music rather than anything else).

I ended up getting a still sealed unwanted purchase for £65 off eBay. Now I've just got to wait for it to be delivered

[NBKFuzzy]

Nano is okay, I'm not a big fan of it. They are not that expensive out here in US(yes I know the currency conversion). I only use the nano if I'm working out or sometimes plugging it into the car. I mostly use the touch.

[IBBoard]

I've only got ~10GB of music, so the larger players aren't worth it and as I said, the Touch seems rather expensive for its size. I guess if you start to use it as a PDA with some of the apps then it'll be better, but I find most of the apps far too gimicky to be worth even considering shelling out for (like the "split the meal" app that basically wraps up some very basic maths in a fancy front end - people will seriously pay money for that?).

To be fair to the Nano, I wasn't keen on it when my wife first got it. She had an early click-wheel iPod (I think it was just an "iPod" back then, not a "classic") and that seemed great to me, if a bit chunky. At first half of the Nano features seemed somewhat pointless (like the flashy cover art browser with its animations) but I'm a bit more used to the idea now and since it doesn't actually cut battery life (the colour screen versions have longer battery than the black and white ones) then I guess it is an improvement.

Hopefully I should have the Zen by the end of the week. Then I just need to synch up and go

[NBKFuzzy]

I used to use the very old logitech MP3 players, and the Dell ones before iPod, and have used them since. I just find them a lot simpler, and I am a sucker for the new ones. I use my 20g Touch, which are very hard to find now since they were a limited deal with the Aerosmith tour(its a black iTouch with flames on the bottom, and on the back it has the Aerosmith logo).

I am luvin' my iLuv though. If you want a present for your wife for her birthday, christmas, ect. I would recommend that. (its a very very nice and better iHome)

[IBBoard]

Which bit is the iLuv? I found the site but nothing seems to just want to call itself "an iLuv" If it's just one of the "make your MP3 players in to a stereo system" things then I'd probably rather convince her to let me make my old machine in to a MythTV/entertainment centre in the front room. That way I get music, videos, internet and games as well, plus I get something to tinker with

[NBKFuzzy]

iLuv is a company for iPod accessories, such as the iHome, the generic "iLuv" is the speaker system, and its GREAT sound quality.

[IBBoard]

Basically a mini hi-fi system that you can plug an iPod in to, then. Useful for some people, I guess, but if we're listening to music then it tends to be from computers or from music channels on Sky. That, plus I don't notice 128Kbps MP3s being obviously bad quality, so I guess that "perfect sound quality" thing isn't a high priority for us

[NBKFuzzy]

Well, I have it set up in the living room as a sound system mostly for when people are here, otherwise I use my computer. It does sound good though!

[IBBoard]

I guess it's useful for that. We just either have family around (so we're working or talking) or don't have anyone else around (so we're on our computers or using the TV for new music from a music channel). Real-world friends are just too much effort and want to suck up too much of your time!

The Zen turned up on Saturday, a little later than expected. It's a nice little player and quite light. They put a few samples of songs on there, a couple of videos (including two music videos for two of the sample songs) and a load of pictures. I've still got to get round to synching my music on to it *curses time wasted slowly making progress with the kitchen*

As for getting a good price, I think I did quite well. There were lots of "buy it now" Zen's at £70+ and ~£10, I can get it brand new from a store for ~£88 and the one proper auction ended £74 without meeting the reserve. £72 including postage isn't a bad price