Can anybody on here help me out with this one please.

I'm looking for a 2gb mp3 player and have had both of these recommended to me. I'm not really bothered about the difference in price in the two units, and the functionality seems similar. The two issues that I have are as follows;

1) If I get an ipod, I know I'll be tied to using itunes to upload music, but I'd also heard that itunes doesn't use mp3 format, and that it's difficult/impossible to convert your music collection back to mp3 at a later dated effectively committing you to itunes for life.

2) I've read a few reports of the creative zen "freezing". Does anybody know if this is a common fault, or just a case of the few people it's happened to telling the world about it?

Any suggestions gratefully received......

Many Thanks.

Daughter has a 4gb ipod and the battery is rubbish, i used to have a 20gb zen and it was great until i dropped it, but managed to get an exchange for the new colour screen 20gb and yes it does freeze quite alot of the time. But the battery is excellent.

Go creative

I have had mine a year+ and its only frozen three times

The battery life is great, has radio, also plays avi files.

I would highly recommend one You'll get good deals a play.com or ebuyer.com

We chose the Zen of the two and haven't regretted it. Only the cheapest 20Gb one, but mp3's are easily transferred, battery life is pretty good and it's never had any problems. Had it about 18 months now.

Chris

well im only ever going to go with one choice.

ipod do play mp3 files and the files its imports cds to is AAC which is a totally open format so i dont get why its an issue. there are also other programs that will let you put songs on an iPod rather than iTunes

iPod for me.. if you get the creative people are going to see it and say "oh whats that.. it looks like an iPod" so just get the proper one!

IMO you buy an ipod partly because it is a design icon of the 21st century.. i have a 60gb video ipod and i love it!

Whats that a Skoda? isnt it just a cheap VW?

The iPos has more accessories and is more likely to link into any car system you can name, but for me Creative players have always been vastly superior in almost every way. I have a 20gb Zen Touch and I'm over the moon with it, and my better half's Muvi is brillliant and renders the iPod shuffle completely pointless

iPod for me.. if you get the creative people are going to see it and say "oh whats that.. it looks like an iPod" so just get the proper one!

Ah the best reason for buying an inferior product!

Chris

Thanks for all the input guys.

At the moment I'm leaning toward the ipod as I'm quite worried about the creative freezing on me. I'm buying it to take on holiday not for everyday use and if it froze on day 1 I'd be more than a little miffed......

Ipod all the way, as above you dont have to use itunes for playing and dragging and dropping music over. It fully supports mp3 files files and most major music formats. I find winamp a great alternative from itunes, but i always end up going back to it.

If you have a good mess with itunes it caters for all your needs with music storage and customisation.

The firmwear updates over the past year have greatly improved the battery performance, so i have read and made the ipod interace very friendly.

My 60GB ipod is now 2 years old and SWMBO has a nano 2.5 years old, both of the batteries work as strong as they did on the first charge. Ive never thought they had poor battery life, its never let me down since owning it.

Almost any MP3 player can freeze on you - the iPod minis were notorious for doing just that - but with the Zen you just hold the mini recessed button underneath with a paperclip for a few seconds and it reboots fine. I've only ever known one to need this, and that was just once following a slight mishap

I've heard that the next generation ipods will be here very shortly - expect bigger hard drives and touch screens. Old models should drop in price accordingly. Tescos already have nanos cheap at the mo.

I'd go (and did go) ipod over creative zen, reasons, plugs into car stereo, better screen, easier to use, makes me look cool

Sorry for confusing the matter but I used to have an ipod mini but it was rubbish and broke after 18 months :thumbdwn:. Friends with 1st gen nanos always compalined about the battery life. I'm not so sure about the Apple dream anymore.

Now using a Sony A806 - looks crap, Sonicstage is an absolute git to use but the sound quality is awesome.

I have a 60gig Zen vision M and it's perfect, SWMBO has had a Zen Vision for a few years now and it's been faultless, I had a Iriver IHP-120 for about 4 years and it was faultless too. There are alternatives to Ipods that work just as well if not better.

I'm now leaning toward the zen.

My brother has a nano. I've spoken to him earlier today and asked him to try and copy an AAC file over to media player and convert it to mp3. He couldn't. Did he miss something?

I think that music from itunes is ACC protected. From what I understand this means that you'll be stuck with AAC forever....

Maybe I'll just save myself the headache and stick with my 6CD changer in the car and my DAB in the house....!

Only music BOUGHT from the iTunes store is protected... the iTunes software it's self will rip cd's to a number of different formats and you can drag and drop in your existing mp3 collection... iTunes is free to download so have a play with it first see if it's for you.

iTunes will also convert files to any of the supported types providing it's not a DRM protected file... AAC -> MP3 etc...

My GF has an iPod and it's a PITA. It doesn't even come with a charger or an installation CD.

You need to download iTunes which immediately tries to take over your PC and you have to use itunes to do everything. Personally I prefer to drag and drop files.

It will convert MP3s and WMAs into the itunes format.

The user interface is easy to use.

I don't know the creative Zen well. I know people with the older versions and they had few problems.

Don't be too restricted by names, Samsung do some really nice players too as do Philips.

Give itunes a bash, its great when you have it going to suite your needs

My GF has an iPod and it's a PITA. It doesn't even come with a charger or an installation CD.

No need for a charger, the USB cable is there to tranfer music and charges at the same time also if you have an mp3 player, you have a computer. No point sending out software when the lastest releases are fully downloadable along with the latest firmware. Extra cost if they supply both of these.

You need to download iTunes which immediately tries to take over your PC and you have to use itunes to do everything. Personally I prefer to drag and drop files.

You can drag and drop files, just imagine itunes as a window and manage music manually. If your not keen on itunes for playing music, change the files assosiates. i do this for playing mp3's, i use winamp.

It will convert MP3s and WMAs into the itunes format.

The user interface is easy to use.

This setting can changed this to use the mp3 format for conversion.

i just have a little sony one that is 1 gb no video and has about 40 hours of battery power and is quite indestructable and going for around

There's lot's of FUD talked about the iPod & iTunes; it can't do this & ties you into that. It's all nonsense.

MP3 players are one of those modern 'religions' like operating systems, games consoles & family cars. People will swear blind that their favourite is fantastic, perfect, God-like & it's rivals are worthless junk. Apple & Creative both make good players. Both have their flaws but nothing major for either.

I suggest you go look at both products in the flesh & then make your own mind up. iTunes seems to polarise opinion; some love it, some hate it. As it's a free download, why not try it? If you like it, go with the iPod, if you loathe it, go Creative.

As mentioned above... hold out for a few more days... Apple will be making some announcements on the 5th sept about new ipods... roumors are flash-based ipod video style with touchscreen interface ipodnano-***-ipodvideo-***-iphone thingys (ipod touch??)

either way it will mean the new gen ones will have more storage for the money.

Ive had my 4gb nano for about a year now, and altho itunes annoys the hell out of me the experience has been good, battery isnt a concern as its usually always plugged into the ipod adaptor in the car anyway.

As mentioned above... hold out for a few more days... Apple will be making some announcements on the 5th sept about new ipods... roumors are flash-based ipod video style with touchscreen interface ipodnano-***-ipodvideo-***-iphone thingys (ipod touch??)

either way it will mean the new gen ones will have more storage for the money.

Ive had my 4gb nano for about a year now, and altho itunes annoys the hell out of me the experience has been good, battery isnt a concern as its usually always plugged into the ipod adaptor in the car anyway.

Nice one Col

or the ones out at moment will drop in price

I have had a 40Gb cretaive Zen touch fro a few years now - it has only frozen once but that was easily sorted with a pin !

After initially putting ALL my CDs onto it, I very rarely need to plug it into a computer (just putting on new CDs as I buy them) so the charger that came with it is very helpful.

in a wierd twist, I actually use iTunes to rip the CDs (into mp3 format) and then use the creative software to drag and drop. (though I know it integrates very well/easily with Windows Media Player)