Ben Watson wrote:Sony - nice players, but like the Ipod / Zune won't support native MP3 and must use sonicstage software (supplied) which is, without doubt the worst software on the planet. I have one... for the only reason that in integrates into my Sony head unit in the car. :redface:
What do you not like about sonicstage? I think its great. I have a fairly eldery sony and find the software really useable and much much much better than itunes which is bloody awful.
The Sony stuff is terrible. (to be fair as is Itunes) The fact that it has to convert MP3's to OMA's before the machine can play them, and the gracenote music lookup to identify the CD's your ripping (the same as iTunes uses) is rubbish when compaired to Media Player. If you seach the net you'll find that Sonicstage is the biggest proplem that Sony's customers have with their MP3 players. The problem being that as Sony is a music publisher, they feel obliged to continue flogging the dead horse that is Sonic Stage, even though their mobile phones and In car systems WILL play MP3's without conversion.
Fair enough, it does all that i ask of it, so i have no real problems, i do find gracenote a bit odd at times and wish it would do it automatically like mediaplayer but that is a very minor issue. Espescially as the computer i have it on doesn't always have an internet connection.
I'm sure if it was dropped it'd be as fragile as an iPod (HD based) but it's got a far better screen than an ipod. It connects to the av input on the tv no problem (which is where I use it mostly, to play stuff like 'Lost' episodes). Battery life isn't good on video (about 4hrs max) but with mp3s it's superb. It does photos as well and can take a compactflash card (or any other card with a CF adaptor) to show / play photos straight from the card. The software needs to be installed but isn't really used for transferring music / videos / pictures, that's done in a (modified) Windows Explorer.
Rgds
Richard
Click here to view my aircraft photos at JetPhotos.Net!
You're so right!. It is horses for courses, I've had the 20gig iPOD for over 3 years and it gets carried from Chester to London and back every day so it gets a hammering.
The battery is still going strong and the disc only broke (I'm pretty sure) because I dropped it immediately after turning it on when the drive was actually reading.
Also I've got so used to iTunes that I love it and if you rip your cd's at a decent sampling rate the quality is just fine.
About opening the iPOD up - there is a complete maintenance manual set available on the net which covers not only opening up the case but also battery, HD, screen replacement as well as all the software codes.
1. Very good sound.
2. Plays MP3, WMA and WMA DRM.
3. A radio that actually works.
4. Easy to use.
5. PC software better than most.
Not so good things:
1. Volume too quiet for some - especially if connecting to an external system or connecting to car stereo through FM transmitter.
2. Very difficult (almost impossible) to get external mains or car charger - don't assume that generic USB charger will work - so far no joy there.
3. EQ settings have no discernable effect (or is it my ears?).
4. Managing play lists on the fly is difficult to impossible - best with a PC.
Despite the shortcomings I like the V Plus. I'm waiting for some feedback from Creative on the external charger issue - will post here when I get it.
Creative now do a mains charger and an in-car charger for th Zen V... A bit pricey when you consider other generic products but at least they ought to work.
On the subject of generic chargers the Zen V requires a charger with an output of 5v and 1 amp to charge and creative confirm that there are not that many generic chargers that meet this specification.
