MP3 Player Confusion

Loobz

I have a question that been nibbling at my little brain.

I want an MP3player. I'm looking for a large one like a Zen. Now, my mates have 256mb stick MP3 players. They simply plug it in, drag and drop and go. Is it true that the Zen needs to be installed on the PC? I need to know cos it would be a bit inconvenient to install the software each time on my mates pc's etc in order to grap some MP3's or whatever.

If this is the case, what large capacity MP3 players can simply plug in without installing software?

Hopefully someone can draw a picture for me so I can understand.

thanks in advance.

seamus

There shouldn't be a massive difference.

A lot of it depends on the Operating System people are using. If your mates are using Windows 98 for example, then you most likely would have to install software on each machine you wanted to get files off.

If they are using Win2k or XP though, usually, they should be able to detect and auto-install the device, without havnig to carry drivers around with you. Most, if not all MP3 players read as Removable Disk Drives, flash memory or otherwise.

Mailman

Zen requires a driver. It is not a removable storage device.

McClane

Your much better off with one that doesn't require drivers. A mate of mine has one and the drivers were for 98 (i think) but they will barely work on XP.

KdjaCL

I have an Archos 20GB and it shows up as a drive can use it to move files about and have 4gb of mp3 on it (need more) i go to peoples pcs and just drop in what i want.

Its simple as that but dont get 256 get one in the GB range they just super


kdjac

eclectichoney

once again the name iriver springs to mind....exactly like an external hard drive, you just drag and drop the files, mp3s, wmas whatever,

Fabritzo

The I-pod doesn't need drivers to work as a hd.