What is the best way of listening to MUSIC???

Bakha

Music is definately one of the most important part of nearly everyone's life. I wonder how are you guys listening to music and what mp3 players or maybe other devices do you use and recommend. I love music and I came to Oxford this year, and now I am living in a room that doesn't have neither a TV nor a Music system, but I am kind of reluctant to buy a TV, because you then have to buy a liscence as well. Music Centres with cassettes, Radio, and cD is nice but too big, so I am considerning MP3 player, which is probably the most practical in this sense. I have heard of the New Sony NW 3000 mp3 player with 20 Gb. Anyone can suggest anything or advice on this, plese.

thanks ahead;)

Zynks

If you have access to a PC to load MP3s to a player, an MP3 player will do the job. 20GB is more than enough if you have a reasonably large library (you can get enough songs to listen for 15 days non-stop without repeating a song). Which player you go for depends more on your personal preferences. Are you a techy (techies seem to prefer the iRiver), a poser (iPod), or do you just want a good solid player without having to pay too much (Creative Labs has a good range). All of them are good players, although people become passionate when comparing them.

More important than the model, if you want to listen to music without earplugs, consider buying a 2.1 set of speakers with subwoofer to make the best out of it. There are lots of good, budget options out there, but you will get better value for money from PC audio solutions instead of hi-fi ones. Check here for a few samples: http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/kc.asp?bn=10126

Since space is an issue, you will be glad to hear that you can hide the subwoofer anywhere, under the bed, on top of a wardrobe, etc...

muckwarrior

Some good advice there Zynks. Also, if you're looking for a 2.1 set then also have a look in the shops around town. I got one for my tv about a year ago in maplin for only €20! Always worth lookin for special offers.

Sangre

With your ears

cormie

Mp3 player is definitely the best option. Once you have it full, 20/40GB it will last you ages and you can just disconnect it from the audio jack, put it in your pocket and take it anywhere you go, if you drive you can then hook it up to your car stereo, when you get out of your car, take it with you, a lot less risky then having a beast of a head unit on display in your car. If money isn't an issue, get a nice set of speakers and either an iRiver H1XX series or iAudio X5, iRiver has better audio options (optical out, crossfading and just about anything you can imagine for mp3 playback, this is with www.rockbox.org by the way) however iAudio is a beauty with great features, video playback and it also has very good mp3 playback, the iRiver is slightly better with the options of optical out, but this is useless if you don't have an optical in port on your speaker system. You should also get yourself a nice pair of earphones, I have the Shure E4s, mention Cormac from Ireland who got them for $198 including shipping and a free airline adaptor to the guys at earphonesolutions.com and they should give you the same deal, works out about €165 and they mark it as gift too, but remind them to do it:) Again, this is all considering you have the money but if music is important to you, it's very important to me, I listen to about 12 hours of music at least per 24 hours, then it's well worth any price:)

Oh, by the way, to get the best quality CD rips from your music collection, follow this guide:)

Miguel_Sanchez

Sangre wrote:

With your ears

Damn it. That was exactly what I thought when I saw the thread title.

bungeecork

I don't know the best way to listen to music (don't understand the question really) but the best place would have to be the car.

Best place to sing too if you sound as bad as I do

TempestSabre

I've started to listen to a lot more music since I upgraded from a old MD and CD portable to an MP3 player and (Most importantly) started using decent headphones and encoding (creating) MP3's in higher (better) quality. I realise now that my old CD walkman sounded terrible, and because it was so awkward, (especially the MD) and sounded bad I had stopped kinda listening to a lot of music.

If you can try the players before you buy one because you'll love or hate the controls on a lot of MP3 players. The navigation can be tricky on some. Also get a warranty and keep the reciept. They break a lot.

MrSinn

the best way i listen to music is thru my psp,wifi jukebox,every song on my pc(4789 songs)

garthv

Aye a PC would be your best bet in this case. You can easily watch movies on it and store all your mp3's. Maybe even use Windows Media Centre if you really want.

daveg

I think the OP posed a really good question. How do each of us listen to music? Personally I have a €3000 cinema system, PC with 60GB of MP3's, small hifi in the bedroom, approx 300 cd's and 300 vinal records.

However I find I barely use any of the above. I do most of my listening in the car through my Audi Phatbox (20GB MP3 system). For some reason I very rarely listen to music at home. I don't know why as I Love music.