mp3 player choice,research done!

metrognome

Would like your thoughts on this, stuck between three products, the iriver h340, the iaudio x5L and the Archos AV420. Have done so much research over which mp3player to buy, but these all seem better as they can store video too. I would be using the player primarily for mp3s, but the video idea seems so cool, that I would definetely use this too, watching movies on train or whatever. What I want to know is which one is best (without Bias). Haven't heard too much bout the Archos Product. I'm planning on buying within the next week hopefully, but it could go on longer than that. Also, what is an ID3 tag? I know only the Archo supports this. I would also like to be able to store songs by album tracklist. not alphabetically. Please Help!

feylya

I'm actually in the exact same boat. Trying to figure out whether to get the iRiver or the iAudio. Personally, I'm leaning towards the iRiver cos I've used one and it's pretty damn impressive.

And id3 tags are the tags embedded in mp3 files which contain information like title, artist, album, year, etc.

Karma Policeman

Im thinkin the exact same. These products seem to be pretty much the top of the market. Would anyone care to shine a light on which one to buy?

Scubadevils

Well I am a big iAudio fan and would personally highly recommend the X5. It is a drawback that it doesn't support ID3 tags for looking up music as you do have to look them up by filename however it does display all the info on screen when the track is playing. Best bet really is to go into a store that sells both and see which one you prefer. Might sound like a very simple solution but once you hold them both and try them out I reckon you can then make your decision. I have heard that iAudio will support ID3 in the future by firmware upgrade.

tallus

I have had three archos's mainly used them for the video end of things and imo nothing can touch them in that respect, but the ui for mp3 playing is crap, not very intuitive at all. I use an ipod for music and archos for video/storage it has a cool photo viewer too.
So if you're mainly going to be listening to mp3 go for something else, but if you want something that will encode video direct from the tv/dvd on the fly buy an archos.

aphex™

Anybody know any shops in Dublin that sell the I-audio's?

feylya

Harvey Norman does them.

aphex™

feylya wrote:

Harvey Norman does them.

Surely theres somewhere else? I don't want to be paying the guy in that annoying ad's wages!!!

tallus

Amen to that aphex! I'm with you there lol I'd love to punch that guy out

aphex™

metrognome: Have you decided which one to buy yet? Probably best to check out some reviews on google.

Also; the I-audio is for sale in Peats of Parnell & PCN.ie.

fenris

"The laptop shop" upstairs in Stephens green sells both iRiver and iAudio mp3 players. They are up the second escalator and immediatly on your right.

I have been in there a few times and found them to be both knowledgable and friendly, if it is not on the shelf just ask. I liked the fact that when advising a foreign couple ahead of me about the purchase of a laptop, they did not attempt to sell them the most expensive laptop, instead they spent time trying to figure out what the best option for the couple was and even argues them away from shiney but crap towards solid enough to survive being used as a laptop on the move. It was a nice change and will make me go back.

1huge1

have you looked into the iRiver H10 thats a powerful piece of equipment

feylya

I ordered a H340 yesterday. I'll let you know what I think.

coreilly1

From my experience of the Archos av420 I would recommend it to anyone.The MP3 playback is great,and you can choose how you want your tunes displayed,be it track,artist or album.

Video playback does the job and worked well while I was travelling during the summer.True,the downside is that you can't drag and drop from your pc and watch pc movies but recently I have been recording footie matches or whatever off tv and watched them on the bus into work the next morning.

Its worked for me great so obviously I'm a bit biased,but I did do quite alot of research and found that compared to iriver pmp120 and creative pvp,the screen visibility was a cut above.Had also purchased an iriver pmp120 and found it to be dreadful,so I sold it and bought the archos.Would recommend getting an 80gb version also