www.iriver.com It's a company that makes multimedia players. I have their H320 and it is seriously a MUCH better value than the iPod. It only works with USB, but for about the same price, you get a full-color screen, an FM tuner, and a carrying case. You also get full support and a much longer-lasting battery.
this is iriver they are a company that have been making cd players and mp3s for a while now.... if you live in the uk, check out advancedmp3players.co.uk they have a very good service and do price beat too....
I know of a way to replace the battery yourself and how to get it to run on a linux box. http://ipodhacks.com and use google to find out about linux with an iPod.
I just got back from Best Buy and they had iPods and Irivers. The guy recommended an iPod but he said Irivers were really good too. Then he suggested a Shuffler. The shuffler was $100, the iPods were from $200 - $500. Then the iRiver was $279.99.
Don't even get me started on the iPod Shuffle. I have not seen a bigger waste of $150 in my LIFE. iPod Shuffle 1GB iRiver 790T 1GB For $150 you get a piece of plastic with no screen, and basically nothing except for the ability to choose random songs. For $35 more, you get an LCD screen, an FM tuner, and a voice recorder, as well as the ability to record from any audio source.
how are you guys gonna leave CREATIVE LABS out of this? IMO they are better than iRiver and Ipod and MUCH cheaper than an Ipod. you can get a 30GB Creative Labs mp3 player for $200 while a 20GB Ipod is $300, in other words you get 10GB more for $100 cheaper... you do the math
i have an ipod and i dunno how i ever lived without it.. i know there are other alternatives out there, but nothing beats an ipod for the intuitive interface and ease of use.. just my 2 cents
I heard that you have to send your iPod battery in after 3 months so they can rebuild it or something. I own a Rio Chiba it's the 256mb model, and you can add an extra GB of music on it because it has a space for a card. It's only about 140 Canadian and it's easy to use. The only thing is the battery life is only 18 hours, it uses 1 AAA and it uses a 1.1 USB going to the 2.0 USB. It comes with its own program which is easy to use and if you have Windows Media Player you can transfer the music without using the software that Rio provided. All in all it's a sweet MP3 and I will keep it for about 2 years and then buy another Rio model when they come out with a better one. The overall size is the size of my cell phone, which is a LG TM250, so it fits in your pocket.
nah.. the battery should last for at least 2-3 years depending on how you take care of it.. if you're in warranty apple will replace the battery for free, or for $99 out of warranty, but you can get kits online to do it yourself for like $35... it's not really as big of a deal as some people make it out to be.
I'm with n3ptun3 on creative labs here, it may be in the UK (and i not sure what the exchange rate is) but surely this works out a hellova lot cheaper per GB than anything i've seen so far http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=5736