Arrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggg!

[nfpgasmask]

I can't say it any better than this

Well, once again, it has nothing to do with the device itself. I think they are nice looking, and I like the ease of navigation on them as well. Plus, the load of accessories available is also quite nice...

Bart

[etlsport]

bart!! www.woot.com
thers a 5 gig rio like what i have for 80 bucks... for about the next 15 min!

[etlsport]

so what does fubar mean? i was just thinking it about your post when my boss came in and dropped some plans on my desk and said FUBAR!!! (but seemed happy enough..)

ive got a Rio that im very happy with, mine is 1.5 gigs but i know they make a 4gig version now.. ive had mine for about 4 years.. dropped it out of my vx at least 10 times.. its been landed on by pool balls.. stepped on.. still works great

[cyronman]

F'd
up
beyond
all
recognition

[kpaske]

Bart,

You would likely be pretty happy with a lot of "generic" mp3 players if you shop for features rather than name brands. I used to have an iRiver MP3/CD Player that was GREAT and I wouldn't hesitate to purchase another iRiver product (if I were in the market) because they tend to offer more whiz-bang features for your hard earned dollar. They are based out of Korea.

Now I have a Rio "Cali" and what you describe is exactly how I use it. I never use the bundled software, and have never really decided on a player for my PC - what i need is quick and dirty drag and drop capability from windows explorer and NO DRM. The "Cali" model is pretty durable - I wouldn't hesitate to drop it two stories onto concrete and I suspect it would suffer little more than a cosmetic ding - try THAT with a iPod.

The biggest thing that sold me on the Cali is that it has an SD Card reader, so i never have to worry about filling it up - I just keep a handful of cards around with different selections of music - and you can use a variety of readers to drop music on the card so you don't even have to plug in your MP3 player to organize your music collection.

The only thing better than an MP3 player with an SD slot, IMO, MIGHT be an MP3 player with a big hard drive built in, but it would never be as durable as my Cali, and it would cost A LOT more. I got mine at Best Buy about 2 years ago for about $120.

[nfpgasmask]

Hmmm, this Rio sounds interesting. Personally, If I could get away with NO SOFTWARE AT ALL, I would be extatic. I hate the fact that most these devices are really nothing more than a stick of memory or a hard drive, and yet you STILL need to load some idiotic software to organize and "synch" your music. Plug in just about any portable flash memory or hard drive into a PC, and Windows can handle it. Why can't MP3 players do the same thing? The only software needed should be MP3 decoding software on the device itself!!! I don't need to "synch" anything. I am not an idiot and I don't need software to tell me where my music is stored and how it is organized.

And yes, DRM is my MAIN concern when it comes to iTunes and Windows Media Player. DRM is FUBAR, and it will probably keep me from ever upgrading beyond XP, if the things I am hearing about Vista are true. I might just end up becoming a Linux nazi if things keep going the way they are going. But then again, everything gets cracked eventually

Anyway, back to MP3 players. My wife has a little Creative 1 GIG player, and it works EXACTLY the way it should, no software needed. I just want a device like this that has at least 4 GIG of space (that isn't pink like hers either). I would prefer something with at least 8 GIG, but I would settle for 4. I think I have seen 2 GIG SD cards...I wonder if there are ones that are even bigger?

I'm gonna look into this Rio thing.

Thanks - Bart

Bart,

You would likely be pretty happy with a lot of "generic" mp3 players if you shop for features rather than name brands. I used to have an iRiver MP3/CD Player that was GREAT and I wouldn't hesitate to purchase another iRiver product (if I were in the market) because they tend to offer more whiz-bang features for your hard earned dollar. They are based out of Korea.

Now I have a Rio "Cali" and what you describe is exactly how I use it. I never use the bundled software, and have never really decided on a player for my PC - what i need is quick and dirty drag and drop capability from windows explorer and NO DRM. The "Cali" model is pretty durable - I wouldn't hesitate to drop it two stories onto concrete and I suspect it would suffer little more than a cosmetic ding - try THAT with a iPod.

The biggest thing that sold me on the Cali is that it has an SD Card reader, so i never have to worry about filling it up - I just keep a handful of cards around with different selections of music - and you can use a variety of readers to drop music on the card so you don't even have to plug in your MP3 player to organize your music collection.

The only thing better than an MP3 player with an SD slot, IMO, MIGHT be an MP3 player with a big hard drive built in, but it would never be as durable as my Cali, and it would cost A LOT more. I got mine at Best Buy about 2 years ago for about $120.

[nfpgasmask]

F'd
up
beyond
all
recognition

Yeah, its kinda like SNAFU:

Situation
Normal
All
F'ed
Up

I believe these are old military anacronyms. Just like Radar and Laser.

Bart

[etlsport]

F'd
up
beyond
all
recognition

ahhhh... makes much sense.... these plans were actually 4 plans overlaid on eachother (not on purpose either lol they were definately fubar