From Monday I will no longer be driving to work, instead Ill be taking the train, roughly 45 minutes in the morning and again in the evening.

So Ill need something to keep me entertained

Im talking more along the lines of portable music/video than gaming... I have a PSP and rarely use it, and the interface is crap for regular music/video use. Im completely out the loop in terms of whats current so what are my options? Needs to be relatively small (no bigger than an iPod Video, ie no Archos). Is there anything that includes built in DAB these days (and the ability to record)? Mostly be used for music/audiobooks and maybe some videos (TV).

Apple - from what I can tell, it doesnt look like well se a new iPod soon as theyre focusing on iPhone, which we also wont see until 2008 at this rate.

MS-Zune - Supposedly a new one coming out soon?

Others - ?

just a decent mobile phone.

Some smartphones can do what you want.

I have an Nokia N80... nothing spectacular, but runs mobipocket ebook reader, msn, irc, emails, plays mp3s.

and has a miniSD slot to expand the memory

Sorted.

Options... (following from Fleabay)

MS Zune 30Gb, Black with Premium Zune Ear Plugs - £155 delivered.

   - International Warranty?
   - Not too fussed about the Premium Ear Plugs, as I have some B&O Earphones, but it only works out at £5 more, so if I do go for a Zune I might as well get them.

Apple iPod 30Gb, Black - £149 delivered.
Apple iPod 80Gb, Black - £199 delivered


Looking out for other manufacturers, but nothings really caught my eye so far... (Creative Zen Vision W looked interesting, but reviews havent been favorable.)

Quote from: M3ta7h3adjust a decent mobile phone.

Some smartphones can do what you want.

I have an Nokia N80... nothing spectacular, but runs mobipocket ebook reader, msn, irc, emails, plays mp3s.

and has a miniSD slot to expand the memory

Sorted.

I used to use smartphones quite a lot and went through several (Ericsson R380, SE P800, P900). Im loving the simplicity (and camera!) of my SE K800i right now.

I have been thinking about getting another smartphone but if I did it would need to have GPS. Im only looking at standalone audio/video players as Ive yet to see a phone of any sort with an intuitive interface & good enough screen for audio/video use.

The Nokia N95 has the features, but its looks arent winning me over.

The o2 XDA Orbit looks interesting, but once again not sure of its playback functionality.

The main problem with smartphones/pdas etc is they just dont have enough memory.  When they start coming with 30gb+ then Ill ditch my ipod.  Until then, Ill be carrying both when I travel.

Quote from: funkychicken9000The main problem with smartphones/pdas etc is they just dont have enough memory.  When they start coming with 30gb+ then Ill ditch my ipod.  Until then, Ill be carrying both when I travel.

Yep, that as well.



Ive had an iPod before; bought it in Feb 2005, a 40Gb one. I only had it for 4 months, until it was stolen (never replaced it even though I claimed it on the insurance). At the time the main thing that bugged me about it was iTunes. It was too slow and far too prone to crashing when syncing. Hopefully thats changed. 80Gb is tempting me back

Then again, will I see benefits with the system Ill be syncing it with being a media centre? I have read some promising reviews for the Zune.


I dont think either the iPod of Zune can claim they do video well... most TV eps and all movies are in 16:9 these days.

I suppose I could get one of them, then sell up when a widescreen iPod/Zune comes out.

I think itunes is quite good, it syncs fine for me.

original greyscale chunky gameboy is where its at!

3 X-Series mobile is what you want
N73 smartphone, Install ORB & be able to use anything on your PC. Music, Movies, TV Episodes, Surf the Web, or just watch TV (providing your Computer has a TV Card or you use a Slingbox).

Oh & install a gameboy emulator on it ;-D

Memory...

you can get multi gigabyte micro sds now I believe.

My pda only has a 4gb microdrive in it. I use 2gb and thats after ive got a shedload of applications installed on it.

If memory is really the issue micro sds are small enough that you can carry shedloads of them in your wallet without even realising it, have one full of music, one full of games, one full of ebooks. sorted.

Not sure why anyone wastes time with this question really, if the question is "I want a portable music player with 10s of Gbs of Storage what should I buy?" there is only one answer. Get the iPod on order now.

Ive had my 3g iPod for 2.5 years now, never really had a sync problem except when trying to use under linux, latest version of itunes seems to sync faster than ever. From what Ive seen of the new ones, the video screens are surprisingly impressive, although suppose it might get slightly tedious on a screen that small after a while.

Anyway, best interface, best size, just the market leader, end of.

Quote from: funkychicken9000The main problem with smartphones/pdas etc is they just dont have enough memory.  When they start coming with 30gb+ then Ill ditch my ipod.  Until then, Ill be carrying both when I travel.

My sentiments exactly.

Quote from: M3ta7h3adMemory...

you can get multi gigabyte micro sds now I believe.

My pda only has a 4gb microdrive in it. I use 2gb and thats after ive got a shedload of applications installed on it.

If memory is really the issue micro sds are small enough that you can carry shedloads of them in your wallet without even realising it, have one full of music, one full of games, one full of ebooks. sorted.

Right, so you spend £100 on 20gb in micro sds, then have them all jangling round in your pocket?  Say youve got a hankering for a bit of The Proclaimers... now which card is it on?

Ipod all the way.  Like soy says its pretty much the smallest, which is a big plus in my books.  As for syncing, i used to use the ipodml plugin for winamp, but afaik winamp now has ipod support built in.

Quote from: funkychicken9000

Quote from: M3ta7h3adMemory...

you can get multi gigabyte micro sds now I believe.

My pda only has a 4gb microdrive in it. I use 2gb and thats after ive got a shedload of applications installed on it.

If memory is really the issue micro sds are small enough that you can carry shedloads of them in your wallet without even realising it, have one full of music, one full of games, one full of ebooks. sorted.

Right, so you spend £100 on 20gb in micro sds, then have them all jangling round in your pocket?  Say youve got a hankering for a bit of The Proclaimers... now which card is it on?

Ipod all the way.  Like soy says its pretty much the smallest, which is a big plus in my books.  As for syncing, i used to use the ipodml plugin for winamp, but afaik winamp now has ipod support built in.

Ipods are fine, seems a bit pointless a post if thats all he wants.

What I disagree with is the need for 40gb of memory in a portable entertainment device.

Sure... if it came with at least a 7inch screen and supported divx and similar I could see an advantage, but an ipod ffs... I mean let me just check...

I have 5488 mp3s (in the main folder)... they take up 23gb. I am never.. in all of my life going to need 5488 mp3s. Saying an average length of 3 minutes a song.

Thats 274 HOURS of music.

The idea behind the ease of itunes and its playlists and syncing; to me at least, means that they dont expect you to fill the ipod with mp3s, but rather they believe that most people will throw on a few tunes in a playlist, then amend that playlist as time goes by.

In my head: 1Gbyte is more than enough music for any train journey.

I just dont see why "memory" is an issue. If its a smart phone sure theres more need for memory but Ebooks are anything from 1mbyte to 15mbytes in size, applications are tiny... largest one I have is 20mbytes, and pictures and mp3s take up the most space. 512mb miniSD will happily carry everything I could want really, should I need more then yes... I just buy a 1gb one for a few quid (think about £11 nowerdays).

As for staying organised. I refuse to believe that Mr chicken of funkynine is that disorganised in life. What the heck do you do when you carry spare cards for your camera? I certainly dont drag around a big bag with me everywhere I go, no no... rather I carry a small plastic case that fits into a credit card slit on my wallet fine, with my spare cards inside of that.

Hardly difficult to keep track of "music" if you have some form of intellect. A - L ahh thatd be the card on the left, M - Z thatd be the card on the right. That said, as I explained above, there should never be a need for that. Its a train journey to and from work... not an expedition to timbuktu.

Kunal... just get an ipod. You want an mp3 player. Sorted.

Again, shine on you crazy diamond