MP3 player questions (iTunes, blackberry, flash, iPod Touch)

[grubbyhubby]

A few questions about MP3 players.
About how much music can one fit onto a 8GB MP3?
also, is there a big difference in quality from an Apple Ipod vs. , say, a Sony Walkman player - (because there IS a big difference in price).

I'm just now thinking of joining this MP3 player sub culture. Until now I'm still in the CD days but need portable music at work. I have some of my music on file in my PC but need to get more. Any recommendations as to the best way to collect a library? I've used Limewire before and may do that again. Why pay for the music from Rhapsody or Itunes?

Best FREE Music download site?

Thanks all.

[jayrandom]

A good rule of thumb is that 1MB = 1 minute of music. That would mean that 8GB would give you about 8000 minutes (=5 1/2 days) of music.

There can be a big difference in quality among mp3 players, even ones from the same manufacturer. iPod is generally considered to be good quality, but is usually sold based on its intuitive design and integration with the popular iTunes software. Any major manufacturer should have products of reasonable quality. There are some low-quality knock-offs available very inexpensively.

As for management software, if you don't want to go with the software associated with your mp3 player a good possible choice would be winamp. I've used it for years and like it. I'm sure there is something more recent that is better.

As for collecting a big library, I think you may be 10 years too late to collect one illegally with impunity. You could probably still do it, but you aren't going to get recommendations from me. If you're willing to pay, emusic.com has a number of good indie music and classical artists for cheaper than itunes.

[NHDave]

The average is about 3.5MB per song, as far as downloads I'll give you one word, torrents.

[grubbyhubby]

Originally Posted by NHDave

The average is about 3.5MB per song, as far as downloads I'll give you one word, torrents.

Yeah, not sure what torrents are. Can someone explain please?

[NHDave]

Originally Posted by grubbyhubby

Yeah, not sure what torrents are. Can someone explain please?

That would be more than one word

BitTorrent (protocol) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

[Infamous92]

It depends on the quality of the music, higher quality songs can take up twice as much space as regular songs.

I have a 16GB MP3 Player (2G iPod touch) with 1103 songs (including high quality songs and music videos) and its all less than 6GB. The 8GB iPod touch is advertised as being capable of holding 1,750 songs but the 8GB iPod nano is advertised as being able to hold 2,000 songs, so its around those two numbers.

iPods (especially the iPod nano & iPod touch) tend to have more features than most MP3 Players that's probably why they cost more than a lot of MP3 Players.

[InfectedMushroom]

Everybody should use torrents, it is our right to share.

[thecoalman]

Depends on the bitrate, 128kbps which is about as low as you want to go are about 1 MB per minute. 320 provides higher quality but usually more than doubles the file size.

Also note that there is different encoding methods that can effect file size, CBR and VBR. The answer to your question is "depends".

Best FREE Music download site?

Really not much available for free, What I've done is bought a lot of used CD's. they are usually about $5...

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by InfectedMushroom

Everybody should use torrents, it is our right to share.

It is not your legal right to share copyrighted works.

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by Infamous92

It depends on the quality of the music, higher quality songs can take up twice as much space as regular songs.

I have a 16GB MP3 Player (2G iPod touch) with 1103 songs (including high quality songs and music videos) and its all less than 6GB. The 8GB iPod touch is advertised as being capable of holding 1,750 songs but the 8GB iPod nano is advertised as being able to hold 2,000 songs, so its around those two numbers.

iPods (especially the iPod nano & iPod touch) tend to have more features than most MP3 Players that's probably why they cost more than a lot of MP3 Players.

Just to be sure - you mean sound quality. A 3 minute Barry Manilow song takes up just about as much space as a 3 minute Stevie Ray Vaughan song.

My list of things to consider:

1. whether or not you want to be part of the Apple proprietary ecosystem built around iTunes. Music purchased on iTunes is generally not playable on non-Apple devices.

2. hard drive or flash memory based players. HD units store far more and cost less per storage quantity, but are less reliable and more vulnerable to shock.

3. do you want other features such as video playback or a radio.

4. I generally rip my own CDs. But more and more I am buying MP3 music from Amazon. MP3 is THE most portable format available and can be played on iPods, Zunes, Blackberry, car stereos, etc.