Hard Drive MP3 Players

[WARP MAN]

I'm looking into buying an MP3 player as a gift for Christmas (thinking smart and starting to save now). I want an IPOD really but they seem really expensive compared to other similar players on the market. I want to know if I'm just paying for 'the name' with an IPOD or is the quality sifnificantly better than anything out there? I'm not a quality freak, but I expect things to work smoothly.

Can you recommend any other players? I'm thinking the main things I want are:

at least 5gb Hard Drive
Firewire connnection
Lit display so it can be used in the dark.

Thanks for the help.

[smokafatty]

I have a 30gb nomad zen. Its usb2.0 but fairly quick at about 1 song per second. I have no complaints at all and for the price its a great deal.

[Neo]

Yea, most people just like the iPod because of its design, look, feel, and size. However you can get the same great features with other MP3 players. Smok recomended a nice one.

[anott]

i got myself a iriver ihp-120 about a month or so ago and its quality. its the same size as the ipod (and a little lighter). it doesn't have firewire but to be fair its quick enough on usb2 anyway. it has a back lit screen, with nice simple navigation. apart from that it also has

an inline remote with full backlit display so you don't have to get the player out of your bag when you want to find a track, and so you don't have the player on view to everyone.

it can play loads more audio formats

it has a built in fm tuner, which is great for getting the news or footy results

and the best thing (one of the main reasons i bought it) is you can record straight to it via a normal 3.5mm jack or a optical lead.

i'll be the first to admit its not as nice looking as an ipod but who cares when it spends most of its time in your pocket or bag, and unless you have it in a pouch, that shiney white case soon turns into a scratched mess.

[Dave2986]

i'll be the first to admit its not as nice looking as an ipod but who cares when it spends most of its time in your pocket or bag, and unless you have it in a pouch, that shiney white case soon turns into a scratched mess.
Ill second that, a few friends of mine have ipods and they dont look too hot after 6 months of medium use :(

How much did you pay anott?

[anott]

i think it was £245 from...

www.advancedmp3players.co.uk (http://www.advancedmp3players.co.uk)

they've got it on amazon too but its 1-2 weeks delivery on it, so i got a price match from advancedmp3

and another thing the battery use time is 19 hours!!

[danman]

2nd annot's choice. Simply the best HD Mp3 player bar none.... and I've had them all so I'm not saying that without knowing WTF I'm on about :-)