My MP3 Player is Broken

[PixarFan2006]

My Creative Zen V Plus MP3 player froze on me last night when I was listening to music. I tried resetting it, but it only made things worse. The only way I can get any response out of it is to hold the screen down with my thumb when it is hooked up to my computer.

[Lazario]

How long have you owned that player?

My mp3 player started freezing like a week and a half after I got it. The person who gave it to me didn't have the receit and I had literally told them before - ALWAYS SAVE YOUR RECEITS FOR EVERYTHING!!! And I was there when they bought one for themself, you know. I got mine later as a gift. They stood there right with the salesperson who was like "and it comes with a great guarantee / warrante, if anything goes wrong..." and the person I know who bought it was like, "I don't care. I don't care. I don't need it."

Yeah, it just kept freezing. And it would stay that way for hours. And I got so fed up and it never worked right, that I broke it and threw it away!!




So, I'd like to know from everyone - do iPods actually work any better? At all???

[Jack Skellington]

IMO ipods rock, Laz, I think they're the best type of mp3 players, I never had an experience in which it gets permanently messed up, they freeze for a day or two and that's it, the only thing that I noticed about ipods is that people steal them more often then a Ben Franklin Dollar, I got one stolen three times, twice by a couple of classmates who seriously need to register for Ethics 101, and an air flight attended, yeah I know, even devils have wings these days.

Anyway I noticed that when you take your ipod out in extreme weather, that's too hot or too cold, then it freezes for a while but after a day or two it goes back to normal, but I've only used ipods anyway, sorry.

[Lazario]

That's it - I'm not buying any other portable music players EVER.

"Freezing" is ridiculous!! They so need to invent a kind of Blu-Ray of portable music players. Something that works freaking good, not something that freezes at all.

[drfsupercenter]

So, I'd like to know from everyone - do iPods actually work any better? At all???

Nope. Under no circumstances are iPods the *best* mp3 player out there. I'll admit they're über-popular, but why? They're overpriced for the features. I got an 80GB Zune for the same price as a 30GB iPod Classic at the time. AND it does videos larger, has a radio, and also Wi-Fi.

You can now get a 120GB Zune for $250. I'd like to see Apple beat that.

My Zune's never crashed either.

As far as flash-type players (Hey, hard drive players can always crash, they have ACTUAL MOVING PARTS), I have a couple Sansas I've been nothing but happy with. Of course, I installed Rockbox on them... (Rockbox is an open-source third-party firmware that works better than the original IMO), if it freezes you just hold power for 30 seconds and it turns off. You can then turn it back on.

[SpringHeelJack]

The only trouble I ever had with my iPod was when it dropped it onto the floor, which caused it to act up for a day or so then it went back to normal. I've had mine for three years now and that's the biggest problem it's ever given me. Plus it's aesthetically pleasing! And white! And it feels as though it's from the not-too-distant future!

[drfsupercenter]

And a fingerprint magnet... and a waste of space given that the Zune is the same size but has a 1.5x bigger screen.

The only reason I'm iPod bashing is because I hate how EVERYONE has an iPod, and people buy them without even considering the competition! If all your friends jump off a bridge, would you? I like to do research on electronics before buying them... and at the time, the Zune had the best "Dollars-to-gigabytes" ratio (I think it still does with the 120GB model), and I liked the Zune Pad (Scroll wheels annoy me for some reason), and the large screen was nice... etc.

But as I said above I'm also a Sansa fan. Those are probably the best non-hard drive players out there... and you can get an 8GB Sansa for around $75 if you know where to look.

[Elladorine]

I've had an iTouch ever since they were pretty new and never had a problem with it. I love all the apps for it, lol.

I've also got a 3rd gen iPod nano that I've never had problems with, also an iPod shuffle.

[Lazario]

I just want something that doesn't freeze.

So, one of you says a Zune. The other says iPod. Hey, SpringHeel - what part of the world do you live in? Maybe if you live in warmer weather, it works better than someone in colder weather. I don't know.

[Dottie]

I've always had an iPod and it has never froze. Right now it is very cold here and I go out with it every day and wait in the cold for the bus, but I've never had any problems with it freezing or stop working.

What you probably shouldn't do is leave it in the car in the cold or something like that, since then it will probably freeze. But my cell phone would do that too if I left it in the cold.
I guess the reason why they all freeze in the cold, is not the system or the hard drive or flash whatever, but the batteries. They're not made for temperatures like that and if the thing doesn't get any power it freezes up.

I've always been happy with my iPods and will probably never get a different mp3-player than an Apple iPod. I love the design (yes, that is a factor) and the iPods and iTunes is very easy to use.

[blackcauldron85]

Both of my mp3 players are Sandisk Sansas (or Sansa Sandisks...). I like how they have a slot to put a Micro SD card in them, to hold more music. My older one (it's a 1-GB from 2006) has frozen in the past, but my 4-GB Fuze, which I bought last year has never frozen- it works great.

[PixarFan2006]

I got it working again last night.

[Elladorine]

I got it working again last night.

Yay!!!

[SpringHeelJack]

I just want something that doesn't freeze.

So, one of you says a Zune. The other says iPod. Hey, SpringHeel - what part of the world do you live in? Maybe if you live in warmer weather, it works better than someone in colder weather. I don't know.

I live in Boston for most of the year, and I've not had a problem with weather affecting my iPod, and it tends to be fairly cold both in Boston and in my apartment. The only time I personally know that temperature conditions affected an iPod is that my sister used to attach hers to speakers and listen to it during long showers. As you can imagine, exposing any sort of technology to wet, humid conditions doesn't bode well, and I think her click wheel stopped working after, like, many months of doing this. But assuming you don't live in a sauna, I think you'll be safe.

[Kram Nebuer]

I got it working again last night.

Yay!!!

I second that Yay!!

I also have a Creative MP3 Player. I have the Zen Creative Micro (5 GB). I got it in 2005 before our Christmas vacation. I wanted this one because it was compatible with Windows Media Player for Sync-ing up songs. An Ipod would've been nice, but I didn't want to go through the trouble of learning iTunes after just figuring out WMP.

Anyhow, there was a time when my player would freeze and restore the music library whenever it experienced the slightest tremor. It was really annoying because I had only had it for a year. But after a bit, it stopped doing it and now my player is really sturdy under pressure! If it falls hard, it will do it again, but that's expected.

There was a time when it completely froze for no good reason at all and it took me a few days of resetting and recharging the battery to get it working back to normal.

Speaking of battery, my Zen's battery is almost dead (only lasts for about 1 hour, but takes like 3 hours to charge to full). I ordered a new one on Amazon from an electronics vendor and it works great, just like my old battery used to and it was only about $8 with shipping. The reviews for that brand were good, so I'm hoping this battery lasts for a while.

I'm not sure if I'm going to upgrade to a better one as this one has done everything I'd want it to do. More space would be nice and maybe video, but there aren't too many times when I'm being mobile and have time to sit and watch a video to justify buying a more expensive one.

[thomashton]

I have had a Zune 120 since the week they were released last September. I absolutely love it. Don't know what I did before without it. I like the Zune software. The player itself is awesome. The screen is huge, and beautiful. The scroll pad is amazing. It has wifi, an FM radio, and a huge 120 gb hhd. I wish it was flash memory, but dollar to space ratio is really amazing on this unit. Absolutely can't say enough good about it. NEVER once has it frozen either. You'll likely never fill it.

[drfsupercenter]

Heh, I'm jealous... I want the 120GB Zune!

I have the 80GB model (which I think was discontinued and "replaced" with the 120GB... you can still buy the 80GB but you don't see it advertised officially), and it's pretty much the same with less storage. And I love it too.

Really, people just hate the Zune because they read bad reviews or don't like Microsoft... I think it would be surprising how many people would take a liking to them if they actually gave it a try.