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(More customer reviews)I've owned all three 40GB players available today: Creative Zen, RCA Lyra, Apple iPod.This is the review I wish I had read before I started shopping.It was a originally more comprehensive but I had to trim it to 1000 words.
Forthe most part, the Creative Zen has the best features of the three, as well as the best price.It sounds like a no brainer except for the fact that these things break like crazy!If you read some of the other reviews on here, you'll see a few people mention that their headphone jack shorted out when they dropped the player....well mine shorted out while the player was sitting on my desk not moving at all.I don't know a single person who bought one of these players and didn't have their headphone jack malfunction!Many reviewers suggest buying an extended warranty because of this problem.I would most definitely agree with them on that one, but personally I don't have the patience to wait a few weeks every time the player decides to stop working.Those warrantees are supposed to be purchased just in case something goes wrong; not because something most likely will! The Lyra from the moment it came out of the box to the moment it stopped working for no apparent reason, four hours later, was on the whole a piece of junk.That said...on to the comparisons.
PRICE:As just about every anti-iPod reviewer mentions,THE IPOD IS MORE EXPENSIVE AND DOES PRETTY MUCH THE SAME THING.The iPod is basically the BMW of mp3 players...the other mp3 player work like, and cost about as much as a Kia. They all do basically the same thing, but the cheaper ones are cheaper for a reason!
SIZE:All three players are smaller than a walkman, so it's kind of silly to even discuss this, but it seems to be a hot topic in the other reviews.From largest to smallest the playersare ranked as follows: Lyra, Zen, iPod.The Lyra is the only one of the three which will not fit easily in your pocket.It is the widest /longest /heaviest of the bunch, and personally, I hated the way it felt in my hand.The Zen and the iPod were both a pleasure to hold.
CONTROLS/NAVIGATION: iPod gets first place here simple because it's touch sensitive navigation wheel allows you to get from the first album in your collection to the last in seconds and it stops on a dime anywhere in between.The Zen's controls are very good however it takes longer to scroll through your entire collection and when it really starts moving fast, it continues scrolling after you release the button sometimes skipping past another 50-75 albums!The Lyra had decent navigation, but the buttons had to be pushed more than once before they responded almost half of the time!The Zen and the iPod can be operated easily with one hand.
PLAYLISTS/SONG RATING: The Zen wins here without a doubt.It is the only one of the three where you can create, edit (even while it's playing) and SAVE multiple play lists on the player itself without connecting it to a computer.The iPod allows you to make ONE play list on the fly, which cannot be edited or saved.
The Lyra allows you to tag songs you like or don't like and it makes play lists of each...yes, it makes a playlist of songs that you tell it you DO NOT LIKE...if that doesn't explain what's wrong with this product, nothing will!The iPod allows you to rate songs 1-5 stars on the player, and then make a play list automatically based on those ratings when connected to a computer.
BATTERY: Again, Zen is the winner here.Not only does it offer a battery that lasts 14 hours instead of iPod and Lyra's 8 hour batt. it is also the only player of the three where you can remove and replace the battery when it deteriorates with age as all rechargeables do.It should be noted that the battery times I listed are the official times given by the manufacturers.The Zen actually lasts about 10 hours the other two go between 5 and 6 before needing a charge.
SCREEN:The Zen not only has the biggest screen of the bunch, it also scrolls the album title in the directory screen allowing you to see the whole thing instead of just the first few words.
TRANSFER TO PLAYER: All three units use USB 2.0, the iPod also can be used with Firewire.
TRANSFER FROM PLAYER: The Zen allows you to transfer music freely from your player to any computer loaded with it's software.The iPod does not allow this however third party software that can be purchased and used to pull songs from the iPod.In all honest, the Lyra broke before I could find out if you can pull songs off of it.
SOFTWARE: iTunes is easy to use and offers tons of ways to organize your music.Creative Media Manager takes a lot of getting used to but is decent once you figure it out.Musicmatch, which comes with the Lyra is garbage.It`s slow, difficult to figure out at times, and constantly badgers you to buy the upgrade to its premium version.
EXTRAS: The only one that actually has extra features is the iPod which comes loaded with 4 different games, the ability to read text documents that are stored on the hard drive on the player'sscreen, a date book, and an address book.The Lyra's ONLY advantage over the other players is the fact that it comes with a complete car kit (charger/tape adapter)....which is pretty nice, but useless when the player turns itself into a paperweight after just a few hours.All three players come with a case....iPod's is the only one which does not give you access to the player's controls when it's in the case.
Hope this helped.
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Apple iPod 40 GB White M9245LL/A (3rd Generation) OLD MODELProduct Description: The super-slim iPod defines what a digital music player should be. It's lighter than two CDs, can hold up to 10,000 songs, thousands of digital photos and works as a personal voice recorder. Now you can sync with iTunes for Mac and Windows at blazing speeds, and take your entire music collection with you wherever you go. Customize main menu Create On-The-Go playlists Rate songs Shuffle songs or albums Repeat one or all Sound Check on or off 20 Equalizer settings Backlight timer Display contrast Alarms on, off or silent Sleep timer Date and time Display time in menu bar Contacts sort and display by first or last names Clicker on or off Languages: English, French, German, Japanese, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Swedish, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese Includes:Ipod EarphonesAc AdapterUSB CableManualSoftware
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