MP3 players and headphones

[stoph]

im about to get an iRiver H10 MP3 player (thats the 5G model) and was wondering if anyone has owned/currently owns/knows of someone who owns one and, if so, whether it was/is worth the money? my dad gets wholesale and therefore the price has about 100 bucks lopped off, and he wants to put 200 towards it as per a previous arrangement. all in all im getting a pretty mad deal. thoughts?

also, i want to get the best headphones AUS$100-150 can buy. i dont want to go all out, but i want something of good quality. i like the idea of collapsible models, and really detest the ear buds. are noise-cancelling, over-ear headphones good? oh, and i had the idea that, if i got a pair of cordless headphones i could hook the reciever up to the MP3 player, that itd eliminate tangling situations (which can be annoying). i dunno any suggestions?

[Pontemonti]

iRiver is great. I've had the H-120 (that's the old 20 gig model) for more than a year and it (still) works great. The H10 looks like a neat player, but for some strange reason it doesn't have Ogg Vorbis support. I can't live without that - I rip all my CDs to Ogg Vorbis format. One of the advantages with the H10 is that it should work with Windows Media Player (which I think is even worse than iTunes and Winamp, btw :bashful: )...so you can transfer your purchased evil copy-protected DRM WMA files to your player. This is only interesting if you (intend to) purchase music online. And not from the iTunes store, mind you.
An obvious advantage with all (?) iRiver players are that they mount as external hard-drives - you don't need any extra software to transfer files between them and your computer.

Headphones...I haven't tried any real expensive ones, but I like my Koss Porta Pros. I believe they are pretty cheap considering the sound you get out of them.
Cordless phones are interesting, but:
- It's hard to take them with you and use them in the bus, car, train, whatever.
- I've read about people complaining about sound quality...so I'm not sure how good they actually are. Might be worth checking out. You will most likely get better sound with wired phones, but I agree that all these cords are annoying.

[stoph]

i generally use windows media player to rip my CD's to my comp, so this will be an advantage (though it is agreed - its a horrible program :no hope: ) hmm well the cordless headphones venture was always just a "what if", i cant justify the 150+ clams for a set. i think ill shop around, but from what i hear Koss, Sony and Bose are pretty good.

oh hey since my dad installs phone and sound systems in cars as part of his living im gonna get him to wire up a cradle and loom so i can just pop the iRiver in and out, allowing me to better transport my songs (as opposed to delicate yet bulky CD's). this also means itll be less of a target for thieves, wholl go for any car with a flashy head unit :$ and lets face it, itd be a real shame to see my mini broken into (the mere thought of it is terrifying enough as it is!) hmm.. onwards and upwards!

anyone have any more suggestions or things to add?

[wassermelone]

iRivers are awesome. I own the older 20 gig model of the H340.

Most of what I have said, Pontemonti already said it.

As for headphones I think I came across some really nice ones for cheap.
Try out the Sennheiser PX100s (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000089GN3/qid=1119111504/sr=8-2/ref=pd_csp_2/002-7772722-1076837?v=glance&s=electronics&n=507846). I thought I was going to spend 100-150 on headphones last summer... but I got these instead because they get flat out excellent reviews. They are collapsible and have a neat carrying case for them.

The PX200s (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000089GN4/ref=pd_sbs_e_1/002-7772722-1076837?v=glance&s=electronics&n=507846) are closed ear, IE: it reduces the ammount of sound that leaks to the rest of the world, but the PX100s have much better sound quality.

I almost got the PX250 (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000089GN2/ref=pd_sbs_e_3/002-7772722-1076837?v=glance&s=electronics&n=507846) , which are like the PX200s but with an added noise canceling unit. I didn't get em because it has this rather large pill shaped unit hanging off the cord. Coming from the iRiver SlimX I was tired of large pill shaped extras.

They are damn comfortable too.
-toasty

[AnarchyAo2]

A few months ago I bought an iaudio m3, and I loved it. I recently sold it to my brother and bought an X5, and love it also! If you want to look at pictures get check out the X5, if you don't, look at the M3. Both have amazing sound quality, better then iRiver and iPod.

Cowon America (http://www.cowonamerica.com)