What will replace ipod for quality portable music. ?

[gamba]

Any suggestion gratefully accepted by a rather non - technical person.

[Dave2002]

Any suggestion gratefully accepted by a rather non - technical person.

Surely it depends on how you define quality, and also how the playback device is going to be used. There are some who don't rate iPods, but the Classic model is good enough for many practical purposes. Has it now been discontinued? The new prices on Amazon seem to have shot up, which might indicate that. The big thing about that one is the size of the storage available. Otherwise, the Touch models go up to 32Gbyte, and may be good enough, and not having rotating parts is surely an advantage for a portable device.

Some people would like iPhones, which seem similar to some iPods, but with phone and computer like features added in.

Android phones might do, and Bluetooth capability seems fairly popular. However it's only the top end models which have Bluetooth + aptX which is claimed to give the best Bluetooth sound - but this is still not as good as regular PCM which can be obtained with other devices, such as the iPods.

Another factor is how portable the gadgets have to be. I heard a Bose "portable" loudspeaker system driven by an iPod classic, and it sounded pretty good. That's portable in the sense of "put it in the car, and take it away to a cottage for a weekend", but not otherwise. Also although good enough for a weekend away, not up to the level of quality possible at home.

Yet other factors are whether the music is to be stored on the device or not. Nowadays so many people are happy enough to have streamed audio, that storage capacity might not be an issue, though in that case connectivity would be - both WiFi and phone networks.
To return to the weekend away scenario, some locations have neither WiFi, nor broadband nor phone connectivity.

I would rate the top end iPad quite highly- it goes up to 128Gbytes , but it's larger than an iPod, and some may not want the extra features, or may be concerned that the sound quality isn't (for them) high enough.

So, what do you want it for?

[gamba]

Alternative to ipod. I'm Ui

[QUOTE=Dave2002;472676]Surely it depends on how you define quality, and also how the playback device is going to be used. There are some who don't rate iPods, but the Classic model is good enough for many practical purposes. Has it now been discontinued? The new prices on Amazon seem to have shot up, which might indicate that. The big thing about that one is the size of the storage available. Otherwise, the Touch models go up to 32Gbyte, and may be good enough, and not having rotating parts is surely an advantage for a portable device.

Some people would like iPhones, which seem similar to some iPods, but with phone and computer like features added in.

Android phones might do, and Bluetooth capability seems fairly popular. However it's only the top end models which have Bluetooth + aptX which is claimed to give the best Bluetooth sound - but this is still not as good as regular PCM which can be obtained with other devices, such as the iPods.

Another factor is how portable the gadgets have to be. I heard a Bose "portable" loudspeaker system driven by an iPod classic, and it sounded pretty good. That's portable in the sense of "put it in the car, and take it away to a cottage for a weekend", but not otherwise. Also although good enough for a weekend away, not up to the level of quality possible at home.

Yet other factors are whether the music is to be stored on the device or not. Nowadays so many people are happy enough to have streamed audio, that storage capacity might not be an issue, though in that case connectivity would be - both WiFi and phone networks.
To return to the weekend away scenario, some locations have neither WiFi, nor broadband nor phone connectivity.

I would rate the top end iPad quite highly- it goes up to 128Gbytes , but it's larger than an iPod, and some may not want the extra features, or may be concerned that the sound quality isn't (for them) high enough.



So, what do you want it for?[/QUOTE





Thank you Dave 2002. I spend some time in hospital. 2 pints of blood @ about one drop every 2 - 3 seconds ! Takes a while. My present ipod behaves in a strange manner from time to time. I use fairly decent Sennheiser cans. I just wondered if a simpler more reliable item was available.

Thanks for your thoughts anyway, gambas

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I've become so frustrated by my temperamental iPod that I have resorted to this:- http://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-EXP2...onal+cd+player

MUCH more reliable, even if it does mean carting CDs around.

[Dave2002]

Thank you Dave 2002. I spend some time in hospital. 2 pints of blood @ about one drop every 2 - 3 seconds ! Takes a while. My present ipod behaves in a strange manner from time to time. I use fairly decent Sennheiser cans. I just wondered if a simpler more reliable item was available.

In theory use of phones in hospitals seems to be frowned upon (banned), though it seems to me that "everyone" does it, so that should rule out phones as music players. The current iPods are surely not too bad - and should still be compatible with your music server and library. How about an iPad mini? Probably not a good idea to have an expensive iPad, iPod or tablet for use in hospital - even a 16Gbyte unit would perhaps be enough.

When we went on holiday to Kenya some years ago I deliberately bought some cheap mp3 players from Tesco, on the grounds that if they got stolen it wouldn't be a tragedy. As it happened we've still got the players, and as I recall even the 4 Gbyte models were big enough to store quite a few hours of music, and I got to know Glazunov's Symphonies 1-8 with their help. If you go for a non Apple product you might have to find some other way of getting the music files onto the device, and use a different server/player system - i.e not iTunes, which is what I think you might be using right now. Ideally you might want some form of wireless (WiFi) device which could makd it easier to get the files on to the device, and also have a wired option - probably USB.

I found a couple of players at amazon -

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Transcend-MP...ustomerReviews No screen, and files may have to be mp3.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kubik-Player...s=music+player This one - not a make known to me - has a MicroSD card, so presumably that could be used to copy the music files onto.

Also an Android tablet which might be reasonable - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Transcend-MP...ustomerReviews

Lastly, if you have Tesco points, you could try their Hudl, and use the points doubling scheme to get one for the equivalent of around £70 - http://www.tesco.com/direct/hudl2-8-...skuId=307-0394

[Dave2002]

I've become so frustrated by my temperamental iPod that I have resorted to this:- http://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-EXP2...onal+cd+player

MUCH more reliable, even if it does mean carting CDs around.

If one can be bothered, it was also possible to get mp3 CD players, so that by ripping and copying to CD the equivalent of several CDs could be put onto one disc. Possibly there are portable DVD players also, which could provide that, or similar functionality - bearing in mind that DVDs store more.

[richardfinegold]

Apple has discontinued the iPod Classic and the nano.
I currently use my Android Phone as my portable player. At present I use a a relatively inexpensive Bluetooth Headphones and wirelessly play Music from iTunes, Amazon MP3, and Spotify. I am listening to Barshai in Shosty 7th from a pool in Florida where we are escaping the dreary Midwestern winter. The phones are getting warm in the Florida sun so I may switch to the ear buds that I also brought

[richardfinegold]

Regarding Hospitals, here patients use portable streaming devices all the time.

[Dave2002]

Regarding Hospitals, here patients use portable streaming devices all the time.

Richard

Most hospitals here have warnings and instructions re the (non) use of phones, and how they can interfere with medical equipment. As far as I can see, 99% of people are either illiterate, or just ignore the notices anyway. There may be parts of hospitals where there are problems, but ....

Unless the hospital itself provides wifi streaming might be hard in UK hospitals. Otherwise streaming would be over the phone networks, and that might be expensive. Not only that, but the networks are not always very good - there are I think still many black spots where there is hardly any useful signal.

Personally I also have an Android phone, and set of cheap Bluetooth headphones. These won't be the fancy high quality ones which I've read about (with the aptX codec capability), but I find that the combination is good enough for casual listening, either for downloaded files from Amazon, or for streaming from Amazon or Spotify. I'm not sure whether our OP wants to go that way.

The weather in Florida sounds enticing. Presumably similar to the weather in Cuba - which we visited a few years ago in January. At least it's not raining here at the moment.

[Beef Oven!]

Richard

Most hospitals here have warnings and instructions re the (non) use of phones, and how they can interfere with medical equipment. As far as I can see, 99% of people are either illiterate, or just ignore the notices anyway. There may be parts of hospitals where there are problems, but ....

Unless the hospital itself provides wifi streaming might be hard in UK hospitals. Otherwise streaming would be over the phone networks, and that might be expensive. Not only that, but the networks are not always very good - there are I think still many black spots where there is hardly any useful signal.

Personally I also have an Android phone, and set of cheap Bluetooth headphones. These won't be the fancy high quality ones which I've read about (with the aptX codec capability), but I find that the combination is good enough for casual listening, either for downloaded files from Amazon, or for streaming from Amazon or Spotify. I'm not sure whether our OP wants to go that way.

The weather in Florida sounds enticing. Presumably similar to the weather in Cuba - which we visited a few years ago in January. At least it's not raining here at the moment.

I don't think these devices interfere with hospital equipment at all (except perhaps in a hyperbaric installation, where you could blow yourself and anyone else around you up).

[Cockney Sparrow]

In the past year I wondered whether to go Apple / iPod or otherwise and I'm still not fully committed - I might pass on the iPod to one of my family. When I was looking I though the Sansa Clip range might be OK - cheaper and people say the quality is quite good.

I also use my Android phone and use streaming from Google Play Music, and using high quality in ear phones the quality is very good. I haven't connected it to my living room audio system, so I don't know it’s the best.

I see you (the OP) indicate a quality player, but you are a non-technical person. I'm not technical but I am willing to engage so I have a suggestion - perhaps it will appeal more to other forum readers. Sony are selling a Hi-Res portable player. I've seen comment that actually they sell a a high bit rate portable recorder which will play files to the same level, and is better value than the Walkman. On a quick check they both take microSD/Memory Stick for memory expansion (so you are not forced to pay over the top rates for inbuilt extra memory as you do with the iPod). And of course one gets a recorder with inbuilt microphones (which I would find useful at the least for school performances (wife is a teacher) and family history interviews.

http://www.sony.co.uk/pro/product/broadcast-products-professional-audio-portable/pcm-m10/overview/

http://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/walkman/nwz-a-series/specifications

[teamsaint]

I love my Sansa Clip. Its a breeze to use, loads of capacity on micro SD cards.
However the display, though easy to use, is pretty minimal.

I would thoroughly recommend it as a back up, or for use when out and about, holiday etc.

If Gamba really wants something for regular everyday use, I might suggest something with a better display. Particularly important for classical, as the information on the display is limited.

For all that, its a briliant little machine,and really easy to load and delete music.

[Bryn]

If it's high quality audio you are looking for in a pocket player, the FiiO X5 is well regarded, at a price. There are cheaper FiiOs which also have a good reputation.

[Dave2002]

I don't think these devices interfere with hospital equipment at all (except perhaps in a hyperbaric installation, where you could blow yourself and anyone else around you up).

So were NHS hospitals, just having us all on then? Were there ever any reasons not to use mobile phones? There are still notices in some hospitals.

Was the over cautious approach re interference eventually found to be incorrect/unnecessary? Or did they just give up the struggle against human behaviour?

In the case of non use in aircraft, I was once told that it's a bad idea because it messes up ground communications, as the planes travel fast relative to mobile phone base stations, and this disrupts the network because of the very rapid communications handover between stations. There have been some examples of mobile phones being used in aircraft which worked, and were not the direct cause of the planes crashing.

[Beef Oven!]

So were NHS hospitals, just having us all on then? Were there ever any reasons not to use mobile phones? There are still notices in some hospitals.

Was the over cautious approach re interference eventually found to be incorrect/unnecessary? Or did they just give up the struggle against human behaviour?

In the case of non use in aircraft, I was once told that it's a bad idea because it messes up ground communications, as the planes travel fast relative to mobile phone base stations, and this disrupts the network because of the very rapid communications handover between stations. There have been some examples of mobile phones being used in aircraft which worked, and were not the direct cause of the planes crashing.

I don't think NHS hospitals were ever having us on about this - more like it's an idea that seems to have gotten into the minds of people, and grown legs, so as to speak, and has been running around the place ever since.