New mp3 players coming out soon?

My music collection is at 145gb's currently so buying a 160gb (148gb usable) mp3 player is not ideal for any future music i may get. I would prefer anything not ipod because most of my music is wma (drm) and play for sure compatible is ideal. Anyone know if a 200gb player is coming out soon?

 

August through to October and November will bring many new mp3 players including a new zune and Ipod. My guess is the Ipod classic will have 200gb yes i know its a pain to convert etc but it may very well be the only choice

 

If apple made a 200gb ipod and was the only one to have that capacity i would get it. I just don't like itunes because i really utilize the star ratings in wmp and lose them in itunes...

Is the 200gb ipod just what you think will happen or is there info on the net about it as i can not find anything nor have i heard of a manufacturer make a drive that large yet.

 

That is just a guess from previous generation jumps. max 80gb last time to 160gb. before that max 30gb etc.

Roumers online are setting Ipod 7th Gen for September 2008 and the Zune gen 3 for Q3 08

 

There isn't any 2.5" drives that are 200gb. And besides that, most manufactures are switching over to flash based players, which have alot less capacity than the HDD ones right now. If I was you, I'd delete all my DRM music cause its worthless, and get it without the DRM. But in either case, there I don't see any 200gb players coming out any time soon.

 

I am not made of money to buy 30,000 songs that are not drm'd!

i would be happy with a 160gb zune or zen though...any word on those?

 

i doubt there will be any 200 gb from any company, except, maybe apple. creative is going on to flash players as a lot of companies will probably start doing.why don't you just buy an ipod and put rockbox on it?but i'm not sure if they released a version for the classic.

 

3G iPhone... in about 2 weeks (July 11, 2008)

EDIT: Oops, missed the wma part...

 

I don't think the Zune even supports PFS DRM... but it might work unofficially, I'm not really sure. Anyway you could probably get a Zune and replace the hard drive. I'd think it might work better with the 30gb model because it's thicker... not sure though. Buying another used hard drive player (such as Creative ZVM or Cowon X5) and upgrading the drive could be another possibility.

Alternatively, you could start to become selective about what to load onto your player.
I guarantee that if you went through all your music you'd decide that at least 3/4 of it doesn't truly need to be in your pocket at all times.

 

I looked into replacing the drives but from what i read of others trying this was that the 160gb drives use a different connector than all of the other drives use.

 

oh, ok... bummer.

 

i have a ZVM and currently i think the highest someone got was to 80gb, and it uses zif and ide connectors.i would look at some players a couple years old,they will probably be thicker and have more room to upgrade the HDD, if not just get the ipod.

 

To answer a question that's been brought up a couple of times so far - and seems pretty important to the OP - no, the Zune does not play Microsoft's own PlaysForSure DRM format. Guess it wasn't that sure, after all.

 

Honestly, I don't see much of an increase in demand for HDD MP3 players. As another poster here said, I reall think the trend is for manufacturers to focus strictly on flash development. Their smaller, less prone to error, lighter weight and honestly I think they're selling more.

Look at Creative, they've said that they're no longer going to make HDD music players anymore. I think they may exist for a few more years, and possibly in higher capacities (200GB as their last hurrah) by the end of the year or next. But flash memory is where it's at. Shame, because the Zune 80 is one beautiful device and can't utilize the hard drive for storage or extra content.

 

on a side note creative has a new player, the zen x-fi.go to epizenter.net to view details on it.

 

I just don't understand the need for all those files on a MP3 player. Are you really going to listen to all 30,000 songs? And movies and such don't look too good on a 3" screen, either.

 

yeah, the chances of listening to each track are very slim, unless you go through each track one by one for a while.it's is almost impossible.but i watch movies on my ZVM and it isn't bad at all,unless you mean 'cause it gets streched on a 3"

 

Yeah, looks like creative is releasing another player soon, the x-fi. With that name I'm just hoping that they don't mess it up. They say it will have a SD expansion slot, which wont be integrated, which was the largest downfall of the latest Zen.

 

Yeah, I know what you mean - I've been seriously thinking about getting a flash-based player to replace my 2.5 year old 5G iPod. I've tried both flash based zunes and the 80GB; just to return them. Excellent players though....

I don't understand why someone needs 160GB that's generally geared towards music anyways. :-/

 

Because i have 29,500 songs at 145gbs and would like to keep it all on there. I guess i will just wait and pray for a 160gb zune in the fall.

 

Why not the 160 iPod.... although I think the hardware on the Zune is much better.... very good little device MS has manufactured.

 

from what i read it is the same as the zen with only a few new features.go to epizenter.net they have the news first on all of this.

 

Personally I think this Zen is a much bigger deal audio-wise than any other mp3 player out there because it has X-Fi built straight in (or so the specs go).

I don't think any other mainstream player has the ability to enhance MP3's to the same caliber as the Zen X-Fi can. Yes, there are equalizers and SRS WOW fx, but this is completely new for the portable media market.

 

X-fi a big deal?? All things that I've tested lately with X-fi printed on it have been rubbish, Cowon, Sony, and Sansa(clip, fuse) all sound better than this 'X-fi. I'm certainly not going to put any money down that Creative will make thier X-fi player sound better, and more versatile than Cowon's players.

 

So the Sansa Fuze does sound good? I have a 1GB Sansa clip and the sound quality is so good on it. I'm tempted to throw it on eBay to maybe recoup 1/2 my costs (if I'm lucky -- it was only $34) and get a larger capacity flash-based MP3 player.

This little Sansa Fuze is pretty sharp if I do say so myself. Roughly $105-110 on Amazon; no tax.

I have an iPod that I strictly use 90% of the time, and like it - but the light weight and "who cares" nature of flash-based music players makes it so much easier to mess with.

So, how's the Fuze sound? Is it nearly as good as the Clip?

 

I'm pretty sure X-Fi is proprietary to Creative.

 

The fuze and the clip use the same hardware to produce the sound, so they sound virtually the same.

Why you talking about X-fi being creatives? Of course it is, but I'm saying its not as good as other stuff.

 

Not sure if you guys are aware? Creative has just announced the zen x-fi player!! It will come with their x-fi technology as well as wi-fi, built-in speaker, sd slot and etc. I would think the sd slot is useful if you are unsure of the amount of capacity you will need. I can just transfer my files to the sd card and insert it into my player and I can play from there. Sounds easy and convenient can free up the capacity in my player for other use

zen x-fi 8gb: http://asia.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=213&subcategory=214&product=17810
zen x-fi 16/32gb (with wi-fi): http://asia.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=213&subcategory=214&product=17811&listby=

 

Yeah I saw it on epizenter the other day, looks pretty sweet! I'm torn between the 8gb and 16gb versions. Both have the SD slot so it's virtually unlimited as long as I can swap out cards, but wireless is always a plus...

Pricing for the 8/16/32GB versions are $149.99/$199.99/$279.99 in USD.
16GB for $200! And with all those features on the X-Fi, iPods are once again lagging behind in pricing.

Also see Buy.com's listing-- they're sold out for now but I assume it's because they haven't gotten them in stock yet.

EDIT: Amazon has them in stock!! *gasp*

 

It wouldn't matter. Zunes are not Plays For Sure compatible. Your DRM'ed music would be worthless unless stripped.