Which iPod/MP3 Player Do You Use?

[Rejuvenated]

Today afternoon I went over to my local Future Shop near where I live and bought myself a brand new Creative Zen Video Player. I had been an Apple user previously until I lost the device during the summer. So this time I decided to go with a different brand which has highly recommended by many of my friends.

[jn82]

I have a 3rd generation 8GB black iPod nano which I use as my "normal" player nowadays, and before that the 4th generation iPod (non-colour), which has been relegated for car usage permanently. I think the nanos are pretty good for the gym or "in the pocket", as the iPods tend to be a bit too bulky (the older ones anyway).

I think the real sound quality of these devices is all pretty much the same, as most people would download or convert their CD music at a lower quality. Also the earphones which come with these players are pretty entry level as well.

[Kiwi Mile]

I went over to my local Future Shop

Does anyone know what Future Shop is?

[9V-JKL]

Does anyone know what Future Shop is?

Paging Early Edition

[jn82]

Does anyone know what Future Shop is?

Future Shop is Canada's largest consumer electronics retailer. Future Shop currently operates a total of 131 stores across all of Canada's provinces as of December 2007.

Interestingly, it is a subsidiary of US Fortune 100 company Best Buy.

[Javaman]

I've had a Creative Zen.....pretty good....though i found it a slight faff with getting music onto the unit with bundled software, 3rd party software and was forever accidentally altering volume and tracks.
I used my Sony walkman phone for a while. terrible sound quality.
But the last few years, I've been addicted to Ipods since the 3rd generation (though the click wheel did tend to suffer with accidental alterations if the hold switch wasn't on)
Now Im using the iPhone to handle mp3 duties on the go and in the car. Far harder to accidentally change things as it appears to be capacitive touch rather than conventional....

If you ditch the crap-tacular bundled ear buds and fork out for some, to my mind, mid-upper range units (my personal choice is currently Shure E210's - couldn't extend to next model up) then you get the benefit of almost excluding all background noise without expensive (And battery sapping) audio-cancelling circuitry and a sound reproduction that is warm and comes with satisfying bass thump.

I'd be interested in the internal hardware of the new Zen line and how you find the sound reproduction compared to the Apple stuff.
Side note: Speaking of Creative labs......anyone remember the older Sound Blaster range of PC soundcards? Remember the on-chip amplifiers? I don't know what they're like now, but they had serious output - I used to drive big Wharfedale Denton speakers straight from the PC.

[up and away]

I'm using a 4th gen iPod which is half broken at the moment... good quality sound output, however the in-ear phones aren't as good as the Sennheiser ones I bought for about half their retail price...

I must say iPods have an awsome handling etc- but that can't be said for their connection software (iTunes) if you're using Windows.

[wsssaero]

I just use my Sony Ericsson Walkman phone. Sound is satisfactory but again I don't really care so long as it sounds like what it should sound.