8GB Fuze (+8GBSD) vs 16GB Cowon D2 vs 16GB ipod nano 4th gen

[MFG]

I posted this thread somewhere else in the forums, but I think it was not the right place, so I bring it here looking for advice.

I'm an old visitor of ABI, but new to the forums.

I gotta be honest. I've always liked ipods. They have a very elegant design, incredibly easy to use interface (you gotta admit click-wheel is genius), good sound quality (I'm no audiophile), and even tough original accesories are damn overpriced, the market of generic accesories is huge. Also, lots of new gadgets come now with an iPod dock, and I think that's pretty cool.

However, I've never had an iPod. ¿Why? They have always been extremely overpriced, especially compared to similar or better products in the market.
Besides, I have never never never trusted HDD based players. I saw many of my friends players hard drives die, and I wasn't going to put my money in such a fragile device, especially when I like to take them with me all the time and everywhere.

My cassette walkman was my first companion, then I moved to MiniDisc players and then jumped into MP3 players. Since then, I have always been a sandisk owner. From the first media player they released (remember it?), then moved to the 1st line of Sansa and stayed there for a while. I owned a crappy Sansa Express that never really worked and now I proudly own a 4GB Sansa Clip

Now, my issue has always been capacity. 4GB is just not enough for me. I have to reload music almost every 2-3 days after I get bored. But again, I'm not moving to a HDD based player.

I've been considering a 8GB Fuze, but then again, I would have to add another 8GB microSDHC (I guess 16GB would fit me just right for 1-2 weeks of music without reloading). ¿Any roumors about 16GB Fuze or 16GB MicroSDHC cards?

I've also considered a Cowon D2, but I feel it's kinda bulky, mostly thick, and what I'm looking for is a really really portable device. I don't need big screens, I don't want bluetooth, I can even survive without video. I just wanna listen to my favorite music while I work or in the bus while I go home, and almost not noticing my player is in my pocket. (that's why I like the Clip).

I live outside USA so I couldn't care less about iTunes or DRM music. I have never (and probably never will) buy compressed music online. My 200GB music collection is 90% MP3 DRM Free files.

Now apple releases a $200 16GB ipod nano.

Cons:

• Not expandable
• No FM radio (I never listen to radio anyway)
• No OGG support

Pros:

• h.264 compatible
• Plays all of my 1000's of non-DRM torrent-downloaded MP3s
• Slim
• <37 grams heavy

I won't even compare this ipod to the Fuze or the D2 (that would be blasphemy)

But my current choices are:

• 8GB Fuze + 8GB MicroSDHC Card
• 16GB Cowon D2
• 16GB iPod Nano 4th Gen

¿Did I mention my budget is around $200?

PS
My other option is waiting for the Cowon S9... but I would need some specs, like real dimensions and price range.

Thoughts anyone???

[CrowdAds]

[suprman2020]

I would suggest the sansa fuze because it is smaller than the d2 and it sounds waaaaay better than any ipod I've ever owned or heard. The fuze doesn't handle podcasts very well and the interface is easy to use but not pleasing to the eyes. You can buy the fuze and the microsd card from amazon for less than $170 (if they ship to your country).

[JK98]

First of all, if you want around 16 gigs of storage, a 4 gig D2 plus a 16 gig SD card (get a class 6)would be a better choice than a 16 gig D2. The 16 gig D2 would be better if you want to get to 32 gigs or more of storage.

The D2 is roughly the size of the Fuze in 2 dimensions, but is a bit more than twice as thick, and weighs 50% more. I was thinking about getting a D2, but bought a Fuze instead. Since my storage needs are under 10 gigs, I felt the D2 was more than I needed. The one thing I dislike about the Fuze is navigation just by ID3 tags, and not by folders. While navigation by tags is not so bad for music, it can be very annoying for podcasts(missing tags or slight variations or errors in tags). I would have also liked a bit more battery life than the Fuze offers(probably around 20 hours with real world use). I also considered the Cowon iaudio i7, but the lack of a card slot and the small screen were what made me decide against it. I don't like the touch screen on the D2, and would have preferred buttons instead. So there is my opinion of the three players. I also considered some Sony players but did not like the lack of a card slot, and lack of support for files under 32 kbps(I listen to many podcasts that are at 16 or 24 kbps).

I don't know about pricing where you are. These are the prices here.
8 gig Fuze $100 8 gig class 4 micro SD card $30-35
4 gig D2 $145 16 gig class 6 SD card $50
16 gig D2 $215
16 gig i7 $180

[MFG]

I live in Costa Rica, but I travel to the US every 2-3 months, so I can buy at US prices.

Here's a sizes comparison:

http://www.sizeasy.com/page/size_com...-vs-sansa-fuze

[The DarkSide]

Get a D2 - you can't go wrong!!!

[JK98]

Considering that an 8 gig Fuze is just $100, and an 8 gig micro SD card is only around $30-35. that would be a difficult combination to beat. Imo 16 gig micro SD cards might be out in a month or two, however imo they might be around $90-120 each when first released.

[JK98]

I have reconsidered my opinion of the Fuze. Imo it really isn't so convenient to use a Fuze with more than 10 gigs of storage, and if you are thinking about using 16 gig of storage, a D2 with its capability to navigate by folders would be much more convenient.

[The DarkSide]

Originally Posted by JK98

I have reconsidered my opinion of the Fuze. Imo it really isn't so convenient to use a Fuze with more than 10 gigs of storage, and if you are thinking about using 16 gig of storage, a D2 with its capability to navigate by folders would be much more convenient.

LOL - a change of heart!!!

[MFG]

Actually that's a good point.
Guess it will be like navigating by Tags in a 8GB Clip

[jbc]

What's OGG and h.264 in the original post?

[derf]

Originally Posted by jbc

What's OGG and h.264 in the original post?

OGG is actually Ogg Vorbis, an audio codec.
h.264 is a video codec.