Is an Ipod Touch my only alternative?

[Ljazz6]

I currently have a Palm Tungsten E (has no phone or internet) and an Iriver hp120 mp3 player, both of which I take with me on my daily commute to work -- and a Sansa Clip (which I use almost exclusively at the gym). I would like to get an mp3/video player for use as follows:

(1) Listen to music on my commute (I would love to have ALL of my music with me, but I think I will need to compromise here because I would need a large (memory not size) hard drive-based player to accomplish this).

(2) Convert some educational videos so that I can have them with me to watch and work on while on the train;

(3) Replace my Palm and consolidate in one device.

Is there anything that will allow me to do this OTHER than the Ipod Touch? The Cowon S9 looks great for the music and video side, but am I correct that I wouldn't be able to use it as a PDA due to a lack of applications?

[CrowdAds]

[jjrosaria]

No.. there are many alternatives.. IMHO the get the ipod touch if u want games, internet and all that stuff.. If you want video and music u might want to look at the cowon S9... But as u said u want to replace the palm as well (so I beleive the palm is like a calendar thingy, pda perhaps?) then just get a decent smartphone that can do that... Im sure u wouldnt mind bringing a phone every day since all people has it now

hope this helps

[Ljazz6]

Thanks for the reply.

You are correct that a smartphone would do the trick in addition to another mp3 player like the Cowon. I neglected to mention in my initial post that the reason I didn't want to go that route is because I don't want to pay the high monthly plan costs associated with the cell providers. I use my cell phone very infrequently and currently have a very inexpensive pre-pay plan. I wanted to try to consolidate the mp3 player and PDA because I also have a separate and fairly basic cell phone and I prefer not to carry 3 devices with me.

[curiouswonderer]

i dont know about others, but if you want it for pda features, ipod touch isn't great either. can't add appointments to calendar, and stuff....

[Hirudin]

Sorry to re-suggest something that you've already rejected...

A Nokia phone with Symbian would probably fit your needs (if you're on a GSM pre-paid provider, like T-Mobile To Go). They certainly have lots of PDA programs (I'm not sure what you need), you can play music and videos (they even have a built in podcast download app), and most have a microSDHC slot (for up to 16 gb of storage at the moment) or have built in memory.

The Nokia n97 looks awesome, that's what I'm waiting for.

[SansaRulez83]

Originally Posted by curiouswonderer

i dont know about others, but if you want it for pda features, ipod touch isn't great either. can't add appointments to calendar, and stuff....

That's funny cuz I just added an appointment to my calendar, namely that I have to work at 5. I don't know about the other PDA features you might want though. I don't use anything like that. You can definitely do email and IM, though.

It's worth pointing out that if you have halfway decent headphones the Touch doesn't really have good SQ. In my experience, it lacks the higher-end harmonics and many genres end up sounding flat. Don't even get me started on the fact that you can't amp it through headphone out. Still, if you're a passive listener, who just uses stock-buds, it should suit your purpose.

[curiouswonderer]

Originally Posted by SansaRulez83

That's funny cuz I just added an appointment to my calendar, namely that I have to work at 5.

oh sorry. my bad. IRONICALLY though, i read that from a gizmodo article =P

to the op, i guess you could always buy a phone on a pay as you go plan (do you guys have those in the US?). that way, you don't have to pay for the phone function if you don't want to, without having to sacrifice the other features

[Ljazz6]

Thanks everyone. I'll take a look again at some of the pre-paid phones. Maybe if I can find something that will combine the PDA and phone I can then just buy a good mp3 player with video like the Cowon.

As far as PDA functions, my needs are fairly simple -- calendar, contacts and a couple of other applications that I use for saving passwords, etc.

SansaRulez -- I actually do have pretty good earbuds (Shure e3s which I am going to replace soon because they seem to have a minor electrical short -- another issue for another day) and sound quality is pretty important to me although I don't consider myself an audiophile.

[Hirudin]

Since you're going to consider phones, I figured I'd better mention that not all Nokia phones have Symbian, I doubt any of the phones that are marketed as "pre-paid" will have Symbian. But, as far as I know you can use a pre-paid SIM card with any phone that takes a sim card (as most Nokia phones will).

Newegg had the N95 a while ago for $300 (still a great phone, it's what I have, but they have newer/better models available). They also had the E71 for $300 a while ago too (one of the few Nokia phones with a QWERTY keyboard). Maybe those prices are still valid...