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[Koremora]

So, I have had a 30 gig iPod for about 2 years now, and I have reached the point in my music library where it is too small. I'm looking for around 100 gigs or more, and an MP3 player that allows the transfer of songs back to the computer (which the iPod does not allow). This is basically so I can actually back up my music on my MP3 player in case my computer explodes. So, what are your recommendations? (Cheapest price possible, if that helps).

[imapiratearg]

Hmm, I don't know if you can transfer the songs back to the computer, but you could get a 180GB Zune?  They aren't all that bad at all.

[mberan42]

Ditto-ing the above.

I have an 80gb Zune 2.0. I am firmly anti-Apple. I still use WinAmp as my mp3 player on my computer. The Zune is good; it's not great. There are plenty of gripes I have of it. But it is a solid player, standing up to 8-ish hours of play every weekday in my office plus the abuse of being in my pocket to-and-fro on public transport when I traipse about the city. I can't think of a good over/underdog analogy with Microsoft and Apple here, but suffice to say I like my Zune.

[zerobar]

I bought a Zune. It had a bigger screen and more features than the ipod of the same size. It works really well. The software has really improved from the first generation (the biggest drawback of the Zune). It's a little bulky for some, but it doesn't appear that compactness is the big issue to you.

[Cire27]

The Cowon A3 is really nice if you can deal with a joystick and having to organize your folders manually.

[JD]

I am firmly anti-Apple.

More of a banana person, hm?


I prefer to shuffle my itunes around instead of getting some thing bigger. cheaper that way

[Koremora]

Does anyone know if you can transfer the files back from the Zune? That's the biggest thing.

[Bearer]

If you save everything as an mp3 file with metadata, it's pretty easy to transfer songs from ipod to computer.  Just do a search of the "ipod_name":/ipod_control/music/ folder for the artist and/or album and then transfer the files.  At least you can do this in Vista, but it should work the same in XP (the folder is hidden, so you'll have to turn that on manually).

[Shaolin]

I am looking for something similar, big capacity and non-apple. My question: Do you _need_ the software to transfer the data or can you also do it via copy&paste as if it were a normal removable drive?

[KvP]

Does anyone know if you can transfer the files back from the Zune? That's the biggest thing.

yes.

I always had good experience with Creative players. Their latest is a 32 gig solid state Zen X-Fi player a little bigger than a nano. Add a 32gb SDHD card and you've got a 64 gig solid state player with some decent sound tech, which is nice. I have it as my backup in case my 80gb Zune gets sad (I'm rather notorious among people I know for chewing through mp3 players. Apple products have always been the shittiest in my experience, lasting from a week to a few months tops) There are problems with it though, as the new Creative software is really pretty awful and crash-happy, and music on the SD card is held separately from the HD music, meaning you have to access it separately and the SD stuff can't be on playlists or the like. All in all, I don't like it as much as I liked my fucking huge Zen M, which only stopped working when I busted the headphone port. The internal speaker still works, though. You can watch movies on it without squinting, it's crazy.

[StaedlerMars]

Does anyone know if you can transfer the files back from the Zune? That's the biggest thing.

You can do this with an iPod as well by the by.

[michaelicious]

Just get an external hard drive.

[Avec]

So you don't have the actual music saved? Like I keep a folder with all of my albums downloads and I have an old school grenade chest for my CDs. Honestly, I don't see how there's any dissatisfaction with iTunes either. I made the mistake of buying a four Gb. iPod when I was thirteen years old, but that's all gone, and I'm a proud owner of a 120 Gb. beauty.

[rynne]

Related question here:

I'd also like an mp3 player with lots of storage (60GB or more).  I'm currently using a MacBook with iTunes as my music player.  I've bought almost nothing from the iTunes store, and the majority of my files are direct rips from my own CDs (I already bring my laptop to work everyday, and it's more convenient to bring music as digital files than on discs). 

Now, given all that, is there any mp3 player that anyone would recommend other than an iPod?  I know I can get a cheaper mp3 player that's as good as or better than an iPod.  But if I'm already using iTunes on a Mac, would an mp3 player from another company be anywhere near as easy to use with my set-up as an iPod?  Or would an iPod's price be justified by the better compatibility alone?

[scarred]

http://ipodrip.com/download/

[Catacombs]

Just buy a 120 gb iPod Classic.  Easy, plenty of storage, and iTunes is a damn good interface.  Also, (regardless of where you buy it, but I'd recommend direct from Apple) they have great customer service for the first year.  Then, download a program called Senuti (iTunes backwards).  It's interface is a lot like iTunes, but it lets you copy the music back from the iPod.

[MrBlu]

If you really need that much space, I suggest a Cowon Q5. You can get a 80GB for less than $400, and the fact that it's actually a Pocket PC, that's very media oriented appeals to me.