[seekingaclue]

I am pretty clueless about the downloading of music and videos, but I have wanted to get involved in it for sometime. For several years I dreamed of getting an iPod, and was thinking of putting one on my Christmas list for this year. But then I decided to get something cheap on Ebay and that is how I arrived at this really interesting and informative forum. While researching the products and sellers I learned about hacking of memory. I am very glad I was able to learn from the experiences of others. But I also learned about the drawbacks of iPods—although they are very beautiful and pleasant to hold and contemplate. So to make a long story short, I have been convinced that an MP4 player is a much wiser choice. The only problem is I can’t make up my mind which one. The diversity of features is overwhelming, especially all the different kinds of audio and video files. No one player has everything so I need to know what is important. And since so many people here are so wise and informed, I thought maybe you could help me learn. I have lurked and read so I know the words, but have no experience. I don’t want to waste my money and abandon the idea of carrying my music around in a small box, just because I make a stupid choice.

I have watched the videos made by razzer001. They are very informative and also rather campy. I love how he always talks about the box first. He declared the Gemei box ugly.

I adore the Oppo V9. It seems to have everything, even those fine headphones people go on and on about. I think, however, that I would like the 3” screen unless that is a bad idea.

I very much like the players with touch controls because they are aesthetically pleasing. I don’t like the touch screens though because I don’t want fingerprints all over the viewing area and I don’t want to keep track of a stylus.

Question 1. Are mechanical controls like those seen on the ainol2000 better or less likely to break than those touch screens like on the Gemei X750?

Question 2. I like the idea of SD card slots. Do you think those are a good thing or do they just bulk up the player and make it more likely to break?

Question 3. How long do rechargeable batteries last in an average player and what do you do when they go dead? I mean too dead to recharge.

Question 4. The ainol2000 apparently has an awesome screen (LTPS TFT) which razzer001 likes a lot. The Gemei has a HD QVGA screen. I know LTPS is reportedly better than QVGA. But does HD make up for that difference. My impression is that razzer, who is apparently very knowledgeable, likes the Ainol better than the Gemei.

Question 5. On the video review the photographs appeared distorted and took a long time to load on the Gemei, but on the Ainol they loaded fast and didn’t appear distorted, although it was a different kind of picture. How could this be when they use the same chipset? And speaking of chips would one that has dual chips including the Wolfson chip be better than this fast ADI Blackfin 533MHZ CPU that is in the Gemei and Ainol?

Question 6. The ainol has many more kinds of video listed than does the Gemei. Some of those sound like video types that I would like. There is a mention that more are in the latest firmware, but I think I would be afraid to upgrade the firmware. Do you think for this reason the Gemei would be a mistake?

Question 7. As you can see from my questions, my three favorite players are the Oppo V9, the Ainol2000, and the Gemei. I know the Ainol is not available at the moment, but I can be patient.

Question 8. Which one would you recommend or do you think none are a good choice. I noticed that Mezue and Teclast seem to have wider distribution and more followers. And do you think that I should buy a national brand because these less famous brands look nice and seem to have good features but they are not well made and will break?

Question 9 How come I can’t seem to find any in discussion of these players anywhere? It is like people buy them and are going to talk about them, but never do. I have to say it kind of makes me worry.

Thank you for any help you might provide. I am sorry if I have asked too much, but I saw how knowledgeable and helpful you were.

I am just,

seekingaclue


I hope I haven’t exceeded any length limits and I hope I am not posting this inappropriately or in the wrong place. I apologize if I am.