iPod video vs. Toshiba Gigabeat

[rsgars]

A friend is trying to decide between these two. I'm not a big Apple fan so told him I would go to more neutral territory and ask. From what I've read the Toshiba has some software issues. That could be a real drawback for this particular friend. On the other hand I think Apple has done nothing more than pull the wool over the eyes of the general public with the iPod, so need a really compelling reason to tell him to buy an Apple over the Toshiba.

I'm looking forward to your responses.

Thanks,

Rob

[thefiddler]

I'm an iPod person (though I'm very much a windows user) and heres why:

First, they're just straightforward and easy to use. There's no need to sit down and read through the manual and fiddle with all the options and settings, etc. etc. 5 minutes of using it and you've got it, you're listening to tunes and watching videos (if you've got that model).

Second, Apple's been doing it the longest. The iPod revolutionized the MP3 world and they're now on their 5th generation of the main iPod. They know what they're doing, the've got it down and it all works great, especially with this latest version of iTunes.

Which leads me to the third point. iTunes is probably the best software out there (in my opinion, & again I'm not a mac person) for managing your music, purchasing it online, etc.

If you like flexibility and tons of options, etc. etc., and also tons of time spend organizing, learning, troubleshooting, etc. etc. then go with something else. You'll probably save some money, but not time.

[lordsmurf]

iTunes videos are sucky quality and the tiny screen of a portable video player has never appeal to me. I'd rather read a book.

But if my arm was twisted to buy one of these stupid things, I'd have to go with the Apple.

[rumplestiltskin]

I transcode to H264 at around 350kbps and get a fairly nice video (albeit not DVD quality). I connect the iPod to my 32" CRT TV using the AV cable (available from Apple although others sell a similar item). I am very satisfied with the quality.

Now we have the ability to encode at 640x480 using the H264 codec and the quality is amazing. I recently encoded a 1.75 hour movie into a 1.3GB file at the 1600+kbps that iTunes/QT Pro uses. There are other utilities (like ffmpegX and Video2Go) that permit lower bitrates (which I'll be using as I don't quite need the 1600+).

Apple has not "pulled the wool over the eyes of the public". They make the best player with an outstanding interface and, yes, it just works!

[GMaq]

iTunes videos are sucky quality and the tiny screen of a portable video player has never appeal to me. I'd rather read a book.

But if my arm was twisted to buy one of these stupid things, I'd have to go with the Apple.

If they played back MPEG-2 at 352x480 you'd be all over it LS!!

I, like the previous poster am a Windows person, and further to that I think Quicktime is about the most frustrating software ever written!! But you've got give props to Apple for having the complete concept from software to hardware from playback to purchasing they've got it covered. Windows products, whether it's Windows Movie Maker or Windows Media Player have these brilliant concepts that are never quite carried through to a logical conclusion, ie WMM doesn't give you a DVD, or even an MPEG file to burn to one! WMP doesn't have integrated purchasing (yet). Apple needs people like Toshiba (Who make great products) to keep them working hard and raising the bar, but at this time Apple is still many steps ahead in the completeness of the whole portable device concept. IMHO Anyway !

[yoda313]

I wouldn't brush off the gigabeat totally. I've read great reviews on cnet.com for it.