Comments on: Why carry a smartphone & an MP3 player?

By: puttputt

puttputt — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:25:57 +0000

battery
mp3 usability
multi-tasking (phone is for data/email/websurfing/texting/lastly, calls)
storage
battery

By: jtrpop

jtrpop — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:18:45 +0000

While I really like my Windows Mobile phone, its media player is unusable. I carry my Zune around for all of the above reasons you mentioned and more. Here's hoping Microsoft brings the Zune experience to their Windows Mobile platform.

By: tboom

tboom — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:49:34 +0000

I agree with all 3 points plus one more. I bought a flash memory type Zune specifically for working out, doing yard work, etc. It can take a beating plus the form factor is sweet for for these type of tasks.

By: b-house

b-house — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 05:19:12 +0000

you left out memory. ipod classic (120gb) vs. a phone (max around 40gb).

By: AKrebs

AKrebs — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 01:19:46 +0000

Very good points. I've got an iPhone and a zune 80 and both serve their purposes well. But honestly, the iPhone is pretty bad as a media player, and the media experience seems to come after the need for a multi-featured phone. Plus iTunes is an absolutely terrible piece of software.

By: Sam Hobson

Sam Hobson — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:39:42 +0000

I agree with you, even though phones have the capability, they aren't as dedicated as the iPod or Zune. I do put music on my phone since the battery can handle it, but I only use the phone when my Zune is dead. It's a backup.

By: webbahboy

webbahboy — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:27:29 +0000

Julie — You are so right — on all counts!
If I frequently downloaded new music, I would encounter the problems you describe. And Windows Media Player is simply not that robust.

For podcasts, the player I have found pretty helpful is Audiobay Podcast Player v. 4.1 . It is a bit clunky, and is limited a bit in that it is a shell for WMP, but it is easy to download, manage and listen to podcasts with it. I can get by with my Fuze as an MP3 player because I am not constantly getting new music. Otherwise I would be forced to pony up for a Zune or another player.

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:29:55 +0000

I have to go with the battery thing. My smartphone battery life is dicey enough some days (not often but sometimes) that I don't need to add to the drain. Like you said, I can live a day without music. Plus with proprietary plugs or having to use A2DP bluetooth, there are just too many extra steps to get the smartphone cranking out the tunes.

By: Joseph Fung

Joseph Fung — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:27:14 +0000

Interesting post - I carry both too. A couple more thoughts on why:

1. My MP3 player has surface-mounted controls, so I can skip, pause, stop without looking at the device

2. My MP3 player has better storage capacity than my phone

3. My phone is a blackbery 8830 that has a stupidy-small headphone jack, so the only headphones I can use are horrible to listen to.

By: Pony99CA

Pony99CA — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 09:47:56 +0000

What Adam forgets is that most media players don't play just music. While I seriously doubt many people need even 8 GB of music, if you watch video on your devices, the storage numbers change dramatically.

Regarding battery life, I take a different tack. I carry my Omnia and a Redfly (when I carry my gadget bag). The Redfly allows me to have a better computing experience and can charge the phone if I connect with USB.

Steve

P.S. Why isn't Disqus allowing me to log in here?

By: Zealot

Zealot — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 05:30:26 +0000

I also carry a Zune and a Smartphone, for all of those reasons (mainly battery life). Very well done overview.

In addition I prefer to have more music with me then I could fit on a MicroSDHC card since I like a very ecclectic shuffle. Plus, I just love the Zune interface and since I use the desktop software as my main music player in the office, it makes for one-stop syncing. Drop a new album into my Zune directory, it can be played easily at my desk and is automatically synced to my Zune. Simplicity itself.

By: whydidnt

whydidnt — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 03:21:38 +0000

When I primarily used a WM phone I carried an iPod as well. At the time, I couldn't carry more than 8GB on a single memory card and my music collection is much larger. I also found the media sync experience with WM to be awful, with random disconnects, etc. It was too frustrating to try and take my music on the WM device. Now that I have a 32GB iPhone there's no need for a separate MP3 player, and I happily carry one device.

By: mareet

mareet — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 02:42:31 +0000

Agreed on the battery life point. While I could listen to music on my iPod all day, if I tried to do the same with my smartphone in addition to play any videos, use data, and make phone calls, my phone's battery life would be gone by noon if not sooner.