Best MP3 Player - Test Results

[RandyB]

I finally had some time this weekend to try some different players with the PDIM. I went to Best Buy and spent a little over $1000 on an iPod Touch, Nano, Classic, Phillips GoGear and Zune HD. I tested these players along with my 8GB Zune and flash drives. Here are my findings (players are in order, best to worst):

iPod Classic 160 GB (7th Gen): This was the best player I tested and it worked flawlessly. Indexing time is non-existent because the index is resident in the player. When you turn on the player it will remember exactly where you left off, even the album or playlist. The only downside to this player is that no iPods play DRM songs so your library is limited to whatever music you have acquired. Even if you have a large library of 50-100K songs, that is nothing compared to the millions of songs available via subscription services.

Zune 8GB (2nd Gen): This is the player I have been using for the last couple years and this is the best option for playing DRM songs in the Camaro. For $15/mo (Zune Pass) I can fill this player and change songs anytime I want. That subscription also gives me 10 DRM-free songs/mo with the option to purchase more if I want. Indexing time is very fast; it will index the full 8GB in about 10 seconds. The PDIM still needs some work to improve compatibility with this player. The PDIM will freeze intermittently and you need to unplug the Zune and plug it back in. I also tested this player using all DRM-free songs and it still froze, so the issue is not related to DRM. When you first turn on the player it will remember which song you were last playing, but not remember if you were in an album or playlist. This second issue is common to many players, but not the iPod classic. There also seems to be some issue with playlist recognition. My playlists did not originally show up in the PDIM, so I renamed them with simple one-word names and no numbers or special characters and they worked fine after that.

iPod Nano 16GB (5th Gen): This player worked well, but not as good as the classic. When you first turn on the player it will remember which song you were last playing, but not remember if you were in an album or playlist. It does not play DRM songs.

Flash Drives: Any USB flash drive is an inexpensive alternative to an iPod. You can get these things for the price of a sandwich and they work better than some expensive players. Indexing is much slower than the 2nd Gen Zune; It seemed to take about 20-30 seconds per GB of music (your mileage may vary). You can use playlists, but it is not as easy to create and maintain them as it is with an iPod or Zune. Flash drives will not remember the album or playlist you were last using and they do not play DRM songs.

Phillips GoGear 16GB Aria: This player worked exactly like a flash drive (see above), but costs significantly more. There is no advantage to using one of these and I assume that all the other players on the GM PDIM compatibility list would be the same. If it is not an iPod or a Zune, then you might as well just use a flash drive, because all these PlaysForSure devices just act like mass storage in the Camaro.

iPod Touch 16GB (3rd Gen): This player worked similarly to the iPod Nano (see above), but with an additional issue. The search menus would not always display properly. When you display the list of albums on the player you might get a list of song titles or artists instead. If you press the back button, then try the album list again, it will display correctly. This trouble was not limited to the albums display...all search menus gave a mixed bag of results. Considering other iPods work better and this one costs more, it is not a good option for the Camaro.

Zune HD 16GB (3rd Gen): Don't even think about it. This player was the absolute worst. I filled this player with DRM-free songs and it took 54 minutes (yes, I said minutes) to index. I turned off the head unit and turned it back on and guess what...another 54 minutes to index (ok, I gave up after 20 mins, but pretty sure it was going the distance). This player is not on the GM compatibility list and probably never will be. It is an excellent player on its own, but does not play well with the Camaro.

I still plan to try the 120GB Zune. I am hoping it plays DRM, like the 8GB Zune without the freezing issue. If it does, then it will definitely oust the iPod Classic as the #1 player.

I hope this is helpful to those of you shopping for a player to use in the Camaro and I hope that GM continues to improve player compatibility.

[CamaroDreams07]

I bet the people at Bestbuy sure looked at you funny.. And probably will again when you go return all of those.

No surprise that iPod is the best. I'm a microsoft man through and through but when it comes to MP3 players, the Zune and everything else just need to concede defeat. The fact that it indexes itself is proof enough. The only problems I ever have are on the car's side with the PDIM sometimes not recognizing that the iPod is plugged in.

[210_punisher]

my camaro wont recognize the first gen zune but the 2nd gen works just fine

[UCF w00t]

Originally Posted by 210_punisher

my camaro wont recognize the first gen zune but the 2nd gen works just fine

My first gen works (albeit with the indexing issues, etc).

Originally Posted by CamaroDreams07

I bet the people at Bestbuy sure looked at you funny.. And probably will again when you go return all of those.

No surprise that iPod is the best. I'm a microsoft man through and through but when it comes to MP3 players, the Zune and everything else just need to concede defeat. The fact that it indexes itself is proof enough. The only problems I ever have are on the car's side with the PDIM sometimes not recognizing that the iPod is plugged in.

Sorry but you can't lay the blame on MS for this. It's a pretty basic architecture decision... let the car decide how it wants to handle it or keep control over everything within the player and honestly MS made the right choice in my opinion. The Camaro/PDIM's indexing system is just crap. There's no excuse for it to behave the way it does. Plenty of aftermarket head units allow you to plug in USB flash drives, etc and they don't have these kinds of idiotic problems.

[CamaroSkooter]

Maybe some updates in the future will resolve the indexing issues?

I'm holding my breath and crossing my fingers and toes

[Milk 1027]

Great work. Let me know how the 120gb zune works. I need to upgrade from my first gen

[dr1ven]

Thanks.

Anyone know how well the iphone works with this?

I tried my ipod shuffle, but it wasn't even recognized.

[UCF w00t]

Originally Posted by CamaroSkooter

Maybe some updates in the future will resolve the indexing issues?

I'm holding my breath and crossing my fingers and toes

Codeman has stated that it would require a hardware update as they skimped on the memory available to the PDIM. Who knows if they'll make that available anytime soon.

Originally Posted by Milk 1027

Great work. Let me know how the 120gb zune works. I need to upgrade from my first gen

It should work almost identically to the 30gb, maybe a bit faster. Keep in mind that there will still be a 2500 song limit as the limitation is in the PDIM's indexing, not the Zune.

[Tal]

Originally Posted by UCF w00t

Sorry but you can't lay the blame on MS for this. It's a pretty basic architecture decision... let the car decide how it wants to handle it or keep control over everything within the player and honestly MS made the right choice in my opinion. The Camaro/PDIM's indexing system is just crap. There's no excuse for it to behave the way it does. Plenty of aftermarket head units allow you to plug in USB flash drives, etc and they don't have these kinds of idiotic problems.

I have a Zune and it's been a decent little player but even if you don't blame MS I think you have to credit Apple for avoiding such potential problems with their design. Any mp3 player will be quite capable of handling it's own indexing so why offload that job to the stereo?

[jordan 572]

dont you half to change songs using the radio or buttons on the steering wheel? or doesnt the ipod go into the non responce mode when you plug it in? like where it says its connected

[UCF w00t]

Originally Posted by Tal

I have a Zune and it's been a decent little player but even if you don't blame MS I think you have to credit Apple for avoiding such potential problems with their design. Any mp3 player will be quite capable of handling it's own indexing so why offload that job to the stereo?

It limits the extensibility and interface that the vehicle can implement. Also, the connection/hardware is pretty slow on the 5th gen iPods which causes a lag where you can't change songs for a few seconds. There's no real right or wrong way here. What is wrong is the PDIM's crappy indexing. There's no excuse for it in this day and age. This isn't new, high end stuff.

Originally Posted by jordan 572

dont you half to change songs using the radio or buttons on the steering wheel? or doesnt the ipod go into the non responce mode when you plug it in? like where it says its connected

Yes, that's correct.

[Milk 1027]

Originally Posted by UCF w00t

It should work almost identically to the 30gb, maybe a bit faster. Keep in mind that there will still be a 2500 song limit as the limitation is in the PDIM's indexing, not the Zune.

Do you mean 80? the 30gb are first gen zunes. Those take forever to index.

[UCF w00t]

Originally Posted by Milk 1027

Do you mean 80? the 30gb are first gen zunes. Those take forever to index.

Are the 80s faster than the 30s with the same library? I figured they were all pretty similar in speed since they all behave the same way (PDIM handles the index vs the MP3 player doing it like the iPod).

[Milk 1027]

Originally Posted by UCF w00t

Are the 80s faster than the 30s with the same library? I figured they were all pretty similar in speed since they all behave the same way (PDIM handles the index vs the MP3 player doing it like the iPod).

I would assume since, the current line up is composed of all the 2nd gens, i.e. 4,8,16,80,and 120gb that they would all behave similarly compared to the first gens, 6,8,30gb.

That's just me making assumptions though.


Since in his test he was able to index the full 8 gigs in second compared to the hour or so it took to index my 30 gb when I test drove one.


but.....