[D3mon]

As the topic title sort of implies, which do you prefer, a separate phone and MP3 player or a device that does both? With more and more phones having media players is there really a need to own a separate music device?

I'm in the predicament of needing both a new MP3 player and phone (i've not upgraded either for about 5 years now and technology has swiftly moved on without me! lol) but i'm not really sure which route I want to take.

As far as I can see (and im summarising here) the pros for having an all in one device are space saving, especially in the pocket. Whilst the cons are that you're probably compromising on "dedicated" music features/sound quality. Would you tend to agree?


Note: I've also asked this in the Portable Music forum

[RobM]

For me, it's both. Simply because there isn't yet a phone that can hold my entire music collection.

I have an iPod Classic (120GB) that everything goes onto. This lives in the car, taken out only when travelling away, or once a week to re-sync with iTunes in case I've added more music.

For daily use I use my phone. I've got a 16GB memory card in it that I load with music that I might want to listen to. 16GB is just about enough to get a wide variety of music on, but still requires updating frequently if you're music tastes change often.

If somebody makes a phone with 100GB of storage, I'll just use the single device. The sound quality of my phone is better than that of my iPod so it really does come down to storage only.

[r@mside]

Originally Posted by RobM83

For me, it's both. Simply because there isn't yet a phone that can hold my entire music collection.

I have an iPod Classic (120GB) that everything goes onto. This lives in the car, taken out only when travelling away, or once a week to re-sync with iTunes in case I've added more music.

For daily use I use my phone. I've got a 16GB memory card in it that I load with music that I might want to listen to. 16GB is just about enough to get a wide variety of music on, but still requires updating frequently if you're music tastes change often.

If somebody makes a phone with 100GB of storage, I'll just use the single device. The sound quality of my phone is better than that of my iPod so it really does come down to storage only.

Which phone do you have that sounds better than an iPod?

I know there has been some improvements in SQ of phones, but I thought the iPhone was the only serious player. I've not listened to any of the Nokia music series or new Samsungs and would be interested in something as good as iPhone.

[RobM]

I have a HTC Magic. The sound is more open, the stereo separation is superb and it has a nice 'airy' sound to it. It feels more natural to listen to and detail is easier to pick out of each channel.

Compared with the same headphones but the only difference being the ExtUSB-3.5mm adapter required for the Magic.

[D3mon]

Your post puts me in quite the predicament now Rob as I always thought that using a phone to be my MP3 player as well would result in worse sound quality, compared to a dedicated MP3 player (I assumed it'd be something to do with the type of sound "chip" used or something) but if that's not always the case then I really can't see the point in having 2 devices.

I was planning on buying the Samsung i8910 and then either the Zune HD (when it's released) or Cowon S9 but really, the phone does pretty much everything that either of those can (based on Zune rumours)

[RobM]

Suck it and see... get the phone you want first of all and live with it for a while. If it sounds the way you like and you're happy, job done, no need to buy another device

It not and you decide a dedicated music device is the way forward, at least you'll be doing so knowing it's the right option.

I'm quite fussy when it comes to music and I'm delighted with the sound of my Magic. I was happy with the iPhone but prefer the Magic

[WildeKarde]

I've got both - touch HD and samsung P2. Personally it saves me needing to charge the phone all the time as I tend to listen quite a lot to the mp3 player at work. The battery on it lasts about a week using it all day, every day.

I'd probably forget to charge my phone if I was using it all the time at work.