MP3 Players

[rousie13]

Ok well I've basically killed my old MP3 player, so it's time for a new one (can't deal with no music while at the gym). Anyway, I'd like one that comes with an armband, small in size, atleast 128mb, and not too expensive. I beat the hell out of these things, so I don't want to spend a ton. I'd buy an Ipod Mini, but I don't want to spend $250 on one when I know how I treat them. Lets hear some ideas guys.

[silkk]

ipod mini's are cool!

[rousie13]

Yes they are. But not $250 for me to beat on cool. lol

[vicki]

I have a Rio and I love it.

[Jesda]

Gateway has an excellent 128MB player with built-in voice recorder and FM radio. Its about the same price as any other 128MB player. Its tiny, comes with a strap to wear around your neck.

The Digisette can be found on eBay for about $50 with 96MB built-in with an MMC expansion slot, voice recorder, tape-to-MP3 recording, a digital recording cable, and other goodies. You can also put it in your tape player in the car or any tape player for Tape-to-MP3 playback.

[rico05]

I have a 1st Gen iPod, a 2nd gen iPod, am about to get a 3 gen. (mini) iPod. Seriously...the best MP3 player on the market.

eBay!!!!

[BadMojo]

I would definitely recommend a flash memory-based player over a harddrive one (like the iPod) if you're going to be using it while exercising. Hard drives are mechanical objects and have parts that *do not* like to bounce up and down repeatedly.

As much as I hate Creative Labs, I'd get one of the Muvo MP3 players if I were looking for a flash-based player. Creative does, unfortunately, offer a pretty crappy warranty (90 days, the minimum required by law) though.

iRiver products are pretty impressive, have a nice warranty (1 year) and the company seems pretty responsive. They're a bit pricey and I don't know if the firmware on their smaller MP3 players is fully developed (ie. bug free).

http://www.creative.com/produc...=9672

http://www.iriveramerica.com/

[rousie13]

Anyone have any experience with the Sonic Blue Rio Cali Sport? I read it was a decent MP3 player and it has like everything I want.

[Rex]

Is there a Target near you? I noticed they have some of their MP3 players on clearance when I was in there the other day. They weren;t super cheap, but I'm sure they will be soon, they mark that stuff down CRAZY.

I'll look next time and if they have some real cheap I'll pick one or two up just because.

[wangless]

apple store you get a student discount. $30 off the 4th gen 20gb ipod. so its like $270 total. thats like 10%... take 10% off the mini now... is that better lol ?

ipod all the way. second friend just got an ipod now... makes me twice as jealous. next week though... ill get it after my tests are done with and i have some time to mess with it and hook it up to the car

[Silvia2b]

We sell the rio stuff where I work, very little get returned for defects. Usually just by people who can't figure out what an mp3 is and to get it on to these little electronic devices. We have the cali in green, and yellow 256MB versions. I'd say decent product though, since don't sell crap, only high end gear.

[HashiriyaS14]

Get an MD player/recorder with NetMD/Hi-MD.

I've honestly never gotten my MD player to skip, and extra storage is super-cheap.

I also cannot stand players that randomly select tracks from a big playlist. It's a pain navigating through 20gb of music with the limited controls on those things.

Besides, in terms of looks, MD players far out-pimpify anything out there. Go for a snazzy Japan-market only one from http://www.minidisco.com

Only thing is, MD sound quality is GOOD if you are using serious earphones. For this reason, MP3s encoded at a lower bitrate won't sound very good. I use Grado SR-80 headphones, and they are pretty unforgiving of bad recordings.

[Jesda]

Can I ask how much the Grados were? An arm and leg I imagine. Besides Sennheiser, there's nothing like a Grado.

[i2ice4m3]

the nike one?? it's pretty cheap and it has an armband!

[rousie13]

I decided on the Sonic Blue Rio Cali Sport 256mb MP3 player. I ordered it yesterday and it's going to be here tomorrow, so thats not bad. I got a good deal on it and hopefully it's up to par....but it sure as hell has to be better than the one I have now.