Product reccomendations, MP3 players

[sbird1]

I had the same iRiver! Also ran Rockbox. Lots of cool but completely useless features (like a text editor wtf). I enjoyed the additional EQ settings.

I got an iRiver a couple years ago for Christmas and the damned thing would never work right. It would play for a while and then turn itself off and restart. It would do it often and it was very off-putting. I would stay away from that crappy red cylinder thing.

P.S. I'm quite happy with my iPod. I have no complaints about the software or the device.

[Jesda]

How is more supported formats, am/fm radio tuner, real time audio recorder, without any needed software not better than an ipod?
From release it was better, I can play vids on mine and the only thing is it has a two tone screen.
Can ipods be used as portable HDDs?

Yes, you just turn on the checkbox to enable disk access.

I never use AM/FM tuners. Its nice to have for bus riders, but in the car you already have a radio. I never record audio.
Those are all great features, but they're not features that 90% of the population ever uses.

Of all the things the iRiver did, the one thing it was supposed to do was a pain in the rear, which is playlists and music playback. The default UI was terrible but with Rockbox it was usable if inelegant -- though truthfully it was crude. It crashed once in a while but iPods crash too.

I buy the bulk of my MP3s from Amazon and iTMS, so they're DRM-free AAC and MP3. I dont do FLAC, ogg-vorbis, or anything like that.

[Looneybomber]

I was over at the store looking for a new camera for my wife and I saw the Sony Walkmans and I was thinking they might work.
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/sto ... ryId=16178

I bought a Sony Walkman (16gb) and was going to recommend it.


I picked mine up from Sony.com refurbished for around $62 with shipping and tax while they were having a special. I jumped on the deal obviously. It has the external speakers, allows me to drag and drop into my own folders (which includes my 3+GB Aphex Twin discography and all his respective albums) and I can navigate through folders.
My only complaint is it does not play .flac! Grr.

[skydragoness]

Did anyone mention the Zune already? I skimmed but didn't see it stick out.

Anyhow, I will chime in and say that I hate Apple and iTunes with a passion, but I have a iPod Touch 4g that picks up wi-fi and takes photos/video...all that nonsense.
I like it for the most part. I got it to replace a Toshiba Gigabeat (30 gig) that had degraded into 1hr of battery life.

Here's a program a friend of mine sent me the link to that fools the iPod or the computer rather into thinking it's just a usb storage device. Thus enabling you to drag/drop :
http://www.macroplant.com/iphoneexplorer/

I haven't used it just yet as I have a headunit in my car that reads usb flashdrives so my ipod is generally for use at work or travelling in planes/other people's cars.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Bump.
My cigarette to USB adapter somehow stopped putting out 5 volts, and absolutely cooked my Sansa Fuze
Now they don't make that model anymore, and reviews for the new ones say they suck. They went from buttons and wheel to touch pad. I f*** hate touch pads.

Does anyone have any modern recommendations for under $100?

[zacmil]

http://reviews.cnet.com/best-cheap-mp3- ... ag=leftnav

Maybe this can be helpful.

I can't really offer any input, I've never really been in the market for a smaller capacity mp3 player.

[krash]

I have a 2nd gen iPod touch, its not all that bad. Getting into the iTunes groove sucks at first, but it really does make stuff easier. And you don't have to sign up for anything to use iTunes. I don't think you can use the iPod touch as a hard disk, but you can definitely use the other ones that way. My ipod touch has been treated like crap its whole life and still works very well. I'd suggest that if you can get over the iTunes thing.

[TurboSauce]

I remember this thread, ha I should be paid for that Sansa ad practically.
but a little update, summer 2011the connecting cable took a crap on me (only one I had)
and the spin pad/thumb pad got some thing in it therefore it stopped working, so it became basically only good to use for an in-car never move sort of thing, so I discarded it.
I went into best buy to get a new one, but to my disappointment they didn't have 'em anymore, so i had to look for a new one.
I decided to go against my gut and get a full touchscreen mp3 for a little over $100,
...It was a colby mp3
needless to say, about 2-3 months after it stopped working,
like, complete loss of function, plug it in screen turns white (as if to charge)
then the screen turns back to black, (it could just be a dead battery but, after 3 months? really?)
so that's still sitting there, (mind you if you have a usb car stereo the device still functions (as a press play and leave plugged in sort of thing ) )
Truth be told, from personal use, I got really fed up with the touch screen aspect of it, from day to day use, i'd much rather buttons.
They're so simple, there is hardly anything to go wrong.
The mp3 in question: http://www.cobyusa.com/?p=prod&prod_num ... at_id=2001
Another annoying aspect of that touchscreen mp3 mentioned above, is that say you're to tirelessly scroll through your music ( the only option you really have) and you select a song that begins with the letter G, or that's in the middle of your playlist, and you want to select another song that's close to it, but not close enough that continuously pressing next is worth it. when you go back to your playlist, it starts from the beginning without fail every time, not from the last song you may have played (this does get annoying overtime).
Here's a link to a youtube review http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPTzw9gUBAI
but honestly i wouldn't recommend that to anyone really, unless you like that sort of thing.

What I ended up doing was using my current phone as my mp3 player, but it's not loud enough for my liking so i'm going to have to look for another one soon. If I do find anything that stands out and I genuinely like interacting with, i'll be sure to inform you guys.
Even if you don't really care.

Tl:DR
1. Fuze died, never really had much aftermarket support (or their own store's support really)
2. Replaced with Colby Touchscreen Mp3
3. #2 was a waste of money
4. #2 Died shortly after
5. Started using my Sony Ericsson as an mp3 player
6. ????
7. I'm looking for a new mp3 player

[zacmil]

Honestly, I don't know of any mp3 player currently on the market that I would want to own other than the iPod. Between the iPod and smartphones, there isn't much room for a well-built mp3 player anymore. There are a ton of low-end devices out there, but, as TurboSauce pointed out, a lot of them are crap.

If I was looking for a cheap mp3 player right now, I'd just try and pick up a used/refurbished iPod or a Zune. You may end up spending a bit more initially, but you'll be getting a quality product that should last a while--I've owned my iPod since 2006, and I'm just now getting to the point that I need to replace the battery.

[frapjap]

Maybe I can add something here.
Like most of you guys, I hate, hate, hate the i-anything craze.
Because of this, I bought one of these little things on Black Friday in 2007:

It runs off a single AAA battery (which I like because if it dies on the plane I just pop in another one and don't have to listen to the screaming child while cursing myself for not charging my player before the trip), plays damn near ANYTHING file wise, is a very, very simple drag and drop, has a variable EQ, and excellent headphone output. This thing has had the crap beat out of it for 5 years- from my car, exercising at the gym, running, hiking, had multiple liquids spilled on it, etc. Its so durable I almost forget that I can't take it swimming with me. Its very compact (length of your pointer finger), has an easy to read (though small) screen, and a folder system that makes 100% sense. It reads the text files exactly how your dragged it to them.
Another positive- my car's HU will play it through the USB plug OR the headphone jack. Pretty effin' sweet. Assume it works the same way with docks. I suppose the only downside is that its 1-2 gigs. There are other models that are probably larger, but really, how many albums do you need at a time? 1 gig is roughly 15-18 albums. Also, lithium batteries work WAY better and last longer than the cheapies.
http://mymusix.com/products/audio/PD-6110/
Buy it at radioshack.

[TurboSauce]

Looks interesting, From their line up I actually like this (if i would buy a new mp3)
http://mymusix.com/products/audio/42-198/