best MP3 player to get

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 10:56 pm

I need to get an MP3 player, but I don't want to spend too much. Can you get anything really good for under $200 or is it best to spend a bit more because you get a much better product?

Do the alternatives differ a lot with respect to your options for downloading music on the internet?

Some of you know A LOT more about electronics than I, so I really appreciate any advice.

Icecap Veiwin · Post by **Icecap Veiwin** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 12:24 am

Here's the big thing.

If you're going to get an IPod, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD GET AN IPOD SHUFFLE.

They're way cheaper, and have about the amount of music you'd want. Who puts all their friggin' music on a 40gig Ipod?

Shuffles are also cheaper, btw.

sethsez · Post by **sethsez** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 12:37 am

Icecap Veiwin wrote:Who puts all their friggin' music on a 40gig Ipod?

I have a 60 gig that I've completely filled up and still don't have everything I want on it. It's a hell of a lot more convenient than having to constantly sort through my CDs.

Arcatech · Post by **Arcatech** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 4:42 am

When I bought my 20 gig I thought it would be enough. I have to constantly delete stuff to make room.

Can't wait for 100 gig players!

Icecap Veiwin · Post by **Icecap Veiwin** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 4:53 am

Hm, I guess I'm just more picky when it comes to music.

Here's how it breaks down:

Picky, not much to listen to: Shuffle or Mini.

Not picky: Regular Ipod.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 5:09 am

I'm not so sure that IPod is the way to go. Sony's MP3 player has a higher customer rating, more features, and is significantly cheaper. And there are a few other brands whose products seem comparable or better in quality but cheaper.

UnscathedFlyingObject · Sat Nov 19, 2005 5:38 am

Rich - Ipod.

Poor - anything your budget can pay.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 5:38 am

Careful though, it installs malware in your ear canal.

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 6:12 am

Nice one BM.

I don't understand the iPod craze. I could buy Progear and have change left over to build another supergun for that price....but I'm cheap that way.

I never listen to more than one CD at a time, and I listen to the same CD for several weeks before switching, so even a small capacity mp3 player would suffice for me if I listened to music any time other than while commuting between work and home. The only mp3-compatible portable devices I have are a PSP and soon to be GP2X, and I don't even use my PSP to listen to music at all.

My father recently got some kind of hard drive-based iPod lookalike for a fraction of the price but it seems like he likes it a lot too. Maybe you can look into those.

Skyline · Post by **Skyline** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 9:51 am

I had a 4GB iPod Mini and a 3rd Gen. 10GB iPod. One I sold to my roomate, the other I just got rid of because of it's absolutely pathetic battery life (3 hours at best)

My current player is a Creative Zen Touch 20GB. And it's a damn good player. Good battery life and sound quality (after screwing around with the custom EQ...the presets all sound pathetic), although the music transferring/overall use isn't as easy and streamlined as iPod+iTunes.

Post by **system11** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 12:24 pm

Prof g: DON'T BUY SONY!!!!

Obvious reasons at the moment, they are the DRM kings.

I'm also looking for an mp3 player at the moment, it seems as soon as I pick one, I find out all the negative points. A lot of newer players are now 'MTP' devices. This means they only work with Windows XP, it's some bastardised proprietry Microsoft protocol - they've been pushing hardware vendors to support it, look into the license agreement and you see why - if you implement MTP on another OS, you have to pay them for a license to do so. It's a way of locking people in. Again. I thought they were cutting down on that shit, bastards. Make sure whatever you buy is standard UMS compliant - that's anything that appears as a USB drive when plugged into your computer, iPods for example will be fine. MTP is sneaky and will let you browse it, but the device will be in 'audio devices' instead of the drive pool, so don't get caught out. It adds DRM to your music when you copy it to the player. Sigh.

If anyone has any recommendations, I'm looking for either a larger (1gb+) capacity flash device -or- a 10gb+ drive based. Important things are that it must be seen as a hard disk, it needs user settable equaliser, and very good sound quality. Currently I've been looking at the Monolith II, MPIO FG100, and the iAudio X5. It seems to be a product minefield out there. Even iRiver has started to switch to MTP, so rule out any new ones of those.

Arcatech · Post by **Arcatech** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 1:00 pm

I also have a creative zen 20gb. I recommend it wholeheartedly, as it has long battery life. It can be used to back up files, but the creative software has to be used with it. This software is kind of buggy but it works out OK.

I've had it for about a year and haven't had too many problems with it. Sometimes it will lock up and it has to be manually reset with a pin.

Not sure if it is one of those tricky ones that only allows Windows XP though.

freddiebamboo · Post by **freddiebamboo** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 1:52 pm

I've got a creative zen as well and had no problems, although it has quite a few complaints on amazon about unreliability

dok_industrial · Post by **dok_industrial** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 2:29 pm

i just recently picked up a creative zen sleek. while it's not the super sexy ipod nano (my first purchase choice), i am more than comforted by the fact that for the same price as a 4 gb nano i got an mp3 player that also has:

-FM tuner
-FM recorder
-built-in microphone
-20 GB CAPACITY

so yeah...totally worth it.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 3:09 pm

UFO: not rich, so I guess that rules out the iPod

Bloodflowers: thanks much, Sony crossed off the list

At the top of my list right now: Creative Labs Zen. Apparently Best Buy has a 25% off sale on them right now. Very interested.

Post by **system11** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 4:02 pm

Creative Zen Sleek at least is now switched to MTP, meaning XP only.. Probably the case for other new Creative models too. Oh, and iRiver models, and new Samsungs, and new Philips. EDIT: JVC too.

I can smell an antitrust lawsuit coming along. The only reason for MTP to exist is for Microsoft to get a strangehold on the portable audio market.

Post by **Icarus** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 4:37 pm

iPod.

Range of flavours, capacities, sizes and prices.
Much better battery life now (12hrs+).
Nice looking.
Easy to use.
You can use iTunes (on a Mac) or iTunes/WinAmp/some other music player with plugin capabilities (on a PC).
FireWire (for the love of God, if you want to store a good range of music on your player, you don't want to be sitting there for a couple of hours transferring 80+ albums).
Can be used as a harddisk (I have a 15GB 2nd gen iPod, 10GB filled with music, 5GB spare for coursework).
Why do I want a microphone and FM radio for? I just want to listen to MP3s. (Podcasting is cool though.)

I hear Sony's MP3 players require a specific program to use to manage your music (SonicStage or something), and that it does something to the MP3s to stop them being used on other computers/players (I might be wrong though).

Creative's MP3 players are quite nice now, and pretty small, but I don't buy Creative on principle, as I've never really liked the way they work (and when I bought my iPod, the Zen was twice the physical size. Yech).

BIG · Post by **BIG** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 5:47 pm

I got an iPod Nano,and it's totally sweet.

B-

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 6:41 pm

bloodflowers wrote:Creative Zen Sleek at least is now switched to MTP, meaning XP only.. Probably the case for other new Creative models too. Oh, and iRiver models, and new Samsungs, and new Philips. EDIT: JVC too.

I can smell an antitrust lawsuit coming along. The only reason for MTP to exist is for Microsoft to get a strangehold on the portable audio market.

My computer came with XP installed, but in principle I object to this MS crap. I owe a lot to MS: the XBox got me back into gaming after about 20 years of no playing. But this is nonsense, and I don't want to support it.
Maybe the iPod nano is the best solution: it's totally sleek and beautiful. Only problem: $200 is a bit steep, obviously. After all, I'm a shmup freak first. Music is a distant second place for me.

BIG · Post by **BIG** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 7:22 pm

professor ganson wrote:
Maybe the iPod nano is the best solution: it's totally sleek and beautiful. Only problem: $200 is a bit steep, obviously. After all, I'm a shmup freak first. Music is a distant second place for me.

Perhaps,what you really need is a PSP

Shmups,music,videos...all in one shot.

B-

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 7:58 pm

BIG wrote:
professor ganson wrote:
Maybe the iPod nano is the best solution: it's totally sleek and beautiful. Only problem: $200 is a bit steep, obviously. After all, I'm a shmup freak first. Music is a distant second place for me.
Perhaps,what you really need is a PSP

Shmups,music,videos...all in one shot.

B-

No doubt, but then no one in my family but I would be allowed to use it.

I already bought Lumines in the hope that someday the price on the PSP will be reasonable, but I would be terrified to take my (future) PSP outside for listening while I do lawnwork.

BIG · Post by **BIG** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 9:46 pm

professor ganson wrote:
BIG wrote:
professor ganson wrote:
Maybe the iPod nano is the best solution: it's totally sleek and beautiful. Only problem: $200 is a bit steep, obviously. After all, I'm a shmup freak first. Music is a distant second place for me.
Perhaps,what you really need is a PSP

Shmups,music,videos...all in one shot.

B-
No doubt, but then no one in my family but I would be allowed to use it. I already bought Lumines in the hope that someday the price on the PSP will be reasonable, but I would be terrified to take my (future) PSP outside for listening while I do lawnwork.

Exactly,PerSonal Playstation

B-

B-

sjewkestheloon · Post by **sjewkestheloon** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 10:28 am

if you're in the uk i would whole heartedly recommend the £100 venturer mp3 player from argos which has 40gb capacity... i don't know how it is so cheap but i've cycled the charge 4 times now and it remains at about 10-12 hours which is far better than the shitty ipod i had. plus the interface works as a drag and drop usb drive and you can search the music in a lot of ways. can't be arsed to name the album taggings? just use the folder function and you cna play the album!

the only problem is that it's big and dodgy looking. it's the same shape as the old sony walkmen (cassette) so at least noone will steal it

Post by **system11** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 1:10 pm

sjewkestheloon wrote:if you're in the uk i would whole heartedly recommend the £100 venturer mp3 player from argos which has 40gb capacity... i don't know how it is so cheap but i've cycled the charge 4 times now and it remains at about 10-12 hours which is far better than the shitty ipod i had. plus the interface works as a drag and drop usb drive and you can search the music in a lot of ways. can't be arsed to name the album taggings? just use the folder function and you cna play the album!

the only problem is that it's big and dodgy looking. it's the same shape as the old sony walkmen (cassette) so at least noone will steal it

That 'Venturer' one? What's the sound quality like (and do you have anything to compare it to?). I saw that - looked interesting to be honest, and it's probably just something else rebadged anyway.

umi · Post by **umi** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 2:46 pm

Have they actually MADE a good-looking i-pod yet? Me no like :P Minimalism is good, just... not I-pods...

(just had a look at the nano... looks okay when it's shrunk to that size... you'd wanna change the color though)

SheSaidDutch · Post by **SheSaidDutch** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 4:51 pm

I just use my trusty Mini Disc player while I'm out

I just thought I'd mention

Matsunichi 256mb mp3 player
stores up to 80 songs
supports MP3's and WMA music files
voice recording
10hours battery life

£19.99 in currys

Support Plus 512mb mp3 player
stores up to 160 songs

£59.99

judesalmon · Post by **judesalmon** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 7:50 pm

I have a 40gb iPod, and have been very happy with it, but won't be going with Apple again once it dies.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 1:10 am

I have a soft spot for the Rio Carbon and Nitrus. With a firmware upgrade, you can get them to play Ogg and Flac, which are the r0x0rz.

Still, nothing can beat my Hi-MD, which can record from mic, analog and digital sources, upload unlimited times, download and play its own format (ATRAC@ 256 and 352 kbps sound awesome) in addition to uncompressed wav. And the software has greatly improved in just one year.

Post by **system11** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 2:05 am

For future reference and people who see this thread one day - I eventually bought an iAudio X5L. HDD based, plays anything, doesn't need special software, works on any computer that understands USB hard drives. Sound quality through the supplies earphones is pretty good, plug a proper set in and you realise the unit has incredible sound. There's NO background noise.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 4:12 am

bloodflowers wrote:For future reference and people who see this thread one day - I eventually bought an iAudio X5L. HDD based, plays anything, doesn't need special software, works on any computer that understands USB hard drives. Sound quality through the supplies earphones is pretty good, plug a proper set in and you realise the unit has incredible sound. There's NO background noise.

Hmmm. I'm still looking for a player, and I've never heard of this. I'll have to look into it.