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MP3 Player Suggestions.

I

IveBeenBad

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Jul 4, 2001
Messages
8,501
I am looking into getting an MP3 player sometime soon and was looking for suggestions. I dont need a ton of storage, but functionality is important. I also care about sound quality and I would like decent headphones included.
 
For the price, you should probably be looking into a hard drive based player.

You won't find decent headphones included with anything out there, so ignore the ipod earbud raves and keep that in mind. How much are you looking to spend? What features do you need (is basic mp3 playback enough?) How important is size? battery life?

We'll need some more details ;)
 
Talonz said:
For the price, you should probably be looking into a hard drive based player.

You won't find decent headphones included with anything out there, so ignore the ipod earbud raves and keep that in mind. How much are you looking to spend? What features do you need (is basic mp3 playback enough?) How important is size? battery life?

We'll need some more details ;)
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Multifunctionality would be nice. No more than $300 and size isnt an issue as long as its no bigger than my panasonic cd player!
 
I pretty much like my creative nomad zen touch...well except for the touch part. On low, its still way too f____g sensitive...aside from that, plenty of power, long battery life, and great ergonomics. It is a bit heavy due to the larger internal batter though.

I got mine for about $250 at micro center....it was about $20-30 too much, but oh well.
 
On a mb/$ ratio, it is not best buy however, a flash based mp3 player is what I am looking at. I need no internal moving parts, and because I am giving up the available space, I am making sure I have a FM tuner built-in, just in case I do want to listen a little longer sans the repeats.
 
If size isn't an issue, I strongly recommend the player that I have, the Creative Zen Xtra. Not the greatest in terms of size, but not too bad either. It has a great price/gb right now. In terms of sound quality and headphone out, it's considered one of the best. Battery life is about average, but you can't beat it for the price.
 
I've got an RCA Lyra...I'd take it any day over an Ipod...256 build in memory, much smaller, expandable memory...best function is the FM radio tuner tho!
 
If you want something without a disk an with an FM tuner, look at one of the players from iRiver. They have a pretty nice keychain model that has an FM tuner, and either 128 or 256mb of storage.

There are up to 1gb solid state models, but those are so pricey it's almost silly to not go to a harddisk model at that point.

BTW, many folks run, bike, jog, and whatnot with their hard drive based usnits and have zero issues....they do a pretty good job at making these things of decent build.
 
I like the fact that the Rio Carbon works like a normal USB removable drive...
 
mustang_steve said:
If you want something without a disk an with an FM tuner, look at one of the players from iRiver. They have a pretty nice keychain model that has an FM tuner, and either 128 or 256mb of storage.

There are up to 1gb solid state models, but those are so pricey it's almost silly to not go to a harddisk model at that point.

BTW, many folks run, bike, jog, and whatnot with their hard drive based usnits and have zero issues....they do a pretty good job at making these things of decent build.
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I vote for iriver as well. Good sound quality, uses a normal AA battery, and solid state. You can pick up a 1GB USB2.0 7** or 8** model which can be flashed to support drag/drop and .ogg

I just hate the proprietary batteries a lot of devices use and the moving parts. I'm not accident prone (don't drop or smash them) but I do put my stuff to good use (jogging, biking, etc) and my experience with moving parts is not good.
 
I like to have both, a large hard-drive based player for long trips and a small flash-based player with no moving parts that I keep with me on a daily basis... I've had a Creative MuVo NX for a while now, got it mostly 'cuz I figured it'd be convenient to have an MP3 player and USB key in the same small device.

I've been pretty darn happy with it, I only wish there was a 1gb version though... The 512mb starts to feel cramped when I want to transfer large stuff around but still want to keep most of my songs on it for later use without having to go back to my PC and re-downloading them to it. The convinience of having a USB key and MP3 player on the same device is sweet though. One less gadget in the pocket, no cable needed.

Battery live is superb though, one small AAA battery keeps it powered for 12+ hours (depending on format playback and volume). It's interface is simple and easy to control without having to look at the device, the backlight is bright, and the voice record function works fine. The TX or TX FM versions add USB 2.0 speeds and an FM receiver obviously.

I'm looking forward to upgrading my CD-MP3 player this holiday season, I use it mostly on plane trips and in my car... Looking at the Rio Carbon right now (I want it to be as small as possible, 5gb sounds like enough for now). Anyone seen reviews of the nee Zen Micro?
 
What size are HD MP3 players up to now? I was waiting until they get big enough to unload my entire playlist onto one, but I don't think they are quite there yet.
 
There are 60 gig models on the market.

I'd go for the Rio Karma. I like the open source acceptance that Ogg Vorbis and FLAC support suggests, and the ethernet connectivity in the cradle. There is supposedly a 40 gig Karma in the near future.
 
some of the bettery killing ones that use notebook harddries support up to 80gb.

However...i doubt anyone has filled up 60gb at anything less than 192kbps yet...
 
mustang_steve said:
some of the bettery killing ones that use notebook harddries support up to 80gb.

However...i doubt anyone has filled up 60gb at anything less than 192kbps yet...
Click to expand...

You'd be surprised, it's been done and not just because they're ripping thousands of CDs, personally I don't have anywhere near that much yet but I know friends that do. Truly impressive collections, full of live recordings of their favorite bands, rare bootlegs, etc.

On a different note, the Karma does look interesting. It has some really nice features like the Rio DJ and on-the-fly playlists that other players do not, as well as the most complete file format support. Once you hold something as tiny as the Carbon in your hand it's hard not to want it though. :p

I'm really liking the MSD capability of the Carbon too, if the Karma had that and didn't require drivers to access it's contents I'd probably be all over it.
 
this is gonna be hard as a lot of mp3 players come with earphones that suck a$$.

rio karma comes with sennheiser mx300 earphones. one of the best mp3 players out there. you might want to consider them.

however, if you don't need all that space, i'd say go get a muvo2 4gb. but, you need to spend some dough for decent earphones. the sennheiser mx500 are great and cheap. you can get them at newegg.com.
 
I suppose since no one has mentioned it up to now i'm gonna get the big flame....but.........I love my 4g 40gig ipod, sounds good, battery lasts 13-14hrs, using autoupdates with itunes is a breeze, click wheel rocks...worth the extra cash IMO.
10,000 songs is way exagerated though (I have 5000 and filled 28gigs)

(bring the pain)
 
I'll support you Atomicnacho, I have a 4G 20 GB ipod and I love it. I probably use mine 2-3 hours a day, five days a week and have to charge the battery once per week.

You might want to get a new pair of headphones/plugs to go with it, though, as the ipod buds are uncomfortable for me.
 
I like my ipod, but I have to say... don't plan on using it in any sort of dirty environment - it just won't last. Mine didn't do so well, I work in a factory, and just from bringing it to and from work has gotten it pretty messed up. (the scroll wheel is dead in one spot - making it very hard to navigate quickly through songs).
 
xref said:
this is gonna be hard as a lot of mp3 players come with earphones that suck a$$.

rio karma comes with sennheiser mx300 earphones. one of the best mp3 players out there. you might want to consider them.

however, if you don't need all that space, i'd say go get a muvo2 4gb. but, you need to spend some dough for decent earphones. the sennheiser mx500 are great and cheap. you can get them at newegg.com.
Click to expand...

True, but you can get that dealt with for $10. The ones that come with the creative zen arent bad for freebies, but they are too godd**ned large...i cant even fit them in my ears.

What bugs me, is panasonic makes a very nice cheap set for about $12...now why arent these tools using those....oh wait marketing cosmetics....F marketing, just give me some decent phones! Considering most of us dropped over $200 on what prolly costed $12 to make in taiwan....we at least deserve some decent phones while we are at it.
 
mustang_steve said:
True, but you can get that dealt with for $10. The ones that come with the creative zen arent bad for freebies, but they are too godd**ned large...i cant even fit them in my ears.
Click to expand...

Strange, I thought the ones that came with the zen were some of the worst stock buds I've ever heard :p

When you're buying a player, don't even consider the stock headphones as a feature. Buy aftermarket, the best stock phones that are ever bundled are the Senn MX series, which tops out at under $15. You're not really saving money if you drop $250 on a player just because it has nicer heaphones then the one you really want ;)
 
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