Recommend me an MP3 player?

J

Jadestar

Weaksauce
Joined
Oct 6, 2002
Messages
124
Here are a few criteria.

1) Needs to be inexpensive. I don't have a strict budget, but let's just say lower-end.

2) Needs to be small and durable. I work in a rubber mill and often have two-ton steel rolls slamming against my pocket areas, where this will be. :p

3) FM tuner would be really nice. Do any mp3 players these days have one besides the Zune?

4) Since I can't spend much, it'd be nice if the storage was removable, a-la SD cards or something. It'd be nice if I wasn't stuck with the same small storage capacity the whole time on the unit.

Thanks! I wonder if there's anything out there for me. :p
 
Well with the wi-fi version of the sandisk e series released....the standard versions have dropped in price...you can get the 8gig version for about 180$ ish and you can drop in a 2giger mini sd

concidering you needs id grab a case for it....youll be glad IMO
 
SanDisk Es also have FM tuners/recorders. Got one for my woman and she LOVES it. Her co-workers with iPods even comment how nice it is.
 
I recently got, after looking around alot, a Sandisk Sansa e130 on ebay. Internal memory is 512, but it does have the SD slot, so can hold up to another 2 gig and has an FM tuner. The seller was having a 3 day "sale", so I got mine for $25 plus s/h. Comes with a clear plastic case (kinda chinzy), an armband and earbuds with different size cushions and the USB cable to connect to your PC. Also uses a single AAA battery. So far, I'm getting approximately 12 to 14 hours of play.

I did spend some extra and ordered a leather case ($20) and upgraded the included earbuds to Koss over-the-ear headphones with volume control ($25) - but I would probably have done that with any mp3 player. I just can't stand earbuds and I like being able to on the fly control the volume.

It does not support subscription services, doesn't have pictures or any other bells and whistles. But if you just want to listen to some music and want something you don't need any software for, it may just be the way to go for you. I love the drag and drop from windows onto the player. And it's cheap! since it is "old" technology.
 
I love my Sansa e130. It doesn't seem very heavy duty, but has lasted well in my pocket on bike rides to work. The volume wheel on the corner is pretty handy for reaching in and changing volume. The raised button in the middle of the control buttons makes use of controls through thin shirts or shorts possible as long as your player is upright, you know where the pause, skip and back buttons are.

You only get one Playlist, but that's alright by me. You can also select to play all cuts from a particular album or artist.

It doesn't mind at all when I move folders onto the SD card at work. Or even if I pop it in my cam and take a couple of pics, it still plays tunes off the SD.

I have one card for tunes and one for talk podcasts.
 
Even as attractive as the zen stone it...it doesnt seem to fit his needs that well...meets 1/3 of his primary needs
 
I think that the Insignia 4gb player would be great. It is a little pricier and lacks an expansion slot but it is one of the few flash players that has gapless audio (seamless track changes).
 
Cat1yst said:
Even as attractive as the zen stone it...it doesnt seem to fit his needs that well...meets 1/3 of his primary needs
Click to expand...
Cheap. Check
Small and durable. Check
FM tuner. Check
Removable storage. Nope.


It meets 3/4 of his needs.
 
I picked up the Sansa Express for $45.99 at a local BB and have been very pleased with it (after I ditched the crappy headphones for a higher quality Sony set).

Good luck.

P.S. It also is available in pink
 
http://www.mp4nation.com/products/index.php?PID=m3b

I actually purchased a 4GB Meizu M3 Music Card from MP4nation.com about a month ago, i paid $95 for the 4GB then, the price has gone up now - i like it a lot, the sound is better than my old nano, it also has a FM tuner and you can sort your songs by artist/album/genre etc and have playlists.

It's a pretty durable player, i have dropped it twice and it still works, you can also get hard cases for it on ebay. I also got a set of in ear headphones with the purchase and they are basically ear plugs, it drowns out more or less all outside sound - if you work in a loud place you might want to get these anyways for your player.
 
I was going to say iPhone :p but then I saw it needs to be inexpensive. Just get an iPod shuffle.
 
iPhone, har har. :p

Thanks for all the suggestions guys, I'll look into these. =)
 
Look at the Cowon/iAudio sortiment, I'm sure there's something in there for you (I'd go with the U3, but I don't know if it can meet your budget). Got my Cowon D2 today. Flashy little device. Really need a few small firmware tweaks though (not giving the option of a 24-hour clock is stupid).

Anyway, the U3 isn't the latest-and-greatest, so you should be able to find it relatively cheap. It's a quality product though. Just know that radio is never top-notch in these things because they almost always use the headphone for an antenna. Reception will of course depend on where you live/move about, but it'll always be worse than a dedicated FM-radio.
 
I have a Zen Stone & a Zen Vision M , if u can get the stone plus u wont regret it, I got an ipodder to try it and he loves it.

Best of all its drag and drop.
 
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