Any high capacity (> 60 GB) mp3 players to consider besides iPod classic?

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pennylane

Diamond Member
Apr 28, 2002
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Hi,

My 60 GB iPod (5th gen - video) seems to be dying and I may be in need of a replacement. It seems like most mp3 players these days are using solid state memory, and thus tend to be on the smaller side, capacity-wise. What high capacity (hard drive-based, I'm guessing) mp3 players are out there besides the iPod?

While I'm okay with the iPod for the most part, I'd just like to know what else is available. I don't like iTunes (and don't plan on using it to put music on the iPod) and I have a few other nit-picks, so I'm at least curious to see what's out there, even if I'm pleased with the iPod in general.

Thanks.
 
C

CurseTheSky

Diamond Member
Oct 21, 2006
5,401
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Just a thought - some of Sandisk's players (the Sansa Clip+ at least) have a MicroSD slot, and IIRC allow up to 16GB MicroSD cards to be inserted. That expands the total capacity from the 8GB internal to 24GB total - not too shabby. Best of all, they're cheap (~$45-60, plus the cost of MicroSD cards), they don't use iTunes, and you can bring a collection of MicroSD cards to hold your entire library.

It's not a perfect solution, but it works fairly well for me.
 
gorcorps

gorcorps

aka Brandon
Jul 18, 2004
30,739
454
126
CurseTheSky said:
Just a thought - some of Sandisk's players (the Sansa Clip+ at least) have a MicroSD slot, and IIRC allow up to 16GB MicroSD cards to be inserted. That expands the total capacity from the 8GB internal to 24GB total - not too shabby. Best of all, they're cheap (~$45-60, plus the cost of MicroSD cards), they don't use iTunes, and you can bring a collection of MicroSD cards to hold your entire library.

It's not a perfect solution, but it works fairly well for me.
Click to expand...

The Cowon D2 offers a standard SD slot with SDHC capacity up to 32gig, with up to 16gig on board.
 
Malak

Malak

Lifer
Dec 4, 2004
14,696
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A Zune is probably what you want, it is what I switched to because I hated itunes as well. Better software and with zune pass you get access to the entire catalog.

I don't know the point to high capacity mp3 players though. I can fit my entire collection on my 16GB ZuneHD and not listen to half of it before the battery is done. I can also switch playlists from my laptop without physically connecting my Zune, so it's pretty easy to swap out music.
 
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pennylane

Diamond Member
Apr 28, 2002
6,077
1
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CurseTheSky,
Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm feeling limited by 60 GB already (the last year I've basically been having to find something to delete in order to add something new), so I don't think I'd go with that route.

Thanks Anubis for that thread. Looks like I'll be stuck with another iPod (which isn't the worst thing in the world). I saw that somebody suggested just replacing the hard drive. I believe my hard drive is what's dying, but replacing it with a 120 GB would cost more than a new 160 GB iPod, so it doesn't look like I'll go that route.

I use foobar to load music on the iPod, so I can kinda use it as a mass mp3 storage device (I can put the music in a directory structure I like, with limitations). foobar also lets me automate a few things (convert replaygain to soundcheck, lets me actually use album artists or have album artist sort ability) so it's nice enough.

I'd miss out on these "Genius" mixes, which seem interesting. I don't know how Genius works but it seems like it's an iTunes thing and not something that can be generated within the iPod on its own. I bring this up because my main complaint is generating playlists, which for me is a largely manual affair.
 
Deeko

Deeko

Lifer
Jun 16, 2000
30,213
12
81
If you feel its enough capacity - there is a 64GB Zune HD. I have the 32GB and love it. It has a feature called SmartDJ, its kinda like the genius mix on an iPod. If you get a Zune Pass (which to me is the biggest reason to get a Zune), it will pull in songs from the marketplace for those mixes. Like a combination of Genius and Pandora. Awesome feature.
 
M

Mr. Pedantic

Diamond Member
Feb 14, 2010
5,027
0
76
A Zune is probably what you want, it is what I switched to because I hated itunes as well. Better software and with zune pass you get access to the entire catalog.

I don't know the point to high capacity mp3 players though. I can fit my entire collection on my 16GB ZuneHD and not listen to half of it before the battery is done. I can also switch playlists from my laptop without physically connecting my Zune, so it's pretty easy to swap out music.
Click to expand...
I have about 25GB of music, but most of my collection is in audiobooks and podcasts; I have just shy of 24GB of each. And it's just convenient to have everything on there at once. I listen to different music to affect or depending on my mood, and being able to play what I want is better than wanting to play something and regretting not having the space to put it on the MP3 player.
 
onlyCOpunk

onlyCOpunk

Platinum Member
May 25, 2003
2,532
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So you need all 24gb's of audio books and podcasts on your ipod at once? That seems a little excessive.
 
M

Mr. Pedantic

Diamond Member
Feb 14, 2010
5,027
0
76
So you need all 24gb's of audio books and podcasts on your ipod at once? That seems a little excessive.
Click to expand...
Well, when I still had my iPod I charged it maybe once a week, and during that week I'd listen to about 20-25 hours on it, pretty much the limit of the iPod's battery life. I don't really want to bother hooking it up to my computer every single day to try and anticipate what I want to listen to the next day, so it's much more convenient to carry around everything. But now, all I have is a flash-based generic 2GB MP3 player with the most horrible controls and interface in the world so I don't really have any choice... :p

Plus, sometimes even when I charged it it wasn't not on my computer, so I didn't have my library - it'd be at a Uni computer, or at one of my friends', or maybe in an internet cafe, etc. So sometimes I'd go a month or so without syncing.

I don't expect everyone to have the same usage as me, I'm just saying that's how I used my iPod Classic, and I would like a replacement to enable me to do all those things.
 
Anubis

Anubis

No Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
78,712
427
126
tbqhwy.com
im with pedantic, i want my entire 100GB + music collection with me at all times

Cowon makes nice devices. i loved my X5L, id love this new thing if it was physically 70% smaller with the same capacity
 
gsaldivar

gsaldivar

Diamond Member
Apr 30, 2001
8,691
1
81
pennylane said:
I believe my hard drive is what's dying, but replacing it with a 120 GB would cost more than a new 160 GB iPod, so it doesn't look like I'll go that route.
Click to expand...

You can get a 60GB replacement drive for cheap, if you don't mind installing it (youtube has tons of hard drive replacement videos, search and see how easy it is)

Replacement 60GB hard drive for iPod Video 5g: ~$70.00 shipped

http://cgi.ebay.com/Toshiba-60GB-Ha...er_MP3_Player_Accessories&hash=item563fe86f56

New 160GB iPod Classic (6g): $250.00
Refurbished 160GB iPod Classic (6g): $209.00
 
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