Best MP3 CD player under $100?

[trikster]

think it's time to trash my old Genica MP3 CD player and get a new one. I spent some time looking around in store flyers and online and found a whole lot of MP3 CD players, which is good and bad. It's great, because I know that I'll be able to find what I need anywhere I turn. But the problem is, there are so many, I don't know which one to get!

So, my question is, which is the best MP3 CD Player on the market now under $100?

I'm looking for ID3 tag support, CDRW support, preferably sturdy design, and if possible, long battery life (If it includes a built in recharger, even better).

 

[abaez]

Probably the Iriver IMP-150, costs 100 bux exactly and by iriver, I got one and it's nice.

 

[RoninRXN]

Boooooooooo! Minidisc is better.

 

[SludgeFactory]

Originally posted by: abaez
Probably the Iriver IMP-150, costs 100 bux exactly and by iriver, I got one and it's nice.

I've got a Rio SP-100, which I think is a rebadged Iriver IMP-150 (check that to be sure, I might have gotten model names mixed up). It does exactly what I want -- it plays anything I throw at it. I've tried a variety of stuff between 22 and 320 kbps, and VBR. The only thing I couldn't play was stuff sampled at 48kHz - which nobody uses anyway. It's supposed to play .wma files too, but I haven't tried that yet.

The main reason I got it was the upgradeable firmware. Iriver puts out firmware revisions all the time, and you can use them on the Rio player. Rio puts out revisions too, but less often.

It supports ID3v1 and v2 tags, and plays CD-R and CD-RW. It loads all the directory and file structure info within about 10 sec of putting a disc in. There's a 10 disc memory and you can resume any of those 10 discs from the point where you last stopped the song.

The remote sucks. It's flimsy, too small for your hand, and the contacts wear out too fast. The display is annoyingly small too, it's a pain to have to wait for artist-song to scroll across, even at the highest scrolling speed. I can't really tell you about durability or battery life, as I only use it plugged in at home. It "feels" a little less sturdy than my Aiwa portable CD player, the hinge mechanism isn't as smooth and it's got a lot of plastic parts. But I have used it for the last 12 months, and the only problem is the play button on the remote getting worn out.

Overall, I'd recommend it.

 

[Nefrodite]

not sure what the price is now but theres only one decent cd mp3 player, i think it was called slim x? basically its super thin and small. not those hulking absurd monsters.

 

[SludgeFactory]

Originally posted by: Nefrodite
not sure what the price is now but theres only one decent cd mp3 player, i think it was called slim x? basically its super thin and small. not those hulking absurd monsters.

That's the Iriver 350. Very nice, but closer to $200 than $100.

 

[Nefrodite]

Originally posted by: SludgeFactory

Originally posted by: Nefrodite
not sure what the price is now but theres only one decent cd mp3 player, i think it was called slim x? basically its super thin and small. not those hulking absurd monsters.

That's the Iriver 350. Very nice, but closer to $200 than $100.

ah doh, price didn't drop that far yet. its a very nice unit though. i just hate the big ones because they are such a step back basically. my old panasonic cd only player is the same size as the iriver, nice and thin and light. hulking a bulky rio cd player around.. just disturbs me.

 

[Thegonagle]

Originally posted by: RoninRXN
Boooooooooo! Minidisc is better.

For under $100? Show me a player/recorder for that price, and I'll be buying a MD recorder tonight!

 

[Braves]

i'd highly recommend the RioVOlt SP100 as mentioned above, comes out to below 100$ at Jandr.com. HOWEVER, be careful with the battery case, i've had mine less then a half year and it broke off a month ago

 

[joe678]

doesnt md's record at real time? isnt that pretty annoying?

 

[Nefrodite]

whats annoying is that it either records as analog or through the digital optical link. 2ndly it has to record into its own little compression format, in essense recompressing compressed music. this is because sony is a copy protection whore, u gotta use their format or else. u can't copy files from your md to a pc without yet another reencode. theres a thing called netMD where the md can record at multi speed, but its fastest speeds are only reachable using the worst quality setting.


md is a format with potential that is artificially limited by sony to the functionality of a super casstte tape.

 

[Thegonagle]

The MD was introduced early enough that it could have become the dominant floppy replacement format today, if only they had looked to their left, at the growing popularity of the CD-ROM, and seen the correlation, seen the potential.

 

[RoninRXN]

Originally posted by: Garfang

Originally posted by: RoninRXN
Boooooooooo! Minidisc is better.

For under $100? Show me a player/recorder for that price, and I'll be buying a MD recorder tonight!

Used maybe...

 

[RoninRXN]

Originally posted by: Nefrodite
whats annoying is that it either records as analog or through the digital optical link. 2ndly it has to record into its own little compression format, in essense recompressing compressed music. this is because sony is a copy protection whore, u gotta use their format or else. u can't copy files from your md to a pc without yet another reencode. theres a thing called netMD where the md can record at multi speed, but its fastest speeds are only reachable using the worst quality setting.


md is a format with potential that is artificially limited by sony to the functionality of a super casstte tape.

Well of course, eventually, someone will think of a way to break that Sony copy protection. It's actually not that bad. I've tried it with all my MP3s (...and I don't think I have one that doesn't infringe on copyrights...) and they all worked. The thing that's annoying is that it's a "hotel" system. You have to check the song out and back in or else you can only record it three times. In other words, there can only be three copies of the same song in existance originating from your PC and NetMD unit.

Also, if you record from an analog source, you don't go through anything except the sound card

 

[trikster]

I bought a IRiver ChromeX (IMP-150) for $95 total on Amazon ($5 off coupon and free shipping). I really can't wait for this thing...i've heard so many good things about it.