Best MP3 player for $150-$200?

[pclstyle]

I hovered my cursor over purchase at the apple store for about 10 minutes before deciding against paying $180 (educational discount) for a 4gb silver mini (one of the new ones, 18 hr life, no ac/firewire). I didn't want to act on impulse, because I had busted the sh*t out of my $400 nw-hd1 sony network walkman, and i was probably looking for a way to console myself.

anyway, i'm not in the mood to pay $350 for a new hd3, so i was wondering what your ideas on the best players around the $200 price range were. for me, 1gb flash or 20gb hd doesn't really make that big a difference to me, but the mini had looked pretty appealing at 4gb. the big turnoff to me was that i had bought one for my girl for xmas, and when i actually saw it out of box, it wasn't as cool as i thought it'd be. basically a sanded metal finish,awkward controls, average sound quality, not worth the $250 i spent on it.

ah, as a side note, players without a display (i.e. shuffle) are just too annoying to deal with. if no one can think of a better 200$ player than the mini, i'll probably just end up completing that sale.

 

[lizardboy]

NIK: WRONG FORUM

 

[fs5]

basically a sanded metal finish,awkward controls, average sound quality, not worth the $250 i spent on it.

Not impressived with the way it looks? Awkward controls? These are all the arguments to GET an iPod. You should probably look at something else then.

 

[Mayfriday0529]

i'm giong to bump because even though its on the wrong section i want to know others opinions.

 

[pclstyle]

Originally posted by: fs5

basically a sanded metal finish,awkward controls, average sound quality, not worth the $250 i spent on it.

Not impressived with the way it looks? Awkward controls? These are all the arguments to GET an iPod. You should probably look at something else then.

maybe i'm looking for a player that doesn't exist =/ the finger wheel is sleek, but when it comes to being practical and looking though a library of 1000 songs, i dunno, it doesn't really cut it. as for the looks: to me, the screen is undersized in relation to the player, and the way its edged at the top and bottom take a lot away from it. kind of like they smushed a steel pipe into an elliptical shape and stuck stuff inside.

maybe i'm clueless, but the sony nwhd1 set some tough standards. i just wanna know if there's anything out there that i might not have seen just browsing casually through amazon and at

 

[CptObvious]

JMO, but I would save up extra $ and get the 30GB iPod Photo. My reasoning:

-With the educational discount it's $319+tax
-The iPod Photo comes with the AC adapter and the iPod Mini no longer does. Apple charges like $50+ for the adapter.
-You get 7.5x the storage capacity and a color screen (although it's bigger and has 3 hrs. less battery life) for maybe $100 more after factoring in the cost of adapter.

 

[fs5]

Originally posted by: pclstyle
maybe i'm looking for a player that doesn't exist =/ the finger wheel is sleek, but when it comes to being practical and looking though a library of 1000 songs, i dunno, it doesn't really cut it.

this all depends how well you have your songs labeled. That plus SmartPlaylists (which I don't know if sony has) makes it a pretty good UI for me.

Look at the zen offerings from creative, or if iRiver makes a player at this price point. Those are popular alts.

 

[BlueWeasel]

It depends on what you plan on using it for. If you mainly use it for working out and other high impact stuff like jogging, then a flash-based MP3 player is best.

But if you just want a basic MP3 player similar to the iPod, then I highly recomend the Dell DJ20GB. I recent picked up the 2gen 20gb player for about $210 shipped and really like it.

I had a Zen Xtra 40GB player previously, but just didn't care for the scrollwheel on the side.