Best MP3 player for 150-250?

[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.

 

[SynthDude2001]

I'd personally recommend the Zen Micro. 5GB of space (would be plenty for me, but YMMV), FM tuner, very small (roughly iPod Mini size; I've seen both in person), seems to have pretty good battery life. In fact, I was considering buying one for my friend for his birthday a few months back, only to be stopped by learning that he was already going to get a Mini from his family.

I've gotta throw in a disclaimer: I don't actually own any of these portable MP3 players, but I've done some research (and have seen the iPod Mini and Zen Micro first-hand), and the Zen Micro is what I think I would personally buy if I were in the market.

Edit: Last I'd checked, which was three months ago, they were about $225 at ZZF; I'm sure they're around that price or a little cheaper by now.

 

[imported_SoulCatcher]

bought my wife the creative 30 gb hd player, she loves it, and I have no problems loading it up for her and such, I just saw staples has the 40gb version on sale with rabate for $199

I dont have a problem reccomending that player, and with 30-40 gb of hdd space, its great not only for mp3 but for file transfers as well

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I don't know if this is going to help at all, but a while ago I was asked a similar question by a friend at school and wrote this to her. It's not going to be directly adressing your problems, but it might give you an idea of what's out there in the price range. Most of the prices I linked to are probably different by now too

"1. Creative Labs Zen Micro
5gb
FM tuner
Very small
Lots of Colors

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=55-102-145&depa=0

reviews there from people who actually bought it

$230 + $6 shipping at newegg (where I get 90% of my computer parts)

slightly better at Walmart.com
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/search-n...t=3944&search_query=creative+zen+micro

ends up about $226 shipped

This one seems really nice if you want a small player and it even comes with an FM tuner so in case you get sick of the music you have on it, you'll always have that.


2. Creative Labs Nomad
30 gb

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=55-102-127&depa=0

or

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDe...ductCode=380101&affiliate=pricegrabber

It's pretty cheap at $180 after rebate and has a ton of storage.


3. Creative Nomad Muvo2
4gb
nice and small

reviews here again
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=55-102-129&DEPA=0

really cheap here
http://shop4.outpost.com/product/4078912

4gb, small, $150... what's not to love?


4. Dell DJ
5gb
nice and small

This one is almost the exact same size as the ipod mini.

sold through dell
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/product...19&l=en&s=dhs&~tab=editorialtab#tabtop

mid level priced at $199


5. Dell DJ
20 gb

Dawn and I had the previous version of this one pretty much. They made it smaller now, and looks like they got rid of the record feature. I'm able to record lectures with mine if I want to.

Ours are pretty sturdy, I hope they kept the build quality high.

This is about the same size is the regular ipod.

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/product...&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~tab=specstab#tabtop

It's $224

Dawn and I got our 15 gig older versions for $179 when they were on sale (this was right before they introduced these new versions, so I think we got lucky since they were trying to get rid of their old versions)

6. Apple ipod mini
4 gb
lots of colors

I wouldn't want to exclude this as it is certainly still a good option, I just wanted you to know that there are plenty of excellent options besides apple.
The creative zen micro is smaller than it but has more capacity and includes and FM tuner.
The creative muvo2 is about the same overall size but it's square instead of rectangular and costs $75 less.
The dell DJ I would say is pretty much the same features as the ipod mini and it costs $25 less.

You can get the ipod mini from the doit tech store for $229 http://techstore.doit.wisc.edu/group.as...t=HARD&subcat=MP3Players&group=PLAYERS





I would definately check out these options and read some reviews. I think these are the best options for the price range of $230 and below. I figured I'd make that that's about the cheapest you can get the ipod mini.

I'm not sure I have the absolute best prices on these, but these are all safe places to order from and they have good prices.

I haven't read through a lot of reviews, but if it were me choosing, I think if I cared more about physical size, I'd get the creative zen micro. If I wanted something with more capacity, I'd probably go for the creative labs 30 gb nomad.

I hope this helps.

I also hope I didn't leave any out. I think these are the best cheap hard drive based mp3 players you can get. You can get a flash based one for cheaper, but those tend to be 1gb (1024mb) or under, typically 256mb. They tend to be smaller than hard drive based drives, but I think unless you're insane about size, something that's roughly 3" x 2" x 1/2" isn't going to be too big."

 

[SP33Demon]

The 1GB Creative Muvo is the best flash player hands down now.

 

[BlueWeasel]

I really like the Dell DJ 20gb player.

I originally had a Zen Xtra, but thought the scroll wheel on the site and the general layout of the player was awkward.

 

[Hyperlite]

Zen Micro or Zen Touch, one of my friends has a Zen Touch and its pretty awesome, amazing battery life and playback quality.

 

[Pariah]

iRiver IFP-799 or IFP-899. At least equal to everything Creative's players can do with additional features. Flash based, so shouldn't have to worry about breaking it anytime soon barring driving over it or something like that.