Good low cost MP3 Player

[Bonesdad]

Got my eye currently on the iRiver iFP-790. 256MB is all...this is for my 15 year old who tends to lose stuff, so I'm not spending more than I have to. There are soooo many players. What do you people use or recommend on the low end of the scale (pricewise)?

 

[Bonesdad]

anyone? help?

 

[dc5]

flash or hdd based?

 

[Azndude51]

Originally posted by: dc5
flash or hdd based?

low cost would probably mean flash.
cnet is a pretty good place for professional reviews, they have reviews for budget, flash, hard drive, etc.

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: Bonesdad
Got my eye currently on the iRiver iFP-790. 256MB is all...this is for my 15 year old who tends to lose stuff, so I'm not spending more than I have to. There are soooo many players. What do you people use or recommend on the low end of the scale (pricewise)?

Get the Creative Muvo LX (pretty sure it's LX) 256mb...they have them for $100CDN at stores here in Toronto. Should be $80US or so. I went through Chinatown looking at just about every sub-$100 MP3 player in existance, and the Creative model had the best build quality, and I assume the best sound quality (Creative has an excellent reputation in that regard).

 

[Bonesdad]

flash definately...not going to put any really valuable merchandise into this kid's hands....thanks for the tips so far , I'll check into the Creative Muvo

 

[whistleclient]

rio nitrus

 

[thecrecarc]

go to ebay and buy a random 256mb flash for 40$

edit i just went to ebay and u can buy a 256mb one for 15$ including shipping

 

[Shenkoa]

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obi...ectronics&n=507846

 

[jvarszegi]

Originally posted by: SickBeast

Originally posted by: Bonesdad
Got my eye currently on the iRiver iFP-790. 256MB is all...this is for my 15 year old who tends to lose stuff, so I'm not spending more than I have to. There are soooo many players. What do you people use or recommend on the low end of the scale (pricewise)?

Get the Creative Muvo LX (pretty sure it's LX) 256mb...they have them for $100CDN at stores here in Toronto. Should be $80US or so. I went through Chinatown looking at just about every sub-$100 MP3 player in existance, and the Creative model had the best build quality, and I assume the best sound quality (Creative has an excellent reputation in that regard).

iRiver MP3 players blow away Creative in just about every category, including microphone recording and build quality. I also think they have nicer ergonomic designs, and they don't come with the annoying software bundles that usually crapify Creative's offerings. I have experience with both brands.

One nice thing about some of the Creative players is that they have a built-in USB plug, but the drawback with their design is the nasty little cover. If I designed something like that, it'd have a cool switchblade design or something. My girlfriend has an iRiver 512MB player which she loves, and it came with a mini USB cable, which is necessary when she hooks it up to the computer.

Why would it be nice to have a built-in plug? Because the iRiver, at least, can be used as a flash drive for any ol' files. (To enable this on my girlfriend's device, I had to flash the firmware.)

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: jvarszegi

Originally posted by: SickBeast

Originally posted by: Bonesdad
Got my eye currently on the iRiver iFP-790. 256MB is all...this is for my 15 year old who tends to lose stuff, so I'm not spending more than I have to. There are soooo many players. What do you people use or recommend on the low end of the scale (pricewise)?

Get the Creative Muvo LX (pretty sure it's LX) 256mb...they have them for $100CDN at stores here in Toronto. Should be $80US or so. I went through Chinatown looking at just about every sub-$100 MP3 player in existance, and the Creative model had the best build quality, and I assume the best sound quality (Creative has an excellent reputation in that regard).

iRiver MP3 players blow away Creative in just about every category, including microphone recording and build quality. I also think they have nicer ergonomic designs, and they don't come with the annoying software bundles that usually crapify Creative's offerings. I have experience with both brands.

I looked at both the iRiver and Creative players. The Creative Muvo was smaller, felt more solid, and was MUCH cheaper ($100 vs. $180). The iRiver did look like the nicer player; the screen was bigger. But for that price, I would be looking into hard drive based players.

As far as I know the muvo requires no software; you just plug it in and drag-and-drop the songs onto it. Anandtech did a review of it recently and gave it very high marks.

 

[jvarszegi]

Originally posted by: SickBeast
As far as I know the muvo requires no software; you just plug it in and drag-and-drop the songs onto it. Anandtech did a review of it recently and gave it very high marks.

Well, I've never used a Muvo. We have a 60GB Nomad 3, which required me to install a suite of software just to use it, none of which could be uninstalled piecemeal. I'm talking about a Creative splash screen for ten seconds when you boot up, and it took over all volume and music-related settings in the whole OS; I couldn't even use the goddamned Windows volume control any more. Maybe they've straightened things out.

 

[Azndude51]

Originally posted by: jvarszegi
iRiver MP3 players blow away Creative in just about every category, including microphone recording and build quality. I also think they have nicer ergonomic designs, and they don't come with the annoying software bundles that usually crapify Creative's offerings. I have experience with both brands.

i generally like iriver players more than creative, but iriver is just too expensive.

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: Shenkoa
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obi...ectronics&n=507846

Yes, it's the TX. Thanks for the link. :beer:

 

[Bonesdad]

Originally posted by: Azndude51

Originally posted by: jvarszegi
iRiver MP3 players blow away Creative in just about every category, including microphone recording and build quality. I also think they have nicer ergonomic designs, and they don't come with the annoying software bundles that usually crapify Creative's offerings. I have experience with both brands.

i generally like iriver players more than creative, but iriver is just too expensive.

Im lookin at this iRiver. It's $130 at Newegg, but there is a $20 MIR. Can probably find it cheaper elsewhere. Good reviews on this unit too...

 

[Mrvile]

Looks pretty sharp. The price is also a bit closer to the Creative. I'd get the iRiver.