portable audio shootout: md/flash/mp3 cd/hd based

[Crappopotamus]

the christmas season is coming, and its the time to buy electronic gadgets! for your money, what would you buy?

md - sony proprietary stuff. clunky interface i hear. dont they have write protection and stuff on them now? cheap and compact though. i dont know too much about mds. how are they?

flash - weak sauce. not enough memory and too expensive. small though.

mp3 cd - larger than all the others, but can be small. irivers are real slim and really nice. large amount of songs. can play regular cds. cheap.

hd based - mmmm ipod. too bad theyre in the 250+ range. out of my league for now. but so nice.


i personally would save up for an ipod, but grab an mp3 cd in the meantime. tell me about mds though... im interested. why arent they more popular?


somewhat related: i need to buy my younger sister (gr 9) a music player. im pretty set on mp3 cd cause of the stated reasons. as well, shes a clumsy forgetful oaf: theyre pretty large (wont lose it as easily) and not too expensive. what do you guys think?

 

[LS20]

creative nomad zen's are cheap... carry 20gb with me everywhere i go? hell yeah

 

[fs5]

ipod. <- that's a period.

 

[Crappopotamus]

not cheap in the 'less than 100 dollars' sense. they go for what. 200 something? i can get two irivers for the same price.

 

[GoSharks]

MD is just as proprietary as CD.

mds are very durable and have very good battery life. (im not entirely up to speed on the latest generations of music players though). they have good audio quality too. clunky interface is from sony's netmd software which can be substituted with different pieces of software (IIRC).

 

[FuZoR]

I had a SlimX 350 (MP3 CD player) worked great... then i got a ipod ;-)

 

[EyeMWing]

Flash. Old school units, with removable media. Internal memory only = TEH SUXXXX.

 

[theNEOone]

i voted for flash players because i like their size and the ability to use during high impact activities, but a 1gig flash player costs close to $450, so i just bought a 20gig ipod. my school was selling them for $329 - bang/buck? uhh, that's a no-brainer.


=|

 

[Crappopotamus]

if so many people like ipods, how come so few people have em?! this is for your money right...

 

[GTaudiophile]

Are there any Flash-based players out there that are good and accept CompactFlash cards?

 

[Sid59]

i have an mp3 cd player. thought it was god send.
i have a flash based 192 MB mp3 player. thought it was god send.
i'm trying to convince my gf to buy me a hdd based one. i can wish.,

 

[Crappopotamus]

..

 

[waylman]

hd by a mile

 

[Lonyo]

I had a CD MP3 player, until I broke it
Got a MD, I hate the software, but it's nice and small. I think if anything I'd go for a stick based thing, maybe 512MB if I could, something small is always better (when it comes to music players)

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Where's the option for "Hard drive, but anything except iPod"?

Gotta have HD, best combination of size, weight, capacity, convenience and performance. It's great to fill the thing up once and never have to worry about it again and it's always comforting to know that you can go out in the morning with the thing and definitely have already loaded whatever you might want to listen to later in the day. But iPods are overpriced and overhyped and the batteries are a joke compared to many competitors.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Again, are there any players that use CompactFlash cards? I have plenty...

 

[EmperorIQ]

Originally posted by: LS20
creative nomad zen's are cheap... carry 20gb with me everywhere i go? hell yeah

nomad

i'd get either that ^
or that msi mega stick, i found it for 92 bucks, i think. 128mb is pretty decent, i think hds are over kill too.

 

[sparkyclarky]

Originally posted by: Crappopotamus
if so many people like ipods, how come so few people have em?! this is for your money right...

I don't know where you've been, but the iPod is by far the most popular/sold HD based MP3 player. I see them all the time on campus. It's a quality piece of engineering. I'll let you dig up sales figures though.

 

[iamme]

question: has anyone come across a portable mp3 player that has an FM and AM tuner?

 

[phantom309]

MD all the way. The proprietary compression sounds much better than MP3, practically impossible to make it skip, media is cheap, battery life is amazing for a mechanical player. But yeah, the software sucks.

 

[Oscar1613]

i have mp3cd player... both portable and a HU for my car. that way i can use the same cds i listen to on my way to class in my car when i drive somewhere

 

[Crappopotamus]

Originally posted by: iamme
question: has anyone come across a portable mp3 player that has an FM and AM tuner?

i think the am component is much bulkier than the fm one. you get fm in cell phones, and tiny little radio players... but never am.

 

[iamme]

Originally posted by: Crappopotamus

Originally posted by: iamme
question: has anyone come across a portable mp3 player that has an FM and AM tuner?

i think the am component is much bulkier than the fm one. you get fm in cell phones, and tiny little radio players... but never am.

 

[bolido2000]

MD!!! Battery life is simply amazing and it sounds great. I hear Sony's software is crap, but you can use RealOne which is pretty good and it doesn't have any copy protection. I have the Sony NetMD N-505 with hacked N1 firmware
I picked up mine on ebay for 60 bucks when Ubid was selling a crapload of MD there. Brand new and it came with all accs.

GT: There are lots of CF mp3 players. I've seen a lot of no name players on ebay that don't go for much that use CF.