Recommend me a media player

[rivan]

I'm looking for a new media player; have an old 30GB Zen but need another.

Screen doesn't need to be huge, 3" or larger, I'd say. Storage doesn't need to be huge, maybe 8-16 GB (smaller then expandable is ok). The kicker? SUPER limited budget - $150 would be the absolute ceiling, $100 would be much, much better.

I like the Zen once stuff's on it, but hate terrible buggy box of bloatware that comes with it. I'd much prefer something I can make movies for, then drag and drop with a minimum of fuss.

Thoughts?

 

[uli2000]

Ive been seeing the old Archos 5 units being closed out alot of times ~$150 price range. 5 in. screen, wifi, and 30gb hd. Also, check out mp4nation.net. He imports alot of Chinese audio/video players. He reviews them on Youtube as well. It looks like right now he's got a 7" audio/video player w/ 8gb memory for ~$130! I may check that out myself.

 

[cheesehead]

COWON is good, if you can find it at the right price.

Alternately, you can get refurbished netbooks for about $200. This will give you a 9" screen, and while most cheap netbooks have a tiny flash disk, they also have slots for SD cards and USB ports for big, cheap thumbdrives.

 

[corkyg]

What is the travelling venue? How many kids? What's your budget?

 

[robphelan]

another vote for the cowon...

btw,

on our trip to maine, I bought my daugher an inexpensive (99 on amazon now 109) DVD player which plays everything - divx, xvid, I believe mp4... plus regular DVDs. and as a bonus, it plays from a usb drive too!

it's this puppy

I bought it because it plays a wide variety of formats, plus the USB was very importan to me.

It has a card reader, but i never got around to try it..

but I love the thing - has output connections for the TV when we got to the hotel - it was great.

as a matter of fact, i need to write a review on amazon real quick.

 

[corkyg]

To amplify my point, if you have 2-3 kids in the back of a car, then they will be watching simultaneously, and from three angles. Anything less than a 7-in screen won't cut it. If in a plane, then no more than two can watch, and maybe only one.

For a car, I like the units that fasten to the back of the headrest on a front seat. That makes for better shared visibility and avoids "possesion" conflicts between siblings.

DVD

Sometimes it is better to have individual small units. 🙂

 

[rivan]

Originally posted by: corkyg
To amplify my point, if you have 2-3 kids in the back of a car, then they will be watching simultaneously, and from three angles. Anything less than a 7-in screen won't cut it. If in a plane, then no more than two can watch, and maybe only one.

For a car, I like the units that fasten to the back of the headrest on a front seat. That makes for better shared visibility and avoids "possesion" conflicts between siblings.

DVD

Sometimes it is better to have individual small units. 🙂

I'd written this thread after a couple days of no replies.

Uh, one kid, typically car, occasional airplane & train. Longer trips typically, 3+ hours. I can't generally count on power unless it's in the car.

I mention budget in the OP - $150 tops, $100 would be better.

If they were a little older (and less likely to destroy it) I'd consider popping a little more and just get a netbook but that's not feasible at this point.