Suggested MP3 Player?

[jgbishop]

I would like to get a decent MP3 player for work / walking / whatever else. I refuse to buy anything made by Apple, since their players don't come with removable batteries (poorest design decision ever). The iPod looks ultra cool, but that feature alone turns me off. So all iPod models are out.

I plan to use it when walking/hiking, mowing the lawn, coding at work, etc. I don't have a huge MP3 collection (1 GB), but I'm open to most anything size-wise. The 4GB Zen Micro looks cool. I'd like to spend no more than about $250 and I definitely want replaceable batteries (doesn't matter what type).

What other brands are recommended?

 

[Childs]

Operates on AA batteries

 

[jgbishop]

Thanks for the suggestion, but I'd prefer to have something that was MP3 only (i.e. small). Any other ideas?

 

[Gurck]

You need to be more specific; do you plan to work out with it? Do you want to be able to fit your entire massive collection on it or is an album or three at a time enough? What's your budget? How important to you are sound quality, player size and features such as an FM tuner and recording? Do you require something that runs on AAs?

Lastly, prepare for a lot of brainwashed children to call you names for stating your opinion about Apple.

 

[phisrow]

Creative's Zen and Zen Micro both feature removable batteries, if I remember correctly and I've not heard any particular horror stories about them(at least no more than any other brand. Any product has at least one guy with a grudge and a webpage, some just have nothing but that sort).

 

[jgbishop]

Gurck: Yeah, I should have been more specific. I've edited the top post to include the rest of the information.

And don't get me wrong. The iPod looks ultra cool. I just refuse to buy something that forces me to send it away when the battery needs changing. That was a poor decision by Apple, and one with which I will not reward them with my business.

 

[ixelion]

I also hate the iPod, wtf is wrong with apple, putting an old firewire technology on those things?

I have the 5GB Zen Micro, and it's awsome.

 

[imported_bum]

The Zen Micro seems to be the best choice if you want to save a couple bucks. The iRiver H10 just got some fireware upgrades to fix its problems, so you can check that out too.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

ipod haters are just stupid.

How many times do you charge your iPod per week? How many times do you charge your cell phone per week? Compare the two, and your iPod will proably die after your cell phone dies.

The thing is Li-Ion batteries can be charged about 300 - 500 times. The 18 month myth just comes if you recharage EVERY DAY, meaning you listen to 12 hrs of music EVERY DAY. You must be kinda crazy if you go through that. And if you complain about that, that's like driving 180,000 miles in 1 yr on your car and then going to the dealer and telling the guy the car sucks because the engine died. Well OBVIOUSLY after driving 180,000 miles what car would be in good shape still....

 

[Trippytiger]

You might want too look into Sony's line of minidisk players. Some can go forever on a single AA, and some use smaller replaceable 'gumstick' batteries that don't last as long, but reduce the size of the player. And the newest ones *actually* have native support for .mp3 files, which is spiffy. You'd be able to fit your entire music collection (provided it isn't over 1GB) onto a single Hi-MD disk, too, with plenty (almost unlimited) expandability. The entry-level Hi-MD player is going for $160USD, I believe.

Of course, there's several big downsides to MD players, especially Sony's. One, of course, is that they're much larger than many DAPs, and they're less durable than flash-based players (however, they'll hold up better than most HDD players will). They're also limited to USB 1.1 speeds, and Sonicstage (Sony's proprietary software) is absolutely terrible, what with Sony being a copyright Nazi and all.

DLeRium is right, though (except about the part about iPod haters being stupid), the integrated batteries in most (HDD) players will generally last longer than the hardware itself, except, of course, if the battery happens to be defective.

 

[Gurck]

Originally posted by: Gurck
Lastly, prepare for a lot of brainwashed children to call you names for stating your opinion about Apple.

Originally posted by: DLeRium
ipod haters are just stupid.

Yep... Reminds me of this :laugh: Note the username that LoOkS lIkE tHiS - nice touch, quashed any doubt we may have had

OP, based on what you're looking for I'd probably go with a flash based player. They generally have longer battery life, are smaller, are a lot less expensive, and while no studies have been done on this or anything, I'm of the opinion that working out with a hard drive in your pocket, strapped to your waist, etc. can't be good for the drive's longevity. You don't have a supermassive collection requiring a 20-60gb hdd player, which is one big reason a lot of people go with them. I'm not particularly knowledgeable about flash based players, as the big hard drive players interest me more, but iRiver and Rio make some popular flash players. A friend of mine just bought this and loves it, another friend has had this for a few years and loves it as well. Rios are known for their sound quality and even come with low end Sennheiser earbuds - nothing spectacular but a big step up from the crap most come with.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Well I don't think everything SUCKS, but I think there are good products out there. I somehow tend to think after using an iRiver and Dell DJ that my iPod sounds slightly* better. That might be because I get 192kbps MP3s though, so dunno.

Second of all, size matters? iPod is smaller.

So I'm not saying the rest suck. I just don't see why I should get a different MP3 player. The only complaint I have about the iPod is battery life (12 hrs seems a little low =/). But other than that, how can you hate on it?

 

[FP]

iRiver ultraportable. small and tons of features.

linky

 

[drifter106]

I had the same delimma as you are faced with and I finally went with the creative MUVO TX FM 1 gb found here

it has usb plug and play and I simply drag and drop with musicmatch

iI wear it all the time with an armband (high quality) and use some shure e3c's (stock plugs are worthless)

I have seen it on ZZF for $125 but they have since taken it off their site...

they do however have nearly the same type of player (without the usb connection N200 which is a line in recorder, it does have its advantages) here

I am completely satisfied with this player...holds a ton of songs (have 7 folders right now) and after becomig familiar with the buttons is relatively easy to use...

battery life is about 10 hrs using it constantly and I have the player set using high settings for contrast, backlighting and what not...

I paid $139 for it a 6 weeks ago and I really don't think your gonna see much more of a drop in price on this until the smaller capacity units take a dip...

portability is definitely nice, don't even know its there and have used it doing just about everything (mowing grass, running, working, fishing...

gotta have some good cans though, have tried e2c's but nothing compares to the sound this thing puts out with the shure e3c's

hope this helps....

good hunting

 

[Gurck]

Originally posted by: DLeRium
Well I don't think everything SUCKS, but I think there are good products out there. I somehow tend to think after using an iRiver and Dell DJ that my iPod sounds slightly* better. That might be because I get 192kbps MP3s though, so dunno.

Second of all, size matters? iPod is smaller.

So I'm not saying the rest suck. I just don't see why I should get a different MP3 player. The only complaint I have about the iPod is battery life (12 hrs seems a little low =/). But other than that, how can you hate on it?

If you're comparing sound, you should do so not only with same bitrate music, but with the same exact music - and decent headphones wouldn't hurt - I'm assuming you used the stock buds?

There are smaller players. I can "hate on" the ipod for a number of reasons, "dAwG". I'm not going over them just for you, there are literally hundreds of threads here in which I and others have detailed them.

 

[jgbishop]

Originally posted by: Gurck
OP, based on what you're looking for I'd probably go with a flash based player. They generally have longer battery life, are smaller, are a lot less expensive, and while no studies have been done on this or anything, I'm of the opinion that working out with a hard drive in your pocket, strapped to your waist, etc. can't be good for the drive's longevity.

Has anyone here had any problems with their hard-drive based player? I wouldn't use it for anything strenuous (hiking outdoors would be the worst I'd do), and that would be fairly infrequently. Any ideas?

 

[Gurck]

Originally posted by: jgbishop

Originally posted by: Gurck
OP, based on what you're looking for I'd probably go with a flash based player. They generally have longer battery life, are smaller, are a lot less expensive, and while no studies have been done on this or anything, I'm of the opinion that working out with a hard drive in your pocket, strapped to your waist, etc. can't be good for the drive's longevity.

Has anyone here had any problems with their hard-drive based player? I wouldn't use it for anything strenuous (hiking outdoors would be the worst I'd do), and that would be fairly infrequently. Any ideas?

I think this would be hard to quantify, as a lot of people exercise with their hdd-based players and think nothing of it, as the players continue to work... but are they shortening the drive's lifespan? I'm not claiming to know for sure whether they are or not, just saying that I wouldn't take the risk. I'd like to see some kind of study done on it. I also personally sweat quite a bit, so if I take a DAP jogging with me it's gonna get pretty swampy, maybe that's making me a bit more cautious about it.

 

[WackyDan]

Originally posted by: DLeRium
ipod haters are just stupid.

And those that rave blindly about iPods are too.

Smart people base their decisions on value, and features.

I chose the iRiver iHP120 after looking at all HD based players because the iRiver had the best feature set that I truly needed, (optical input and output, voice recorder, and FM tuner built in) - and it had the best price for that feature set. I love it.

I know there are a lot of smart people out there also buying iPods, mainly due to it's impressive accessory market.

To each their own.

 

[fstime]

zen mirco is nice

 

[Gurck]

I think the main problem is that in the ~12-20 age range or thereabouts, the vast majority of children think they know everything there is to know. In actuality they know so little it's laughable; their "opinions" are mostly spoon-fed to them by MTV. When logic goes against something they "know" (such as how great the ipod is - hey, all the kids have one!!1!1) it's like a shift in tectonic plates, the result being the angsty flamefests which occur should anyone dare claim Apple doesn't fart perfume.

 

[DanDaMan315]

My friend has a Zen Micro and that is probably the coolest little thing I have ever seen. You don't realize how small it is until you see it in person. And I like how it syncs with outlook.

 

[pahecko]

What about Rio's products?

EDIT: Friend of mine has the rio nitrus, I was impressed by it. Though, you have to use Rio's software (which isn't bad) to transfer music. The 2GB+ models have drag and drop.
List of Rio's hard drive based players.