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What's the best bang for buck mp3 player?

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Best bang for the buck? Sansa Fuze 8GB, on sale for $69.99 on black friday, or $59.99 @ Costco after coupon after Black friday. I also think they have an expansion slot.

Although, I'm looking at the Cowon O2 right now because they look mighty fine... I just wish they had wi-fi though...
 
You can't go wrong with the clip minus expandability. If he's just an audiophile the cowon iaudio 7 is a great choice.
 
What about the Sony A810. I see it on sale at CC right now but I'm thinking I'm going to just get him a Fuze.
 
Originally posted by: ed21x
Originally posted by: LikeLinus
Originally posted by: cmf21
On the Apple players, can you download music from anywhere or do you have to purchase from them?
Click to expand...

You can use any MP3 you want. You can also buy music from iTunes, but you don't have to.
Click to expand...

problem is, iPods require iTunes to do the indexing work when you upload MP3s, so you'll pretty much be forced to download iTunes on every computer you expect to upload MP3s with. On the otherhand, Sansa/Creative/Samsung players allow you to add songs via USB mass storage.
Click to expand...

I haven't used the latest iPods, but you used to be able to transfer with Winamp. And I could have sworn there was another way, but can't think of it at the moment.

I have a Trekstor Vibez btw, and I really like it.
 
Originally posted by: cmf21
What about the Sony A810. I see it on sale at CC right now but I'm thinking I'm going to just get him a Fuze.
Click to expand...

- Sony A810 has 262k color
- Sandisk Fuze has a Micro SD expansion slot
- Sony A810 has better sound quality (from what I've heard)
- Sony A810 has longer battery life
- Sandisk Fuze has a voice recorder and FM
- Sony A810's MSRP is higher

It's up to you really. If you don't think he will expand his memory, then the Sony A810 is the way to go. If he wants the radio too, then the Fuze is the way to go.

Btw, Sony A810 is on sale for $69.99 (look on slickdeals)
 
Originally posted by: Throckmorton
iPod 120gb for $250 is the best bang for the buck. That's $2 per gigabyte, with the best interface there is
Click to expand...

If only it had FM. Then again, I'm probably in the minority on that being an important feature.
 
Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer
Originally posted by: LikeLinus
Originally posted by: cmf21
On the Apple players, can you download music from anywhere or do you have to purchase from them?
Click to expand...

You can use any MP3 you want. You can also buy music from iTunes, but you don't have to.
Click to expand...

Let's be clear - if you do buy your music on itunes you can't move it to another player. You are locked into the Apple "ecosystem". Don't support such ominous closed systems, please don't buy and iPod. Not only are they below-average devices, they are priced near the top of the market,
Click to expand...

I've moved lots of music I've purchased from iTunes to other players. You have to burn them to a disc in iTunes then transfer them from the disc back to your PC with something like SoundForge, Audiograbber or CDex.
 
Originally posted by: ed21x
Originally posted by: LikeLinus
Originally posted by: cmf21
On the Apple players, can you download music from anywhere or do you have to purchase from them?
Click to expand...

You can use any MP3 you want. You can also buy music from iTunes, but you don't have to.
Click to expand...

problem is, iPods require iTunes to do the indexing work when you upload MP3s, so you'll pretty much be forced to download iTunes on every computer you expect to upload MP3s with. On the otherhand, Sansa/Creative/Samsung players allow you to add songs via USB mass storage.
Click to expand...

Absolutely WRONG. There are several freeware and shareware applications that you can use in place of iTunes. WinAmp is really good at loading and indexing files for the iPod. Personally, I like it far more than WinAmp.

Don't spread FUD.

Further more, GodlessAstronomer, you can burn those Apple downloads to a CD and rip them to any format you want. Doesn't sound so "closed system" now does. The "below-average device" comment is nothing but bias and opinion. I'll take my iPod Touch against any other media player on the market. Nothing else out there comes close to it's usability and features.
 
Originally posted by: Jimmah
I picked up a refurb Creative Zen Stone for 20$ inc shipping off Tigerdirect. Great battery life and easy to use.
Click to expand...

yeah, Creative makes some of the best non-Apple players out there. Samsung is a close second.
 
Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer
Originally posted by: LikeLinus
Originally posted by: cmf21
On the Apple players, can you download music from anywhere or do you have to purchase from them?
Click to expand...

You can use any MP3 you want. You can also buy music from iTunes, but you don't have to.
Click to expand...

Let's be clear - if you do buy your music on itunes you can't move it to another player. You are locked into the Apple "ecosystem". Don't support such ominous closed systems, please don't buy and iPod. Not only are they below-average devices, they are priced near the top of the market,
Click to expand...

Uh oh..... Hater alert.

Edit: Godless - Care to explain what makes the iPod Touch "below-average"? It's hands down the best media device I've ever laid my hands on, literally. And no, I don't own one.
 
I love my Zune. Software + interface absolutely kills iPod, Zen, Sansa, etc... imo.

There's probably pretty damn good deals on the older 2 generations (Zune30 and Zune80), which still benefit from every feature added with newer firmwares. Add in the $15 per month Zunepass + 10 free tracks to keep every month...imo, Zune + Zunepass is pretty much impossible to beat.
 
Sansa's IMO. The 4GB Clip price has fallen quite a bit. I saw it for sale today @ $35 or $40. It used to be $80. Has a mini-USB plug, can play OGG or Flag files, FM radio w/ recording, voice recording, can be used for storage, and very small.
 
fwiw - I just picked-up a Sansa 8gb Fuze for $59 at Costco ($99 - coupon you get at the door going in). Plan to pick-up a 8gb microSDHC card to get 16gb out of it.

Also, you can get the Sansa 4gb Clip at BB or Amazon for $35 this weekend.
 
not sure what's best bang for the buck but I bought this 2 years ago and still using it. It's only 1gb but what I really loved is the clip. I wish there was another one like it. 🙁
 
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