Stupid snowstorm, I know it must’ve fallen out of my pocket and is now living under three or four feet of snow
Anyway, I was pricing iPods and decided, I am not gonna go that route again. Too much money and too much of a risk to getting it lost.
So I was looking at cheaper mp3 players, mostly in the $50 - $75 range.
So what are some good ones? I know Apple makes a 2g iPod shuffle (for about $50) but I don’t like it as it doesn’t have a screen for the songs and for me it’s too hard to operate
I decided I since I only use it at the gym and mostly for books on tape, I want to get something that if I lose I’m not out too much money.
Can anyone give me some recommendations on mp3 players? Since books on tape are my main function, sound quality isn’t the top of the list. I do work out a lot with it, so I want something that can take a bit of bump
I store all my music in lossless so I can convert it to any format very easily so it doesn’t matter what kind of compressed music (wma, mp4, mp3) it plays
There’s usually no accounting for the taste of the buying public, but the bestselling MP3 player that’s not an iPod on Amazon is the Sansa Clip+. ISTR that cnet liked the Clip+, and the reviewers on Amazon mostly seem to like it as well; they’ve given it a 4-star average. It comes in 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB models, and ranges in price from $30 to $56. After that, you’ve got the $300 Archos tablet and the $180 Zune HD.
Personally, I’d go with the Sansa… I’ve seen them, and they’re tiny. It definitely wouldn’t get in your way while you’re working out.
I love my Creative Labs ZEN Mozaic EZ100 8GB. They even come in 16GB if you need that much space.
The menus are easy to learn. Everything automatically gets organized based on the mp3 tags (album, artist, genre etc.). Also supports pictures, but I haven’t loaded any. I only use it for music.
You have my deepest sympathy; I lost my beloved iPod last year due to over-tiredness and bad judgement late at night (I washed it because it was sticky from being in my lunch bag). I have a Sony mp3 player that I’m liking fairly well; it’s a pain in the ass to deal with the songs because it doesn’t communicate with iTunes like an Apple product, but other than that, I have no complaints. I think it’s this one (E Series) (except mine is 16 gig and red). It was about the same price as that one - around $80. In some ways I like it better than my iPod - I like having a huge selection of music available, but I love the size of the Sony mp3 player. I like the earbuds, too.
I have an older Creative Zen which I really like but unfortunately its software is not compatible with Windows 7 and they stopped supporting it. I bought a new model of the Zen which was supposed to work with Windows 7 and liked it also but my PC had issues seeing it consistently when it was connected (some Googling indicated I was not the only one) and then, finally it just died altogether. I returned it and have been searching for a replacement MP3 player since.
My ZEN Mozaic EZ100 works fine with Win 7. I loaded some new songs on my player last week.
I also have a three year old 2 gig Zen Stone. I still need to try it on Win 7. The Zen Stone has no display at all. you flick a switch to change folders. Without a display, it’s tricky remembering which folder has what music in it.
I still love my iPod Mini and use it for working out. I don’t have an armband so it fits nicely in my pocket and it feels very tough. I have an iPod Touch but I’m always afraid I’ll break it so it stays at home. The Mini falls out of the pockets of my new pants all the time now, but since it’s tough and it falls on a weight mat, it’s still fine.
You can get them on eBay for under $50. Works just fine with Win7.
Supposedly plays video and shuffles pictures too, but that’s not what I got it for.
It is everything I want in an mp3 player, in that it plays my mp3s and doesn’t give me any backtalk about it. USB recharges overnight, lasts 2-3 8-hour work days before needing a recharge. A 20 dollar speaker blares it all for the world to hear, if you wish. And I usually do.
I am very satisfied.
ETA: Oh, it has some software with it but I’ve never used it. Just open/drag-drop and tada. Nothing else is necessary; the on-board software takes care of the shuffling and stuff.
I think all of them are in that price range. Apple has been and continues to be totally overpriced for what it does. I went to the drugstore or something (that wasn’t a computer store) and saw USB thumb drives that could play mp3’s for about $20.
If you can still find one, I’ve been nothing but pleased with my Sansa Fuze. I bought it on Woot a few months back for $28 shipped. It was supposedly refurbished, but I think it was just a no-box clearance item, as it was in perfect condition. 2" screen is good for occasional video use, and I installed Rockbox on it, so you can change the themes/colors, and play some video games on it (though I feel that’s more of a novelty than useful).
Fuze also seems to have some 3rd-party stuff available for it - not nearly as much as iPod, but more than other MP3 players I’ve had. It came with 4 Gigs, and I added an 8 Gig micro-SD card, which gives me all the memory I really need, since I don’t insist on carrying every song I own everywhere I go. Best purchase I’ve made in a long time, as it was dirt-cheap and works like a charm.
Note that I’m speaking of the original Fuze, and not the Fuze+, or whatever other versions may be out there.
