Sounds like one of Napster’s subscription plans. Of course, once you stop paying, you lose all the music, but since it’s never really “yours” anyway, they hope you won’t mind…
I’ve used Napster’s version of this service. It’s great if you plan on downloading lots and lots of music, and swapping out songs frequently. If, however, you plan on just getting your favorite songs, and keeping them on the player 24/7, then you’d be much better off just coughing up the 99 cents per song to keep them permanently.
BTW, if you don’t like iTunes, there are other non-iPod MP3 players out there. I’m looking at the Rio Forge player. The only thing stopping me from getting one is that they don’t have a 1 gig version yet.
Also, I just read about new Sony MP3 players coming to market soon with neat features like up to 50 hours of battery life! And they have a screen.
But if you wait, wait, wait you can always wait…I’d buy a Shuffle from eBay then sell it back on eBay when you want to upgrade…You would probably spend (lose in value) $30 at the end of the day to use one for a year or so.
-Thomas
Not sure if they’re still using the same tricks, but Sony’s extraordinary claims for battery life for the original Nework Walkman were based on encoding the audio at some comically low rate, something like 32kbps, which is basically unlistenable. Caveat emptor.
I just got an MP3 player. My mom got me a Sony 1GB for my birthday. The problem with that was the proprietary software required to populate the player. You could use the player as a thumb drive, but if you drag and drop MP3 files to the device, the player wouldn’t play them. I liked the units design and ergonomics but I had to return it because the software requires Admistrator authority to install itself correctly (and I don’t have that on my work laptop).
After looking at reviews, opinions and suggestions, I exchanged it for a Creative MuVo 1GB. It works fine.
Pros - AAA battery, lasts for 10-14 hours and is easily replaced while away from the computer
- drag and drop, no software needed (although I use iTunes to rip and organize my music)
- LCD display, with lots of settings to be able to change
- equalizer, for the different crappy earphones I use
- FM radio
- recorder, both radio and voice, although I don’t know when I would use either
- able to rip from line-in (haven’t tried it yet…)
Cons - LCD display eats the battery (but you can turn it off)
- Shuffle tends to repeat after a while
- Files are stored alphabetically (folders and files). If you play them without shuffle then it goes alphabetically.
- AAA battery, gotta pay for NiMH (although cheaper than alkaline in the long run)
- fragile plastic case (but comes with silicone cover, belt clip, and armband)
- must upgrade firmware from website
There are others out there and iPod has a certain hipness to it, but look at other brands that may be cheaper and more functionally loaded. It sounds like you need a flash based device instead of HDD and there are many MP3 players out there to choose from. The above is just my experience.