The prices seem outrageous. The cheapest iPod ($99), the shuffle, doesn’t even have a screen. If it did, the storage capacity doesn’t seem ridiculous along with the price.
Do any of the competitors stand a chance? Are any of these things durable or long lasting?
Ebay seemed to me like the best route to take, but mp3 players are evidently one of the most popular items on there, and there seem to be some raw deals going on in light of that.
BTW it’s not for me
I have a shuffle and I like it-- my wife has a 15G iPod and she likes it-- but we have different listening habits.
Is this for someone who listens to music 8 hours at a time and wants to have access to everything they own? Or for someone who will listen to music for an hour at a time and doesn’t need to be told what they’re listening to?
One thing the ipods have over all their competitors is ease of use. Nothing is as easy and intuitive as an ipod.
The hard drive-based players (the ones with multiple gigs of capacity) are much more delicate than the flash memory players (the ones that max out at about a gig). Do not buy a hard drive player if you plan on using it while jogging, or engaging in some other energetic activity.
I really like my Sandisk 256. Fairly cheap–I paid around 65 bucks or so and it has a respectable list of features. It’s pretty reliable, decent battery life and looks cool as hell. 
It’s pretty much perfect for what I bought it for–something to listen to during runs.
I got mine from newegg.com, but I understand Circuit City also carries them.
As others have noted, we need more information. Is this a player when exercising? Then you want something flash-based, like the iPod Shuffle or its competitors, such as the Sandisk slortar mentioned. Do you want your full CD library along with you? Then you might consider the 40 or 60GB iPods. Do you want a lot of music, but not necessarily your entire collection, in a smaller-sized player? The iPod mini, Creative Zen Micro and Rio Carbon (which I own) are all great players.
I bought the 60GB Photo-iPod recently, and I haven’t looked back. Excellent machine, lots of storage, easy to configure with your computer. I did compare it to the iRiver and ‘copy’ players at the time, but in terms of features, reliability and storage, it won out.
I have a 1 GB iShuffle and am reasonably satisfied with it. I use it for commute listening and exercise. Like others have said, if you want one primarily for jogging, etc, a flash memory based unit is probably the way to go.
One word of caution: take all “battery life” estimates for players with a large grain of salt. In my experience, 1/2 to 2/3 of the listed max life is a realistic time.
Has anyone here had a iPod die because of the alleged 3-year lifespan of the battery? That, and a lack of money are keeping me from buying that-which-i-so-dearly want.
I bought a Zen Micro, and the battery can be swapped out in under 5 seconds. Just like changing a cell phone battery. That’s one of the reasons I bought it.
I own a Frontier Labs Nex iA, and like it a lot. It uses compact flash cards which are cheap cheap cheap. I wouldn’t get this model, but get the empty player from FL’s website for about $70 and then tack on a CF card purchased separately for cheap (Amazon’s got 1 gig cards for $50).
Runs on two AA batteries, small and light, good sound, nice screen. The biggest selling point for me was the scalable and interchangeable capacity. I keep an old 8MB card around to use the player as a personal voice recorder, then pop in my 256MB card with all of my music on it for exercise or travel. I also have a digital camera that uses CF cards, so it was a natural selection.
I have an ipod mini and Id recommend them. I have no idea if the battery will die after three years though, never heard of that before.
Id like to add that the ipod will return unscathed if you decided to leave it lying outside in snow for at least 16 hours… very durable.
I speak from experience.
I have a Zen Nomad 30Gb and have had no problems.
My kids have the Zen Micro and they are pretty good although not as durable as an IPod. We are subscribers to Napster so they can fill them up for the monthly charge. Yahoo just started their music To Go service for as little as $5.00 a month so we will probably switch to save some money.
How do you like the Rio Carbon? I don’t have an MP3 player yet, but I’m seriously looking at the Rios. The Carbon would be plenty big enough for me, but the Rio Sport (the 512 MB flash player) might be big enough if I add a 1 gig SD memory card. I like the fact that the Sport has an FM receiver in it, plus the fact that I could use it while working out. I’m hoping that if I wait a bit, they might release a 1 GB player that I could expand up to 2 GB.
BTW, I don’t understand why anyone would need a player with 40 or 60 GB. When I buy a CD, there’s typically only 2 or 3 songs that I like, and 9 or 10 crappy filler songs that I’ll listen to once or twice, before I start to habitually skip them. I guess I’m one of those people who want to upload a lot of music, but not my entire collection.
I have a Dell DJ 20, and I love it.
I’m an album completist. Even on my little 64MB flash player, I would upload one full album (or part of one) instead of several different songs. I’m weird that way, but I’m not alone.
I almost got the 40Gb Zen Nomad. Then I started ripping my favorite songs from my CD collection (about 650 discs). Once I was finished, I ended up with about 2100 songs using up about 9Gb of space (using the .wma format). I could have probably ripped the entire collection and still had room.
Battery University has the dope on lithium-ion batteries like those in iPods.
I bought my 15 Gb iPod a year ago last February and I have noticed that it doesn’t run quite as long on a charge as it used to. I still get 5 to 6 hours, though. And since I bought a 12 volt adapter, it can charge while I use it in the truck. I plan to replace the battery fairly soon with a larger capacity one, I might put a bigger hard drive in too, it depends on how much it would cost.
It’s taken several spills onto bare concrete, twice without a case, and still works flawlessly. I highly recommend getting a protective case, no matter which player you buy.
Details? Here you are.
Running, I doubt. It would be probably for bus rides or walking around. Not that bus rides don’t induce skipping, just not as much.
Full CD library? That’s questionable, but doubtful. Low bitrate, less albums, more singles, and a seasonal shuffle are more her style. I might venture to guess that 1 GB is a bit excessive.
The suggestions, BTW, are GREAT. I have never heard of half of these brands and they sound like perfectly viable substitutes. The reviews for the sandisk are positively glowing.
No intention of a hijack, just hoping for inclusion of these needs for an mp3 player. I was going to start a thread, but this seems appropriate, apologies to the OP.
I can download the daily files of a radio show in mp3 format. My only use for the device would be to listen to these files. The total for each day would be under 3GB, and erasable each day. What would be cheapest for that?
This is for Windows, and USB is probably best. I want to download at home and listen on the comp at work. (It’s allowed)
You want to listen ON the computer at work?
Why do you need an mp3 player at all? It sounds like you just need a way to transfer the files from the home computer to the work computer.