Preferred MP3 Player?

[psychowolf]

I use the Sansa clip 8gb worked well for the last 3 years or so without much issue with it at all (apart from when tracks appear in the wrong order >.<)

http://static.trustedreviews.com/94%7c5ae2d9%7c35fb_6235-SansaClipTilt.jpg

This thing is about the size of a gba cartridge but abit wider

Been dropped more times then i can remember and no problem.

Worth checking out if you just need a simple mp3 player that can take a good beating.

it wont work with certain file types but works with wma,mp3 and flac so i'm sure thats good enough.

And it was cheaper then the ipod of the same gb size.

[Yami]

I got a Cowon J3 with 32gb internal and a 32gb sdhc card. As far a sound quality goes, I've never had anything comparable before (at least in my [and some other customers' and testers'] eyes)

I mainly bought it because of its FLAC capability

[Level 99]

I use my old Samsung Captivate as a dedicated movie/music media device now, but I would have three recommendations for people looking for a new media device:

1) Pay-as-you-go Android Phone or Android Media Player

For the gentleperson who wants flexibility, multiple methods of acquiring music, one of the largest amounts of common file support available, and easy storage transfer/upgrade

If you can find one of those pay-as-you-go Android phones that takes MicroSD cards, like the LG Optimus V ($79.99 at Best Buy) or LG Thrive ($129.99 at Best Buy), or a dedicated Android media decive like the Samsung Galaxy Player, I would recommend this to the music lover who's somewhat computer savvy and is looking for the most versatile listening experience available.

Android music player stock plays nearly every common audio file format that is used today. mp3, mp4/m4a, flac, ogg, wav, and even midi. The filetype support increases even more with applications like winamp, which supports more streaming and filetypes. And for the video game music lovers out there, applications like Droidsound, Rockbox, and Modoplayer allow for a very large amount of chiptunes formats to be played (droidsound supports the most out of box, and has zipfile support. As a result, I have the entire NES, GB, Genesis, SNES, and Master System/Game Gear chiptunes collections all on my phone taking up a grand total of 1.85gb ).

Even more than that, applications like MX Video Player add support for a huge amount of video files to play.

You can get music on these babies a large amount of ways. If you're on WIFI, you can go to the Android Market and buy it, you can download the Amazon MP3 app and buy/download music that way, you can go to websites and buy/download directly as long as the web browser plays nice, and so on. You can also use either a usb cable or a microsd card adapter to transfer files to/from your computer like you would a regular thumbstick. And since the memory is removable, you can just buy a few microsd cards and switch things out if you want different music.

The only downsides are potentially battery life, which is dependant on the device and what you're doing with it, and that if you want to really super-duper take advantage of the technology there, you'll eventually have to root the thing and make sure you can sideload apps (ie. load applications that aren't on the marketplace). You're also not getting as much potential space from the get-go as you would something like an iPod since the device's memory is removable.

2) iPod touch with either jailbreak or Modizer software

Either general no-brainer consumer or jailbreaker

iPods are by no means bad devices. The hardware in them is quite impressive, which is unfortunate because these babies are locked down tighter than a chastity belt.

Starting with the drawbacks, iPod touches out of box support Apple's proprietary audio formats like the protected AAC files & Apple Lossless, but they also support mp3 and wav. Same deal for video: Apple's proprietary video formats and then mp4/h264 and some very select avi files. No love for native flac or ogg support here, and even worse the most supported way for transfering files onto the thing is either downloading directly using the music store on-device or using iTunes interface on the computer to transfer files. Mind you, if your files are unsupported you either have to convert them using a 3rd party converter (because the iTunes one is just horrible), or just not have them on your device.

Luckily enough, anyone with an iPod touch has access to two things: the ability to jailbreak*, and the most versatile chiptunes software outside of a computer: Modizer. jailbreaking allows some other apps to be loaded using cydia that potentially allow for downloading music directly from the web, FTP-ing into the device to transfer files, and support for FLAC and OGG using other media players. Its not great support but its there for those who want to try it. For anyone looking to play chiptunes though, Modizer is bar-none the best there is. It supports as many file formats as OCR's own Chipamp bundle does, if not more. It also has a built in FTP client if you're on WIFI so that you can transfer chiptunes files to-from the device. You can even browse and search some online chiptunes databases within Modizer, and download files directly.

I'll just put it this way: Modizer supports over 400 file formats. If you're looking for an MP3 player and listen at all to any music from videogames that have chiptunes formats, you stand to save a lot of space if you utilize something like this.

Battery life is usually pretty high for these players, which is the only consistent plus in my perspective besides being able to run Modizer.

*some iPod touches and iPhones can't be jailbroken, and jailbreaking isn't for the squeamish!

3) Older iPod or supported device running Rockbox firmware

For the budget-conscious music goer who doesn't afraid of aftermarket firmware

This was my go-to until my dino-pod kicked the bucket. Rockbox, besides being an app for android, is also an alternative firmware for a number of devices such as older iPods, Cowon media players, verious Sandisk players, and more. See here for the supported audio codecs on which devices: http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/SoundCodecs#Current_status

If you're running an older iPod that can be Rockbox'd with full support, I highly recommend you do so. It allows more file formats to be played, allows for custom UI themes, has certain chiptunes support, and best of all, allows you to transfer files without having to use iTunes.

-------------------------

There. You made a thread about preferred mp3 players, and now you've gotten a recommendation guide. I swear I didn't plan on writing this when I started the post

[Top Gun]

Are there still any brands out there that just register as a removable drive in Windows by default? I'm still using an ancient HDD-based Creative Zen Neeon, which I think has the worst control scheme ever devised by man, but the one thing I've always loved about it is that it doesn't need a shred of external software to operate. You plug it in, Windows picks it up the same as any drive, you create your own folders and copypasta your files, and voila, done. You couldn't pay me enough money to put iTunes on my system, and the thought of using any other proprietary software isn't much better, so if I do get a new device, I'd definitely prefer the simplest option.

[Binweasel]

I'm interested to know that, too. My first ever mp3 player was a Creative MuVo, and I've loved them ever since. They're out of production now, so whenever I lose/break* it, the only place I can get a new one is Ebay...

I've been sorting my mp3s out with just Windows Explorer for so many years, it took me weeks just to figure out how to organize things in iTunes. And still the best way to do that was to download Mp3Tag and manually sort out all the internal data... You never had to deal with that on a MuVo. I don't know what other way it could organize files, but the default way was alphabetical filename. Some people would be annoyed about re-naming files to make playlists, but I'm weird; I found it relaxing in a zen kind of way. I had total control of album/playlist folders, plus the ability to tweak it on any computer. I switched mp3 players once and had to listen to an audio book in complete random order even without shuffle. Which is a very bad thing to have to fix while driving in the dark with a little circle-pad controller. The MuVo just had a little scroll wheel in the side... you didn't have to look at all to see what you were doing.

I guess I'm used to the iPod now, but I'd like to be able to listen to songs of my own while playing games on the other.

(* Mostly lose. My first one is still around, just passed on to my sister. It's mostly duct-tape now, but it still works. It only holds 250 megabytes though.)

[Level 99]

Are there still any brands out there that just register as a removable drive in Windows by default? I'm still using an ancient HDD-based Creative Zen Neeon, which I think has the worst control scheme ever devised by man, but the one thing I've always loved about it is that it doesn't need a shred of external software to operate. You plug it in, Windows picks it up the same as any drive, you create your own folders and copypasta your files, and voila, done. You couldn't pay me enough money to put iTunes on my system, and the thought of using any other proprietary software isn't much better, so if I do get a new device, I'd definitely prefer the simplest option.

The Sansa players I believe, as long as you have the drivers, are drag-n-drop. As I mentioned in my post, a rockbox'd device or an android device, with drivers, can connect just as a USB drive. I haven't had experience with any others but I think that Zune and iOS devices are the only ones that require a proprietary software to transfer media to and from the device.

[liquid wind]

I have a sansa clip and it is just drag n drop, I had another cheapo mp3 player that I drowned that was also drag n drop.

The one time I tried to install itunes my sound card disappeared somehow and I had to do a system restore, never again apple, never again.

[Zerothemaster]

iPod Nano 3rd gen

cuz 5th gen is s***

also iPhone

all hail apple

[The Damned]

Oh god, yes. A DAP thread! Time to geek out a bit and show off!

Mine is the SanDisk Sansa Fuze, mostly because it was cheap.

BUT I also enjoy the fact that you can use micro SD cards so you can keep expanding the memory.

A highly rated device, one that is much loved by certain sites for its audio quality and reliability. Good choice. They are terribly durable and reliable, and have what some consider to be the best output you can get for that price. Some even compare it favorably to far more expensive high-end gear.

Ah, the Fuze! I used to own that until my brother lost it! Then I got the Fuze+ which is AN ABOMINATION OF MAN AND ERGONOMIC DESIGN THAT SHOULD NEVER HAVE THE NAME 'SANSA' OR 'FUZE' ON IT.

Yes! You, me and hundreds of thousands of others around the world can attest to this. It was such a turn-around from the prior devices, even the old E series they put out back in the early 2000s.

Did you find the touchpad to be really unresponsive? Or the need to rebuild the library every time you turned it on? God, what a waste of hardware. They knew that the Fuze was popular, because tehy asked people that bought them. But Sandisk decided that touchscreens where the current fad, so they went with one... except they made it a touchpad, and then fucked it up right off the bat.

I'm messed with a handful of different brands over the years. So far the players I like the best are made by Cowon. They aren't exactly cheap though.

J3 or S9? Those seem to be the top choices these days.

But the Cowons sounds so good, don't they? Their BBE and JetEffect EQs are supposed to be top-notch.

I use the Sansa clip 8gb worked well for the last 3 years or so without much issue with it at all (apart from when tracks appear in the wrong order >.<)

This thing is about the size of a gba cartridge but abit wider

Been dropped more times then i can remember and no problem.

Worth checking out if you just need a simple mp3 player that can take a good beating.

it wont work with certain file types but works with wma,mp3 and flac so i'm sure thats good enough.

And it was cheaper then the ipod of the same gb size.

There was once a CNet (or some other place like it) that did a step by step comparison between a Nano and a Clip+. Though they preferred the look of the Nano, they favored the Clip for everything else.

The Apple fanboy response was, to say the least, interesting to read. I think they later redid the article and gave the win to the Nano. Thanks, Apple fanboys.

Have you tried Rockbox? It's a customizable firmware that lets you do things like, say, play WAV and alter the appearance to your personal liking. It's available for multiple players from just about every year.

Oh, and you can

with it.

Also, with RockBox, you can use SDXC cards in it (set to FAT32) and use a 64 GB card. Not that many people bother to do so, of course.

I got a Cowon J3 with 32gb internal and a 32gb sdhc card. As far a sound quality goes, I've never had anything comparable before (at least in my [and some other customers' and testers'] eyes)

I mainly bought it because of its FLAC capability

Again, a highly rated (and deserving of it) device.

Did you know that Cowon announced they just stopped production of the J3? If you want another one as a replacement, now is the time to get it.

I have a sansa clip and it is just drag n drop, I had another cheapo mp3 player that I drowned that was also drag n drop.

The one time I tried to install itunes my sound card disappeared somehow and I had to do a system restore, never again apple, never again.

So many people with good players. I thought I was the only one.

And I've had a similar experience with iTunes. Let's just say that it took a day and a half to get my computer and its files back to normal.

My personal ones include a Walkman NWZ-S545

(16 GB with speakers and 40 hours battery life, though I've had it up to 45 a few times)

A Walkman NWZ-A847

(64 GB, wonderful specs and performance... just wish the battery life was longer. 20+ hours isn't really that long)

And a Clip+

(8 GB, still one of the best sounding devices I've ever had the chance to listen to).

I've had others, including an iPod, but I've returned the ones that I didn't like (or even just outright failed to work properly). I think I've more of a fan of Sony's Walkman lines now (which should also help assuage any comments that I am an anti-Sony fanboy), though the recent news that the Cowon J3 is no longer being made makes me think I should grab one of those while I can.

Wait, does anyone own a HiFiMan or ColorFly? Please tell me no one does. I'd have to slap said person around for buying one of those pieces of overpriced shit.

[soulflay]

The cowon iaudio e2, comparable to the ipod shuffle but not as lame. And all cowon players are one of the few known for supporting more than inferior formats like mp3. The sandisk players seem nice, too, but I never tried one and are afraid to try. I don't get the point of large portable players. I say if you want a nice screen, carry a smartphone around, and it does more stuff. The biggest I'd go is an ipod nano, even if they do have a battery-wasting screen, but I don't like ipods because they force you to use iToons.

[PixelPanic]

Did you find the touchpad to be really unresponsive? Or the need to rebuild the library every time you turned it on? God, what a waste of hardware. They knew that the Fuze was popular, because tehy asked people that bought them. But Sandisk decided that touchscreens where the current fad, so they went with one... except they made it a touchpad, and then fucked it up right off the bat.

All of my yes. I spent half a year learning how it worked, and I learned about the 'drag' function 3 days before the battery died for good. It was unresponsive, changed songs on it's own will, and sometimes outright turned off when I wanted to do something. The E260 was a better player, and it came out years before even the Fuze. The Fuze was an $80 piece of trash that destroyed my trust in Sansa and made me an iSlave. Now if you don't mind, I have some apps to be playing.

[The Damned]

The E260 was a better player, and it came out years before even the Fuze+. The Fuze+ was an $80 piece of trash that destroyed my trust in Sansa and made me an iSlave.

Fixed. The Fuze itself was pretty good. The Fuze+ was a piecce of shit.

[Moguta]

My Android phone

[PixelPanic]

Fixed. The Fuze itself was pretty good. The Fuze+ was a piecce of shit.

Oh shit, I guess that part was a kinda necessary part I forgot

[HalcyonSpirit]

Well, I just found my GoGear Cam. So now I can tell you exactly how I feel about it, now that I've discovered what sort of microSD expansion capability it has.

If you're buying it because it has the same internal capacity and some extra features that the iPod Nano doesn't but is still cheaper by a fair amount, ok, that's fine. The implementation leaves something to be desired, but it's workable. For instance, it doesn't have a real 'playlist' ability, but you can put music in folders in the player to achieve mostly the same effect (however, it will not play anything in a subfolder if you start playing music in the primary folder). It's workable, since it still has the generic "Play All" function to play everything regardless of the folder it's in.

If you're buying it because it has a microSD expansion slot so you can fit much more of your music library into it, don't fucking bother. The GoGear Cam is incapable of playing music from both the microSD card and the internal memory at the same time. Furthermore, it does not have a "Play All" function, nor a search/play-by-artist/album/etc function, for anything on the microSD card, meaning that if you want to play everything on the card, you have to put EVERYTHING into a single folder. What's worse, the GoGear Cam can't handle having a lot of files within a single folder; it'll freeze if you try to open said folder, preventing you from utilizing anything within. Which means as a music library expansion, which would be the primary use, its microSD expansion capability is complete garbage.

Not worth your time unless you really want the extra audio/video recording, snapshot, radio, and photo/video-viewing capabilities and can't afford something more powerful to do all that.

[Distortions]

my favorite harddrive player was the archos recorder 20, except i'm sad it doesn't work with modern formats. oh well. still planning on soldering up an apple harddrive to it and sticking the guts in a classic gameboy.. the screen will be the hardest part. i wish it were possible to make the original screen work.. but probably just have to cut out a hole in the middle as neatly as possible and stick the archos screen in there; at least it's the same fugly greenish yellow, so it aesthetically fits! best part is, it uses 4xAA batteries, so that solders straight up to the game boy chassis. sound quality is bad compared to modern players, but i really don't care, i have a sansa clip for that.

speaking of which, glad to see some classic sansa fans on here. got a clip in 08 cuz it was $15 on slickdeals: i was just looking for a beater to carry on my bike, but was very impressed! there are a lot of glowing reviews for this gem and i agree with them. also got a clip+. like the microSD, prefer the old controls.

controls are key for me, since i use it in my pocket on a motorcycle. i can't have clunky firmwear or cheap buttons; the sansa delivers. i'm probably the only person who dislikes rockbox, but it's only because of the controls: when you repeatedly hit the "back" button it doesn't go to a root menu with a default position, but rather, toggles between two screens. UGH. not fun to have to pull over on the interstate just to fiddle with a menu.