Buying an mp3 player

[Vulgarian Visigoth]

I'm not sure whether this should be in music instead, but anyhow I'm tired of the iTunes dictatorship so I want to dump my iPod and buy a regular mp3 player instead.

I would need an unrestrictive managment software. Other requirements would be large capacity, good sound quality and a reasonable size at a reasonable price.

Do any of you still use an mp3 player? What do you use?

Cheers.

[ad hoc]

Buying an mp3 player

I used to own a Creative Zen payer, which was good. I have no idea if they still make them, or if they even still exist. However their software (Zencast) was excellent and pissed all over iTunes from a great height, and you don;t actually need to own a Creative device to use it (I still use it now for my phone)

[Stumpy Pepys]

Buying an mp3 player

This gizmo has had very good reviews (FiiO X1). It's also only one-hundred quid, although you have to provide your own SD-card storage (up to 128 GB). Also supports hi-res audio formats, if you're into that kind of thing.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Buying an mp3 player

I suppose I should also mention Neil Young's Pono player.

[Mumpo]

Buying an mp3 player

I've got a Zen... something or other (it's downstairs), it's one of their little players anyway and it's great, drag and drop files, easy navigation with a screen display.

Just remember to choose 'Europe' rather than 'UK' when you set up, so the volume isn't restricted.

[Vulgarian Visigoth]

Buying an mp3 player

Thank you all. For what I've read about the Pono its enhanced sound is undetectable by the human ear which wouldn't justify paying over the odds.

[matt j]

Buying an mp3 player

I honestly thought somebody had revived an old thread (it seems to be a thing lately) when I saw this on the front page.

I had two decent Phillips mp3 players for a while. Simple to use, any software you want (just copy over songs to the device like a flash drive), but one of them died (just as the warranty expired) and the other was stolen/lost a few years back. I really like both when they worked though.

I have an ipod shuffle now, which I use only for audible books and therefore only have to open/use itunes once every month or so. It's pretty damn reliable, I must admit, as I've dropped it, stepped on it, sent it flying across the room, left in the car during the summer/winter, etc...

If I just wanted something small and only for playing songs, and I wouldn't manage anything 'on the device' so I'd just use whatever PC Software I wanted... I'd buy the cheapest thing available, expect it to die, and expect to replace it with another cheap thing.

...but why not just do cloud service (google play/amazon) for your songs and get an android/kindle device of some kind? As long as you have wifi access (somewhere) you don't even need a data plan or mobile service.

[Ginger Yellow]

Buying an mp3 player

...but why not just do cloud service (google play/amazon) for your songs and get an android/kindle device of some kind? As long as you have wifi access (somewhere) you don't even need a data plan or mobile service.

Well, that's a pretty big if, given that a lot of the places you're going to want to use an mp3 player don't have WiFi, or charge for it - plane, train, tube etc. That said, I'm probably going to ditch my separate mp3 player when my iPod dies. I mainly use it as a gaming machine to preserve my phone's battery, but Apple keeps underpowering it, especially memory-wise, so it's getting very frustrating, even for podcasts. I'll just have to find a phone which takes SD cards when I make the switch.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Buying an mp3 player

I like how everyone's recommending players that haven't been manufactured for years. How about a Diamond Rio?

matt j wrote: ...but why not just do cloud service (google play/amazon) for your songs and get an android/kindle device of some kind? As long as you have wifi access (somewhere) you don't even need a data plan or mobile service.

All the places I listen to music on my smartphone are exactly the places I don't have wifi access (walking, running, public transport, long bike rides).

[matt j]

Buying an mp3 player

Download music when you are on wifi to your device (is this not obvious?). Just like you would with a regular mp3 player (except you don't have to connect to your pc).

You can grant access on google play to ten devices, so easily PC, laptop, tablet, burner phone, knock-off cheap old android device...

[Stumpy Pepys]

Buying an mp3 player

matt j wrote: Download music when you are on wifi to your device (is this not obvious?). Just like you would with a regular mp3 player (except you don't have to connect to your pc).

Yes, but you've firstly got to upload your whole collection to Google. Then, erm … download it again onto local storage.

There is a case to be made for doing that, but the original post asked about high-capacity dedicated mp3 players, so I suggested a couple.

[hobbes]

Buying an mp3 player

I always had Sony ones. They were cracking. I know they make an eye wittering expensive one now. Not sure if they do cheaper ones too.

[Vulgarian Visigoth]

Buying an mp3 player

hobbes wrote: I always had Sony ones. They were cracking. I know they make an eye wittering expensive one now. Not sure if they do cheaper ones too.

Sony wast the best I had in my pre-iPod era. All in all though iPod seems the best of the economy class in terms of sound quality, navigability, design and durability. I know Apple are the devil, but sometimes the devil has the best tunes (no pun etc). It's Apple's pig-headedness in their software management I can't deal with.

[matt j]

Buying an mp3 player

If you are listening to your entire collection everyday, then sure, it's exactly as Stumpy describes.

You do have to upload to google (or amazon, or probably other services) (just leave your computer on at night while connected to wifi, assuming you have all your collection in one place already). (Amazon actually already has music cached in cloud for some/most stuff you bought from them.)

Then cache songs for whatever you think you might listen to over the next few days. Even if you want to random play while out, you can cache a playlist of shuffled songs quite easily.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Buying an mp3 player

hobbes wrote: I always had Sony ones. They were cracking. I know they make an eye wittering expensive one now. Not sure if they do cheaper ones too.

Their new Walkman is eye-poppingly expensive. Up there with the Pono. (There's money to be made from the golden-ear brigade.)

Otherwise, in terms of dedicated high-capacity (>100 GB), there's only a handful still being made. I just stopped bothering and stuck a 64 GB SD-card in my Android phone.

[matt j]

Buying an mp3 player

Stumpy Pepys wrote: I just stopped bothering and stuck a 64 GB SD-card in my Android phone.

Bingo.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Buying an mp3 player

matt j wrote: Bingo.

Yes, but it doesn't mean I'm right. Other reasonable opinions are available.

[Vulgarian Visigoth]

Buying an mp3 player

Stumpy Pepys wrote: Otherwise, in terms of dedicated high-capacity (>100 GB), there's only a handful still being made. I just stopped bothering and stuck a 64 GB SD-card in my Android phone.

Simple but genius. I might end up doing that.

[dalliance]

Buying an mp3 player

I had one of the Sony NW players a decade ago and it was better built and had a better sound quality than its iPod equivalent at the time.

The problem was the music management software, Somic Stage, which was a dog of a thing. Eventually I got tired of it and went back to iPods because iTunes, despite its faults, was light years ahead of it.

I always marvelled at people who criticised iTunes because it didn't allow them to achieve their holy grail of 'drag and drop' management. Drag and bloody drop might be useful if you have 20 songs, but with a high capacity player in which you are managing thousands of music tracks, podcasts, video files
etc. then it's for Luddites.

[linus]

Buying an mp3 player

Mumpo wrote: I've got a Zen... something or other (it's downstairs), it's one of their little players anyway and it's great, drag and drop files, easy navigation with a screen display.

Just remember to choose 'Europe' rather than 'UK' when you set up, so the volume isn't restricted.

Europe endless.

[Incandenza]

Buying an mp3 player

Stumpy Pepys wrote: I suppose I should also mention Neil Young's Pono player.

Hah, I had never actually seen a Pono before. Makes it even more dumb.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Buying an mp3 player

dalliance wrote: I always marvelled at people who criticised iTunes because it didn't allow them to achieve their holy grail of 'drag and drop' management. Drag and bloody drop might be useful if you have 20 songs, but with a high capacity player in which you are managing thousands of music tracks, podcasts, video files
etc. then it's for Luddites.

Makes very little difference, assuming your digital files have the correct metadata. The only thing I ever found useful about iTunes was its playlist management.

iTunes was more a function of DRM than it was a useful tool for managing your media.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Buying an mp3 player

Incandenza wrote:

I suppose I should also mention Neil Young's Pono player.

Hah, I had never actually seen a Pono before. Makes it even more dumb.

I mean, I don't know how much Neil Young was involved in the design, but did it not occur to him that people might want to put it in their pockets?

[Wouter D]

Buying an mp3 player

I used to have a Creative Zen. It died on me. Then I bought all the Creative Zens I could find second hand online. Now I have three. I'm very happy with them. Just use the windows explorer (or its equivalent in whichever operating system you use) to copy and paste your music, and go! No iTunes, no requirement for proprietary software, just normal folder-to-folder copying bliss.

Yes, I want my entire collection with me all the time, and no, it doesn't fit on a 64gb sd card. I'm carrying around three 32gb sd cards (since the Zen is incompatible with the sdxc standard, so larger cards are out) plus the 16gb internal memory of the player.

[Wouter D]

Buying an mp3 player

Stumpy Pepys wrote: This gizmo has had very good reviews (FiiO X1). It's also only one-hundred quid, although you have to provide your own SD-card storage (up to 128 GB). Also supports hi-res audio formats, if you're into that kind of thing.

This is very relevant to my interests.