Recommend Me A Good Solid-State MP3 Player

[Humodour]

So I'm sick of hard drive players for a few reasons - one of them being the mechanical parts tend to frak up when I'm running. Plus, I suspect flash based drives would last longer in terms of battery life, yeah? Also, I'd like a more portable solution in terms of doubling as a USB stick flash drive. About 10gb or more is ideal.

 

So suggest away! I'd prefer a Windows/Linux explorer drag and drop player, as I have issues with iTunes and SonicStage (and similar), but it's not critical.

 

And finally, I think a flash drive is rather fitting to go running with, no? Run, Flash, run!

[Humodour]

Oh, this one looks nice. I wanted a Creative Zen about 5 years ago, 16gb, has an SD expansion slot, and an alarm clock!

 

http://www.minidisc.com.au/creative-zen-16...yer-p-1313.html

[LadyCrimson]

Oh, this one looks nice. I wanted a Creative Zen about 5 years ago, 16gb, has an SD expansion slot, and an alarm clock!

Do you fall asleep while running, often?

Edited May 29, 2008 by LadyCrimson

[Humodour]

Oh, this one looks nice. I wanted a Creative Zen about 5 years ago, 16gb, has an SD expansion slot, and an alarm clock!

Do you fall asleep while running, often?

 

Heh. No, but I have weird circadian rhythms and it's usually very hard to wake up before 10am, so an extra alarm clock is never a bad thing!

[Humodour]

Erk, I probably should have posted this in tech stuff.

[Guest The Architect]

Hey speaking of mp3 players and tech stuff associated with it, do headphones "expire" quickly if you use them too much, or have I gone through 4 pairs of headphones in the past five or so months not because I probably overuse them but because the wire accidentally gets tugged, pulled or whatever a few times and then that causes the **** up? Mind you we're talking about headphones that costed no more than $30 AUS. So my question is, is it possible for headphones to last for ages, even if you use them a lot for exercises and stuff, and if so, does it depend on the price/brand?

Edited May 29, 2008 by The Architect

[Pidesco]

It depends on the brand, I think, although my first sennheisers went bust rather quickly, despite having quite good sound quality. My most recent Pioneers have been going strong, though.

[Humodour]

I've never had my earphones break. My only pair of good headphones broke fairly fast. Phooey.

[mkreku]

I use the Creative Zen Stone Plus 4GB (black) when I am out running.

 

http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/multim...stone-plus.html

 

I can easily recommend it as it's very light and small and has a stopwatch built in. It costs almost nothing and you can buy a very good arm band from Creative that lets you put it comfortably on your upper arm. There's a picture of it in the link I provided. The only drawbacks it has is that it has to be loaded by a USB connection and the menus aren't the fastest.

[Guard Dog]

A solid state MP3 player? Is there another kind? I could design a non solid state one for you but I don't think you would want to go running with it. More likely you would need a hand truck to move it.

 

Seriously though, I have a cheap little Coby MP300 2G Flash Drive/MP3 player and it works great. I got it from newegg.com for $20 US.

[Hurlshort]

My Sansa Sandisk player is pretty awesome. I have some problems with it communicating with Rhapsody, but I think that's Real's problem and not the MP3 player.

[WITHTEETH]

I've had my ipod mini for 5 years so far. in my pocket and on my bike all over the place 5 days a week 8 hours a day. I've droped it countless times and it still keeps ticking. I personally will stick with this brand till they do me wrong. Im literally waiting for it to break so i can finally get a ipod classic 80 gig for $250 i think they go for.

[Deadly_Nightshade]

Is there another kind?

 

Yeah. They use mini-drives instead of flash memory. Anyways, I've been happy with my 2ed generation iPod Nano and 2ed Generation iPod Shuffle - although you would have to hack the software if you wanted to make them "drag-and-drop."

[Deraldin]

My Sansa Sandisk player is pretty awesome. I have some problems with it communicating with Rhapsody, but I think that's Real's problem and not the MP3 player.

 

Which model do you have? I've been looking at the Sansa View line as a replacement for my current iRiver H10, but the little thing is one well built machine. It's been dropped numerous times on various surfaces (carpet to concrete) and with the exception of a little scratching around the edges it still works and looks just like it did when I bought it 2.5 years ago.

Edited May 29, 2008 by Deraldin

[Xard]

I've had my ipod mini for 5 years so far. in my pocket and on my bike all over the place 5 days a week 8 hours a day. I've droped it countless times and it still keeps ticking. I personally will stick with this brand till they do me wrong. Im literally waiting for it to break so i can finally get a ipod classic 80 gig for $250 i think they go for.

 

Yeah, iPod is one tough bastard compared to many others

 

I'm one of the "my headphones like to break" club

[Sand]

I wonder how much a 1 Terrabyte Flash drive would cost...

[Tigranes]

 

This is what I use, it's basically an iPod but (a) while its not drag & drop its program is a lot easier and less hassle than itunes, (b) I hate ipod design and its wheely thing, personally, © purty, (d) deal came with free bluetooth headphones. But it's quite fragile, so probably not for you.

 

Have heard ambivalent things about Zen, not that bad but not awesome in anything either.

[mkreku]

I don't think the Zen Stone Plus can break.. First of all, it weighs nothing so it just bounces when you drop it. Second.. I think it's built out of some kind of rubber

 

Oh, and the most sensitive part (the screen) is tiny and placed in such a way that it'll never take the blow if you drop it. Unless you drop it on a spike and it hits the screen.. somehow.

[Gorgon]

I have the above sony as well, it's nice enough. Only problem is that like every player and its mother it doesn't have proper buttons, but touch sensitive areas. 30 % of the time you will hit the wrong button. You will also need to lock it before putting it in your pocket or it will start doing whatever a random combination of buttons tells it to.

 

On the plus side it can run a proper set of headphones instead of those horrid ear plug thingies. You don't want a player that doesn't have enough juice to properly amplify anything. It also has decent battery life. I just got the 4 gb version, and I haven't

filled it up yet.

 

The menus are a bit counter intuitive, especially with those spastic buttons, and they are not customizable like the Zen I had before this.

 

Software package is an excellent combination of open source codexes which you can auto update when needed. Drag and drop interface - just plug it in and it is recognized as a drive, you won't need the software for anything unless you need to convert a movie to play on its pathetically tiny screen.

 

Also no proprietory bull**** formats and no online stores or ad/bloatware built into the firmware.

Edited May 30, 2008 by Gorgon

[Humodour]

Thanks guys.

 

Gorgon: Hmm... while I'm tempted to get a Zen or a Zen Stone, the Sony you mention sounds interesting... what model is it?

 

I wonder how much a 1 Terrabyte Flash drive would cost...

 

I don't think they're on the market yet; just prototypes in labs. It gets fairly expensive for flash as storage increases, though. Although with this 'memristor' that may change. In fact the memristor will probably be a disruptive technology in all areas of digital storage - hard drives, flash, RAM, etc.Nnot to mention processing; it's the wall-scaling breakthrough they need to maintain Moore's law.

[BicycleOfDeath]

I have an iPod Nano 2e I think. I go to skateparks with it (BMX) and it's held up thus far. I've never had the battery life run out unintentionally and I use WinAMP with it. With all the official support and third party products it's really difficult to recommend anything else. Apple's Customer Service is also very excellent from what I've experience. That's a good thing considering I haven't had to experience it.

[Gorgon]

It's called T 10, the samsung (correction) in the picture.

[Pop]

If you're going to get an Apple player, don't get the higher range ipods. The 80 gig I got lasted all of 11 days before it permanently died.

[Gorgon]

Apple is nice, and too expensive for what you get, which makes buying an apple product a consumer identity statement more than anything else. The sound is not better, their computers are not faster, they are just prettier.

Edited May 30, 2008 by Gorgon

[Walsingham]

I'd steer clear of anything witha built in battery, if your lifetsyle is anything like mine. Unlike the hipster d-bags these things are designed for I roam about the country for extended periods of more than four or five hours. Meaning my new dinky 4 gig machine, while small enough to swallow whole, runs out of battery long before time.

 

Yet again, a mobile machine which isn't really mobile.