Looking for a MP3 player... any suggestions?

I'm currently looking at this one from Creative, does anyone have any experience with it? I know iRiver has some nice ones, but I'm also trying to keep costs as low as possible, due to a certain 'addiction' that I shan't mention out loud... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

So, any other suggestions or experiences on the mentioned one above? Thanks in advance...

Unless you want an ultraportable, the best deals are the MP3 CD players. You burn your MP3's to CD on your computer and the player plays from CD-R. Some of them cost as little as 50 bucks and will play for 40 hours on a pair of AA alkalines.

If you have money to burn, get an iPod, everyone who has one loves it.

The tiny ones are cute but hold only a few hours of music tops. Loading and unloading favorites into them sounds like enough of a pain that I don't see the point. However, if you want one of those, the Frontier Labs Nex IIe ( http://www.frontierlabs.com/NEXIIe.html ) is supposed to be very good.

Thanks Paulr, the NexIIs look pretty good, but think price range might be a little out of my reach.

I guess I should've elaborated a little on my need for the player. I'm planning to use it more for my car than anything. Just got a company car, no CD player (too used to having one), and to get one rigged up would be a big no-no esp for my boss.. *sigh*. So I'm planning to get one of those 'cassette' adaptors with a jack that you can plug into a discman/mp3 player so that there's minimal fuss and no wirings involved... Having said that, I could get a CD player (discman, etc) but over here, nothing is safe in your car. Heck I had my old car broken into once just for less than $1 in change!! So, if I'm leaving the car parked somewhere, the player (Discman or mp3 player) comes with me. Thats the main reason I'm leaning more towards a mp3 player, and so far I think the Creative one looks to be the cheapest, if not the oldest model in the market...

I don't know how much that Creative unit is. The Nex IIe is around 80-90 bucks on ebay. There's an earlier version (Nex II) that's a few bucks less and is basically the same. Yes, the CD mp3 players I'm thinking of are like Discman except they play mp3 cd-r's (and also normal cd's). If you don't mind the size (easy to carry in a briefcase or shoulder bag, but not pocketable), that's definitely what I'd recommend.

Well, the Creative unit is going for around < USD40 right now on the M'sian version of ebay... be a good buy if I can snag it!! Well, if I have a bag with me all the time its fine, wouldn;t mind a Discman, but usually I don't so that's a bit of a bummer... Well, having said that, there's always the saying, 'You get what you pay for..' so I gotta be careful too... Thanks for the links Paulr!!

Just a thought: If you need a CD player that plays CD's and MP3's, your best buy is an import.

I got one the other day (EGOMAN) on eBay for $100 CANADIAN that plays Cd's, Mp3's, Cd-R's and RW's, and VCDS!

Actually PhilAlex, we've getting lots of imported electronics from China lately. While not top of the range, and the finish has the cheap plastic look, they're still functional nonetheless. The cheapest I've seen here in KL for a Discman that has all the functions you mentioned above is going for around USD30 or so... in a department store!! That's probably my next choice if I can't find a cheap enough MP3 player... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif

Hmm... maybe I could start a business selling these players on Ebay or something huh? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Got an Iriver 128mb. player. Really great player. I think they can be had for around $99 at Best Buy when they're on sale.

I have a NEX II that works pretty good. It doesn't have any internal memory which is OK by me since CF cards are cheap now and that's what I wanted in a player.

I bought 2 512mb and just the other day, a 1gb card. Also, with a card reader attached to my pc I just copy the music files to the card, don't have to fiddle around with any special software or cables and I can use it as a portable drive for files as well.

The sound quality is as good as any other player but the ergonomics could be better. It's all to easy to hit the wrong button and stop playing when all you want to do is change the volume. The unit has a bit of a cheap feel, being very lightweight, but has stood up just fine to many hours of playing while jogging, biking and hiking so I can't fault it. Battery life with a pair of alks is quite good at about 22 hours, more or less. With lithiums I get about 30 hours and 2200mh nimh's go about 18 hours, pretty much what you'd expect.

One thing though that I've learned having bought two players now (the other was a 192mb Rio), is that I wanted to be able to use CF cards for storage, the NEX II does that, plays well, uses standard batteries and overall is a very good value.

Recommended.

Here a WEB page
And another

Earlier generation iPods are showing up on eBay and other places refurbished or just used quite cheaply. I have the last generation of it and I love it. I have it connected up through a radio transmitter into the car and it works beautifully.

You can even get replacement LiIon batteries for the older iPods now. They are a little tricky to install since they weren't designed so that you could do this at home, but that gets over the most important reason not to buy a used one and that is a reduced life of the built in battery.

Though the iPod seems expensive, it works out to have the most volume/$. I'm still confused about the different versions of it though.

After looking around, it seems that there are 3 generations of iPods and the 3rd one is the latest with the touch wheel and button. But are the 40G's thicker than the 20G's?

The MP3 Discmans are really good for value considering the "storage media" will cost about $1 per 700mb. I've seen ones that use the smaller 8cm CD's that seem decent.

I've had a 10GB 'old' iPod for about year. I have had no problems with it. Cheaper than that I would recommend a Portable CDP that can play MP3s.

For the car, look at getting the iRock FM broadcast adapter. You plug it into your line out and tune your FM radio to the frequency you've set; no hassle with the tape adapter and better sound quality too.

The 40G's are not thicker than the 20 (as far as i could tell anyway). They don't use the regular laptop disk drives in the iPods, they use the PCMCIA card sized drives which is why they are so much smaller than the other hard disk based MP3 players. It's also why they are a bit more expensive /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif But it's also why the batteries last so much longer. They actually rarely spin the drive, it loads 32meg of music in at once and then spins down the drive.

The only important difference for different versions can be seen with the controls. If you have one that has actual buttons then you need to be careful you get the right version. These had separate units for Mac or PC connectivity and are not switchable. They are also limited to firewire so you'd need that on your PC to connect them.

If you have the version with the touch controls then it can connect to either a Mac or a PC and it also supports USB2 (with a special cable that you may have to order separately /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif )

Other than that the only difference is in the size of the drive.

Wow... i knew CPF was the right place to turn to... THanks for all your recommendations...

Hokiefritz, thanks for pointing out iRock to me, its a really neat idea! Actually I have an old pair of wireless headphones that came with a FM transmitter unit, maybe I'll try that later and see if it works!

The iPods are still considered very new over here, and even for an older generation model it would still cost a bomb... thanks, James for your detailed explanation on the iPods, maybe I'll keep an eye out on eBay for a good bargain.

Yclo, you're right, Discman's are probably still the way to go, CD-Rs are dirt cheap here (< AUD0.30 p/piece per 50pcs)... i think I'm leaning more towards that direction, but then again, with a mp3 player, you don't have to worry about discs to change, etc...

*sigh* decisions, decisions...

[ QUOTE ]
Stanley said:
.....but then again, with a mp3 player, you don't have to worry about discs to change, etc.....

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't be so sure, I had a 128mb player once and it got boring listening to the same 30ish songs and I couldn't change them until I was home with it plugged to my comp.

Spare memory-type cards are too much $$ to just be having spares.

-YC

James, the 30 GB ipod is about 5mm thicker than the 10/20 gb models. I'm not sure about the newer 40gb but I suspect it's the same thickness as the 30gb.

Stanley, a cd-r holds 700 mb of mp3's which is something like 12 hours. That's actually enough to listen to for quite a while without needing to bring extra discs along.

Stanley, I'm in a comparable situation. I drive a company car between 1-4 hours each day while fixing office equipment. I have an old Rio 500 with 128MB of memory that I download new music mixes to every couple of days. An advantage with this type of player is the battery life. Mine uses a single AA battery for up to 10 hours. I just use NiMH rechargeables and recharge them every couple of weeks.

A hard-disk based player like the iPod would be nicer for storing a month's worth of music, but I would be looking at powering from the cigarette lighter jack with the extra power useage. That means another cord in addition to the cassette adapter, gets a little bet messy on the passenger seat. CD based portable MP3 players are the most power-hungry, about the same power consumption as a portable audio CD player. Just some factors not mentioned yet for you to think about. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif

Arrgghhh!!! More decisions! CDrs hold plenty of songs and cheap to buy... MP3 player more portable...

Thanks BFHammer, yup I guess to lessen the amount of wires running about I would most likely use rechargables instead of a car-lighter power adaptor.

Downloading the songs is no problem, I'm usually in the office in the mornings first anyways before I hit the road...

But as I mentioned earlier, the only thing that makes me think twice about getting a Discman setup (less $$) as opposed to a MP3 player (more $$) is the fact that cars over here get broken into very easily most of the time, even just for some spare change. So in order not to risk losing the player, I'd have to carry it with me, thus it has to be portable if possible cos I won't have a bag with me all the time...

Alternatively I could get a set of steel grills installed on my car windows? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

CD based MP3 players are amazingly power efficient. The Panasonic one claims to run 40 hours on a pair of AA's. That's long enough that I wouldn't feel any need for cig lighter adapters. Of course I don't own one, so I can't say for sure if the claim is true.

The players are cheap enough that I'd feel ok leaving one in a car as long as it's out of sight.

There are CD- MP3 players that take the smaller discs, you know.

(Ducking)