I need help finding a *decent* mp3 player

[jdcnow]

Good evening everyone. Hope you are doing well, tonight.

Well, I'm just about ready to pull my hair out.

After spending the last 3 hours on Amazon, Walmart, Office Depot, etc., I can'f find one decent mp3 player that is actually worth the money I'd pay for it.

My price ceiling is $50 bucks, although if I find a very good one for a little more than that, I'm willing to pay for it.

The ones I've found: On the touch screen models, the screens aren't very responsive, or you have to press so hard that you mark up the screen. One model of player I've found, you can only load like 10 songs at a time, or the player crashes, and you have to jump through hoops to get it back up and running again. One model had a battery life of an embarrassing 6 hours from a full charge. (I work 8 hours a night. This thing wouldn't make it through one complete shift.) Some models don't categorize your songs, and you have to weed through every song you have to find the one you want.

I'm considering just reordering a replacement of the same one I've currently got: I have the RCA M4304-A. It's a decent one, but the only issues I have with it, is that (a minor issue) sometimes the screen turns on completely white when you turn it on. You have to turn it off, and then turn it back on again. Also a minor issue is that sometimes, when you try to turn it on, it literally dies in the middle of turning itself on. You have to baby it, and keep trying, and eventually it will turn back on, although sometimes I've had to reset settings (my menus, the repeat and shuffle settings, etc.). One major issue is that the headphone port has malfunctioned to where when you plug your headphones in, you can only hear music on the right side. (I've checked my headphones by plugging them into my laptop, and have even bought another set of headphones. The headphones worked just fine - they aren't the problem, the headphone port on the MP3 player has gone bad.) You can only hear music in both sides if you hold the headphone plug just right, which is ridiculous. But seeing how bad other MP3 players are, I think I could live with it, if I had to.

One plus about my RCA model is that the battery life is mindblowing! I work 8 hours a night, 4 nights a week, and I may have to charge my MP3 player maybe once or twice a week. Just excellent battery life. And I need something like that, if I can find it.

Has anyone out there found a decent MP3 player that is no-frills or reasonably few frills (video, photos, etc.). I just want something that will play my music and play it well when I need it.

I greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

 

[T-Rexx]

I like the iRiver players.

I like them because they play OGG audio files (which most players cannot) and they do NOT come with (or require) stupid software like iTunes or Zune Player. You just plug the thing into your computer's USB port, and it becomes a flash drive. Just use your computer's file system to drag and drop songs to it, create folders on it, etc. The iRiver players work with Windows, Mac, or Linux without any special software whatsoever. And it doesn't have some ridiculous, proprietary connector - just a mini USB port. And it uses standard headphones without an adapter.

The controls are easy to operate. For many of the iRiver players, the edges of the screen act as buttons. Press the top, bottom, left, or right edges of the picture frame and it detents and clicks. You get audible and tactile feedback that the button click has registered. Navigation is straightforward. There is no touchscreen, so you don't get fingerprints on the display and the controls actually work. (In this price range, any touch screens are going to be resistive, not capacitive, screens. Resistive touch screens do not work very well. You are better off with actual, physical buttons.)

The iRivers all have audio playback of lots of different formats, video playback, FM radio, and viewing of still images. You can even record radio broadcasts off the air, or your own voice (there is a built-in microphone). The FM tuner on my iRiver E100 works better than any other FM tuner I have used that was integrated into an mp3 player. The display screen is very high quality. The players are small and durable. The cheaper ones are less than your budget of $50. You can also get accessories for them (like custon rubber or leather cases) but it's not like buying stuff for an iPod, of course.

I don't know about battery life. I never use mine for more than 2 hours at a time, and it's always been good for that (even when I know it was not fully charged when I started). One reviewer at Amazon says that if he played constant videos, his Lplayer was only good for ~3 hrs. On the other hand, iRiver claims their E50 model will go for 52 hours of continuous mp3 playback! My iRiver does sort songs by artist and album, but I've heard that not all of them do this (I have an E100 4 GB, which cost me about $50 three years ago).



Example of a $45 iRiver mp3 player: [ame="http://www.amazon.com/iriver-Lplayer-Video-Player-Black/dp/B001BW6N5W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1297486041&sr=8-1"]Amazon.com: iriver Lplayer 4 GB Video MP3 Player (Black): Electronics[/ame]

 

[JB3]

Sandisk Sansa Clip or Fuze. You can get an 8 gb clip for $70, but they're usually on sale.

 

[jdcnow]

Gentlemen, Thank you, both of you for your suggestions. I appreciate the feedback.

I did decide on the Sandisk Sansa Clip+. What sealed the deal for me is the expandable memory, as I do a whole library of music.

Thanks and take care. I appreciate it.

 

[JB3]

Gentlemen, Thank you, both of you for your suggestions. I appreciate the feedback.

I did decide on the Sandisk Sansa Clip+. What sealed the deal for me is the expandable memory, as I do a whole library of music.

Thanks and take care. I appreciate it.

Good choice. Sandisk makes some pretty good players, especially if iPods aren't for you (or your budget)

 

[burke67]

+1 on the Clip+

A good simple unit, expandable, Ogg, and FLAC. Standard mini-usb interface too.

 

[jdcnow]

Thanks, JB3!!!

I got my Sansa Clip + in the mail over the weekend, and I've played with it overnight this morning for the first time. OMG, this is the best thing since sliced bread - literally. It does just about every thing my now-old RCA player did and more, and it's about half the size. I'm going to watch it and see how the battery life does, but so far, I'm loving this thing! And I'm going to look up a cheap SD card for the extra memory!

Thanks again

 

[borg69unimatrix]

Thanks, JB3!!!

I got my Sansa Clip + in the mail over the weekend, and I've played with it overnight this morning for the first time. OMG, this is the best thing since sliced bread - literally. It does just about every thing my now-old RCA player did and more, and it's about half the size. I'm going to watch it and see how the battery life does, but so far, I'm loving this thing! And I'm going to look up a cheap SD card for the extra memory!

Thanks again

http://bensoutlet.com/products/sandisk-16gb-micro

Is this one the right size ???

 

[jdcnow]

^^ Yeah, the micro SD cards, yeah, that's them. I'm going to do my homework and shop around for the best deal for the amount of memory though. But I'll keep that in mind.

Thanks, borg69!

BTW, I'm loving this Sansa Clip +! For this to be such a physically small device, the sound equalizer runs circles around my old RCA mp3 player. The battery life is nice as well. I charged it up early Monday morning. It's now Tuesday afternoon, and with moderate use, the thing still has just about 3/4 of a full charge still left - WOW! Definitely very satisfied that I went with this.