Recommend me an MP3 player that doesn't suck.

S.

S.

ex offender
So my Samsung YP-3K thing abruptly shat the bed after working fine for a year and a half, like virtually every mp3 player seems to. So what I'm after is something cheapish, reliable, plug-and-play (no iTunes bullshit or equivalent), 4gig or more capacity, decent sound quality, easy to use and most importantly not prone to shitting the bed, freezing, or doing anything stupid. Owned a few iRivers and while the sound quality was great, they were extremely prone to freezing. Something that's easy to create playlists with would be good too, never worked it out with the Samsung thing.

Also would prefer something small/slim, like the Ipod Nanos or whatever they are. Don't need picture/movie/whatever ability, don't really care about accessories like docks and whatever, but a decent menu system would be good. The Samsung was pretty good like that, if it hadn't stopped working it'd be pretty much my perfect MP3 player. Don't want/need fancypants complicated stuff, nothing like the iPod touch, cheaper is better. Good battery life is important too.

So what's on the market? Ipods seem to crap out far too regularly, iRivers are out of the question, don't like Sony's ability to make stuff incompatible with everything else, Creative stuff used to have a horrible reputation for reliability... do mp3 players in general just suck or is there a hidden gem out there somewhere?
 
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Lemontime

Lemontime

Eats Squid
iPods crap out at the same rate (if not less often) as any other MP3 player, there's just more of them so you hear about it more!
 
A

Arete

Likes Dirt
This may sound stupid but after having 4 Creative Zen players die before the warranty ran out, I vowed I would never spend more than I had to on an MP3 player. After the utterly shitful experience I had with no name Ebay pieces of Chinese rubbish, I bought a SANSA shaker.

Aimed at 8-12 year olds, it's built like a brick. Its memory is and SD card, comes with a 512 one loaded with rocking tunes like "wheels on the bus" and "mary had a little lamb" and will support up to 2Gb cards. No screen, has on off, forwards backwards and volume. 2 headphone jacks, built in speaker and if you hold on/off and shake it it changes tracks!

Sound quality is suprisingly not complete shite, but it's not world beating. Fine for compressed MP3. It's been great for 6 months of commuting. Cost $27.
 
S.

S.

ex offender
Lemontime said:
iPods crap out at the same rate (if not less often) as any other MP3 player, there's just more of them so you hear about it more!
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Yeah but "at the same rate" is still utterly shitful, especially given how much they charge for those shitboxes. Besides that, I don't want to pay the Apple iExcess nor deal with iTunes.

Arete - cheers for the suggestion, but I'd like something slim(ish) that doesn't take up much pocket space, those things look pretty bulky. Though for $27...

Also - would kinda like an inbuilt FM tuner but not really a big deal if it doesn't have one.
 
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Lemontime

Lemontime

Eats Squid
What do you find so bad with itunes? I think it works perfectly fine for what it is..?
If you're looking for a simple, never-ever-ever break thing, then go for the older ipod shuffles (last gen, not the no-button current ones).
 
S.

S.

ex offender
Lemontime said:
What do you find so bad with itunes? I think it works perfectly fine for what it is..?
If you're looking for a simple, never-ever-ever break thing, then go for the older ipod shuffles (last gen, not the no-button current ones).
Click to expand...
I don't know how to make this any clearer:

NO IPODS.
 
LJohn

LJohn

Likes Dirt
Sony.

I've got a little Sony walkman mp3 player. 4gb, recessed, and covered, small colour screen. Independent EQ. Reasonable sound quality. I'm not sure about the compatibility in terms of programs, but it worked with whatever I was using at the time. But it sounded great, looked cool (ano red), and is built like a tank. It's withstood twenty or thirty thousand sweaty road and mountain km, a fair few hours getting battered by a wrench, keys, CO2 inflator, multitool, etc. in my mess bag, and stood on, dropped. They're around for something like $40-$50 and are fantastic.

I've got an iPod touch now, and it's also fantastic. BUT, it's bulky, the screen size worries me in terms of durability, and the storage is eaten by OS and apps. I still use the Sony or an Ipod shuffle for riding.
 
DJninja

DJninja

Likes Bikes and Dirt
From what I've found, there is no MP3 that fits your description. I did have an iriver that was pretty legendary until it got stolen. Got another and this one shits itself all the time, skips tracks, deletes my musc etc. So in summary, sit on your computer all day and listen to music instead of leaving your house.
 
S.

S.

ex offender
LJohn said:
Sony.

I've got a little Sony walkman mp3 player. 4gb, recessed, and covered, small colour screen. Independent EQ. Reasonable sound quality. I'm not sure about the compatibility in terms of programs, but it worked with whatever I was using at the time. But it sounded great, looked cool (ano red), and is built like a tank. It's withstood twenty or thirty thousand sweaty road and mountain km, a fair few hours getting battered by a wrench, keys, CO2 inflator, multitool, etc. in my mess bag, and stood on, dropped. They're around for something like $40-$50 and are fantastic.

I've got an iPod touch now, and it's also fantastic. BUT, it's bulky, the screen size worries me in terms of durability, and the storage is eaten by OS and apps. I still use the Sony or an Ipod shuffle for riding.
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Just checked into those, they look like exactly what I'm after - small, no-bullshit and cheap enough that if it does emo-kid itself after 6 months I'm not gonna do the same. Gonna grab one off ebay, thanks!
 
kholden_1992

kholden_1992

Likes Dirt
try and get your hands on either a Zoon or and old ipod video

i have had my 30G ipod Video for at least over 4 years or more and it's still kicking and it is basically glued to my ears all the time and i think i am actually getting hearing problems already.

and my mate got a Zoon, a bit after me and it's still going aswell

and i know how you feel about the new ipods, they are rubbish!!!, the Itouches are pretty much as useful as a clump of dirt
 
S

stringbean

Likes Bikes and Dirt
i have a ipod touch at the moment but before it had an iriver somethingorother, seemed to go pretty well untill i crushed it somewhere along the line
 
rabatt

rabatt

Likes Bikes and Dirt
so whats so bad about ipods/itunes?

i'v had mine for well over two years and its still going strong even with some dints, if you like steeling music you can easily use limewire. if not just load your cd's on and your all good
 
Regan of Gong

Regan of Gong

Likes Dirt
If you're due for a new phone, I can't recommend the Sony Walkman series enough. I've had a w810i for three years and it's still going- drag and drop compatible so just dump folders onto the memory card. Sound quality is very good, and they're starting to use 3.5mm jacks from the phone now so you don't need an adaptor.
 
D

Dagget

Squid
4GB Sony Walkman .... drag and drop simplicity for putting MP3's in there .
Survived a Camelback escape at about 30 kph on a bitumen bikepath .
Holds way too much music ....
Cost about $65 and is Red so it goes faster . :)

Good value all round.

Only downside is making playlists is a bitch .
 
kholden_1992

kholden_1992

Likes Dirt
rabatt said:
so whats so bad about ipods/itunes?

i'v had mine for well over two years and its still going strong even with some dints, if you like steeling music you can easily use limewire. if not just load your cd's on and your all good
Click to expand...
don't use lime wire!!!!! its like a library for viruses
 
D

dilzy

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Sandisk Sansa Fuze. Thing is exactly like an Ipod mini, but includes:
  • drag and drop
  • gets great radio reception (important to me)
  • withstands copious sweat
  • costs $100
  • comes with 4gb flash memory, expandable to 20GB with a 16gb minisd card expansion slot
  • Very very easy to navigate, much more so than the irivers
  • Sounds fantastic, can drive some pretty high impotence head phones

You may prefer the sansa clip, which is exactly the same sound electronics, just a monochrome screen and is tiny.

bought mine from these guys:
http://www.themp3outletstore.com.au/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/67/products_id/375
 
Matt H

Matt H

Eats Squid
rabatt said:
so whats so bad about ipods/itunes?

i'v had mine for well over two years and its still going strong even with some dints, if you like steeling music you can easily use limewire. if not just load your cd's on and your all good
Click to expand...
iTunes is just a terrible, terrible music browser. Use something like winamp or fb2k and you'll realise this.
 
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