Best non-iPod MP3 player

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I've got a friend who is looking for an MP3 player. I know (and he knows) that the iPod is the best one out there, but he doesn't have a firewire mac and doesn't want to shell out the $400 for the iPod + whatever it's going to cost for XPlay. So, what's the best MP3 out there? He wants more than 64mgs of memory and rechargeable batteries, but those (and price) are his only requirements. What do you recommend?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    wait for a cheaper iPod.
  • Reply 2 of 10
    The iPaq MP3 player?

    Depends. Personally I think that flashram MP3 players are a joke, its too expensive for the damn memory. CD-MP3 players are too big, and use too much power, and Minidisc takes too long to record. Basically the iPod is the only good one out there, but for $400...
  • Reply 3 of 10
    thegeldingthegelding Posts: 3,230member
    i bought this mp3 player about 3 to 4 months before the iPod came out...i really like it alot, but wish i had got the iPod instead of course....but now i can't justify buying an iPod...the player comes with a cradle that downloads and charges the MGII...works great with iTunes...i added a second card and now have 128 mb of storage....g



    <a href="http://www.nomadworld.com/products/nomad2mg/"; target="_blank">web page</a>



    [ 03-01-2002: Message edited by: thegelding ]</p>
  • Reply 4 of 10
    I've been very happy with my RioVolt MP3 player. I'm not sure the model number, but it is the expensive one . It holds many CD's on a single disc, gets great battery life, and has an FM tuner built in as well. It uses a large display that allows for such cool features as a custom equalizer.
  • Reply 5 of 10
    ec8orec8or Posts: 9member
    I was also kinda looking for a MP3 jukebox player for myself, needing one now and the iPod although being the best one out there not having enough capacity.



    There's two I'm looking at reallly, there's the Archos Recorder thingy 20Gb and the Rio Riot 20Gb. Neither are as good as the iPod but they have capacity. The Rio Riot looks ok, it even has a dial and some special navigation system. The Archos also looks ok but is slightly older and has some quality issues. I don't know, neither seem perfect to me but the PC websites like <a href="http://www.zdnet.com"; target="_blank">www.zdnet.com</a> and <a href="http://www.ign.com"; target="_blank">www.ign.com</a> (gear section) say they're good though. I don't know about the quality issues as well though, with Apple you know you're gonna get a perfect (usually!!!) item all well made and stuff but some people have complained about these items.



    Also they only have USB connection with is also a problem but I really only need it because I'll be travelling for a while and need to take a suitable amount to music and so don't really need to update it regularly. I only really need to transfer my mp3 in one monster session perhaps overnight or something. But then again it is a bit annoying.
  • Reply 6 of 10
    thegeldingthegelding Posts: 3,230member
    eekkk...you need more than 5 gigs just for mp3s?? ahhh today's youth....my first computer had a 160mb hard drive...and that sure beat the floppy only drive my friend had sitting in his house...couldn't open a file over 1 mb....20 gigs is twice what my old iMac DV has...g



    try this: <a href="http://www.nomadworld.com/products/Jukebox_20GB/"; target="_blank">web page</a>



    [ 03-01-2002: Message edited by: thegelding ]</p>
  • Reply 7 of 10
    leonisleonis Posts: 3,427member
    I can get an iPod for very cheap (all brand new)
  • Reply 8 of 10
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    Well, it turns out he wants a solid state player (so no hard drive. Don't ask me why...) and he wants one that has an upgradeable firmware so that he has the option of using different formats in the future. I personally would never consider anything other than the iPod, but he hasn't got the fundage for the iPod and a new mac to run it. I guess that means we're talking about a flash memory player. Any suggestions in that realm?
  • Reply 9 of 10
    imacfanimacfan Posts: 444member
    I would really stress that the best alternative to the iPod is probably the Rio Volt SP250. It can hold hours of music, plays normal CDs, has an FM radio, remote, case, comes with headphones and earphones. Its what I would have bought if my Mum hadn't been extremely kind to buy me an iPod for christmas...



    David
  • Reply 10 of 10
    stimulistimuli Posts: 564member
    MP3 discmans are the way to go. 700-800MB of music, on media that can be read by macs, PCs and your discman. Just BEWARE:



    there are a lot of POS discmen out there; I have a couple of them. These pieces of **** have like 4 hour battery life, skip even though they have 120 sec of antishock, chop the end off of songs, and just generally suck.



    The Samsung discman is one such POS, Koss makes another. If a discman doesn't advertise it's battery life on the package, it must suck, so don't buy it.



    Personally, I have my eye on a Panasonic discman that plays MP3s and get 20-30 hours off of 2 AAs. Sweet. I also know for a fact Panasonics have phenomenal, flawless skip protection / error correction.
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