MP3 players

NOTE: i'm using £ throughout this post, you can use www.xe.com for £-$ translations
Also if mods feel this is in the wrong place, feel free to move it. I'm not really sure where it should be :s

I have been looking into getting an Ipod for a while now, but i have a few problems.

My requirements are:
*about 5 albums worth of music, 2 i listen to a lot plus some misc.songs
*ability to organise songs by album, playlists, etc (ID3?)
*LCD screen pref
*reletively cheap
*small and stylish
*no skipping

Now, on one end you have the Ipod:

*holds LOADS of songs (>4000, WAY more than i'd need)
*expensive (£300)
*all singing, all dancing features
*apparently loads of problems, apparently lots of firmware fixes, though i can't find any of them at apple's site
*stylish, but can skip cos of HDD (and apparently crashes a lot)

and on the other side, solid-state players:

*64mb or 128mb storage, enough for 3 albums max
*Doesn't organise by playlist/ID3/etc, random assortment of files
*can't crash
*small and stylish
*no LCD screen
*MuVo (only 128mb one i can find) got bad review in recent computer mag
*only about £80-£100- much cheaper

I was thinking about using an Ipod for file transfer a while back, but i've got my laptop now so there's no use in that.

What i really want is something about 2gig, solid state, LCD screen and organisable, for about £120. I aksed in PCworld recently (ugh), and a guy said there wasn't such a thing, there is only up to 128mb Solid-state and HDD based that are like £350 and >, with like 15gb storage.

So what i'm wondering is:

*Is there anything that site what i want?
*If not, whould i save money with a solid-state or save for an Ipod?

I've nearly actually got the £300 for the Ipod, but i need a new phone as well so i can have mobile internet with my lappie, and that'll either be £180 or £280 depending on which one i buy...

Thanks for your help

the newest CD based MP3 players don't skip.

also, they can be quite stylish. I got my Panasonic SL-CT800 for around 220 Euros, which should be in your budget.

a CD with WMA or MP3 would hold around 10 albums.

carrying a lot of music should be quite easy and economical.

just an alternative worth considering I think.

I am currently looking into a Sony (i love that brand) with something called ATRAC, which uses some kind of compresstion allowing 30 albums on one CD, so that's basically the same. Thing is, i kinda wanted something that doesn't stick out in my pocket (it's for collage too)
So that's why i'm really looking at MP3. But if i can't find anything that meets my needs, i may look into it.
Thanks though

Ipod...yummy...

*apparently loads of problems, apparently lots of firmware fixes, though i can't find any of them at apple's site
*stylish, but can skip cos of HDD (and apparently crashes a lot)

Click to expand...

I've honestly never heard of any of these problems, not to say they dont happen, but i've never heard of them.

I'm currently purchasing a Frontier Nex IIe MP3 player which is expandable using compactflash cards PLUS it runs on 2 AA batteries to give you 15 hours of battery life with standard CF cards. CFII Microdrives however will get half that. From what I've read the Nex IIe offers the best features in it's category.

I'll be upgrading mine with a 2.2GB microdrive ($200) around X-mas.

Comparison

----storage capacity
Ipod = 20gb+
MP3 CD = 650mb per CD (you can carry more)
uCF MP3 = 4gb max per card

----weight
Ipod = heavy
MP3 CD = depends, but not the lightest
uCF MP3 = extremely light

----batteries
Ipod = 6hours Li-ION (USB recharge)
MP3 CD = 8-20hrs average using 2 AAs*
uCF MP3 = 1 or 2 AAAs or 2 AAs (model dependent)
*dependent upon compression rate and frequency of movement or anti-skip settings

----interface
Ipod = USB or firewire (ver. 2 only, fastest xfer method)
MP3 CD = CD-RW (second fastest xfer method)
uCF MP3 = CF cards can be used in reader under available interface (USB 2.0, firewire, IDE), or the device itself acts as a reader/writer

----size
Ipod = smaller than mp3 cd
MP3 CD = generally largest of the mp3 family
uCF MP3 = usually very small

----skipping
Ipod = far better resistance than mp3 cd without effecting battery life
mp3 cd = anti-skip level effects battery life
uCF MP3 = none

I'd really invest in the iPod... Great player and you'll be able to use it for a while - you'll find yourself yearing for more with a flash-based player.

Mushkin and various other manufacturers have mp3 playing usb flash drives with built in batteries that charge while in the usb port. Mushkin has them all way up to 512mb. They're solid state players with supposedly 20 hours of play time at full charge. Only problem is they have no lcd screen.

I think Ipod would be the best, it has lots of future expansion and stuff for if i get loads more songs. Thing is, it's quite expensive... *sigh*

Gerfey said:

Only problem is they have no lcd screen.

Click to expand...

Depends on the manufacturer. The Frontier Nex IIe and other do offer LCD screens.

Maybe I should start up a "Help arbital get an Ipod" fund?

Any donations?
Feel free to Paypal me!

(can't be any worse than that "help a geek get laid" site where that dude couldn't get a g/f and he wanted people to help buy him a huge mansion so that he could get one )