Mp3 player..which one to buy?

[Zerocool]

Hey everyone,

I want to buy a small MP3 player for my travels.  Any suggestions on what to get?

Thanks!

[phazey]

I've heard good things about the Sony NetMD.

./P

[Rambutan]

Question: What you call an Mp3 player, is that the same thing as a "minidisaplayer" ?

I know minidisc supports Mp3 too, but are players for playing Mp3 only? What medium do they use for storing the data?

And how different is the price?

Thanks for your answers!

[phazey]

I personally own .one of these It takes 8cm CDRW's, about 200meg each. I think it was about 179 sing dollars. I prefere to stay away from solid state mp3 players, alough saying that, and if you have the cash, perhaps an ipod is the way to go. I'm hoping Santa brings me one of these for xmas .

./P

[Mackerel]

I bought a Creative Labs Mp3 player. Nomad MuVo. It's nice and compact [ large lighter size ] and holds enough Mp3s to pass away some time [ 128meg stick memory] . Problem is it sounds terrible to me. It's ok if you plug it into your computer speakers with sub-woofer, which is what I use it for most. But with headphones, for me anyway, it's lacking. I can explain this way; When I listen to music, I like bass and treble and set the equaliser to a 'smile' shape, high bass, low mid and high treble. I don't like midsound too much and the MuVo sounds like all the bass is gone, the mid and treble are set to max. There's nothing built in to alter the sound. So you have to put up with the generic ' pop noise ' settings . Shame really as it's a useful bit of kit and for 7,000 baht I shouldn't expect too much  ::

[phazey]

Mackerel: How about you re-encode your mp3's, so they sound terrible on your regular setup, but better/more what you want on your mp3 player. I know this will mean time, and a doubled up mp3 collection, but you know, it's a small price to pay for happiness....

./P

[randyksf]

MP3 Players

(Try to scan the my entire post.)

The real questions need to be asked are as follows.

1) Battery life: If you are going to be using it for an 8 hour flight you might want to get one that the battery can be changed. A lot of them have integrated batteries. So you need to carry  charger or extra batt back.

2) Memory size:  a 128 meg is really a lot smaller than you think. They will advertise you can get 70 songs. What they don’t tell you is the quality of music sucks. If you use the old MP3 format you will want to record at 192 KPS or greater. Personally If find anything below 192 KPS is like an AM Radio. Most of my songs are in the 7-10 meg range.

3) Environment to be used:  Size is the biggest issue here. If it’s too heavy then you will not use it.

4) Formats of music:  There are so many formats out now and AAC or super MP3 seems to be the best one.  You can get CD quality from this type of device. The songs get larger say around 9 meg.

5) Menu and play options:  I had one MP3 player that sounded great but the menu system sucked. To add songs you had to use their interface.

6) System type:  Flash memory or mini Hard drives.  Flash systems are the lightest and cheapest. Mini hard drives are much larger and a little more expensive.

What I use.

I use the Apple Ipod. I think it the best one by far. I have burned all my personal CD’s and most of my friends too.

When you listen to it you can not tell its a digital music. Sound is great. Oh I used to be an Audio file.

You can program play lists by Artist, albums, songs, genres, and composers.  For example I put it on random classic rock sometimes. Or even better just random it like having my own radio station.

Because I travel quite a bit and use it for running. The battery life is about 8 hours and it can be charged on the laptop or with a plug in. For long halls say taking a train to Chang Mai I carry and batt pack.

I have the largest one but if size and money is an issue the 10 GB is just as good and smaller too.

There is also a second use for the Ipod it is a portable storage device. When I travel I carry copy’s of all my software. Backup files and other things. On it.

This way if my laptop crashes or get stolen I am not in big trouble. Or if a friend has a program they can give me a copy of it. On the Ipod so I can bring it home to install on the desktop.

Also there is a lot of 3rd party software just for the Ipod and they work both in Mac and windows now.  

There are a few other nice ones. But the Apple has seemed to do better than al the others. After buying quite a few of them I now am sold on it.

MINI DISKs.

I have two for sale if you are interested in them. They work great and only in the last 6 months has the MP3 players been able to get close to the sound quality. I swore by them for years. I bought two of them in Dec and used them for a few months. Both are in great shape and for sale.

The net media program is a pain in the ASS to use!!!!!

IF you have any other questions send me a note.

Randy

Oh One last thing. Try and buy it outside of Thailand. For example here the Ipod 40gb was $620 USD in the states it was $500. The 10Gb is around $300.

Agreat place to compaire prices and units is www.bestbuy.com