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I'm looking for a nice and simple MP3 player to put my music on. Something that can hold my entire collection, a pitiful 2.4 gigs.

Basic requirements that I need.

It has to be able to hold at least 3 gigs so that I can load up my entire collection.

It needs to be relatively simple to use.

File transfering should be easy. I know some MP3 players are simple drag and drop. Plug the MP3 player in and it shows up as a external HD and you simply load the files on and the MP3 player plays them.

Any recomendations here?

Frankly, the ipod nano (4gb) fits your requirements.
It's the easiest player out there to use, the iTunes software catalogs all the music on your pc (and winamp or other external programs allow rough drag n drop functionality if it's very important), and it keeps everything up to date on the pc and iPod.

Also fitting your requirments is the Creative Zen Micro aviable from four to six gigs. It boosts longer batterylife and cheaper price. But is balanced by the fact it does not have the massive amount of accessorys that the Ipod's enjoy, if you want that stuff.

DEATH wrote:Frankly, the ipod nano (4gb) fits your requirements.
It's the easiest player out there to use, the iTunes software catalogs all the music on your pc (and winamp or other external programs allow rough drag n drop functionality if it's very important), and it keeps everything up to date on the pc and iPod.

iTunes is the killer here. If it requires iTunes, I would rather put icepicks under my finger nails. Absolutely no software installation of any kinda. I want it to show up as a simple external HD that I can drag and drop into like any external HD.

Hijack! My MP3 player requirements:

Must hold 8 gigs.

Must have simple drag-n-drop functionality; no annoying extraneous programs should be required.

Must be easy enough for a caveman to use.

Must be cheap enough that two can be purchased, one for aforementioned caveman and one for myself...

I have this 1GB Sandisk Sansa player, and it's everything you want except for the 3 GB memory.
You could get this player and add a $110 2GB SD card (or several cheaper smaller cards) to get your 3 gigs.

I have a Creative Nano 1gig, its amazingly easy to use and I imagine the larger memory version will be the same. though you do need some software to drop the stuff on it, so I guess that rules it out.

Glocksman wrote:I have this 1GB Sandisk Sansa player, and it's everything you want except for the 3 GB memory.
You could get this player and add a $110 2GB SD card (or several cheaper smaller cards) to get your 3 gigs.

So buy a $99 player then spend another $110 card?


Ooor you could buy a Creative Black 6GB ZEN MICRO for $189.99 and get twice the storage for $30 less...

Mr Bean wrote:

Glocksman wrote:I have this 1GB Sandisk Sansa player, and it's everything you want except for the 3 GB memory.
You could get this player and add a $110 2GB SD card (or several cheaper smaller cards) to get your 3 gigs.

So buy a $99 player then spend another $110 card?


Ooor you could buy a Creative Black 6GB ZEN MICRO for $189.99 and get twice the storage for $30 less...

Doesn't the Creative require software to upload files?
Also, does it use flash memory or a hard drive for storage, as I have concerns about the ability of HD based players to take hard knocks.
Plus its Creative, and they're Agents of Satan™

The creative shows up as a harddrive when plugged into a usb port.

I have a question though, out of everyone who has a ipods, who's has lasted more than a few months beyond its years warranty?

Everyone i know who has an ipod has it unceremoniously degrade as soon as the warranty runs out

My creative zen is still going strong after 2 years.

Glocksman wrote:
Doesn't the Creative require software to upload files?

You can use the Creative software to originze the files but otherwise it's just a
Also, does it use flash memory or a hard drive for storage, as I have concerns about the ability of HD based players to take hard knocks.
Plus its Creative, and they're Agents of Satan™ [/quote]
It looks just like a removable Hard-drive in Windows. The Nano is a hard-drive based. But you can get the MuVo² in a five gig version but it costs fourty dollers more but is flash based.

Then the muvo² would be the player to get.
The only Creative player I have experience with is my old Nomad IIc

I have a Creative (one of the cheaper sub-gig models, though) and have been very happy with it. Excellent quality, reliable, simple drag & drop interface through explorer, no software install... if the Zen mentioned above is big enough, go for it.

4GB iPod Nano. Smaller than any other 4 GB player on the market, and will hold all you need.

While songs must be uploaded via iTunes (drag and drop in the app) or another equivilant app, you can drag and drop and use it as a hard drive for transferring data.

As a bonus, color screen and photo display capabilities.

Maybe it's just the ones that we get down here, but seriously if you buy an Ipod there's a chance you may be one of the elite few that doesn't experience any problems with it whatsoever.

Seriously, I actually sell these things at work. You should see the service manifest.

Ipod: Crashes, fucked software
Ipod: Crashes, fucked software
Ipod: Fucked battery
Ipod: Music won't load
Ipod: Out of box failure, please credit
Ipod: Makes screeching noise, fucked Ipod
El Cheapo DVD Player: Disk tray won't shut
Ipod: Third Service for customer with same fault, please credit

"So will you be taking the extended service plan with that?"
"No, it'll be fine, thank you."
"Really? I mean, are you sure? This is an Ipod you're buying."

As a bonus, color screen and photo display capabilities.

You're seriously calling that a bonus ? A feature he doesn't need, on a player that fails to meet two of his three criteria ? Why the hell would you recommend an iPod when he can get a Zen with five times the storage capacity for $30 less ?

I kinda miss my old MP3 player with an SD slot: these days I could be using a 2Gb chip for less than the cost of a new shirt. Shame I can't live without iPods anymore.

My mate got a Creative Zen 20GB the other day. It looks good however we needed to install the software before we could swap files; the installation did not work first time on his laptop; several mp3 transfers failed inexplicably and, the killer, it does NOT show up as a HDD on either of our laptops.

But apart from that the sound quality was ace and it's quite cool looking.

ALI_G wrote:My mate got a Creative Zen 20GB the other day. It looks good however we needed to install the software before we could swap files; the installation did not work first time on his laptop; several mp3 transfers failed inexplicably and, the killer, it does NOT show up as a HDD on either of our laptops.

But apart from that the sound quality was ace and it's quite cool looking.

did you try just plugging in the usb and letting windows handle the drivers?

thats how i got it to show as a hard drive on my pc

I won a Ipod mini, nice player and all, BUT the battery only lasts ~4-6h so I cannot recomend a ipod to anyone, nor will I buy one.

I would recommends an Archos Gmini XS 202, a small 20GB harddiskplayer. No special software necessary, no colour screen, it just plays music and handles like an external harddisk on your computer.
I do own a predecessor of it and am quite happy with it.

Jawawithagun wrote:I would recommends an Archos Gmini XS 202, a small 20GB harddiskplayer. No special software necessary, no colour screen, it just plays music and handles like an external harddisk on your computer.
I do own a predecessor of it and am quite happy with it.

The US model number is 200.

Creative seems to be winning.

I believe the problem that you are facing is simple. You want the capacity of a Hard-Drive player but the drag and drop features of a flash player. AFAIK all HD players need to use software to port over MP3's

Also I've noticed all the suggestions seem to be iPod or Creative. Rio offer a good choice of HD players at a reasonable price.

Zac Naloen wrote:

ALI_G wrote:My mate got a Creative Zen 20GB the other day. It looks good however we needed to install the software before we could swap files; the installation did not work first time on his laptop; several mp3 transfers failed inexplicably and, the killer, it does NOT show up as a HDD on either of our laptops.

But apart from that the sound quality was ace and it's quite cool looking.

did you try just plugging in the usb and letting windows handle the drivers?

thats how i got it to show as a hard drive on my pc

Windows would not install it automatically on either of our XP home editions, sadly. I have a generic MP3 player that did what you describe, however, and I find that very appealing.

I would have said an Ipod shuffle, but it's only at 1 gig.(It fits all your requirements except the storage factor)