Looking for an mp3 player

Tolya · Post by **Tolya** » 2006-12-10 04:58pm

Hey, Im looking for an mp3 player. Its a christmas gift for my fiancee.

- Must be reliable and well built. We had bad experiences in the past with some mp3 players (cheapest ones really), which worked for about a month and then broke.
- Capacity is not that important. Anything above 256mb will do.
- Must have a pendrive feature (but I imagine all do)
- Radio receiver is a very welcome feature.

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2006-12-10 05:03pm

Creative. I don't know what the current must-have line is but check their website and you'll find what you need.

ETA: the ZEN, perhaps, or maybe a ZEN Nano Plus

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2006-12-10 08:05pm

iPod Shuffle, otherwise, the Creative Zen Nano Plus.
Don't bother with anything else.

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2006-12-11 04:25am

Praxis wrote:iPod Shuffle

I would not spend a cent on a music player that doesn't even have a screen.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-12-11 04:31am

Bounty wrote:I would not spend a cent on a music player that doesn't even have a screen.

Yeah, because it's not designed for people who use music while jogging/working out etc and can't see the screen anyway! When I had an old SD card MP3 player, it had a display... and it was WORTHLESS, since I only ever used random anyway. I wouldn't miss it, particularly if it gives better batterylife, smaller footprint, and made it cheaper.

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2006-12-11 04:35am

Stark wrote:
Bounty wrote:I would not spend a cent on a music player that doesn't even have a screen.
Yeah, because it's not designed for people who use music while jogging/working out etc and can't see the screen anyway! When I had an old SD card MP3 player, it had a display... and it was WORTHLESS, since I only ever used random anyway. I wouldn't miss it, particularly if it gives better batterylife, smaller footprint, and made it cheaper.

Shuffle battery life: 12 hours
Nano Plus battery life: 18 hours

Shuffle price, 1 gig: $79.99
Nano Plus price, 1 gig: $69.95

You were saying?

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-12-11 04:41am

Yeah, because I own a shuffle, and I'm trying to change your mind, right?

I'm simply saying that 'loller no screen' is retarded, since the crappy screens many mp3 players have are useless anyway. Unless they're full-navigation stuff like the larger players, it's hardly a huge sacrifice, certainly not instant death as you claim.

Course, the Nano Plus *does* need a screen for it's FM tuning. Even if it appears it's incredibly small.

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2006-12-11 04:49am

I'm simply saying that 'loller no screen' is retarded, since the crappy screens many mp3 players have are useless anyway. Unless they're full-navigation stuff like the larger players, it's hardly a huge sacrifice, certainly not instant death as you claim.

To be honest, you're the first person I've ever heard saying you don't need a screen. I used to have a Creative Muvo with a tiny screen and I can't imagine how I could have managed without it. Equalizer settings and FM tuning has to be a complete bitch when you try to do it blind.

Tolya · Post by **Tolya** » 2006-12-11 06:45am

Im going for a Creative then. I too cant imagine setting up the equalizer and FM without a screen.

Plus here in Poland Creative is a LOT cheaper than iPod. About 20$ of difference.

Lazarus · Post by **Lazarus** » 2006-12-11 08:05am

I bought a Creative MuVoTX Nomad 512 about a year and a half ago, and its still in ok working order now (the battery plate has lost its staying-in-ability so sellotape is needed, and the headphones have just died, but otherwise its fine). I paid £60 for it then, I'm sure its cheaper now, but to be honest I'd recommend paying a bit more and getting a larger one.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2006-12-11 04:32pm

Stark wrote:I'm simply saying that 'loller no screen' is retarded, since the crappy screens many mp3 players have are useless anyway. Unless they're full-navigation stuff like the larger players, it's hardly a huge sacrifice, certainly not instant death as you claim.

Even if it's not a feature that you find useful, I find his analysis compelling. It's clearly not wasting batteries too much, and it's not costly, so if it's even a non-issue (as opposed to an inconvenience) then it's the better deal.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-12-11 05:52pm

Master of Ossus wrote:Even if it's not a feature that you find useful, I find his analysis compelling. It's clearly not wasting batteries too much, and it's not costly, so if it's even a non-issue (as opposed to an inconvenience) then it's the better deal.

Let it never be said I think the Shuffle is worth buying.

However, small mp3 players just don't need one, as the overhead for a 'proper' screen is too high and all the screen says is 'this is the song you can hear' and 'this is how loud it is, that thing you're hearing'. Like I said, the Creative has a tuner, so it actually needs one, and the Shuffle is inferior in all respects except size. However, EQ settings on small mp3 players doesn't sound like something you're going to be changing all the time: does anyone actually change their EQ preset on a song-by-song basis without just using ID3 tags to do it for you?

Tolya · Post by **Tolya** » 2006-12-13 04:41pm

I received a Creative Zen Nano today, following Bounty's advice. Thanks for help guys.