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Recommend me an MP3 player
Guinness - 30/12/08 at 12:01 PM

I'm after an MP3 player in the Sales.

Trouble is I don't know the first thing about them. SWIMBO got me a Tesco special for £5 a few years back, but whilst it's great at the gym, or out on the bike it only seems to store a couple of albums, and there isn't a screen so finding tracks is a bit of a nightmare. Also converting my CD's to MP3's seems dead complex, involving 2 programmes, neither of which I understand!

So what I am after is a bit of software that will allow me to stick all my CD's in my computer, convert them to MP3's and label them all up, rather than file 1, file 2 etc.

Then a player that is reasonably compact, so I can use it on the bike, in the car (my car has an aux input, but no Multidisc CD player) and has a screen and more than 2 buttons so I can select tracks / albums. Doesn't need to play videos, just hold as many albums as possible.

Help!

Thanks

Mike

tomgregory2000 - 30/12/08 at 12:32 PM

i-pod nano, not that cheap but so easy to use and everything is setup for i-pods, i had a few different mp3 players before buying my 8gb nano and wish i bought one of these from the start, best money i have ever spent and the battery seems to go on forever and the new ones are even better

Benzine - 30/12/08 at 12:34 PM

I have an iAudio for travelling and a sony walkman for exercising. 2Gb, long battery life, and cheap (my headphones were more expensive)

BenB - 30/12/08 at 12:45 PM

I've got an Ipod touch. Expensive and it's only a 8Gb version. If I was buying one now I'd go for a big capacity Nano.....

For ripping to MP3 I use Freerip. Cos I like the price.

If you want ease of use then using Itunes to rip (and maintain) your collection is pretty easy.

If you go for a cheapo mp3 player just make sure it handles folders, trying to navigate through the files in a big capacity folder-less mp3 player is a nightmare....

flak monkey - 30/12/08 at 01:07 PM

Get a Sony or Creative one.

Unless you must have a fashion accessory...

mr_pr - 30/12/08 at 01:15 PM

Tried Sony and it was rubbish. Didn't like it at all. Took it back and swapped for Ipod.

This was when "I was a PC!"

Now I am a mac user, ipods make even more sense.

In short, get an ipod.

They may be a little more expensive but from my experience they come with better software (iTunes), easier to use and the customer service is second to none.

A1 - 30/12/08 at 01:19 PM

id say creative, after having had a couple of them. theyre so easy to use and you dont have to deal with i tunes (windows media player works)
the only reason ive now got an ipod is because when i was buying creative didnt have one with a big memory, ipod had the 80gb one.
i think samsung are also pretty decent...
oh, and just to mention a bit about ipod build quality, mine broke after less than 5 weeks. my creative lasted for ages of being used at work and downhilling on the bike. i only got rid of it cause it was second hand and the sreen had a slight flicker.

fesycresy - 30/12/08 at 02:19 PM

Got an ipod and a Sony MP3.

Love the Sony the best, except the software is a little shite.

stevebubs - 30/12/08 at 02:55 PM

quote:
Originally posted by fesycresy
Got an ipod and a Sony MP3.

Love the Sony the best, except the software is a little shite.


And iTunes is good? Spent 4 hours last night sorting out the cover art and selecting "yes this bloody track is part of a compilation so don't list it friggin separately just because the track (not album) artist name is different"

Still daughter's iPod Nano now running nicely with cover art and she's happy. Nice and easy for her to use (and small/light).

Would have been more than 4 hours if I hadn't found a Yahoo "widget" that would search for the cover art on amazon/google and automagically embed it into the MP3 via iTunes scripting engine...

Note 1: You can this via iTunes but you *have* to setup an account which involves giving them your credit card details :grrr...:

Note 2: Windows Media Player already had all the art and was working perfectly which made the job even more frustrating

Note 3: Did I mention I hate iTunes?

whitestu - 30/12/08 at 03:15 PM

I've just got an Ipod 120Gb, mainly cos it holds a lot and looks nice.

I'm not really an Apple fan so IMHO it's not that easy to use and Itunes is a PITA compared to windows media player.

Unfortunately there's much else on the market with that sort of capacity.

Stu

eznfrank - 30/12/08 at 03:30 PM

Our lass has an Ipod Nano for sale if you're interested? In decent nick, she's hardly used it.

peteday_uk@btinternet.com - 30/12/08 at 04:14 PM

I-pod every time. I have had a nano (wife put it in the washing machine), 30g vid (wife also washed this one) and now have an i-phone all very easy to use. If you just want an mp3 player then i'd go with the classic, if you want a bit more go with the touch as you can go on internet using your wi-fi.

JoelP - 30/12/08 at 05:28 PM

i hate itunes. Its not that its such an awful program, just that i wanted to keep using windows media player to organise things and the ipod wasnt happy with that.

stevebubs - 30/12/08 at 09:51 PM

quote:
Originally posted by JoelP
i hate itunes. Its not that its such an awful program, just that i wanted to keep using windows media player to organise things and the ipod wasnt happy with that.


Ditto - it does it "the ipod way" which is often contrary to the way of most of the existing PC software ...

I dare say iTunes is correct and sticks to the letter of the law wrt formats, options etc.

Doesn't make the first time experience any better....

David Jenkins - 30/12/08 at 10:48 PM

I have a Sony - it suits me for one reason - I use Linux most of the time, and when I plug in the Sony Walkman mp3 player it behaves like a memory stick. I can drag-and-drop mp3 files onto the device, make directories as I like, and so on. Makes the ipod look like.... well, a con, to be honest.

IMHO, of course!