MP3 Player suggestions

Just trying to get ideas on some mp3 player options, I have not paid attention to the new improvements on them for years. Here's the story....

I have an original 30GB Zune. I like it quite a bit, but recently it stopped wanting to communicate with my computer. It will charge the battery, but I cant add or remove any music. Instead of troubleshooting the issue, I want to buy a new one with a bigger hard drive since I have more than 30GB of music in my digital collection.

So heres some criteria:

• The more hard drive space the better.
• I prefer Buttons over Touch Screens. I like to be able to just reach down in the car and press the button to skip tracks, not look at the damn screen. My wife has a 32gb iPod touch so I know what I am missing.
• I have an android smartphone, but the music interface is annoying at best. not interested attempting to make it my primary music device.

I like the Zune80, but damn, not made anymore, expensive as berkeley to get one thats "new". Not too interested in the Zune HD, its touchscreen, see also: expensive as berkeley for the HD space.

My current top choice is an Ipod Classic 160gb. They run around $230 for a brand new one. I have used an older classic and I do like the interface and scroll wheel setup. I like that there are a ton of accessories out there to let you do pretty much anything with it. My whole music collection is MP3 format, so it should work with iTunes. It does not have bluetooth capability but its an accessory away. (everything is an accessory away)

I am a bit apprehensive about iTunes. And the general proprietary nature of Apple products. (for not much more of a reason that its annoying and so are the fanboys) But it seems like their product is the only one that will meet my needs at a price I am willing to pay. As far as expanding my collection, I don't buy it digitally, I buy CD's and rip them so I still have plenty of workarounds to keep The Man from telling me how I can and cant use the stuff I paid for.

Any other opinions on the currently available MP3 Players? Do people even buy them anymore? lol. I think my mind is made up but figured I would ask before I pull the trigger.

Also any suggestions for an auxiliary input solution for the car would be good to hear. Currently its a 3.5mm jack run to an auxiliary input on the back of the aftermarket radio (which is not iPod compatible, its too old).

My biggest gripe is that currently, with the Zune, I have to have the volume on the Zune all the way up to max, and the volume on the head unit almost all the way up to get the volume output to be heard at speed with the windows down, whereas I only have to turn up the radio half as much if I listen to the radio or the CD.

If anything I know its very likely there's an iPod accessory that probably solves this problem.

I haven't had any issues with iTunes, it plays nice and auto converted my previously ripped music.

I'm not certain about a better way to play it in your car. If you went with an iPod, the best bet might be a newer iPod friendly head unit.

I use a droid phone and SD cards run on the native media player.

Purchases from the iTunes store became DRM free a couple years ago, I believe. If nothing else, they still offer the option to purchase a song/songs in their lossless format from their store. The software will rip to MP3 but not as a default - change the setting and you're good to go. With that said, if you are looking for a music player they are probably still the best.

As for the in-car solution - I own an Alpine aftermarket head unit that is iPod-integrated. Takes a bit of time to learn, still a bit fiddly at times but not nearly as bad as having to futz with an FM modulator or anything like that. If you want to retain your current in-car setup - I'd try it out with the iPod first, and then add a headphone amp as needed.

I think MP3 player development pretty much stopped when phones became universally capable of playing MP3s in the mid/late 2000s. For standalone MP3 players, it's mostly high-end stuff like Archos players and cheap Chinese junk on the market now.

My last two MP3 players have been my phone.

szeis4cookie wrote: The software will rip to MP3 but not as a default - change the setting and you're good to go.

'splain it to me please. What is this magic setting to rip iTunes to mp3? I have a lot of music that I ripped from cds that I lost in a flood. Unfortunately, I ripped with iTunes, so it's all in Apple format. From what I've researched, my only option to convert all my music to regular mp3 format is to burn an audio cd, then rip it back onto computer with a different program than iTunes.

Apple has pretty much dominated the MP3 player market. I've had the 160gb iPod for a good 4 years now, it's been great, I still use the crap out of it, actually I'm listening to music on it as I type this.

I rip all my music with CDex (or k3b on Linux) and I don't use Apple anything - in terms of playing MP3s, the best reason for that is that you can't just plug your iPhone into any PC and transfer music. Gotta install iTunes and go through all that crap.

Sansa Clip 16gb. Tuner, easy to use interface, lasts awhile on a charge. Sometimes I forget about it and it resurfaces months later in a jacket.

RealMiniDriver wrote: 'splain it to me please. What is this magic setting to rip iTunes to mp3? I have a lot of music that I ripped from cds that I lost in a flood. Unfortunately, I ripped with iTunes, so it's all in Apple format. From what I've researched, my only option to convert all my music to regular mp3 format is to burn an audio cd, then rip it back onto computer with a different program than iTunes.

If looking to change iTunes to rip CD's to MP3 in the future, just go to "edit" then "preferences," then click on "Import Settings" and change the drop down from "AAC Encoder" to "MP3 Encoder."

But to change your existing music library to MP3 is a good bit more complicated. This web site can step you through it, though I haven't actually tried their instructions myself:

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-12519_7-10096807-49.html

I was going to post a very similar question but decided to be smert and search first.

Any new info in the slightly more than 1 year since last post? I'm dumping XM Satellite (sick of the DJ's and repetition even across the 5 stations I tried) & I only have an ancient Sansa 2GB player with cheap LCD screen.

I need at least 1/2 drive to and from work, and 8.5 hrs at work, and would rather not use my phone for that. Is there anything viable that isn't an iPod? Or should I just join the herd?

The only other player thing I know of is this thing:
http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/article/review-astellkern-ak100-portable-music-player

And it's expensive.

I too have an ancient sansa player; for the price I'd consider another one. Interface is not as nice as an ipod but one of the bigger models (8gb) might be able to last all day while at work?

I'll let the mp3 player thing to others, but for your sound issue, are you running one of those cables that converts the 3.5mm (1/8th") jack to two RCA connectors on the back on the deck, or is just a 3.5mm in?

There may be a line level adjustment in the deck itself, 3.5mm generally doesn't need boosted too much, since it's supposed to have enough "oomph" to drive headphones.

Forgot to mention I'll use portable speakers at work & the RCA plug in the console of the xB. No headphones. Not sure if that makes any difference.

Oh, sorry, I didn't realize the original post date. You'll be fine plugging anything in, I'm sure :)

You have up your Zune!?

This guy is disappointed:

iPod 160gb Classic and use Media Monkey to manage it.

scardeal wrote: And it's expensive.

Wow, $700 is pretty steep to do basically the same thing the iPod's do. And I caught that it takes 30 seconds to even power on? May seem minor/stupid but that could get annoying over time.

Seems like the only companies still making standalone MP3 players other than Apple are Cowon and Sansa. Both make good stuff.

Also those cheapo Chinese iPod knockoffs are vastly better feature-wise.

Jerry wrote:

scardeal wrote: And it's expensive.

Wow, $700 is pretty steep to do basically the same thing the iPod's do. And I caught that it takes 30 seconds to even power on? May seem minor/stupid but that could get annoying over time.

The only nice things I see about it are the optical input/output and the high-res file support. But I really think that this might be the case of "an audiophile and his money are soon parted."

An android phone can be a great music device.

Here's my setup.

~ RIM Bluetooth gateway in the car. I have it plugged into the aux in for sound and a usb to aux power adapter. This way it's providing sound and powered. All that is hidden in the console.

~ I have a Nexus 4 and use various apps to play music, podcasts, and news. For music management I use Player Pro. Works great. Gorgeous. I can also set it to read my music ratings from the sound files themselves. That lets me use Winamp on my pc to rate and organize music. You can also use Windows Media player as it has the option to save ratings to files as well. For podcast playing and downloading I use BeyondPod. For news I use various apps like the NPR news app. Every news site has one that will play sound. BeyondPod can be used to play news as well as most news outlets have some sort of podcasting arm.

~ How does it all work together? When I start the car the RIM BT gateway starts up and bonds with the phone because I paired them eons ago. I then open whichever app and start the music. I also use a suction cup mount in the car to hold the phone so I can view, fast forward, skip, etc.

~ I don't typically do Apple. I've had an iPod and decided carrying both my phone and iPod was a bit silly. Now I'm exclusively a phone music user.

In reply to Xceler8x:

Are you charging the phone while driving? I would think you'd have to. That's another cord dangling from my dashboard. And I need it more for work, during the week anyway. Still charging my phone from either my PC or outlet, while it's also plugged into speakers.

I have a feeling I'm joining the herd in a few weeks with a $150 iPod. But I have to check out this Media Monkey that was mentioned, I really don't want to use iTunes.

WinAmp will control/add/remove music on an iPods just fine. The only thing is iPod updates, I think you still need iTunes but there might be a work around.

But my gripe with iTunes was from 10 years ago. I wonder if I still have a gripe with the DRM thingy being gone. I honestly don't remember why I hate iTunes except for something along the lines of it wanted to 'import' my mp3 and I ended up with my normal mp3s and bunch of iTunes mp3 with DRM crap added to them. Yah, now I have doubles of my mp3s! Brilliant!

Winamp just looks at folders and plays them from folders. Much more elegant.