Tech-tarded: MP3 players

Recently, my portable CD player that I use while cutting the grass busted up on me, and while cutting the grass sucks ass, it sucks way less listening to slayer and imagining the blades of grass are little green people.

I digess. Anyway, I was pleasantly amazed today to find out that Sony still makes a Walkman CASSETTE player! But at $20-$30, I started thinking maybe I should reluctantly join the this century...or at least my generation, and buy a cheap MP3 player. Seems as though there are quite a few options in that price range, but I don't know what the hell I'm looking for.

So learn a brutha, por favor. What's $30 get me in the way of an MPthreezee?

$30 gets you a pretty cheap one at the grocery store which honestly, unless youre wanting to hold 10 bazillion kagillion songs, is fine. They pretty much all are the same - put in batteries, plug the cable into your MP3 machine, plug the other end into the USB on your computer, bring up "My Music" and the MP3 player Icon from "My Computer" at the same time, Drag music files from the music folder into the player folder, go cut grass or work on the car or walk the dog or whatever.

Bucks buy things like color/touch screens, upgradeable firmware, expandable storage size by purchasing SD Cards, and fancy names based on fruit etc. For $30-$75 you can come up with MULTIPLE solutions to your silence problems, they just may not be as flashy (pardon the pun) as big names.

Ebay yourself a first gen Ipod shuffle (as big as a 5-pack of bubble gum). You will thank me later. Dirt Cheap, works forever!

could buy an MP3 CD discman type thing for under that, plays CDs and you can put mp3s on the cd and have tons of music...

but in reality... just about any will do if you are coming from a discman... I had one that was a little larger then a AA battery, 265mb in it... if you rip to the smallest audio format you can fit 4 or 5 "cds" on it... not high quality but it works

for christmas I picked up a "WeePod" for my wife... basicly its a POS 4gig mp3 player that has a speaker on the back so I called it the WEE as WE can listen to it together with out phones (ya bad joke)... the interface sucks compared to my old Ipod but if you've got good tunes toss it to random and off you go.

And I thought I was the only one who rocks the metal while mowing the lawn!!!

Yeah, $30 will buy some cheap flash drive-style one that can hold 2-4gb worth of stuff. But it's better than having to flip the tape in the middle of cutting the lawn!!!

I use my 80gb Ipod Classic while cutting the lawn. They aren't cheap, but I bring it everywhere I go to listen to whatever I want. It is my music source in the car and the office, and while wrenching on the car or mowing the lawn. I can't live without it!

poop, I'll send you my discman, just pay for the shippins and its yours.

turboswede wrote: poop, I'll send you my discman, just pay for the shippins and its yours.

Thanks very much for the offer!!! Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but part of my reasoning for the MP3 thing was it's compact-ness/resistance to abuse. The decent CD walkman thing I bought lasted less than a year crammed in my back pocket luggin the long mower up and down the yard once a week.

gotcha. No problem. Just remembered it sitting in a drawer at home collecting dust. Might even have a neoprene case I used with it when biking.

SilverFleet wrote: And I thought I was the only one who rocks the metal while mowing the lawn!!!

No sir, here is my startup procedure:

1. add gas
2. pull handle
3. press play
4. break the law, breakin the law !!!... or rally 'round the family with a pocket full of shells or some other morally unscrupulous jam

4cylndrfury wrote:

SilverFleet wrote: And I thought I was the only one who rocks the metal while mowing the lawn!!!

No sir, here is my startup procedure: 1. add gas 2. pull handle 3. press play 4. *break the law, breakin the law !!!...* or *rally 'round the family with a pocket full of shells* or some other morally unscrupulous jam

Amen, Brotha!!!!!

sansa refurbs are okay.

$59 for 2GB iPod shuffle refurbs - http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/ipod

I've bought twice from the apple refurb store and have no regrets.

Bad = it's twice your budget. Good = it's more than twice as good as anything you'll get for $30.

EDIT - looks like $30 buys you a used one. http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/ele/1843217719.html

How old is your cell phone? Damn near anything made in the last 3-5 years has the ability to put mp3's on it. Swap in a cheapo flash card, load up, and rock on.

racinginc215 wrote: a Sansa and Rhapsody FTW. Rhapsody is 10 to15 bucks a month unlimited transfers to your device. easy to use and it's .99 cents a song. hit Rhapsody for a list of devices.

Stop paying the monthly fee though, and all of your music goes away.

racinginc215 wrote: It's renting music but I'd rather rent then buy. at the current state of my 32 gig player I'd have about 30K in music on it.

Eh, if I know poop, he's not gonna be at all interested in a monthly fee.

Pawn shop. Fo-real.

Any cheapie will do. Personally, I don't like itunes, I don't like ipods, and I pretty much hate proprietary BS. Which is why I don't care for icrap. If you want a product that's cheap, reliable, and can plug into nearly any computer in the world to drag music from their "my music" folder and listen to it immediately, get a cheapie. If you want something that's over priced, needs special software to use, and converts all your music to a format that's useless to anyone who hasn't drank the kool-aid, get an ipod.

I HATE Itunes, and that's why I've used Media Monkey for the past 2+ years for my Ipod! Works great, and makes everything SOOOOOOO much easier. Whatever you do, don't get a Zune. What a piece of crap. I made the mistake of buying one, and less than 6 months in, it bricked itself. It took them another 6 months for them to figure out that it was their fault and send me another one under warranty.

I don't get how people can passionately hate iTunes. I've had zero problems using it for several years, on several devices. I am far from an apple koolaid drinker, but the iPod and iTunes integrate nicely, are easy to use, gives an easy way to buy songs, etc. I turned off the auto-sync option because I want to manage the music manually, but beyond that it is as installed.

I hate iTunes because it sounds like crap and has no tweakability compared to other programs that i use.

I use a Sony "Walkman" thumb-drive MP3 player. They're probably around that price-range about now. I've had mine for 3 years, with no complaints.

16vCorey wrote: If you want a product that's cheap, reliable, and can plug into nearly any computer in the world to drag music from their "my music" folder and listen to it immediately, get a cheapie.

^^^This, pretty much. Can't beat 'drag and drop' simplicity!

I have to admit that I've drunk the kool-aid -- it's really tasty . I got an ipod nano for my birthday, and I have no regrets. I love that it plugs into my car (the PO had wired an adapter).

There are cheaper alternatives, but the ipod "feels right" -- I imagine that's what sells Porsches and Ferraris, too.

The best cheap MP3 Player I have found and seams to be the pick for a lot of tech mags, is the Sansa Clip. It will play just about any format including the audiophile loving FLAC files, has a fairly usable interface on the unit and is just a drag and drop affair like a thumb drive. You can usually find an 8GB unit for around $35 online.

I use a Creative Zen stone and wish I had gone with the Sansa as the Zen doesn't support high bitrate WMA and FLAC.

mndsm wrote: How old is your cell phone? Damn near anything made in the last 3-5 years has the ability to put mp3's on it. Swap in a cheapo flash card, load up, and rock on.

Cell phone? What the berkeley is a cell phone? Yeah, I don't have one of those either. Thanks for the advice, d00ds. I believe I'll hit up the pawn shop today.

poopshovel wrote:

mndsm wrote: How old is your cell phone? Damn near anything made in the last 3-5 years has the ability to put mp3's on it. Swap in a cheapo flash card, load up, and rock on.

Cell phone? What the berkeley is a cell phone? Yeah, I don't have one of those either. Thanks for the advice, d00ds. I believe I'll hit up the pawn shop today.

I thought damn near everyone had one of those these days. I have it so I don't have to pay for a home phone.