I bought a small MP3 player recently (one of those 512M keychain-sized ones) and liked it, except I want one with more space and a FM tuner now.

I could either get:

-A larger keychain

or

-An iPod knockoff. i. e. MP4 Nation - 1.8" MP4 Player 1GB and 2GB - low prices on the latest MP4 Players, great specials, tons of free goodies with all out stuff, Buy, Download, Read all about MP4 Players, PMP Players, MP3 Player. Tons of other great products, from computer

I find the latter more compelling... it looks classy, yet still says "I don't pay $50 premium for an Apple logo", and many if not all will play video, if for no other reason than being able to say "I've got a gig of (insert anime title) in my pocket" should ensure I remain forever dateless.


The problems I'm having:

1. Which way should I go? Are the iPod knockoffs really awful and not worth it? The few they show on Newegg don't have great reviews.

2. If not, where can I find these things sold by a reputable dealer? Most of 'em I've seen are in the back of Craigslist from merchants who can't bother to set up a trustworthy-looking site, or distributors. Not sure I'd want to send 80 or 100 bucks to the link I gave.

3. Any specific ones to get/avoid?

4. Best value? I'm looking for 2G, maybe 1G if there's a smoking deal.

I don't want a disc-based one because I want durability. And I realise whatever I get has to be Win2000-friendly. I don't want anything that needs WMP9 or any custom software (that won't run in 2000) to synch.

I'd get a nano and an amp.

If not, sansa Exx series is great, 2gig version runs at about $100.

Quote: Originally Posted by Wafflesomd I'd get a nano and an amp. If not, sansa Exx series is great, 2gig version runs at about $100.

Exactly what is the advantage of an amp on a mp3 player? Wouldn't the compression have made the quality not worth improving?

Quote: Originally Posted by Gzim Exactly what is the advantage of an amp on a mp3 player? Wouldn't the compression have made the quality not worth improving?

IF!, you compress it. It's going to give you more clarity and emphasize certian qualities of the sound, that the amp in the player can't do very well.

Trust me, it sounds better. I have a Little Dot Micro that I use with my Iriver H10, sounds way better than the H10's amp.

Go to Apple's site and get a refurbished Nano. They are fairly cheap. People will probably think you were weird if they see you with an Ipod knockoff (I wouldn't though).

Or get a Creative Zen.

I would go with an iRiver H10. It may not be able to play your anime, but do you really need to watch re-runs of anime on a screen too small to display readable subtitles? It is color and has a radio tuner/recorder. You can treat it just like an external harddrive, and don't need any extra software. I love mine, and have dropped from about 4 feet up onto solid concrete many times without any repurcussions. It even has a reset button just in case. Plus the vertical touch pad is way better than the circular one. It feels much more natural, and iRiver allows you to go to the top of the page once you reach the end unlike ipod which makes you scroll all the way back up.

edit - just read you are looking for a 1-2gb model. iRiver also makes a smaller version of their H10 as a 5gb model....because come on....you know you have enough music to fill it.

Amazon.com: iRiver 5 GB H10 MP3 Player Lounge Grey: Electronics

nice and small

Quote: Originally Posted by ratchetfps I would go with an iRiver H10. It may not be able to play your anime, but do you really need to watch re-runs of anime on a screen too small to display readable subtitles? It is color and has a radio tuner/recorder. You can treat it just like an external harddrive, and don't need any extra software. I love mine, and have dropped from about 4 feet up onto solid concrete many times without any repurcussions. It even has a reset button just in case. Plus the vertical touch pad is way better than the circular one. It feels much more natural, and iRiver allows you to go to the top of the page once you reach the end unlike ipod which makes you scroll all the way back up. edit - just read you are looking for a 1-2gb model. iRiver also makes a smaller version of their H10 as a 5gb model....because come on....you know you have enough music to fill it. Amazon.com: iRiver 5 GB H10 MP3 Player Lounge Grey: Electronics nice and small

Yah, H10's nice, but h120 and h320 are better.

Wish I could get one, but I've got my rockbox'd H10, and loving it.

Zen Baby. Although I dont have any of the fancier Zens, I do have the Zen Nano Plus (1Gb). I really Like the sound quality and ease of use (Just Plug and play- Windows or Any OS detects it as a regular flashdrive. I got mine as a Xmas present last year, but heres a froogle search:
Zen Nano Plus - Froogle

I really would recommend the Zen over The Ipod

ADD: Earbuds Come with it. If I remember correctly, they had a very nice bass sound to them. If you use different earphones, the sound quality doesnt degrade much.

Quote: Originally Posted by Nerdz Zen Baby. Although I dont have any of the fancier Zens, I do have the Zen Nano Plus (1Gb). I really Like the sound quality and ease of use (Just Plug and play- Windows or Any OS detects it as a regular flashdrive. I got mine as a Xmas present last year, but heres a froogle search: Zen Nano Plus - Froogle I really would recommend the Zen over The Ipod ADD: Earbuds Come with it. If I remember correctly, they had a very nice bass sound to them. If you use different earphones, the sound quality doesnt degrade much.

Second, Creative know's how to make a DAP.

Another vote for creative...

I have an older 40gb player... Its big, but its nice to have...

I love Creative and was going to buy a Cretive Zen Sleek 20 GB Photo today for 123$, but my parents bought me an iPod :O. Can't complain. But here, take this super pimp linkage. Creative Zen Sleek Photo 20GB Photo MP3 Player - Wal-Mart

Quote: Originally Posted by ratchetfps I would go with an iRiver H10. It may not be able to play your anime, but do you really need to watch re-runs of anime on a screen too small to display readable subtitles?

Well, the point was more the wow factor-- the kiddies who spent more for the Apple product can't play video on theirs, no?

I admire Apple's industrial design, but I resent their ability to charge premium prices for it.

Quote: edit - just read you are looking for a 1-2gb model. iRiver also makes a smaller version of their H10 as a 5gb model....because come on....you know you have enough music to fill it.

Honestly, I've got 782M ripped-- mostly as OGG files which will need conversion, and if I queued up all my LPs and CDs, and wasn't particularly selective with what I took, I *might* come close to 2Gb, but some of that will be trimmed anyway (I probably don't need two renditions of Glenn Miller's 'In the Mood')

Quote: Amazon.com: iRiver 5 GB H10 MP3 Player Lounge Grey: Electronics

Well, it's lovely--- but
1) It's $175, while I'm looking at $100 or so for the 2Gb knockoffs. I don't want to buy a used/refurbished player, particularly when I'll be cramming parts of it into my ears.

2) Didn't iRiver go bust? Or am I thinking of someone else with a similar name? :begs someone to jog his memory:

3) It's hard-disc based. I explicity said I wanted flash. I'm clumsy and lazy and rough on my posessions.

4) WinXP SP1 required? I have Win2000 SP4 and will not budge for hell or high water.

I could see the Creative products, but it looks like the Zen Nano doesn't really come in 2Gb... I was considering one of their Muvo range keychain products-- are the sound-qualities comparable?

Heh, sorry I guess the iRiver is not for you! Sorry about that, I thought it was $99 new, wasn't paying attention, but like I said I've dropped mine many times from high up and the thing just keeps on going. iRiver makes a solid product, but if you don't wanna upgrade your OS then I guess you're outta luck haha.

p.s. - you have some dowloading to do, there's so much music out there. I have a difficult time choosing what I want on my 20gb iRiver.

I ended up getting a Sandisk E250. Two gig, a hundred bucks. Cute little thing, but apparently you have to jump through a lot of hoops to display video, However, I fear this means tomorrow's Fry's circular will have a 16Gb player which plays OGG and MP4 natively for $39.

I got the 8 gig version of the Sandisk. It pwns hard. With the media converter it came with it will convert and play any video you throw at it. IPODS SUCK!

It's definitely not bad, especially considering it's 50 bucks less than the 2Gb Nano, which lacks both the radio and video features. The video playback is remarkably good considering the postage-stamp screen, extremely sharp and smooth with the sample file I fed it. However, I've noticed a couple flaws:

Test video: MP4 = 180Mb, Converted MOV = 386Mb for about 24 minutes of video.

I see no way to navigate inside a video playback other than "escape to menu and start at the beginning".

When you switch it off, it defaults the volume back to 50%. Mildly annoying.

What surprises me is that Apple is the second-mover in the market (came in after the first generation of awful MP3 players), and yet their product is so full of targets that their competition can easily shoot at: no video, many media formats unsupported, no radio, significantly higher price per gig... typically the second-mover is the one who succeeds by fixing the flaws that the first generation products had.