HELP, Which MP3 Player? (1 Viewer)

[Bill Will]

Thinking of buying my daughter an MP3 player as a gift & I know nothing about them so I'm looking for help. I'm looking to spend around $100. I hear that on the Apple Ipod's that the batteries only last a few years before you have to have them replaced. Is this true? plus none of the Ipod's have a built-in FM radio. Also I'm not looking for something that will hold 100s of songs but something with good battery play time, decent sound, easy to understand & operate & can be used as an introduction to MP3 Recording & Playback. So which MP3 player in the $100 range would you buy? Thanks.

 

[Christ Reynolds]

check out the iriver T10, just bought the 512 MB version for my girlfriend, the local best buy had it for $129 a couple weeks ago. runs off a single AA battery for 45+ hours.

CJ

 

[rob-h]

I never saw the point in buying the 256/512 meg players for $100+ when you can get 20 gig+ players for $225 to $299.

 

[Scott L]

5gb Zen Micro



Or the Zen Nano Plus.

Both can record and have FM radio, Micro has more space but is double your budget, the Zen Nano Plus is $130 but only 1gb.

The iPod Nano has a better cool factor since a) ipod name is more popular b) it's tiny and can store your photos, but doesn't seem to meet your budget and features requirements

 

[Bill Will]

rob-h, That's ok if it's for yourself & your not going to maybe loose it or break it.

ScottL, the Zen Nano with S&H is $141.98 way over budget.

Are the iriver's any good? & I think I've seen some for under $100 are they any good?

Also I don't care about the "WOW" factor just how good is it & by chance can you replace the battery yourself on the $99.99 Apple?

I should of really made it clear guys Sorry, But NOTHING OVER $100 without tax.

I might be able to push the budget a little higher ($20) if it was going to be a HUGE difference between a $100 one but that's it. Thanks Again.

 

[rob-h]

Bill Will, check Costco they regularly run specials on 128 meg to 512 meg players that can bring the price down in to the 70 to 80 range.

 

[Bill Will]

I'm not a member of Costco & None of their stores are even close to me. The store nearest to me is a Wal-Mart all other stores are about 10 miles away but I'm not opposed to ordering on the internet & would really like to do so because my daughter is in another state & I would have to ship it to her.

 

[Kirk Gunn]

Bill - sounds like you are in an experimental phase with your daughter and MP3's.... will she learn to use it ? Will she use it all the time or lose interest ? Will she not take care of it and break it ?

My suggestion is to head to Amazon.com and check out the user reviews. I did that before deciding on the Zen Micro for my particular needs (I don't let my 11 yr old use it !). Not saying you have to purchase from Amazon, but the reviews are worth a look....

For what it's worth, the iPod Nano got a great durability reviews from this informal test (it's way out of your price range, but worth a read for the testing fun):

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/nano.ars/3

 

[MarkHastings]

Bill, the one thing I found with MP3 players is, for every pro you find, there is a con. Each player has an advantage over the other. You just have to figure out which advantage is a priority for you.

For every MP3 player I've owned, there's always been a few features that pissed me off - you can't avoid it. You just have to make sure that the pros fit your exact needs and the cons won't seem as annoying.

 

[brentl]

Keep your eye on the menu system as much as the player itself. It's REALLY frustrating when you need to find your way around a poorly designed menu system. My new Benq Joybee 130 has the features I want, expandable, FM radio(works WAY better outdoors than in), and cheap.

The biggest problem with the Benq is the VERY poor menu system, and the set up of buttons. If you aren't paying attention and hit the RECORD button it takes you out of whatever your doing and turns the MICROPHONE on. This gets really annoying when you need to scroll through 4 hours of a radio book because of 1 wrong button press.

Also look for something with a USER EQ, my first Sandisk had one and I set it up for talk radio. My Benq has 6-7 EQs available, but none are custom, and I find Howard Stern is ALWAYS TOO bassy.

No solid help, but I'd always look at something cheap but expandable or something more pricey with the option of storing more. You know what they say about BASS, you can never have too much, and I can keep adding emeory forever.

Brent

 

[Bill Will]

Thanks guys & keep it coming. Myself I don't know anything about MP3 players & I don't want to know anything about them or want to do any research on them. What I'm looking for is for people to tell me which MP3 player would you buy as a gift for someone out of state that has never used one before & costs $100 & under.

Make, Model Number, Ease Of Use, Where to Buy & Total Price I guess is all I need to know.

Also it might be better if it was shipped from a chain store (Unless their prices are out of sight) because that way if she din't like it, it would be a lot easier to return it. Thanks Again.

 

[Diallo B]

i have one of these (along with a couple more high end ones). I use this one to work out with and have given them as gifts. simple and easy to use.

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/RCA-L...oductDetail.do

 

[Bill Will]

Diallo B, Thanks & I'll put that on my list to check but so far at the top is the iriver IFP790T with 256MB for around $90.00

 

[Mike Selis]

Realistically, for $100 you will not get much. The iPod shuffle is probably one of the better deals, since you get 512 for $100. However, if you are concerned with the battery dying, keep in mind that you will probably buy another MP3 player or lose it before the battery is an issue. I have seen Apple sell refurb shuffle for less money, so that might be an option. Apple refurbs tend to be returned non defective items.

 

[Bill Will]

Mike, Believe it or not when I logged on my AOL Home Page had an add for Apple MP3s with the "Shuffle" for $69.50 & the new NANO for $169.99 so maybe I should give the Shuffle another look They say the Shuffle can hold around 100 4 minute songs & I was wondering if anyone knew how many songs the iRiver 256MB can hold? Also where can you buy "Refurbished" Apple's? & I don't think the $69.50 one was a refurbished model? At least the add din't say they were but I never did get to see how much they wanted for the S&H maybe that was the catch. Thanks

 

[Scott L]

Correct me if I'm wrong but a big issue with the Shuffle is you can't choose a song you want to listen to.

 

[Christ Reynolds]

i have the ipod shuffle 1 GB (the $69 one must be the 512 MB) and i love it, but many users will be turned off due to the lack of screen. i use it during long runs where i wouldnt even want to look at a screen if it had one. it's small, very light, the interface couldn't possible be simpler. but if you need a screen, look elsewhere.
assuming it is the 512 MB version, applying the same standards, the iriver can hold about fifty 4 minute songs.

CJ

 

[MarkHastings]

If my math is correct:

At 128kbps, you can pretty much assume 1MB per minute (i.e. it's more like 960K/minute)

That's assuming you do everything at 128k...but since 128k is more of the default, you should use that as a reference.

512MB should give you about 500 minutes at 128k/sec. That's about 125 songs (at 4 min. each)

 

[Bill Will]

Anyone know about these models from Wal-Mart?

rocbox 512MB & mobiBLU 512MB both are $100

Wal-Mart is billing the mobiBLU as the smallest full featured MP3 Player on the market. It's a one inch square cube with an LCD on one side, an Operation Wheel on another side & a Menu & ON/OFF Switch on another side & it comes in a bunch of colors.

The mobiBLU looks kind of neat but I don't know how good it sounds or how long it will last & the drawback on it to me is that it has a non-replaceable internal battery like the Apple's but for it's "WOW" effect I might consider it for my daughter. Any thoughts on these 2 players & especially that mobiBLU Cube? Thanks.

 

[ClintS]

I recently purchased the SanDisk Sansa E140 1GB w/ FM radio SD (Secure Digital) slot for additional storage space. Runs $117 w/ free shipping at buy.com and they regualarly have 10% off coupons. Its easy to use, plays wma (protected and not) and mp3, and integrates well with Windows media player. Runs on AAA batteries for about 17 hours, I use NiMH rechargebles. Excellent sound quality, good menus, and from a reputable company with phone support. Here's a link:

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.as...848&spf=1&sp=1

Anyways I highly recommend it, especially because you can make it 2GB pretty easily with a $50-60 SD card later if she needs more space.