Help me pick an Mp3 player.

strebor

strebor

CAGiversary!
I want an MP3 player but I have no idea what to get. I really don't know much about them.

I don't need the 20GB or whatever ones, 2-6GB would be more than fine. I don't want under 2GB though, otherwise I'll just buy an MP3 CD player. One thing I really want though is AM radio through it, if that is at all possible. I love music but I love talk radio in the morning. I don't care about being trendy, I just want something nice and not too expensive.

So:

- Budget: $250 at the VERY most. I'd rather have it around $200.
- Small, something I can put in my pocket comfortably.
- 2GB+ storage.
- Durable, good battery life.
- Has AM radio capability, I don't care if I need to buy something extra.
- Something with the screen would be nice, I would like to see the name of the song and stuff when I play it.
- I want to use my MP3s on it freely, I don't want to use any Sony-type propietary song crap. Is the iPod like that?

I'm thinking a 2nd gen iPod mini (the smallest storage one, 4GB?), since the Nano just came out and maybe I can pick up one a little cheaper. My university also offers a little discount with Apple when I go through them (but now I can't find the mini on their site). Any other ideas though? Some of those Creative ones look nice but I don't know which one to get... help please.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
The Nano is nice and all, but what about the AM radio thing? I know iPod has a billion accessories but do any of them do that?

And yeah, the Mini is being replaced by the Nano, which makes me think maybe I can pick one up cheap now.
 
I got a Rio Carbon for $120 off of craigslist. It fits all of your criteria except AM radio, it is significantly cheaper than an Ipod Mini or Nano and almost as thin as an Ipod Nano. It now comes in 6Gb and 5GB, I think there is also a model that is 2.5 called something else. It also has a mic for recording or finding a song by voice recognition. I havent had any trouble with durability, I stick it in my pocket all the time and it is unoticable. I reccomend it over an overpriced Ipod, I also reccomend the Zen Micro from the few times that I've used one.
 
What's "AM"? :lol:

I highly recommend Creative over the others. But there's a few models to avoid, like the older Nomad Zen (the NX is ok if IIRC). They had problems with the earphone output jack. Nothing that a quick solder-job doesn't fix, but why have the hassle if you're buying new. Also, non-removeable batteries are a bad deal for so many reasons.
 
Not to get Ott but does anyone know when the Zen Micro Photo is coming out? I just got a $15 off purchase from CC and wanted to use it on this purchase, but it expires on the 15th.
 
Creative Zen Micro has a lot of reliability issues I hear. But for the same price ($199) you can just get the 20GB Creative Zen Touch. Ipod Mini 4GB could also be a decent choice at $199, but it's hard to recommend Ipods since they're all so overpriced. And I too, don't know of any MP3 players or CD players that have AM radio.
 
The MobiBlu 1500i cube or whatever is the worlds smallest mp3 player. It runs for around 130$ for a gig and has FM tuner/recorder and all that good stuff. Sold exclusively at walmart.com, very hot device. Check it out.
 
[quote name='m0nkeybl1tz']Maybe check out some podcasts? Could probably replace AM radio...[/QUOTE]

Are podcasts streams of regular radio stations or what? I only really listen to one AM station (Air America) but I listen most of the day when I'm in the car.
 
Nano has a really poor price to capacity ratio. Why pay $250 for a 4GB Nano when a 20GB iPod is only $50 more? Just because it's smaller? Screw that!
 
Not exactly. Podcasts are sort of audio versions of blogs. But some AM/FM radio stations offer downloadable content, you'll need to check the website of the station you're interested in.
 
The first thing to figure out is if you want a flash-based or hard drive based player. Unfortunately, flash players are mostly 256MB/512MB/1GB, which suggests that if you wait a few months you'll find one with 2GB. If you're willing to carry a bigger player, with shorter battery life and moving parts (shorter lifespan, less suitable to exercise...) you have quite a few to choose from. None will have FM; I'm not sure why, but I work with hams (radio ones, thank you) and can ask on monday if it matters. You can always record the stuff on the PC and carry it with you, but once you find out how much audio content is available online, even without the binaries newsgroups, you'll realize you don't want/need talk radio.

Here's a list I made a while ago; it may not be updated (maybe we should put it in its own thread so it can be). It's provided here just to let you get a feeling for the type of material that's available. Enjoy.

podcasting
http://www.podcastingnews.com
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.03/curry.html?pg=3&topic=curry&topic_set=
http://wiki.sblug.org/Podcasting

old time radio
http://www.radiolovers.com/
http://www.related-pages.com/oldtimeradio/
http://users2.ev1.net/~ey/audio.html

science and technology
http://www.sciencefriday.com/audio/
http://www.twis.org/
http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/index.html - quirks and quarks
http://www.abc.net.au/newsradio/programs/STARSTUFF.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/

computer science
http://www.itconversations.com/
http://hackermedia.net/
http://www.lugradio.org/
http://swiss.csail.mit.edu/classes/6.001/abelson-sussman-lectures/ ("Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs", AVI/MPEG)
http://www.codesermon.org/
http://timshadel.com/blog/
http://www.uwtv.org/programs/displayseries.asp?collid=485 - accessible talks by leading computer scientists (video)
http://www.chatterboxgameshow.com/

news and politics
http://www.democracynow.org/
http://www.chomsky.info/audionvideo.htm
http://www.zmag.org/chomskyaudio.htm
http://www.lyingmediabastards.com/
http://www.radio.cbc.ca/programs/asithappens/
http://newsfromneptune.com/
http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/programs/worldview/worldview.asp

history
http://www.talkinghistory.org/

literature / fiction
http://www.hour25online.com/ - science fiction radio
http://www.theafternow.com/ - online radio drama ?

quiz show
http://www.npr.org/programs/waitwait/

economics
http://www.mises.org/media.aspx

comedy
http://comedycollege.publicradio.org/archive/archive.php

music (?)
http://www.dailysourcecode.com/

"history, myth, and spiritual traditions together with music"
http://www.wgbh.org/pages/pri/spirit/

buddhism / yoga
http://www.dharmastudent.com/

radio stations
http://www.npr.org/
http://www.publicradiofan.com/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/mp3.shtml
http://abc.net.au/rn/ (most programs only in realplayer format)
http://www.cbc.ca/programguide/radio/
http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/
http://www.airamericaradio.com/ - .wma only?
http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/

misc / random
http://www.thislife.org/
http://wpr.org/book/shows.html
http://www.transom.org/
http://www.thepeanutgallery.info/
http://dawnanddrew.podshow.com/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/ (real)
http://toeradio.org/

archives
http://www.spokenalex.org/
http://www.archive.org/audio/etree.php
http://www.audiobooksforfree.com/
http://www.legaltorrents.com/
 
I'd rather pull my pubes out with a tweezer then listen to Al Franken.

I do hope an MP3 player comes out with an AM option soon. I am holding off purchasing one until it becomes standard.
 
I'll also have to go with the iRiver h10. Got mine form eCost as well, and I'm very much satisfied with it. And $169 is a steal for this player.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top