Skip to main content

Notice

Please note that most of the software linked on this forum is likely to be safe to use. If you are unsure, feel free to ask in the relevant topics, or send a private message to an administrator or moderator. To help curb the problems of false positives, or in the event that you do find actual malware, you can contribute through the article linked here.
Topic: The Hunt for a dedicated MP3 player (Read 6661 times) previous topic - next topic
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

The Hunt for a dedicated MP3 player

Over the past 2 years or so music has become an increasingly important part of my life and I have reached the point where my smartphone just isn't cutting it anymore. I am officially hunting for something to play my music.

I am willing to pay upwards of $200 for this but of course I will be taking price into consideration

What I'm looking for
- The ability to get at least 32 gigs of storage. It doesn't matter if this is through internal storage or by using an SD card.
- Does not require iTunes
- Touchscreens and button control is great. I can deal with clickwheels (not soulless touchwheels) if there's some incredible redeeming value
- Is not an iPod
- Needs to have a reasonable shape. If it reminds me of a hunk of Toberlone it gets the boot.
- Decent battery life
- Not branded by Apple

Nice Stuff
- Support for FLAC and Vorbis
- A nice looking screen
Bad looking screen
Good looking screen
- Easily replaceable battery
- Good build quality
-Bluetooth Support


Crap I don't care about (I guess it adds up)
- FM Radio
- Storing Pictures and videos


About my aversion to Apple: I would be perfectly happy with purchasing an iPod Nano if I could squeeze more storage out of it since I discovered MediMonkey.

I'm all about options and trade offs. Example: I love my album art so I'd be happy to give in to a shorter battery for the ability to see it.

I want to know about any software/UI issues. I don't know much about Rockbox but I am 100% open to using it if it's a viable solution that looks nice.



Thank you for reading this and I hope I can find something soon

The Hunt for a dedicated MP3 player

Reply #1
I'd say a clip+... µSD slot card should get you enough capacity, and they're easily rockboxed.
Runtimes depend on the format, around 14h with medium volume, crossfeed and eq on.

I never tried a fuze (the bigger version), but maybe that one has longer battery time.

Personally, I revived my old creative zen and even with the "unusable" rockbox port it gets me all I need, and with a 25h battery time to boot.

The Hunt for a dedicated MP3 player

Reply #2
The Fuze is rated at 24 hours vs the 15 hours of the clip+. I'll post more findings from research later. Thanks for the help!

The Hunt for a dedicated MP3 player

Reply #3
If you don't care about Rockbox, you can take a look at the new Sansa Clip Sport, which supposedly has increased battery life over the old Clips. Though as far as I know there have not been any tests regarding the battery or audio performance of the Sport.
It's only audiophile if it's inconvenient.

The Hunt for a dedicated MP3 player

Reply #4
Unfortunately the day and age of the dedicated DAP is coming to an end.  Apple, SanDisk, and Sony are just about the only mainstream companies still releasing portable players.  You aren't going to find something that meets all of your requirements but, as previously mentioned, the Sansa Clip Sport is something to check out.  It has a much better display than the Clip+ (it can actually display album art unlike the Clip+), battery life has been increased (according to SanDisk), you can increase storage with a microSDHC card (which means you're capped at 32GB of extra storage), and it works with a large number of formats including FLAC and even Ogg Vorbis.

It doesn't feature a user replaceable battery or have Bluetooth, the former is going to be difficult to find in any mainstream portable DAP.  I say "mainstream" as there are "high end" DAPs but they fall well out of your price range and it's not like you can stroll into Best Buy and purchase one of them (i.e. HifiMan).

You also may want to look into the Samsung Galaxy Play line.  Samsung doesn't make them anymore so you would have to look on eBay but they run Android so you could use any number of media players that work with pretty much any file format you can think of.  There's the Galaxy Play 3.6 and Galaxy Play 5.  They are all touchscreen driven (though that might be close to being a "soulless" touchwheel, not sure what is soulless about a touchwheel), run Android 2.2 (not sure if they can be updated to 2.3 or higher), have Bluetooth, accept up to 32GB microSDHC cards, and meet all of your other requirements including having a user replaceable battery.

Lastly, Cowon updated the iAudio 9+ player.  It hasn't been reviewed yet and I'm pretty sure the battery can't be replaced but they released a 32GB version (fixed capacities, no upgrading).  It works with a variety of audio formats (though mpeg-4 AAC is oddly absent), gets 29 hours of audio playback (according to Cowon), has a full color display, you navigate it with a touchpad (again, that might be bordering on the "soulless" touchwheel), and it's priced at $160 (though Amazon has it for $155).  It does have a gimmicky built-in speaker but that will be bypassed when using headphones.  It lacks Bluetooth though, not sure how big that is on your feature list.

Edit:  There's also the Cowon D20.  It was discontinued but it goes up to 32GB of built-in storage and supports expansion with an SDHC card (up to 32GB).  You would have to hunt around for one and the unit is a little clunky but it's something else.  I also saw that Amazon has the Fiio X3 on sale at $200.  It has 8GB of built-in storage and supports up to a 64GB microSDXC card and the player works with just about any format out there.  Amazon even offers a bundle with the player, 64GB memory card, and analog coaxial and digital cables for $220 instead of $350.  It doesn't have Bluetooth and people are saying the OS is clunky but it's not a bad deal.

The Hunt for a dedicated MP3 player

Reply #5
I still use a Rockboxed Clip+ when I don't want to carry my smartphone, but why do you say your smartphone isn't cutting it anymore? When I got my smartphone I put my Cowon S9 away and haven't bothered with it since. MediaMonkey is on Android now.

The Hunt for a dedicated MP3 player

Reply #6
I still use a Rockboxed Clip+ when I don't want to carry my smartphone, but why do you say your smartphone isn't cutting it anymore? When I got my smartphone I put my Cowon S9 away and haven't bothered with it since. MediaMonkey is on Android now.


My Galaxy Nexus has only 16 gigabytes of storage and there's no way in hell I'll ever get something besides a new Nexus. DAP for me then

The Hunt for a dedicated MP3 player

Reply #7
Definition of a soulless touchwheel: The thing they stick on iPod Classics nowadays. Those things are an absolute pain to navigate.

The Hunt for a dedicated MP3 player

Reply #8
Update: After looking around I have to say I am VERY interested in what Cowon has to offer. After reading through their products I decided that the J3 seemed the best option to me but I quickly discovered it has been discontinued even though they've left it on the product list.

I have 0 experience with Cowon and the following is a list of players I'm interested in. If people could tell me the advantages/disadvantages of them I'd appreciate it.

This is a list in order of what I'm interested in (best to worst)

My List of Stuff
- Cowon J3 (if someone finds this thing new anywhere I will kiss you)
- Cowon X9 (Seems some people have been critical of it but looks like something I'd like)
- Cowon S9 (I'm really leaning towards this one but yet again it appears to have been discontinued...)
- Cowon D3 (reviews have deemed it fairly clunky and it has crappy battery life. Idgaf about Android)
- Cowon PMP's

I'd really appreciate it if some people couldshine some light on Cowon's PMP line. The differences, pros and cons and whether or not it's worth it (or better off with something else).

The Hunt for a dedicated MP3 player

Reply #9
No personal experience with their products, but the FiiO X3 might meet your requirements, save for the one about easily-replaced batteries. Actually, I don't know of any modern players which meet that particular requirement, and if you still care about the player 5+ years hence, you will need to get a bit creative about sourcing a suitable replacement battery.

The Hunt for a dedicated MP3 player

Reply #10
Well I've made a compromise. I have decided to purchase a second-hand 32 gig 5th generation iPod Touch from a friend for a very cheap price. I know the issues with second-hand electronics but I'm sure about this.

Thank you all for the help and I look forward to dealing with you again!

The Hunt for a dedicated MP3 player

Reply #11
Well I've made a compromise. I have decided to purchase a second-hand 32 gig 5th generation iPod Touch from a friend for a very cheap price. I know the issues with second-hand electronics but I'm sure about this.

Thank you all for the help and I look forward to dealing with you again!


Doesn't that go against 75% of your requirements?

The Hunt for a dedicated MP3 player

Reply #12
Well I've made a compromise. I have decided to purchase a second-hand 32 gig 5th generation iPod Touch from a friend for a very cheap price. I know the issues with second-hand electronics but I'm sure about this.

Thank you all for the help and I look forward to dealing with you again!


Doesn't that go against 75% of your requirements?


Yes, yes it does. The reason I didn't want an Apple product is because for the price they give it's not worth it. Remind me of Beats in a sense. In this case I'm gettin it for $100 with a fresh battery, just has some cosmetic dents etc.

Compromises leave every warm, fuzzy and immoral.

 

The Hunt for a dedicated MP3 player

Reply #13
Well I've made a compromise. I have decided to purchase a second-hand 32 gig 5th generation iPod Touch from a friend for a very cheap price. I know the issues with second-hand electronics but I'm sure about this.

Thank you all for the help and I look forward to dealing with you again!



Seems like a strange choice given that you can obtain a refurb Fuze for about $35 and a 32 GB uSDHC chip for around $25. That gives you 40 GB in the box and can be economically expanded to practically infinite storage space with more SDHC chips.