MP3 player suggestions ...

[Nanonanol]

So, as of right now I am sporting a Zune 2 (80GB), and am getting incredibly sick of it. (And for those of you wondering why I got it - I had originally hoped to see some useful mods/hacks for it, such as being able to sync it with MediaMonkey, or sync in Linux, etc. - Unfortunately that has all gone in the completely wrong direction with the new firmware)

Anyway, I was thinking about getting a new mp3 player, and would appreciate some suggestions of mp3 players that fit the following criteria:

No Microsoft or Apple products (bad experiences with both)
Holds at least 60GB
Is reasonably priced (<$300)

I've looked into Archos, Cowon, and Creative products -
Archos 605 is reasonably priced, and has a nice amount of space
Cowon seems a bit expensive
Creative doesn't have anything over 32GB

[Proin Drakenzol]

The Creative: Zen will take an SD card with music on it and play the content.

Buying several cheap 8GB SD cards and carrying them with you (that + the Zen is still smaller than a Zune) might be a reasonable option.

It would also be all solid state drives, not hard disc drives, much safer data wise.

[iakovl]

60GB+ = HDD based player... i'd stock with flash players that are 32GB
if you need high capacity i would recommend Cowon D2 16Gb (154$) + 32Gb SDHC card (75$) = 48Gb ~ 230$

[Nanonanol]

I've considered getting an mp3 player that supports SD(HC) cards, but I've read some people experience problems with the SD(HC) cards (i.e. music not showing up on their device, etc. Anyone have good/bad experiences with SD(HC) card expansion?

[fohfoh]

I've considered getting an mp3 player that supports SD(HC) cards, but I've read some people experience problems with the SD(HC) cards (i.e. music not showing up on their device, etc. Anyone have good/bad experiences with SD(HC) card expansion?

Maybe if the card reader is dirty... But I have one lying around I dont use. (Stolen from work a long time ago). It has about 5 or 6 256MB SDs with it lying around. It works fine.

Seriously though, as long as it can read SDHC cards, wait another year and you'll be able to get access to probably things like 64GB - 128GB cards for a decent price.

[queenmetroid]

So, as of right now I am sporting a Zune 2 (80GB), and am getting incredibly sick of it. (And for those of you wondering why I got it - I had originally hoped to see some useful mods/hacks for it, such as being able to sync it with MediaMonkey, or sync in Linux, etc. - Unfortunately that has all gone in the completely wrong direction with the new firmware)

Well, to be honest, what did you expect? It's MS. Personally, I love my Zune for what it is. The software is slick and reliable, Zune Pass rocks, and firmware updates are free. Oh, and I only paid 95 bucks for my Zune 120 brand new. xD

[fohfoh]

So, as of right now I am sporting a Zune 2 (80GB), and am getting incredibly sick of it. (And for those of you wondering why I got it - I had originally hoped to see some useful mods/hacks for it, such as being able to sync it with MediaMonkey, or sync in Linux, etc. - Unfortunately that has all gone in the completely wrong direction with the new firmware)

Well, to be honest, what did you expect? It's MS. Personally, I love my Zune for what it is. The software is slick and reliable, Zune Pass rocks, and firmware updates are free. Oh, and I only paid 95 bucks for my Zune 120 brand new. xD

Who the fuck charges for firmware updates?

I paid $60 for a 2GB iPod nano gen2 when those were retailing at 180 way back in the day. (Brand new AND legit with warranty AND not connected to some "apple purchase deal") what's your point?

[queenmetroid]

So, as of right now I am sporting a Zune 2 (80GB), and am getting incredibly sick of it. (And for those of you wondering why I got it - I had originally hoped to see some useful mods/hacks for it, such as being able to sync it with MediaMonkey, or sync in Linux, etc. - Unfortunately that has all gone in the completely wrong direction with the new firmware)

Well, to be honest, what did you expect? It's MS. Personally, I love my Zune for what it is. The software is slick and reliable, Zune Pass rocks, and firmware updates are free. Oh, and I only paid 95 bucks for my Zune 120 brand new. xD

Who the fuck charges for firmware updates?

I paid $60 for a 2GB iPod nano gen2 when those were retailing at 180 way back in the day. (Brand new AND legit with warranty AND not connected to some "apple purchase deal") what's your point?

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9670000&tstart=0

I always consider price first. Pretty much all retail electronics are overpriced.

[fohfoh]

So, as of right now I am sporting a Zune 2 (80GB), and am getting incredibly sick of it. (And for those of you wondering why I got it - I had originally hoped to see some useful mods/hacks for it, such as being able to sync it with MediaMonkey, or sync in Linux, etc. - Unfortunately that has all gone in the completely wrong direction with the new firmware)

Well, to be honest, what did you expect? It's MS. Personally, I love my Zune for what it is. The software is slick and reliable, Zune Pass rocks, and firmware updates are free. Oh, and I only paid 95 bucks for my Zune 120 brand new. xD

Who the fuck charges for firmware updates?

I paid $60 for a 2GB iPod nano gen2 when those were retailing at 180 way back in the day. (Brand new AND legit with warranty AND not connected to some "apple purchase deal") what's your point?

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9670000&tstart=0

I always consider price first. Pretty much all retail electronics are overpriced.

* fohfoh loads the "fuck apple" shotgun

I recall reading this a while back. I personally think the iTouch is a steaming pile of shit. the iPhone isn't as bad... but I absolutely abhor the iTouch.

[queenmetroid]

* fohfoh loads the "fuck apple" shotgun

I recall reading this a while back. I personally think the iTouch is a steaming pile of shit. the iPhone isn't as bad... but I absolutely abhor the iTouch.

Now we agree on something. Touch screens...whoop-de-frikkin-doo.

[fohfoh]

* fohfoh loads the "fuck apple" shotgun

I recall reading this a while back. I personally think the iTouch is a steaming pile of shit. the iPhone isn't as bad... but I absolutely abhor the iTouch.

Now we agree on something. Touch screens...whoop-de-frikkin-doo.

Agreed. Though touch screens are kind of cool. I have the Cowon s9. Touch screen isn't bad for modifying and all that, but once I get to the album or list I want, I lock the screen and make use of the side buttons. (Oh I love those side buttons ) So basically I use it like a regular mp3.

Zune's interface really annoys me. But that's just me.

[queenmetroid]

Zune's interface really annoys me. But that's just me.

It has quirks, but overall, it's fairly intuitive, and I like the album art aspect. It's really a personal thing, as I think the iPod Classic interface is too bland. What I DO dislike is the touch since upgrading from my Zune 30. I can't change the song in my pocket without adjusting the volume any more.

[geoffreak]

The iPod touch has access to most of the applications in the Apple App Store. I'd say that makes it worth it.

[fohfoh]

The iPod touch has access to most of the applications in the Apple App Store. I'd say that makes it worth it.

This makes it a media player instead of a mp3. It's a glorified palm pilot for gaming, which just happens to be able to play mp3s. I seriously would rather play mp3s off a psp (which I have done in the past) over an ipod touch.

[Nanonanol]

Zune's interface really annoys me. But that's just me.

It has quirks, but overall, it's fairly intuitive, and I like the album art aspect. It's really a personal thing, as I think the iPod Classic interface is too bland. What I DO dislike is the touch since upgrading from my Zune 30. I can't change the song in my pocket without adjusting the volume any more.

I don't mind the interface of the Zune all that much (except for the fact that you can't create and name playlists on the device, except for the quick playlist), but the software pisses me off. It is practically impossible to get the software the recognize all your music, and if you eventually succeed, you'd be lucky if half the tags are correct. I use Easytag to edit all the ID3 tags of my music (and audiobooks), and they show up perfectly in every other media player I've tried (Amarok, Rhythmbox, Banshee, Mediamonkey, etc.) but not in the fucking zune software.
It just really pisses me off that Microsoft locks down the device when much better software is available for free. They completely cripple an awesome piece of hardware. They should have just developed the physical device, then given it to the Linux community and said "Here, do something cool with this". I bet you anything that they would have sold a ton more Zunes that way.

[mgz]

60gb + is hard to deal with nowadays your pretty much stuck looking at the likes of archos.
if you hate zune and apple

[Nanonanol]

So, after a bit of slacking off at work, I've come down to a few possible players:

Cowon D2
Cowon O2
Creative Zen
Zen X-fi

(I was considering the S9 until I found out it doesn't have an SDHC slot)

Anyways, the Cowon products are looking a bit more promising to me, especially considering the wide range of formats the D2 and O2 support. Has anyone had experiences with both the D2 and O2?

[mgz]

So, after a bit of slacking off at work, I've come down to a few possible players:

Cowon D2
Cowon O2
Creative Zen
Zen X-fi

(I was considering the S9 until I found out it doesn't have an SDHC slot)

Anyways, the Cowon products are looking a bit more promising to me, especially considering the wide range of formats the D2 and O2 support. Has anyone had experiences with both the D2 and O2?

cowon d2 for audio listening is the best choice out of the ones listed, o2 is great but is big and clumbsy and the UI they kinda have neglected quite a bit in updating and getting it to the good player it should be.

The d2 is a much smaller older version of the o2, both have fantastic audio quality vs the creative units. And the d2 is fairly cheap.

Downside on the d2 is file number limit is like 3 or 4000 something like that so each SDHC card would have to have less then like 4000 songs not an issue for most

[queenmetroid]

I say don't go with anything Creative, though. They tend to have a lot of issues.

[Mele]

Zune's interface really annoys me. But that's just me.

It has quirks, but overall, it's fairly intuitive, and I like the album art aspect. It's really a personal thing, as I think the iPod Classic interface is too bland. What I DO dislike is the touch since upgrading from my Zune 30. I can't change the song in my pocket without adjusting the volume any more.

I don't mind the interface of the Zune all that much (except for the fact that you can't create and name playlists on the device, except for the quick playlist), but the software pisses me off. It is practically impossible to get the software the recognize all your music, and if you eventually succeed, you'd be lucky if half the tags are correct. I use Easytag to edit all the ID3 tags of my music (and audiobooks), and they show up perfectly in every other media player I've tried (Amarok, Rhythmbox, Banshee, Mediamonkey, etc.) but not in the fucking zune software.
It just really pisses me off that Microsoft locks down the device when much better software is available for free. They completely cripple an awesome piece of hardware. They should have just developed the physical device, then given it to the Linux community and said "Here, do something cool with this". I bet you anything that they would have sold a ton more Zunes that way.

I get the tagging issues too. For artists it's because the Zune reads and displays the Album Artist tag rather than simply the Artist tag. The only way to solve this is to remove anything from the Album Artist section or change the Album Artist to match the Artist. I find this extremely inconvenient and cumbersome.

I absolutely love the Zune design and hardware, but I can't stand the small quirks or forced software usage either.