MP3 that supports making multiple playlists

[Sakura90]

Hi!

I'm looking for a DAP to replace my old Nokia 5310. I had the Cowon iAudio 9 in mind, but I read in a review that you can only make one "on the go" playlist with it. WTF? It has so many features and you can't make more than ONE playlist? . Since the days of my rusty Sansa E250 that I've been looking for something that allows you to make multiple playlists on the device and save them. So far the only ones that can do that are cellphones. Why? I don't get it. I have hundreds of files and I'm always making playlists, so the only "on the go" kills me.


Well, I need these essential features on the DAP, any recommendation? I hope that at least one player out there fits my needs

1) As I said, be able to make multiple playlists on the device and save them.

2) It has to support Unicode characters, most especifcally Japanese, as most of my music has tags and filenames in Japanese. If possible, keeping the menus and interface in English, but if not, it isn't much problem.

3) Battery life: at least 30 hours. Better if it can be ~40.

4) Capacity: 16GB or 8GB with microSD expansion.

5) AAC support (but I think now every player supports it). FLAC would be nice but not required.


Thanks!


Edit:

I wanted to add something about playlists. In my Nokia 5310, when I put something to play, it creates a "Now playing" playlist automatically and plays the files based on that. For example, I open a 12 song album and put play on the first song. What the player does is create a playlist of those 12 songs and plays that. This way I can delete one song of that album, or add another and I'll be always modifying that playlist, which by the way, I can save it like a normal playlist with a name. I hope that what I've written is understandable ^^. All this whole playlist thing is VERY important to me, as my "music world" (to give it a name) is based around the "Now playing" and editing and creating playlists.


I really can't believe that a lousy cellphone like my Nokia 5310 could integrate this concept in it's player and a DEDICATED device for playing music couldn't. At least none that I could find. I mean, something that's a CELLPHONE has a better software than something specially CREATED to PLAY music.


Thanks again for reading!

[costi]

Have you looked at Sony? My Sony NW-A3000 (and NW-A1000), which are both quite dated, had the functionality you're looking for. The NW-A3000 is 20GB, A1000 is 6GB, I believe there was also an 8GB version (A1200 IIRC).
The only problem with these players was that you had to use dedicated Sony software to transfer music to them. Also, since they were HDD-based, they were a bit heavy (but very tough at the same time). However, you should be able to find one cheap on ebay.

[fohfoh]

Sony and Apple are the only ones off the top of my mind that does this. Apple slightly smoother than Sony (older ones) but both have it.

Cowon... not really.
Samsung (at least the p3) - Don't think it did.
Never toyed with Archos

You might want to ask about Zune and Creative. I think they do, but I can't confirm, so don't quote me on it.

[Sakura90]

Have you looked at Sony? My Sony NW-A3000 (and NW-A1000), which are both quite dated, had the functionality you're looking for. The NW-A3000 is 20GB, A1000 is 6GB, I believe there was also an 8GB version (A1200 IIRC).
The only problem with these players was that you had to use dedicated Sony software to transfer music to them. Also, since they were HDD-based, they were a bit heavy (but very tough at the same time). However, you should be able to find one cheap on ebay.

HDD based wouldn't last long with me, I don't need something too light or slim but neither too heavy. Also it has to be new as importers here don't deal with used stuff

Sony and Apple are the only ones off the top of my mind that does this. Apple slightly smoother than Sony (older ones) but both have it.

Cowon... not really.
Samsung (at least the p3) - Don't think it did.
Never toyed with Archos

You might want to ask about Zune and Creative. I think they do, but I can't confirm, so don't quote me on it.

Sony available models that I've seen can't make even one playlist (why my old W300, a damned cellphone, could make any number of them and a new Walkman player can't is beyond me). Zune doesn't even have drag and drop. I thought that would be standard these days, but, as I now realize, the DAP world never cease to amaze me with it's uselessness. One Samsung model can only make 5 playlists and you cannot name them. I haven't found much about Archos. Creative is in the same bandwagon as almost everyone, at least available models don't seem to support several playlists.


Here's what I've just wrote (this same topic on other forum)

[fohfoh]

I toyed with the Sony NWZ x1060

Really fucking cool. Best sound you'll get on mp3 only players. My S9 ate shit against it for 320kbps. But since it supports mp3 only, it'll eat shit vs my S9 for high quality flac files.

But yes, the interface is probably exactly what you're looking for.

HOWEVER, pricey as shit and no memory expansion.

Seriously, you'll be hard pressed to find a decent player with all that you want at an affordable price. For a phone... maybe... but that's hard to say. Needs for PMP vs mp3/mp4 vs phones vs media players are very different. That's why the interfaces vary so greatly too.

[Slysoft]

I just got a 32gb J3 and it's the best DAP I've ever used. It more than takes care of everything you want, except I don't know about playlists since I don't use them. It has a favorites and bookmark menu and a search function so I never found a need.

[mgz]

creative players used to support creating playlists at least older ones did, and support a much wider range of file types then the likes of apple

[Proin Drakenzol]

Sony and Apple are the only ones off the top of my mind that does this. Apple slightly smoother than Sony (older ones) but both have it.

Cowon... not really.
Samsung (at least the p3) - Don't think it did.
Never toyed with Archos

You might want to ask about Zune and Creative. I think they do, but I can't confirm, so don't quote me on it.

Creative Zen does allow "on the fly" playlists.


The Cowon V5 sort of does-ish. It does run Windows so you can make playlist files that way. It's still easier to just pregenerate one, though.

[fohfoh]

Sony and Apple are the only ones off the top of my mind that does this. Apple slightly smoother than Sony (older ones) but both have it.

Cowon... not really.
Samsung (at least the p3) - Don't think it did.
Never toyed with Archos

You might want to ask about Zune and Creative. I think they do, but I can't confirm, so don't quote me on it.

Creative Zen does allow "on the fly" playlists.


The Cowon V5 sort of does-ish. It does run Windows so you can make playlist files that way. It's still easier to just pregenerate one, though.

The Cowon playlist function is slightly inconsistent afaik. Each player is slightly different to each other. The S9 for sure you can do 1 on the fly play list, but you can't keep it or save it. Which I presume you say the Zen is capable of doing.

Oh and the comment about the x1060/x1050. The interface is extremely different on this player than any other Sony mp3. So...

[Xiong Chiamiov]

creative players used to support creating playlists at least older ones did

Yeah, my Zen Vision:M has quite a few different playlists on it, all created on the player (I wouldn't even know how to do it from a computer).  I've had it for 4-ish years (and they had been out for a few before I bought one), so I'm not sure what their newer players are like.

[mgz]

creative players used to support creating playlists at least older ones did

Yeah, my Zen Vision:M has quite a few different playlists on it, all created on the player (I wouldn't even know how to do it from a computer).  I've had it for 4-ish years (and they had been out for a few before I bought one), so I'm not sure what their newer players are like.

yea i have the zen vision w cowon s9 and cowon o2 atm. my O2 is dead bad hdd

[Proin Drakenzol]

Sony and Apple are the only ones off the top of my mind that does this. Apple slightly smoother than Sony (older ones) but both have it.

Cowon... not really.
Samsung (at least the p3) - Don't think it did.
Never toyed with Archos

You might want to ask about Zune and Creative. I think they do, but I can't confirm, so don't quote me on it.

Creative Zen does allow "on the fly" playlists.


The Cowon V5 sort of does-ish. It does run Windows so you can make playlist files that way. It's still easier to just pregenerate one, though.

The Cowon playlist function is slightly inconsistent afaik. Each player is slightly different to each other. The S9 for sure you can do 1 on the fly play list, but you can't keep it or save it. Which I presume you say the Zen is capable of doing.

Oh and the comment about the x1060/x1050. The interface is extremely different on this player than any other Sony mp3. So...

Yes.

The Cowon V5 allows for a single "on the fly" playlist to be created.

The Creative Zen allows for "on the fly" playlists to be created and saved.

[fohfoh]

That on the fly playlist is the only thing that I really miss from the iPod nano gen2 that I gave away. Everything else was trash imo in comparison to my S9. But the on the fly playlist was really a function that I felt I would benefit from especially for moods when driving. Want to drive like a mother fucker? That's one. Chillax, impress the girls, enjoy scenery... that's another. For fun, random shit you find funny. That's one. Songs that get stuck in your head so you play it out to make it fade away... that's another...

Hmm... maybe I should buy an older zen just for my car.

EDIT: Ugh... trying to get a Creative Zen///MX is like pulling teeth. No one trusty really stocks and I would have to resort to open box garbage from tigerdirect... no thanks.

Resort to Apple just for that on the go playlist?? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mgz]

That on the fly playlist is the only thing that I really miss from the iPod nano gen2 that I gave away. Everything else was trash imo in comparison to my S9. But the on the fly playlist was really a function that I felt I would benefit from especially for moods when driving. Want to drive like a mother fucker? That's one. Chillax, impress the girls, enjoy scenery... that's another. For fun, random shit you find funny. That's one. Songs that get stuck in your head so you play it out to make it fade away... that's another...

Hmm... maybe I should buy an older zen just for my car.

EDIT: Ugh... trying to get a Creative Zen///MX is like pulling teeth. No one trusty really stocks and I would have to resort to open box garbage from tigerdirect... no thanks.

Resort to Apple just for that on the go playlist?? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

get an old creative zen vision M 60 gig if you can find it, then you can throw like a 200 gig hdd in it.

[fohfoh]

That on the fly playlist is the only thing that I really miss from the iPod nano gen2 that I gave away. Everything else was trash imo in comparison to my S9. But the on the fly playlist was really a function that I felt I would benefit from especially for moods when driving. Want to drive like a mother fucker? That's one. Chillax, impress the girls, enjoy scenery... that's another. For fun, random shit you find funny. That's one. Songs that get stuck in your head so you play it out to make it fade away... that's another...

Hmm... maybe I should buy an older zen just for my car.

EDIT: Ugh... trying to get a Creative Zen///MX is like pulling teeth. No one trusty really stocks and I would have to resort to open box garbage from tigerdirect... no thanks.

Resort to Apple just for that on the go playlist?? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

get an old creative zen vision M 60 gig if you can find it, then you can throw like a 200 gig hdd in it.

I'm having issues finding ANY creative player even ordering online. Odd eh?

Though maybe I can double check Amazon.com... in the past it refused to ship to Canada for my orders. 

[sdedalus83]

the archos 5 gives you the option to install angstrom, allowing you to do whatever you want with playlists. 

[fohfoh]

Sadly, in comparison to the Archos, an Apple actually almost seems like a more cost efficient purchase if just for the playlist. Just pick up a classic or something and "archive" stuff for the car. (No real need for all the other functions)

The Zen MX looked like a nice cheap choice... but it's not easy to buy. Going to hold off on this one for a moment and reconsider.