Music players besides iPods

[demik]

my computer

Can I transport that for driving in my car, riding the bus, or walking down the street?

If you believe in yourself.

[missalaire]

The old iPod sold for $227 tonight, boys and girls.  Did not expect that.

Wow they're stilling for that much now? I should try to find my old iPod and sell it..

[HoffmanMyster]

The old iPod sold for $227 tonight, boys and girls.  Did not expect that.

Wow they're stilling for that much now? I should try to find my old iPod and sell it..

I think his was a 7th gen. I wouldn't expect an older iPod to sell for quite that much.    (not sure how old yours is though)

[missalaire]

The old iPod sold for $227 tonight, boys and girls.  Did not expect that.

Wow they're stilling for that much now? I should try to find my old iPod and sell it..

I think his was a 7th gen. I wouldn't expect an older iPod to sell for quite that much.    (not sure how old yours is though)

Ahh lol. Mine is an ipod touch with the black front and silver back, no camera. I forget which gen it was, it's older but iirc there was a few generations before it.

[tjcaustin]

Yeah, I'm on the sony a17 train, too.

[trizkut]

The old iPod sold for $227 tonight, boys and girls.  Did not expect that.

Wow they're stilling for that much now? I should try to find my old iPod and sell it..

I saw someone sell a NIB 160gb for like $900 on ebay like 6 months ago  )

[HoffmanMyster]

The old iPod sold for $227 tonight, boys and girls.  Did not expect that.

Wow they're stilling for that much now? I should try to find my old iPod and sell it..

I think his was a 7th gen. I wouldn't expect an older iPod to sell for quite that much.    (not sure how old yours is though)

Ahh lol. Mine is an ipod touch with the black front and silver back, no camera. I forget which gen it was, it's older but iirc there was a few generations before it.

Ahhhh yep. I don't think the market for iPod touch is anything exciting, since they're still making those. It's the regular iPods ("classics") that are rare now. 

(Note: I'm not an iPod pricing expert )

[GL1TCH3D]

The old iPod sold for $227 tonight, boys and girls.  Did not expect that.

Wow they're stilling for that much now? I should try to find my old iPod and sell it..

I think his was a 7th gen. I wouldn't expect an older iPod to sell for quite that much.    (not sure how old yours is though)

Au contraire

Pre6thgen ipod classics have Wolfson DACs which a lot of people prefer as it sounds more natural. Usually the most sought after ones are the 5th and 5.5th gen iPods, though, they have smaller capacities.

[HoffmanMyster]

The old iPod sold for $227 tonight, boys and girls.  Did not expect that.

Wow they're stilling for that much now? I should try to find my old iPod and sell it..

I think his was a 7th gen. I wouldn't expect an older iPod to sell for quite that much.    (not sure how old yours is though)

Au contraire

Pre6thgen ipod classics have Wolfson DACs which a lot of people prefer as it sounds more natural. Usually the most sought after ones are the 5th and 5.5th gen iPods, though, they have smaller capacities.

Huh.  I was familiar with the different DACs and all that, but didn't realize the impact that had on pricing.  As I mentioned above, I do not consider myself a pricing expert, I just like iPods. 

Also I remember either my 5th or 6th gen sounding pretty poor compared to the 7th gen, but can't remember which one it was.  Hmmmmm.

[TheMamaMafia]

my computer

Can I transport that for driving in my car, riding the bus, or walking down the street?

My phone I'm not much of an audophile yet I guess...

[jdcarpe]

I think I'm going to buy a FiiO X1 and give the Clip Sport to my 3yo son. The Sandisk is just too small and light for my tastes. I miss my old 4th gen iPod.

[BlueNalgene]

I need to start shopping for a new MP3 player.  If I can't find one, I will just make one myself damn it.

My story:
In 2006 I got an iPod 5th gen for a graduation present.  I took it to college and I LOVED it.  The thing was a tank.  It had 60GB of memory, which would hold my entire collection at the time, and it played perfectly.  The battery eventually started crapping out around 2010, but it still worked fine.  Finally, I dropped it one day in 2011 while working outside.  KO.  I opened it up to see what was the matter, and it was a simple fix.  The screen cable had become jostled in the fall and I just needed to reconnect it.  During the fix, I broke something else.  I damaged a cable.  It was out of my financial ability at the time to fix it.  Sadness.

Later in 2011, I got another iPod as a graduation present.  This time it was college graduation.  This was a 6th gen 120GB thing.  I still have it.  And I don't like it.  I feel like they took a lot of the functionality and simplicity away with the updates.  The screen now no longer displays song info while locked, the graphical updates eat the power down faster, loading times are longer, and the build is generally worse. 

I want something that can fit my needs and survive my strange life.  Although based on the past, I may have to wait another 2 years to graduate with my PhD before I get another one!


I need an MP3 player with:

• Minimum of 160 GB to fit my current collection of music and books
• Compatible with my current hardware (Foobar2000 as my uploader is wonderful, and I'd like to keep it)
• Decent sound quality, even for mp3s since flac are kinda a pain in the ass
• Fits in my pocket
• FAST interface
• Grounded power circuitry (no hum while playing music and charging on a non isolated ground circuit)

I would like an MP3 player to also have:

• 4 pin audio jack with RCA video out
• easy integration with a Raspberry Pi
• 250 GB or more disk space (my mp3 space needs seem to increase by about 12GB/year)
• Battery with high speed trickle charge circuitry
• Playlist generation by user selection
• tinkerer friendly build - no unrepairable mac crap

I DO NOT want it to have:

• Internet access
• FM access
• GPS
• Fancy energy intensive GUI
• Movie or video playback

[vivalarevolución]

Yea boys, the iPod classic with the scroll wheel that first released in late 2009 is the money player.  The other ones, I don't know.

[GL1TCH3D]

The old iPod sold for $227 tonight, boys and girls.  Did not expect that.

Wow they're stilling for that much now? I should try to find my old iPod and sell it..

I think his was a 7th gen. I wouldn't expect an older iPod to sell for quite that much.    (not sure how old yours is though)

Au contraire

Pre6thgen ipod classics have Wolfson DACs which a lot of people prefer as it sounds more natural. Usually the most sought after ones are the 5th and 5.5th gen iPods, though, they have smaller capacities.

Huh.  I was familiar with the different DACs and all that, but didn't realize the impact that had on pricing.  As I mentioned above, I do not consider myself a pricing expert, I just like iPods. 

Also I remember either my 5th or 6th gen sounding pretty poor compared to the 7th gen, but can't remember which one it was.  Hmmmmm.

The issue with the older ones is more that they have really poor amping. I had both a 5th and 6th gen iPod at different points. The 5th gen was particularly poor in quality when running straight out of it. But suddenly add an amp through a line out direct and it's a different world. My friend who has $3000 worth of ciems still goes back to his iPod 5th gen + amp (the pico amp right now).

[slip84]

I have never understood the idea of having killer fidelity when walking around. I just need some noise. iPhone + Sennheiser Amperior is my go-to mobile setup right now.

It used to kill me seeing peoples' "mobile" setups that were all rubberbanded together, with external DACs and amps to drive some ATH-M50s. Heh.

That said, the Pono is getting some rave reviews for being a $400 device. Heh.

[GL1TCH3D]

I have never understood the idea of having killer fidelity when walking around. I just need some noise. iPhone + Sennheiser Amperior is my go-to mobile setup right now.

It used to kill me seeing peoples' "mobile" setups that were all rubberbanded together, with external DACs and amps to drive some ATH-M50s. Heh.

That said, the Pono is getting some rave reviews for being a $400 device. Heh.

I used to have an iPod classic with a cypher labs algorithm solo and a JDS o2.
Used it to run HD800 on the go which isolate quite well for open backs.

I just left the big stack in my bag and would feed the cable out for the headphones.
Eventually just said **** it and sold the whole thing.

I'm traveling for school 2-3 hours a day and at home I'm usually gaming so the high fidelity is wasted a bit at home.

For that reason I went for a music player that doubled as a DAC and amp (basically fiio, hifiman or As tell and Kern at that point)
Being able to relax on the bus and completely zone out the noise is enjoyable to say the least. Paired with really good sound quality, I don't regret getting customs for that

[HoffmanMyster]

I have never understood the idea of having killer fidelity when walking around. I just need some noise. iPhone + Sennheiser Amperior is my go-to mobile setup right now.

It used to kill me seeing peoples' "mobile" setups that were all rubberbanded together, with external DACs and amps to drive some ATH-M50s. Heh.

That said, the Pono is getting some rave reviews for being a $400 device. Heh.

I used to have an iPod classic with a cypher labs algorithm solo and a JDS o2.
Used it to run HD800 on the go which isolate quite well for open backs.

I just left the big stack in my bag and would feed the cable out for the headphones.
Eventually just said **** it and sold the whole thing.

I'm traveling for school 2-3 hours a day and at home I'm usually gaming so the high fidelity is wasted a bit at home.

For that reason I went for a music player that doubled as a DAC and amp (basically fiio, hifiman or As tell and Kern at that point)
Being able to relax on the bus and completely zone out the noise is enjoyable to say the least. Paired with really good sound quality, I don't regret getting customs for that

When I was in school and on campus from 8am-midnight, it made a lot of sense to bring the hifi with me.  Set up shop in the study area and enjoy some quality while I slave away for hours. 

For the truly mobile people (walking around and such) I agree it probably doesn't make quite as much sense, but as always, to each their own! 

[n3ro]

For software, i recommend JetAudio which is available for both ios and android. 

Has many sound enhancements including reverb which is my favorite.

[nephiel]

Get a Sansa Clip+ or a Clip Zip and put Rockbox firmware on it.

[nothing4me]

Sansa Clip+ with Rockbox firmware. Yes, you can even play Doom on it. 

[AKmalamute]

I've got two sansa ... the M200 is my preferred unit by a long ways but it's showing it's age. The other is maybe a clip? No actual 'clip' but it has internal memory as well as taking SD cards ... and a lithium battery that is at least user accessible but that thing is the dumbest player I've ever encountered. EVERY time I power it on, it reads meticulously through both memory stores, separately, meaning it took three minutes to power up and I only had about 6GB. That battery lasted, though. Between charges, I mean. But the proprietary USB cable? Ugh. Deal breaker.

 I am relying now, on a nameless thing from NKPC that I paid $1.87 shipped for. Battery is not accessible in addition to not being off-the-shelf (seriously, a standard watch battery would make me happier than whatever nonsense they chose) in addition to providing 2 hours of listening between charges. This, because they crammed a tinny, stupid speaker instead of a real battery. Uh, also the LCD glue has been overcome by me setting it ungently in the cupholder, so now the display (which is nigh useless because it displays 8.3 names, only) is crooked. But it comes with a flashlight, which continues to work even after the firmware shuts off the player.

 Sansa needs to bring back the M200. Only player I've ever been happy with. Of course, it's firmware was a little stupid but you learned to get around that. It didn't know about ID3 tags so even though its 'random' was badly written and you couldn't use playlists to save your hide, you could just bulk rename all the files on the device and it would play them in that order. Supposedly there's a beta build of RockBox for it, but this is the one Sansa that you can easily and irrevocably brick trying to add .ogg & .opus support.

 Touch screens don't belong on a device you throw in your pocket. Seriously what were they thinking? Also, since the batteries die, why don't more players use AAA batteries? You can swap those in whenever you want. Buy rechargeable, you'll only need about two.

 I've never touched an iPod. I don't expect to. But given the strong opinions I've given, would any of you give me different answers than you gave OP? And my boss has two Zunes. Loves them. I think I could appreciate them, I guess.

[HoffmanMyster]

I've never touched an iPod. I don't expect to. But given the strong opinions I've given, would any of you give me different answers than you gave OP? And my boss has two Zunes. Loves them. I think I could appreciate them, I guess.

I think you would not be a fan for a few reasons, but this would like be enough on its own:

But the proprietary USB cable? Ugh. Deal breaker.

 


That said though, if you want to try an iPod I could lend you one.  You would not get an accurate representation of the battery life, but if you just want exposure to the UI and managing music libraries, it would accomplish that.  Let me know.