I’ve had my Zen since 2007…it’s time for a new one.
I’m looking at the Galaxy 4.2 player & the COWON J3 32 GB Portable Media Player
Anyone research mp3 players lately?
I can recommend a nice cheap player. Did a bunch of research last Fall and bought a $50 Sandisk with some skullcandy earbuds and couldn’t be happier. Much better than any of the 3 iPods I previously used. Much tighter bass and the volume from one song to the next is perfect. The graphics aren’t great…but it doesn’t matter to me.
Joined Rhapsody and for $10 a month I have unlimited downloads as long as you download wma’s. MP3’s are a buck apiece.
Understand that Cowan is the best sounding player, but not much better than Sandisk.
Approximately how many songs or hours worth of music would that hold, Wemp?
thanks…I was checking them out…very small display…does that bother you? The two I mentioned have a 4.2 or 3.3 display, I’m thinking I could watch movies too.
Approximately how many songs or hours worth of music would that hold, Wemp?
I must have 350 wma files and it’s only about 50% full.
thanks…I was checking them out…very small display…does that bother you?
The general cheesiness of the display and graphics was off-putting at first…I don’t watch movies or videos. But the audio quality is excellent I find.
I like that it’s small…I use it mostly on my train commute and on my walk from the station to work, roughly a mile…so small was better. The controls are tactile friendly so you can skip ahead or adjust the volume without looking at it, relying on feel. And so far, it’s been bulletproof.
[reply]Approximately how many songs or hours worth of music would that hold, Wemp?
I must have 350 wma files and it’s only about 50% full.[/reply]
Sorry, you’ll have to speak to me like I’m 2 years old . . . or 92. I’ve avoided up until now ever using anything requiring downloading, uploading, files, digital whatever, and so forth. Though I’m thinking it might be nice to have one of these for my 18 hour plane rides, so I’m starting to think it may be time to enter the 21st century.
So, is an “mpa” file roughly one song?
wma and mp3 are different formats, but yeah each one would be one song. You can roughly estimate about 125-200 songs per gigabyte of storage, depending on how high of quality audio files you put on them. mp3 is the most popular format out there.
i’m with wemp on this one, i don’t need a retina display and a ton of apps. i want storage space dammit. why is there no mp3 player that just has a micro sd slot for fucks sake? can’t wait for my cell phone contract to come up so i can get a new phone and use my current one (Galaxy S) as my mp3 player. fucking things has 16gigs onboard AND an sd card slot. and i can just drag and drop mp3’s right on there no need for fancy software if i do not want to use it. no syncing, no software updates, just play my goddamn music. alot of it.
Approximately how many songs or hours worth of music would that hold, Wemp?
I have a 160 gig iPod and I’ve used about 70-80 gigs of it so far and that equals about 13,500 or so songs. I think that was more your question wasn’t it? My songs are all mp3 format anywhere from 2 Megs a song all the way up to 15 Megs a song depending on how long or compressed the song is.
Late,
grmpysmrf
[reply]Approximately how many songs or hours worth of music would that hold, Wemp?
I have a 160 gig iPod and I’ve used about 70-80 gigs of it so far and that equals about 13,500 or so songs. I think that was more your question wasn’t it? My songs are all mp3 format anywhere from 2 Megs a song all the way up to 15 Megs a song depending on how long or compressed the song is.
Late,
grmpysmrf[/reply]
Yeah, that’s what I mean. Thanks. 13,000 songs! UGGH!!! I’m thinking I have about 200-300 CD’s that I’d put on one. Of those CD’s I’d only upload the complete albums if it’s easier than doing individual songs. Otherwise, I’d be lucky to get even 3 or 4 songs that I give a crap about on most of those discs.
I can’t imagine ever needing more than about 2000 songs, but . . . I guess if you can load movies and such too, maybe it all comes in handy.
Here’s another dumb question . . . . Can I use an iPad to listen to music and watch movies? If I was getting an iPAd anyway, is there any reason I’d want another player (other than perhaps the convenience of a smaller device).
why is there no mp3 player that just has a micro sd slot for fucks sake?
My Sandisk has an SD slot. There are limitations to how big (a few megs, maybe 4?) but Sandisk makes a few different models with different SD card capabilities.
[reply]why is there no mp3 player that just has a micro sd slot for fucks sake?
My Sandisk has an SD slot. There are limitations to how big (a few megs, maybe 4?) but Sandisk makes a few different models with different SD card capabilities.[/reply]
ahh snap i gotta check this out. SDHC cards are up to 32gb capacity nowadays, and hopefully i can find one
Here’s another dumb question . . . . Can I use an iPad to listen to music and watch movies? If I was getting an iPAd anyway, is there any reason I’d want another player (other than perhaps the convenience of a smaller device).
yes, ipad, ipod, and iphone all play music / movies / apps
aside from device size, consider battery life as well. i use a separate mp3 player from my phone because my phone battery life since the screen is so big and fancy. therefore, i am not draining a SINGLE battery for MULTIPLE uses. just a personal preference though.
I have a 64 gig iPod Touch. One thing you might want to consider is the actual interface of the mp3 player you buy. It’s not tactile-friendly like the other player mentioned previously, so I have to look at the screen to skip to the next track, pause, etc. I know this sounds trivial, but it can be annoying if you are exercising or something. There are physical volume buttons though.
I had a 1st-gen Sansa Clip which didn’t have much storage space. Newer ones have microSDHC slots, and those cards are getting cheaper all the time. But the physical buttons were great because I could control it better without my complete attention. And it has better sound output than the iPod (so I’ve read).
With movies, the iPod/iPad will only play .mp4/.mov files. So if your current movies are in a different format, you’re going to have to convert. There may be 3rd party apps that can play more types, but I’m not sure.
Classic 160gb ipod. Almost full… Amazing battery life. I only charge it every so often throughout the week. Pricey (250-ish), but it’s well worth it.
Of those CD’s I’d only upload the complete albums if it’s easier than doing individual songs. Otherwise, I’d be lucky to get even 3 or 4 songs that I give a crap about on most of those discs.
It’s all the same process.it’s just as easy to upload an entire album as it is to upload 3 or 4 songs from a disc.
The process is all the same. Insert a disc to cd drive. open a program (usually itunes) that will convert the songs on the disc to Mp3s. you can select to make the entire CD an MP3 or you can select specific songs you want to make MP3s. make the desired songs MP3s the drag them over to your ipod.
Done
Late,
grmpysmrf
I have an 80 GB ipod (not a touch screen) and a 16 GB iphone 3GS (touch screen). I sometimes use the iphone to play music or video (work or on a flight), and I agree about the touch screen interface being a PITA when you need to instantly access the pause button. I also agree with Wempathy about the skull candy headphones being much better sound quality and fit than the ones that come with the iproducts.
My iphone is 2.5-3 years old and it is going to need to be replaced shortly (it has issues sometimes and the battery drains faster now than ever). The ipod is 7 years old and is still going strong.
I HATE touch screens.
If you have a smart phone, google music is your best bet. It’s free and web based, so you can stream it via the web through your phone and not have to worry about how much free space you have. Also, it hardly uses any data at all. It kick’s ass!
Well so far all I’m hearing is you want to get a new MP3 player, and maybe one to watch movies on.
A better question I might have is do you have a smartphone, and if so what do you use it for? Most phones let you watch movies easily at this point, so if you want an MP3 player just for an MP3 player, get a Sandisk Zip Clip.
The 4GB model is $40 bucks, and when you buy a 32GB Micro SD card ($30 value) it becomes a 36GB player because it has an SD slot. Also has sections for podcasts, FM radio, etc. The beautiful thing is that if it becomes damaged, you can take the SD card out (your music is saved, no risk of losing files), buy another one, and you’re only short $40…fat chance though, I have dropped mine several times and it doesn’t even have scratches. Oh and it plays FLAC!
If you want music/video…get an older iPod w/Video. Do never get a Touch - if the headphone jack gets screwed, it costs a fortune to get it fixed. The older iPods are easier to replace their parts, literally 10-15 mins of your time and a few bucks plus no risky damages.