A good music player?

I've been wanting to get a music player for quite a while now and now that my sister is going to buy me one for Christmas i want to tell her exactly what to get me. I've been thinking about the iPod Classic because it play's .wav which is what about half of my library is but the one i wanted to get (the zune) doesn't. If anyone could recommend me a player that can play .mp3, and .wav and has at least 4GB of space that'd be greatly appreciated. Her budget is about $250, and i don't need anything other than something that plays those media files. If it has a video player etc. then that's just an added bonus but i don't need it.

 

What's her approximate budget going to be? Do you require anything else besides music playback out of this? (Radio, recording, pictures, video, etc.)

 

What's your budget?

The iPod is excellent for what it does. It integrates very well and only well with iTunes. The iPod is pretty self explanatory so I'll recommend you other ones.

I've heard the new Sansa View is pretty good. I've been looking into that myself. It does play wav and mp3 files and also has the ability to watch videos and view photos. It comes in 8gb and 16gb so that'll fit your requirements.

Just curious. Why all the wav files? Did you record something? Seriously, they're uncompressed and take up a lot of space. I would recommend converting them into mp3.

 

Her budget is about $250 i'd say. Cheaper would be nice but if it's good and costs a little more that'd be fine. Also, i only need music out of it, if it does video or something else too that's just an added bonus. My .wav music is lossless music, that's why i have it. I just though lossless was better when i was choosing it and when i could i got it.

 

Well, the Creative Zen V Plus is awesome, and will easily fit inside your budget. If you want something larger, consider the Ipod Classic, and I've always liked the Gigabeat S as well.

Also, have you considered using WMA lossless instead of WAV? If not, you should think about it.

 

I'm not really good with the conversions and what not so i don't know how to switch it to WMA lossless.

 

WAV = uncompressed lossless

You can always convert your WAV files to a compressed lossless format (such as WMA lossless, FLAC, or Apple lossless) without losing any quality (which is why it's called lossless).

I'm very happy with my Sony Walkman A810 series. I understand that the A810 series and also the S610 series support WAV, although I haven't tried it. Apparently they don't support any of the compressed lossless formats though. Since WAV files are (I think?) untagged, you'd probably have to use the folder browsing feature on the player in order to find the files.

The Toshiba Gigabeat T400 seems like a great 4 gb player too, and it apparently supports both WAV and WMA lossless. The new Zunes support WMA Lossless too... you could always convert the WAV files to that.

 

Well, what would i use?

 

I use Windows Media Player for conversions, it works fine for me.

 

Google. There are some programs out there.

You could also convert to compressed, such as 320 kbps or even 256 kbps. It would be very difficult to hear the difference. Or if it's only a few CDs you could re-rip... and it should pick up the tagging info too, which would be helpful.

 

Shouldn't i use something like audacity instead of WMP? Plus, i mysteriously got all my songs from my fiend who ripped them from CD's and since i moved i can ask him to help me again so i can't re-rip. Plus, i really don't want to go 320 unless i have to.

 

That may be overkill. However, if you have it already and it has that feature, go for it.
I'd check out this though: http://www.dbpoweramp.com/
(I haven't used it myself though.)

 

I've downloaded it, lemme see if i can convert it....

 

dbPoweramp is very limited at what it does and I think it's hard to use with all the downloading codecs and stuff. Plus some features would be disabled after 30 days.

Try out the amazing free "SUPER". It's actually one of the best media conversion software out there for free. Their website's kind of hard to navigate with poor use of English, but really, don't be fooled by their website which makes the software sound like spyware. It's not. The official download link is on this page. Super Go to the very bottom of the page and you'll see a link that says "Download SUPER © setup file". This is one of the most confusing sites I've been to. I had to click, scroll like 4 times just to get to the download link.

This should let you batch convert all your files to virtually any media file format.

 

With poweramp i just converted one of my songs and i can't tell the difference but there isn't that big of a file size difference. I guess if i were going to have to go wit the zune this could work out. I've installed audacity and i'll try what you just told me right now. Wait tell me exactly where to find the download link because i can't find anything related to what you told me to search for with FF search.

 

OMG! They don't let me link to it anymore. Crappy website Anyhoo, you'll have to do it the click and scroll way like I did.

1. Super Go to this site.

2. Go to the very bottom of the page where it says "Start Downloading SUPER ©" Click on it.

3. Click on "download and use" (the blue bold one)

4. Now, scroll to the very bottom of the page where you'll find the "Download SUPER © setup file" link.

5. It should start to download...

 

LOL that SUPER website is hilarious... and they sure hide the download link well!
Looks like a good program though.

 

Back to the original topic, I would definitely recommend the SanDisk Sansa View. I've got its predecessor the Sansa e280 and the sound quality is fantastic. The SanDisk also beats most of its rivals hands down at the capacity available for price.

 

I'd stay away from the Zunes, sorry but I work in sales in an electrical department and we get a ton of returns from broken "creative" Zunes.

I'd say the ipod, wouldn't be so popular if it wasn't a good product.

 

I too am looking for a good player. Must haves: good interface, at least 30Gb, ability to play FLAC and OGG. I'm getting sick of my 30Gb I-pod with its proprietary everything. Any thoughts anyone?

 

Still can't see it.

Dude you kind of, you know. Hijacked my thread. Nice one. Rep.

 

samsung has released some YM-P1..i was testing it at samsung showroom...seems nice..video quality is outstanding...vibrant colours n all.

best of all...it has multi-touch sensors like iPod touch
google it

 

Sorry, didn't mean to. Seems we're on the same quest.

 

Go to this website. http://www.videohelp.com/tools/SUPER_1 There's quite a lot of good comments about the software. 95 votes with an 8.3 rating. Just click on the mirror download link on this page. This time there won't be an excuse of not finding it...

 

I still can't find it. Just kidding.

 

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not, but in case you actually can't find it, click on the below link:

http://download.videohelp.com/download/SUPERsetup200723.exe

 

LOLz I know what you mean now. I was just going to say how messed up your browser was for not being able to find the link and was going to promote FireFox, but now that I saw how you wrote the thing in white.... LMAO!!!

 

I use Firefox anyway. I'm downloading it right now but i'm pretty busy so i'll try it out later on.

 

Creative puts out some amazing players but they don't get anywhere near the press they deserve as advertising is not a priority. I've owned three Creative Zen Vision: M's in the last 6 years and I love them to death. I really can't recommend them enough. Check out this site:

http://www.epizenter.net/

for more info.

 

Yeah, my player of choice is the Vision: M, though due to Calvin's need I think the Creative Zen V Plus is a better choice, all around.

 

Tomorrow i'll check all of these out. Thanks for your help guys, i really appreciate it.

 

Check out the new Samsung P2. Same price as an Ipod, way cooler.

 

Will do, i'm just pretty busy right now, later on today i will have time though and i'll check out everyones suggestions. Thanks for the help guys.

 

thats what i mentioned ...samsung P1 actually

Me:
samsung has released some YM-P1..i was testing it at samsung showroom...seems nice..video quality is outstanding...vibrant colours n all.

best of all...it has multi-touch sensors like iPod touch
google it

 

Just checked everything out and i've thought about it and i think that the zune 80 might be okay after all. If i just convert the songs i have in my library into a supported format then i'll be fine. Thought about the ipod but itunes just pisses me off to much. Any more suggestions would be appreciated also.

 

Zune....haha... even if someone gives it to me free of cost...nah..even if someone pays me to use it i wont...3 days or 3 times play on transferred songs...

 

But if you really like the song there are easier ways to get it...plus i just found out it has touch like the ipod so i won't be missing the ipods cool touch interface.

 

This is a really ridiculous criticism.

They dropped the 3 days restriction; it's just 3 plays now. And that's only on songs received from other Zune users via wifi transfers. Name one player that allows device-to-device wi-fi transfers with fewer restrictions than the Zune. Just one. I didn't think so. Anyway, songs transferred from your PC can be played without any restrictions, just like on anything else.

So if you object to the wi-fi transfer restrictions that much, just shut off the wi-fi feature. You'll be back to not being able to receive songs wirelessly from other users at all... just like with iPods and every other player out there.

 

Yep. I think it's pretty cool, and then if you really like the song you can easily buy it or something.

 

Right now I'm torn between the sansa vision and the new zen. The zen seems to be of higher quality, but I don't really care about video all that much, just the price and the 16gb of flash storage. I wish there were more reviews out though, since I don't trust the cnet reviews very much.

 

I'd go with the creative player with out a doubt.

 

I think CNET's reviews for mp3 players are actually pretty good. For laptop computers... definitely not. There's also a review of the Zen at anythingbutipod.com.

Anyway, the thing with the Sansa View is... it's huge. The Zen is a little bit large but the View is huge. The View does have the nice wheel control though. The Zen's screen is a little bit nicer. I haven't listened to either.

If you are ok with 8 gb, there are more options (I really like my Sony A818), but for 16 gb... I'd probably go with the Zen.

 

The Sansa View is not large in my opinion. I have one in my hand right now, right beside an old Sansa E250. Its a bit larger in height (about the the same width) but is thick as two U.S. dimes stacked ontop of one another.

 

Well the View's width and thickness are reasonable, but it's loooong. (Or tall if you prefer.) It's actually slightly longer in length than a hard-drive iPod Classic.
Here's a comparison:
http://anythingbutipod.com/compare/creative-zen-vs-sandisk-sansa-view-vs-ipod-classic-80gb
But the View is definitely a good price-per-gigabyte for a flash device... and I like the controls and UI... at least for the minute or so I played with one in the store.

 

microsoft zune is amazing player. i have the 30 gig and 8 gig editions. 80 gig ftw if you can find one

 

That's what i'm going for. Ever since i found out it has touch wheel i had to have it.

 

Well, I caved and bought the sansa view, but I think I may end up returning it. It's actually a pretty decent device, and I like the UI, but the sound quality doesn't seem quite as good as my old dell DJ, which was basically a rebranded nomad, so I think I'll go with the creative on this one. Plus the zen takes full sized sd cards, which will likely be cheaper and bigger by the time I really need to add memory. The view is good for my roommate though, since he can use the microSD cards with his phone as well.

 

If I was buying an mp3 player I'd definitely go with the cowon Iaudio7. Some would call me a cowon fanboy. But I've tried pretty much every company's offerings, and I like cowon the best. It plays the most formats, including the ones you said you needed. Has a great battery life, is drag and drop so you don't have to deal with stupid music managers. Has great sound quality. And so far all very durable.

 

...And if it weren't so thick I would very likely have bought it myself.