Looking to Buy New MP3 Player

Well guys I haven't been able to find a website like NBR for DAP's so I thought I could use a little help in picking my new mp3 player.

Here are the features I want, they are required.

-At least 8gigs of storage
-FM Radio

Thats it, and I would like it for under $200.

Thanks in advance!

 

you can get the one i currently own for 200 bucks. A 30gig zen vision M. I've had it for about a year and i absolutely love it.

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Crea...43679/catOid/-12952/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

 

Take a look at the Toshiba Gigabeat 30 GB

http://reviews.cnet.com/portable-video-players-pvps/toshiba-gigabeat-mes30vw-30gb/4505-6499_7-31660763.html?tag=prod.txt.1

I'm planning on purchasing this device in the near future; It seems to fit my needs.

Good Luck!

 

I've been looking at the Cowon iAUDIO 7. Its a 8gb(they're coming out with a 16 too, but it isn't out yet) flash based mp3 player. Claims to have a 60 hour battery life, its drag and drop, and of course comes with Cowons great sound quality. I'm yet to check one out in person(Going to order it soon) but it seems like a nice solid player.

 

i suggest the sandisk sansa. i've had the 4gb one for over a year now, and you can get it in 8gb.

plus it has a mini sd slot, for an extra 2gb or so.

 

I'm not going to make any specific suggestions, although the Cowon D2 I picked up recently is very nice. It's only 4GB, but it takes SDHC cards to expand it's capacity.

Perhaps you may want to peruse DAPreview or Anything But iPod for some other suggestions.

 

I second the iAudio 7, anything Cowon makes has excellent sound quality. Two other very good choices would be the Meizu M3 and M6, they sound just as good, support just as many audio formats, and tend to be a little cheaper. They tend to be more traditional in shape, too, that is more like an ipod.

 

hm...can anyone recommend me one?

I am looking for one that is stylish and has good volume and bass, like the iPod but I am looking to be different this time.

 

Creative Zen Vision. Every once and a while they have an 80$ rebate. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16855102012

Best screen in the Mp3 player world

 

Whats the quality of the Meizu compared to Cowon? I like the design of some of the Meizu players a lot, along with the price, but I need a player that is durable.

 

From what I understand, they're durable where it counts, but scratch easily. The M3se, which may or may not have been cancelled in order to focus on the M8, is an all metal design which should improve the scratching. Give that one a couple months, if you're interested.

I think House of DAP is about the best place to buy.

 

I need something that can take a real beating though, 9 hours a day 7 days a week of sweat, dirt, and getting smashed into things. Those Cowon players can take that, but I'm not sure if I'd trust a Meizu... I'd have to try it I guess though.

 

http://www.dapreview.net/ is a NBR-like site for DAPs.
Another good site that's more sound-quality focused is http://www.head-fi.org/ .

I'm mostly happy with my Meizu M6 I ordered from houseofdap.com. I'd be happier if it had on-the-go playlisting (queueing up songs). But it's good overall, and good sound quality. It has an FM radio, but I've never really used it.

Hmmm... the D2 does look more durable. I'm not sure I'd want to subject my M6 to all that... but you could use it inside a rugged case, that would be an option too.

 

I recommend a Cowon D2. These things are awesome. Plus, they have an advertised 50 hours (more like 40 hours, though - still a ton) of battery life with audio and about 10 with video. It's expandable with an SD card slot so it basically can store as much as you like. The sound quality is great, too. I'm a bit of an audiophile and I can attest to it.

Also, you might want to look for a screen protector if you do get the D2, since it is a touchscreen. Invisible Shield and Best Skins Ever are good (basically the same product).

 

Yeah, I'd stick with the iAudio7 or U3 for durability, the U3 was more durable than my X5, and I expect the iAudio7 to be more in line with the U3. The D2 is probably in that same boat, but the big screen worries me.

 

Yeah, I've got some U2's and a U3, and they're both really durable. From Meizu I was more looking at the Music Card. I liked the design of some of the smaller ones, but I don't want one that takes a battery, I want it built in. But I don't think I'll be able to beat the 60 hour battery of the iAUDIO 7.

 

Thanks guys, so far it looks like its between the Cowon iAudio 7, the Vision:M.

Im in a battle of size vs capacity!

Thing is, im not sure if I should wait for the sucessor of the Vision:M.

 

Actually i'm really beginning to think I want 30gigs.

 

Are you active while you use the player? Hard drive players just love to skip and suffer hard drive crashes.

 

It's not so much a question of whether he's active, so much as it is a question of whether he's "quite active" while using it. Most mainstream HD's can handle a reasonable level of stress and movements. I don't worry about my iPod when I'm running, but I wouldn't want to take it, you know, boxing.

 

I've had 3 Creative Vision M's and all 3 of them went out after about 1 year. The last one to go out went out about 2 months ago so that would mean they were purchased about 1-1.5 years ago, I don't know if they've improved since then. But as stated, if your doing activity with them, then the Flash based players are going to hold up better than the hard drive ones.

 

I'm suprised no-one has mentioned the iRiver Clix 2 yet. Great sound quality (which is to be expected from iRiver) plus a unique user interface. You can get it in up to 8GB and that screen simply looks glorious!

 

My Creative Zen Vision M has lasted almost 2 years now. Its crashed 3 times and once I thought was dead but a few days later it kicked back on.

They still have firmware problems they need to really get on the ball about. I love the player. I didnt start having problem until I partitioned a UMD, things went downhill from there.

A few complaints.
-My player LOVED to constantly sync up with my cpu and re-dl all my songs, so i'd have multiple copies of each song hogging up space.
-The UMD storage was small (only 5 gigs) and after I partitioned it it got really buggy.
-The firmware is crap.

Things I loved about it.
-The sound quality was great, but you need decent headphones, had a pair of 20$ sony's that sounded like garbage, switched out to a much more expensive pair and it made a difference.
-The FM radio is pretty good and gets a good signal, you can also 1 button record the radio.
-Recording was pretty good, used this baby for all my accounting classes I had permission to (and a few I didnt) and the quality was great.
-I like the up and down thumb scroller over the circular ones of Ipods.

Im keeping a close eye now on creative, its a quality build and sleek design, just needs some work on the programming side. Next time im probably going to pick up the one with the SD slots, kinda bumbed me out when I couldnt easily transfer photos from my camera to storage, had to transfer them to laptop then to player. :\

 

Ok, well one thing that would do it for me would be if the 8gig flash model had sd card expansion, what players feature that?

Especially if it would support SDHC, pop in a $65 8gb SD card and you got a wopping 16gigs of storage.

 

The Clix2 is not SD expandable. The Cowon D2 is, though.

 

The D2 should have a 16GB version available between September and December, too. Same with the iAudio 7, but it doesn't have an SD slot.

 

The Sandisk Sansa has expandable memory. I like the thing - almost bought one. Got a Meizu M6 instead and love it to pieces. Almost perfect. Great sound, great features... and it doesn't scratch if you leave the film on like you're supposed to. It seems pretty tough, but I wouldn't try to throw it down on a tile floor or anything. So yeah, great little thing. Of course, I've never owned any other mp3 players, so can't really compare them... but am pretty picky about these sorts of things and wouldn't hesitate to return.

 

Yeah I guess it depends on the price as well.

I do not want to pay $250 for a 16gb flash model in that case I would just stick to the Sansa or anything that may be out by then...

 

paying 250 for 16GB is stupid! you could get the zen vison M 60GB for 20 more and the archos 504 80GB for 50 more.

 

While the Sandisk Sansa has expandable memory, it uses the smaller but more expensive MicroSD as opposed to SD memory.

I have, and like the Cowon D2, some pros and cons:

+battery life is good
+has a good eq and sound quality
+It plays all sorts of file formats, which is good because I prefer ogg vorbis over mp3 (rip all my CDs to ogg vorbis), there aren't too many players that play ogg vorbis out of box
+Just shows up as an external drive, no need to use any specific software to upload music (especially important for me since I use Linux). I believe it CAN sync with WMP though.
+Supports SDHC, I have a 8GB card in mine right now.

-It mainly uses the touchscreen, which means it's difficult to use without looking at the player
-touchscreen scratches fairly easily. I've already gotten a pretty big scratch on mine, I regret not getting a screen protector

 

SideSwipe, a couple of reasons to get a 16GB over one of the others:
1) flash memory, not a hard drive. It has less moving parts. Which leads to:
-means better durability
-longer battery life.
-smaller form factor
2) For some of us, 16GB is enough, I personally have a 4GB Cowon D2 with a 8GB SDHC card, and I rarely even use the SDHC card because I pretty much just listen to the music that's in the onboard memory.

Personally, my music collection is only 8GB total anyway, because I don't pirate music (I buy and rip my own CDs), without pirating, having a 30GB+ music collection is a bit cost prohibitive.

 

Agreed. I own the 30GB ZVM... it's great. Never had a problem with it (other than the small little "bugs" that all players have).

 

I noticed, any idea of when a 8gb D2 is going to come out?

If so it would be perfect.

Anyways, im still looking at it, as it may be the one.

Especially if it would support 16gb SDHC is the future.

Now that I have really looked at it more the cowon d2 really looks awesome!

I wont buy an SD card yet but I will once the 8gb prices go down to around $40.

 

Microsoft Zune but if you can wait for the G2 version it would be best. It comes out in time for christmas time

 

I really don't want a hard drive based player, so right now, I'm thinking about buying the D2 real soon.

Buy the 4gb D2 sometime soon.

Then once the 16gb SDHC cards come out the 8gb SDHC card will come down in price and ill buy one of those for a total of 12gigs give or take formatted space.

 

Hard drive players are too fragile for some of us, try running with a spinning hard drive in your pocket. It isn't pretty.

 

I'd be so happy if I could buy a 16GB Flash based Cowon iAUDIO 7 for 250 smacks, I'd do it instantly. Personally I wouldn't get a ZVM again, and the Archos is ok(I got one), the screen is nice on it but I cant use it at work so its basically useless to me since I work 9+ hours a day 7 days a week.

 

Yeah, I was looking at the iAudio 7 too but with only 8gb max and expansion slot its not a buy for me.

 

sorry but 16GB for that much really doesnt sound good to me. i mean i bought a zen V 4GB for $100 and that was alright at the time, its small and can be carried easily. but closing in on 250 i would start looking for value for money and 16GB at that price just doesnt sound appealing.

i even have a sandisk sansa c250 that i barely use since i got the Zen V as well. for video playback on long trips i have my archos, for walking, running, gym i have the Zen V. i doubt you really need 16GB for running, just how many miles you gonna run for? what r u forrest gump? LOL

 

Well I want at least 8gb on board of Flash memory expandable with SDHC cards.

So I think I will wait for the 8gb version of the Cowon D2, unless of course the iAudio 7 introduces a 16gb version for less than $250.

 

Well, I obviously can't use a hard drive player, so at any size or price that isn't appealing to me. 16 gig means all sorts of music, and even some audio books, which are nice to have at times. I'd go with a sansa for less money, but then I'm getting horrible sound quality, and bad build quality. So I guess you just get what you pay for.

 

I have a Sandisk Sansa E280 and I love it. It is a great player and is really small as well. It's great when I am at work since I can just stuff it in my pocket. As others have said you can expand the memory too with micro SD cards. Pretty slick if you ask me. I don't have any complaints about it.

 

Yeah but thats the thing, I really want it to be able to support SDHC cards.

 

i know u said 8 gigs, but the creative vision m is really an ownage mp3 player, lol.

 

I like my Creative Zen Vision M Had it for a couple of months now
Lynn

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16855102226

under $200, and there are tons of sales on these every once in a while. It can get down to $170 at least, but this price is still good.

 

So, lets just say I am at a stalemate between the Cowon D2 and the Cowon iAudio7.

4gb Expandable vs 8gb Non-expandable.

 

Maybe you should just get a ZVM so everyone will shut up about it

How do you feel about two handed operation? You can do a few things with the top buttons, but for the most part the D2 is a two handed interface. On the other hand, I understand that the buttons on the iAudio 7 (not the swing bar, but the two buttons above and below) are somewhat difficult to get the hang of.

a few reviews linked at Engadget.
If you haven't seen them, iaudiophile and dapreview recently posted reviews as well.

 

Yeah, I just watched the review videos on Cnet.

Right now I'm leaning slightly towards the D2.

 

Thanks to all for the info. Perfect timing. I currently have a Sansa e270 and it has worked great with no problems. But now that I've discovered video on the player, I'm looking at getting the Cowon D2. The 2.5" screen sounds great, audio reviews have been great, touch screen sounds good (with a screen protector). May give the D2 a test drive today.

Would be good to know if you can pause/stop video playback and pickup where you left off when you turn it off or use another app. On the e270, you can pause it, but you can't do anything else (music, radio). If you turn off the pause in another app, it turns it off for all.

But the 16GB iAudio7 is sounding attractive too. Rip a few DVDs and you can eat up the memory quickly.