mp3 players

Do any of ya'll know of a good mp3 player that doesn't require special software in order to use it? I am looking for one that works like a USB drive that I can load music that is already on my computer onto it and then play that music. Does the Zen by Creative Labs work like that?

What kind of budget are you looking at?

woot.com usually has them for cheap

I think there are some smaller models of the Zen that work through the USB port. They won't hold as many songs, but they are great for working out or commuting since they are essentially flash drives and don't have a spinning hard drive in them.

a few days back on woot they had this: Sandisk Sansa e260

it got mixed reviews and I was heavily debating whether or not to pick one up for a birthday present for a friend or even for myself...

While I guess you can consider iTunes to be special software, there's no problem using MP3s you already have on your computer and using iTunes to sync them to an iPod.

Although I'm no fan of Apple, the iPod is by FAR the best mp3 player out there. I've had several other players before getting an iPod, and the user interface is light years ahead of the rest.

Thankfully, it's now possible to use one without installing the abominable bloatware that is iTunes. Many applications will talk to an iPod, I use Winamp to manage mine.

If you're looking for something on the cheap, I think the Sandisk Sanza is a good way to go. I had one of those, it worked pretty well, plus it can play Windows Media files.

I don't want to mess with I tunes or anything. I am looking for one that I don't have forward through each song to get to the one I want that has around 4G memory. It just bugs me to be forced to use their software when it is not necessary.

I have a Creative Zen Vision M (30gig, so it's bigger than you're looking for).

I love it, and while you do need to use their software for Windows, I think there's a way around it. I just haven't really investigated it. It also works in Linux using Gnomad ...

It's a few years old, so maybe they've changed since then ...

Not to beat a dead horse, but it's not all that hard to use iTunes and it has the added functionality of managing podcasts which if you haven't checked out... it's worth it. I find it's so much easier to manage large collections of files through a media player like iTunes or WM11 than messing around in windows explorer. Playlists are easily created which is how I prefer to manage which songs go on to the portable player when the collection you have is much larger than the player's capacity. You build the playlist by dragging the songs in and then you just tell it which playlists you'd like to sync to your device. It seems like extra work but there's a point where your song collection reaches a size that simple file dragging to disc isn't all that efficienct.

I have an 80GB Zune. It also plays movies, has a radio, pictures, etc.

The only thing I don't like about it is only some of my 90+GB music is not "seen" by the Zune software. Much of my music won't transfer over. I think I need to recopy them or something like that to get them re-tagged.

Maybe they don't make such a thing, but I am looking for something with around 4Gig that any computer will recognize as a drive. Does the SanDisk work like that?

homebrewer_99 said:

I have an 80GB Zune. It also plays movies, has a radio, pictures, etc.

The only thing I don't like about it is only some of my 90+GB music is not "seen" by the Zune software. Much of my music won't transfer over. I think I need to recopy them or something like that to get them re-tagged.

Click to expand...

If the player's navigation system is based solely on ID3 tags (artist, title, genre, etc) and NOT filename, you have to make sure all the tags are at least partially filled in. You can do this in the windows explorer on XP/Vista if you set the folder for "media" and enable the artist/title, etc columns. You just click the cursor over the blank field and type the info in. Of course, if you're ripping songs off your own CDs and have an internet connection, WM11 should retrieve all that for you (at least I know iTunes does this).

Bobby_M said:

If the player's navigation system is based solely on ID3 tags (artist, title, genre, etc) and NOT filename, you have to make sure all the tags are at least partially filled in. You can do this in the windows explorer on XP/Vista if you set the folder for "media" and enable the artist/title, etc columns. You just click the cursor over the blank field and type the info in. Of course, if you're ripping songs off your own CDs and have an internet connection, WM11 should retrieve all that for you (at least I know iTunes does this).

Click to expand...

Thanks, Bobby. I think the problem stems from copying my CDs while NOT connected to the net to get that info...plus I typed in all the information (I have my own system;, e.g., Aerosmith-Dream-On.mp3, ...note the dashes between the words...)

I'll try to remember what you said and see what happens.

I have iTunes loaded, but never used it. Thanks again.

downreactor said:

Zen by Creative Labs

Click to expand...

That is what I have. I got the 1G model a couple years ago and I like it a lot. The single AAA battery lasts a while and it is small. It comes with propriatary software but it is pretty easy to use. I never tried to put anything on it without using the software and it connects with a USB.

I have Sandisk Sansa View. 8 gigs flash memory and it was $150 8 months ago. You can add music or podcasts as it is recognized as removable drive.

Blender said:

I have Sandisk Sansa View. 8 gigs flash memory and it was $150 8 months ago. You can add music or podcasts as it is recognized as removable drive.

Click to expand...

Thanks! That is the one I will look for.

I use a 1 gb IRiver T30, which I love since it has line-in for recording. I record a jazz show from Amherst at night and listen itn the AM ... a great way to discover new tunes..

I would like one which doesn't *exclusively* run on batteries ... maybe I should just buy a laptop (!)

I've got the Sansa E260 (4gb) and love it, I use it everyday and it has never given me any trouble. I also put a micro SD card in it for another 2 gb.

I have an old Creative player that plugged directly into the USB and you could just drag-and-drop with. Very old school, nothing fancy, but worked well and it's been pretty indescructible. It's banged around in my pockets countless mornings, been dropped into the dog's water dish... still works fine. I've got a "better" MP3 player through my phone now (Sony Ericcson), but the Creative player was/is VERY easy to use.

Phone as mp3 player ?

Does it have headphones ? It must sound terrible ...

I work with computers and I still don't have a cell phone or a blackberry .. they wld create too much of a distraction from posting on HBT !

this is $40 or less for 1GB and $50 or less for 2GB. they have downloadable software or you can use it just as if it were a USB zip drive. it also has a switch that you flick to switch between directories so if you want to, put each album in a separate folder and just flick it 'till u get to the one you want. can also use part of the memory for data, of course.

one major downer is that it DOES NOT have a clip on it so u can't clip it to ur shirt like is possible with the little iPOD

I have an iAudio brand MP3 player that works well. With minimal onboard setup, you can get it to interface with the computer like a USB memory stick, so there's no third party software requirement. With a relatively safe firmware hack from RockBox, it works even better!

I love the Ipod player, but HATE the software. I bought some cheap old thing off newegg.com and it worked great. no software to install. Just drag and drop.

I think the Zen will do that. I'd shop newegg.com and see what they have. They usually have some reall good prices and user reviews. I get all my computer stuff there.

http://www.ecost.com/detail.aspx?edp=39402103

looks like a good deal..

There's a woot! off today, so you may want to check that out. I saw an MP3 player earlier today ...

I have my ipod so I can use it on a mac or PC. I can also drag and drop if I want to. Like someone else said Itunes works much better than drag/drop, I have done both. I just don't allow Itunes to sync, I do it manually with playlists.

I think that's the learning curve with iTunes. I think people initially get the impression that they have to manually tell it which files to put on the pod. Either that or it defaults to syncing all songs (which is obviously a problem when you have a smaller drive one and a big collection). Playlists are the key. Make them, then tell iTunes which playlists you want on the player and which ones you don't. Simple. Now, if you've obtained your whole collection illegaly through a peer2peer and have crap for ID3 tags... well, then I can understand wanting a simple explorer drag and drop.

I actually find iTunes to have a really good system for finding the music you're looking for within your own collection. Real time searching is the coolest thing. I also use the "most played" and "recently added" presets for creating my playlists.

How compatible is itunes ? Can you share libraries ? and how easy is it to restore from a backup ?

The way I'd restore the library from a back up is get the source files back in the native folder and the iTunes library wouldn't even know they left. If you restore to a different location, you just go to file, add folder to library and it imports them all back in.

Sharing libraries between two or more iPods? I'm not sure, I only have one. I do know that you can't sync a single ipod to more than one Itunes library without losing what you have on the old sync. Obviously a piracy limiting tactic.

On the other side of the usability spectrum, I have a car stereo that plays MP3 off a USB drive and it's really horrible at file management. It doesn't read ID3 tags at all but rather just deals in filenames and folders. I makes me appreciate the iPod interface that much more.

I have the creative Zen microphoto and Windows XP sees it as a USB drive if you have all the Windows updates installed. I use mine when I am mowing the lawn (put on earbuds and put over ear earmuffs over those--- can't hear the mower, can hear the music.


My Jennifer loves her Zune though.

I have several ipods and use "anapod explorer" to bypass itunes. Anapod is a plug-in for windows explorer... you just drag the music you want from your shared folder to the ipod. It can also resample the music down to a lower kBit on the fly while transferring, if you want. I keep non-compressed music on my hard drive and then compress it down when putting it on the ipod.

http://www.redchairsoftware.com/anapod/

The anapod thing is pretty cool ... I will need to dl for my 16 yr old dau. She overcame the multiple library thing by actually connecting a friend's IPod and playing it in real-time overnight into recording software on her computer. Then, she pulled out the songs she wanted and put them into ITunes..

Whatever it takes, right ?

I use a program called media monkey for all my music .. it seems to like any format, and it is easy enough to move music in and out of the IRiver player. I secretly lust for an IPod

Still, the IPod wins the coolness/elegance contest !

Since you can still use the ipod as a mass storage device, a way around the library thing is to create one huge zip file of all your music and then dump it to your buddy's HD. I can't imagine a worse fate for music that has been MP3 compressed into the original iPod, then D to A to D into another soundcard. Burning a DVD full of MP3s are another option for transfer. Not that I endorse stealing of course.

Transcoding - can make for a nasty mix ..

I think my dau has done that (make a CD, then load into a friend's library .. but why not just play the cd ??)

I have had Sansa stuff for a long time. This one is $39 at Best Buy with a Gig of memory and does not have any cable to lose.



http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8270649&type=product&id=1170290551101