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Topic: Portable media player recommendations (Read 6185 times) previous topic - next topic
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Portable media player recommendations

I've got an 80 GB iPod "Video" that I bought used in 2008. The battery has finally died beyond recharging, and I'm looking for a replacement. I could get a "new" iPod Video on eBay, but I'd like to know if there are worthwhile replacements at a not-too-significantly-higher price. I need at least 60 GB capacity. My current library is about 52 GB, and I have a couple dozen CDs I haven't ripped yet, so 80+ GB would be nicer. I'd prefer one giant disk rather than removable cards. I want FLAC, or at least Ogg support. I've got no problem installing a custom firmware as long as it isn't an alpha release and can be uninstalled in case warranty support is required, but I'm not a fan of MP3. I've looked at some Cowon stuff on their site, but only because it's a brand I've heard of. I don't know of other brands, or sites that deal with audio stuff, so I'm asking here  What modern-ish media players are available, that aren't phones and don't have horribly small storage capacity?

Portable media player recommendations

Reply #1 –
You could buy a new battery for the iPod. There are a number of tutorials out there, and it seems relatively easy to do.

Portable media player recommendations

Reply #2 –
sansa clip+ or clip zip. although the maximum capacity is only 8GB, it will take a 64GB microSDHC card which are fairly cheap now.

the original firmware supports FLAC/OGG out of the box but i'm not sure if it can support the 64GB cards??

even if it did work, i'd still recommend installing rocbox as it's very solid on these players now and i know it has no problems with the capacity. http://www.rockbox.org it supports more codecs than you can shake a stick at and the most important feature for me is proper gapless playback.

Portable media player recommendations

Reply #3 –
Quote from: petteyg359 on
(...) I need at least 60 GB capacity. My current library is about 52 GB, and I have a couple dozen CDs I haven't ripped yet, so 80+ GB would be nicer.


Quote
I'd prefer one giant disk rather than removable cards. I want FLAC, or at least Ogg support.


Quote
I'm not a fan of MP3.


Don't you think your somehow obscure motives for listening to mostly losslessly-encoded files whilst driving (please do not bother delving into them if they're not TOS8-compliant) are the sole reason why it's been rather difficult to strike a balance between the low price & the huge capacity you're looking for in a single DAP!?

As you've mentioned Ogg Vorbis as an option, all I can say is, by using common sense and sticking to mostly lossy files, the Clip+ already pointed out to you (or most Sandisk DAPs for that matter) would perfectly fit the bill and prove to you that, say, 32GB would not be so "horribly small storage" a capacity as you've previously stated.


Edit: I'd meant TOS8.
Listen to the music, not the media it's on.
União e reconstrução

Portable media player recommendations

Reply #4 –
Quote from: marc2003 on
i'd still recommend installing rocbox as it's very solid on these players now
In case of clip+, there are some problems with audio randomly skipping or glitching with both the µSD and the music files checking out fine in scandisk/integrity checks. Same problem with internal memory (at least in my case). The bug report on rockbox's tracker seems to be collecting dust, as well as related forum threads, so idk if I would recommend getting rockbox for clip+ under those circumstances.

The official firmware has been less that stable last time I checked it, ignoring RG tags despite feature being on and re-indexing the whole library each time you connect it to the PC, which took ages. Battery times were less than rockbox's, as well.


Portable media player recommendations

Reply #5 –
Rockboxed iPod Classic (160 GB). See emCORE and rockbox-ipod6g.zip. That's what I use (in addition to my Rockboxed Fuze+), and it's been working fine lately.

Portable media player recommendations

Reply #6 –
Quote from: andrew_berge on
You could buy a new battery for the iPod. There are a number of tutorials out there, and it seems relatively easy to do.


I could, but I'd still like to know if there are any better players available with at least the same storage capacity. Batteries are cheap. Replacing the drive (since it has started skipping rather frequently) is not so cheap

Quote from: includemeout on
Don't you think your somehow obscure motives for listening to mostly losslessly-encoded files whilst driving (please do not bother delving into them if they're not TOS8-compliant)


Well, you're obviously friendly...    I'm pretty sure I said Ogg is okay, too. I'd much rather have FLAC support on the device for pure simplicity. No need to resort to some annoying library-management iTunes-like application, or to keep duplicate copies of tracks for each format. The quality difference (which really isn't hard to find when you've got a lot of full symphony music) is just a nice side benefit.

Quote from: ChronoSphere on
Quote from: marc2003 on
i'd still recommend installing rocbox as it's very solid on these players now
In case of clip+, there are some problems with audio randomly skipping or glitching with both the µSD and the music files checking out fine in scandisk/integrity checks. Same problem with internal memory (at least in my case). The bug report on rockbox's tracker seems to be collecting dust, as well as related forum threads, so idk if I would recommend getting rockbox for clip+ under those circumstances.

The official firmware has been less that stable last time I checked it, ignoring RG tags despite feature being on and re-indexing the whole library each time you connect it to the PC, which took ages. Battery times were less than rockbox's, as well.

Quote from: skamp on
Rockboxed iPod Classic (160 GB). See emCORE and rockbox-ipod6g.zip. That's what I use (in addition to my Rockboxed Fuze+), and it's been working fine lately.


I've been using Rockbox on my iPod. Seems all the Sansa devices have rather small built-in capacity, and those "Micro" cards are a pain to keep track of. The Fuze+ might work, but I'd have to transcode everything, which is the main reason I'm looking for a high capacity device. Hadn't heard of emCore before; may get an iPod Classic, given the obvious capacity advantage. Thanks.

Portable media player recommendations

Reply #7 –
If you get a large enough capacity µSD you can just stick it in once and forget about it. You can even tell rockbox to start the file browser on the µSD (or any folder, for that matter), or if you prefer using the DB, it doesn't really matter where the files are located.

Portable media player recommendations

Reply #8 –
Quote from: petteyg359 on
Quote from: includemeout on
Don't you think your somehow obscure motives for listening to mostly losslessly-encoded files whilst driving (please do not bother delving into them if they're not TOS8-compliant)


Well, you're obviously friendly...   


Sarcasm. Great! 

Quote
I'm pretty sure I said Ogg is okay, too.


Hence me saying "mostly losslessly-encoded files" and "As you've mentioned Ogg Vorbis as an option".

Again: no need to take it personal and resort to sarcasm by using gems such as  "I'm pretty sure I said" when you obviously wrote it down.

Please bear in mind when you ask for members' advice/opinions through a thread, not all of them are going to take the same approach when replying to it:
some are prone to answer from the top of their heads; some are going to ask investigative questions.

Mine in particular was intended to find out why you actually used lossless at most when it could be the very hindrance why most DAP's won't meet your criteria of price vs. capacity. I may be wrong in my innitial conclusion but that's why I asked you in the first place.

BTW: "The quality difference (which really isn't hard to find when you've got a lot of full symphony music)" doesn't necessarily help, thread and TOS8-wise.

Listen to the music, not the media it's on.
União e reconstrução

Portable media player recommendations

Reply #9 –
Quote from: includemeout on
Sarcasm. Great! 

Again: no need to take it personal and resort to sarcasm by using gems such as  "I'm pretty sure I said" when you obviously wrote it down.


The "obscure motives" and "common sense" bits of your post came across as a bit antagonistic. My common sense says using lossy formats should be avoided, to save on processing and/or duplicate storage, and if you wanted me to elaborate on the "obscure motives", then why not just ask? I'd rather just bypass the issue of whether a specific lossy codec is insufficient for certain types of music or if the bit rate just needs increasing by using lossless in the first place. At least a few players are available with sufficient storage capacity, and I'll just pick among those. I've got 71 Ogg files with an average size of 14 MB, and 1032 MP3 files with an average size of 7 MB. I have approximately 2500 tracks. I'd need 17.5 GB if I went with MP3, or 34 GB with Ogg. I need large storage capacity regardless, so I might as well just go with "huge", and take advantage of the space and use FLAC. If I did go with a Sansa and SD card, do the Sansa devices have notably better hardware quality than an iPod Classic?

Portable media player recommendations

Reply #10 –
Quote from: petteyg359 on
If I did go with a Sansa and SD card, do the Sansa devices have notably better hardware quality than an iPod Classic?


Short answer: not really, no.

Long answer:
  • some Clip+ devices (but not all) suffer from "CPU noise" that can be heard during track transitions.
  • the Fuze+ has some very faint hiss that can be heard with highly sensitive IEMs when no music is playing (but in my experience, it's so low that it's really not a problem). No hiss with "normal" headphones.
  • the iPod Classic has a 5.5? output impedance, versus less than 1? for the Clip+ and the Fuze+; but that figure is low enough that it will hardly ever be a problem (unless you're using some notoriously difficult IEMs like the Ultimate Ears TripleFi 10)
  • the iPod Classic is a little bit louder than the Sansas, by about 3.7 dB.


I own all three devices. I never use the Clip+ (too damn small for me), I use the Fuze+ at the gym because it's very light, and I use the iPod Classic the rest of the time.

Portable media player recommendations

Reply #11 –
Quote from: skamp on
Quote from: petteyg359 on
If I did go with a Sansa and SD card, do the Sansa devices have notably better hardware quality than an iPod Classic?


Short answer: not really, no.

Long answer:
  • some Clip+ devices (but not all) suffer from "CPU noise" that can be heard during track transitions.
  • the Fuze+ has some very faint hiss that can be heard with highly sensitive IEMs when no music is playing (but in my experience, it's so low that it's really not a problem). No hiss with "normal" headphones.
  • the iPod Classic has a 5.5? output impedance, versus less than 1? for the Clip+ and the Fuze+; but that figure is low enough that it will hardly ever be a problem (unless you're using some notoriously difficult IEMs like the Ultimate Ears TripleFi 10)
  • the iPod Classic is a little bit louder than the Sansas, by about 3.7 dB.


I own all three devices. I never use the Clip+ (too damn small for me), I use the Fuze+ at the gym because it's very light, and I use the iPod Classic the rest of the time.


Think I'll go with the Classic, then. Comes out about the same price as getting an SD card and Fuze+, and I know the controls work well. Reviews on the Sansas suggest control accuracy is hit-and-miss per individual unit. Thanks

Portable media player recommendations

Reply #12 –
Got a Sansa Clip+, never had any of the issues mentioned.

Portable media player recommendations

Reply #13 –
Quote from: includemeout on
somehow obscure motives for listening to mostly losslessly-encoded files whilst driving

There's one very good reason for listening to losslessly-encoded files on any portable device and especially in a car: it's a (mostly) off-site backup which you actually care about to keep up-to-date before it's too late. As archival is the number one reason for using lossless coding, I guess this is a valid reason.
Music: sounds arranged such that they construct feelings.