mp3 Players

[Scott Hajek]

Can anyone recommend a good, portable mp3 player? Jukebox or memory based. I'm trying to research which would be the best, but the user reviews are wildly inconsistent.

[Marc]

It depends on how much you want to spend. I have an iPod which I'm extremely happy. I have over 3500 songs on mine and that's using only 13GB of the 20GB. And with iTunes it's very easy to buy songs (or download using p2p software) and it all syncs up with the iPod so you're never missing anything. I haven't used Creative's brand but it seems to get decent reviews although the sound quality isn't quite as high as iPod's. But you do save yourself quite a bit of cash.

I would say find stores that let you try these players. Any Apple Store has iPod's out to try. As for other brands I'm not sure but Circuit City, might as well as Best Buy or Micro Center.

[jimbow8]

I have heard that the iPod is excellent. The only complaint I have heard about it is that if the battery goes bad, you are pretty much screwed. A new battery is either very hard to find or very expensive (I forget which). Look into that before you buy one (and let us know).

[Marc]

I have heard that the iPod is excellent. The only complaint I have heard about it is that if the battery goes bad, you are pretty much screwed. A new battery is either very hard to find or very expensive (I forget which). Look into that before you buy one (and let us know).

It wasn't so much as hard to find as very expensive. Apple has heard the complaints and have dropped the price of replacement batteries. It's still something you'd probably want a professional doing as it is pretty tricky to do on your own. And the battery issue was with the first wave of 3rd generation iPod's. The newer ones have better batteries that last much longer.

[jimbow8]

But still not standard AA or AAA batteries? That is pretty lame.

[Marc]

But still not standard AA or AAA batteries? That is pretty lame.

Considering that the typical MP3 player only gets 3-4 hours of play and the iPod gets 8-10 seems to be a fair tradeoff.