Music on the move...

[Rubber Bullets]

Hi,

Just got a new job that'll mean me spending 2 hours a day on a train a couple of times a week. This means I'll be needing some way of listening to music, to update my old cassette walkman!

Basically I don't want to pony up for an iPod or anything that expensive, perhaps I could go to £150 for this, but even that is more than I would like to spend.

On the other hand 128Mb and 256Mb players are far too limited and so I certainly don't want them.

A 4Gb or even a 1.5Gb Muvo would do in principle, but they are pricier than the 20Gb player above.

All in all this leaves a personal CD player. There are certainly MP3 playing versions of these that are way cheaper than the hard drive based players, there is a size drawback, but this isn't of great concern on a train.

So what are peoples thoughts? Are there any decent MP3 playing personal CD players or are they all crap anyway?

Any input very welcome.

RB

 

[old.user4556]

Can't answer your question directly, but I've tried the following for music on the move; maybe it can help you make a decision:

Archos 20 Gb thing
New iPod 20 Gb thing
iRiver 40 Gb thing.

My opinions:

The Archos has a shit menu system, bulky, cumbersome and plain shite - don't waste your time/money (it's expensive too).

The iPod is absolute sex, very stylish, intuitive menu but I believe you need to use iTunes to move songs to it. It's the one i'm going to go for (£215).

The iRiver has bags more space, but like the Archos it's bulky, black and the menu system felt a bit guff. However, it's a case of sticking it into a USB2 port on the PC and simply dragging files across - a lot simpler than the iPod.

There is the MuVo 256 Mb for about £90, should be good for about 4 hours of music at 128 kbps. Should do you ok for the train if it's only a couple of hours a week? It's also pretty small/light.

Get the iPod

G

 

[mookie]

The iPod is absolute sex, very stylish, intuitive menu but I believe you need to use iTunes to move songs to it. It's the one i'm going to go for (£215).

Get the iPod

There are a few other programs that let you put music on the iPod(xplay and ephpod for one..) but if you're planning to put your whole collection on there i highly recommend you use itunes and sync, because its the best as for getting hold of one, get a hold of Xtro as he is (was?) selling his 3rd gen 20gb otherwise ebay is your best bet, the 2nd hand price of 3g models have dropped since apple released the 4th gen ones.

 

[harebear]

I got a 4th gen 20gb ipod and from reviews etc it seems they are alot better (on battery time etc) than the 3rd gen ones. Itunes is also great for playing music, it updates from your media folders automatically and then puts the music onto the ipod (very quickly) as soon as it sees it. Another bonus with itunes is that you can buy music kinda cheap, and it has almost every band in the world! (nearly)

 

[mookie]

another thing to note is that you dont get the dock or the wired remote with the 4th gen 20gb, so you might be better looking for a cheaper 3rd gen 20gb which includes both, or for around the same price as a new 4g 20 i'd imagine you could pick up a 3g 40 from ebay.

 

[Tom]

Can I make a suggestion here? Whatever headphones you get, try and make sure they're as quiet as possible to the people around you. Its a long time since I used public transport, but I remember it being very annoying when somebody next to you had loud music on, and you could hear it.

 

[mookie]

Can I make a suggestion here? Whatever headphones you get, try and make sure they're as quiet as possible to the people around you. Its a long time since I used public transport, but I remember it being very annoying when somebody next to you had loud music on, and you could hear it.

also works the other way around tom, i'd rather not hear the bunch of 16 year old girls at the back discussing how drunk they got on cheap cider last night

i've got a pair of sony ex71's in-ear things (theyve been discussed a million times before, use the search tool ) I get excellent sound isolation and theyre far friendlier to other trasport users than those open-ear types.

 

[Naetha]

I've got an iPod mini and it's great, although it does have its drawbacks - battery life of 8 hours is ok for a 2 hour commute each day, but sucks if you want to listen to it at work, as you can't charge it up and listen to it at the same time. If something happens to your hard drive, like you format it, you can't sync your iPod with your computer again (afaik anyway - I've tried and all it did was threaten to overwrite it all). Having said that, it is very nice - 4GB is fine for the casual-serious music listener, and the sound quality/ease of use etc is absolutely great - much better than most of the 256mb players. If you can afford it, go for an iPod, but it helps to be flexible with stuff like battery times

 

[Rubber Bullets]

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to reply.

So far all the answers are going above the £150 limit, I may be forced to do this, but has anyone had any exerpience of the personal mp3 CD players?

Tom, I know exactly what you mean, don't worry I'll not be adding to the noise pollution, unless someone next to me starts talking very loudly into a mobile phone

RB

 

[tRoG]

iPod Mini. It has games, too!

 

[harebear]

So does my 20g one!

 

[Naetha]

As for mp3 CD players we have one in our car and it is good, but still not as good as a harddrive one (iPod etc). Personally I don't like CD players because of their size - you can't fit them in your pocket, and then you have to carry CDs around with you too. You can fit about 150 average songs on a mp3 CD, so in that respect it's great, but you can't beat having 2000 songs on one machine that's smaller than most mobile phones (ok ok maybe not, but I have a big mobile phone )

You can also get mini mp3 CD players - I used a friend's for a bit, but got really annoyed with it - the CDs have to be bought online as you can't get 4 inch CDs in PC World, and obviously as you cut down the size of the CD, you cut down the number of songs on them - I found I could only get about 40 tracks on one mini CD.

I wouldn't trade my iPod mini for anything - and I think it's worth the extra £50 to get something that is exactly what you want. You can also get some pretty funky accessories now, like in-car kits that do let you charge it up while listening to it - iTrips that broadcast what's playing on your iPod on a FM radio frequency that you can pick up with any FM radio within 30m (illegal in the UK, but they still sell them and nobody seems to give a toss )

If you have any doubt try and meet a friend who has an iPod or go to an Apple shop and have a play with one (I think some Virgin megastores have them too). Ooh another thing - the iPod headphones look shite, aren't that comfy but are the best music quality you can get for under £50.

Any questions just give me a pm - I'm addicted to music, drive a lot, and get to listen to music at work - I'm also very picky about the way I listen to it so have tried most gadgets

 

[TheJkWhoSaysNi]

I've been in this exact same conundrum.

There seems to be nothing in between the Hard Drive MP3 players and the small USB memory stick ones.

The best value large mp3 player i've seen is the Creative Nomad 3: http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...WN0X3Byb2R1Y3Rfb3ZlcnZpZXc=&product_uid=43339 I'm gonna get one of these

 

[gimpchimp]

I looked at that website you linked to J. At the bottom was:

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=56939

Surely that'd be an alternative that holds enough mp3s and isn't the same size as a regular CD player?

 

[Rubber Bullets]

That is a very good price for a Muvo 2, and very tempting. My other alternative at the moment is this. I can get it along with a cheap 1Gb card for about the same money as teh Muvo. Not as much memory, but more than enough, plus better flexibility, as I can use the card in my camera when required as well.

By the way Mookie, those Sony ex71's. I have read good things about the sound quality and isolation, but have also heard concerns about how long they last. How long have you had yours and have you had any trouble with them?

RB

 

[Bullitt]

Have you considered internet mini-disc players? They can transfer .mp3 files to minidiscs and with some using LP4 you can cram quite a few onto a single disc....plus they looks so futuristic and cool!

However i'll be trying to get rid of mine so I can get meh grubby mits on an ipod.

 

[mookie]

By the way Mookie, those Sony ex71's. I have read good things about the sound quality and isolation, but have also heard concerns about how long they last. How long have you had yours and have you had any trouble with them?

RB

i've had no problems so far with the ex-71's(had them about 6 months), but before those i had a pair of ex-70s and they needed cleaning almost every time i used them, they'd just get bunged up with earwax. the 71's dont have this problem.
the only bad thing i would say about the 71s is the coating on the actual cable is too 'sticky' and they get tangled easily in your pocket. but if you take good care of them otherwise you should have no problems otherwise.

 

[Bodhi]

Have you considered internet mini-disc players? They can transfer .mp3 files to minidiscs and with some using LP4 you can cram quite a few onto a single disc....plus they looks so futuristic and cool!

However i'll be trying to get rid of mine so I can get meh grubby mits on an ipod.

I was going to suggest one of these. A friend has just had a Sony Net MD Recorder for 140 quid which allows you to put 40 albums on one 1Gb minidisc. You can also store documents, jpegs and other files on them. It's even smaller than an IPod and has theoretically unlimited song sotrage space (need space for another 40 albums - just buy another minidisc). Don't see the point in spending the extra on an iPod tbh.

 

[Doomy]

I was going to suggest one of these. A friend has just had a Sony Net MD Recorder for 140 quid which allows you to put 40 albums on one 1Gb minidisc. You can also store documents, jpegs and other files on them. It's even smaller than an IPod and has theoretically unlimited song sotrage space (need space for another 40 albums - just buy another minidisc). Don't see the point in spending the extra on an iPod tbh.

LP4 qualitywise is like listening to 64 kbps wmas, awful......

LP2 is pretty decent and what i chose before i had my mp3 player.

Ipod or Zen USB 2.0 for happiness, Zen for money value.

 

[JBP|]

we have a zen 30gig atm we have just over 1700 songs on it and have only used 6 gig of space.

we also have the car adaptor thingy that plugs into the cassette player so now i can driver for 600 miles and not have to listen to the same song twice

 

[Bodhi]

LP4 qualitywise is like listening to 64 kbps wmas, awful......

LP2 is pretty decent and what i chose before i had my mp3 player.

Ipod or Zen USB 2.0 for happiness, Zen for money value.

This isn't LP4 tho, this is putting the tracks on the minidisc as mp3's, so in theory, you can put the tracks on in bitrate you like.

Ipod for fashion victims with more money than sense, Zen for people with big pockets and a penchant for carrying round bricks.

Minidisc 4 teh win.

 

[EvilMonkeh]

look at aria
they do a creative zen XTRA 30gb for 160 notes.
i just bought the zen touch 20gb from amazon, and it is very nice.
Aparently the xtra has better firmware, and ofc it is bigger in terms of storage.
the touch is just a little smaller, and has a 24 hour battery life (xtra 16 hours).

i would recommend increasing your budget by 10 quid if you havnt allready bought something