Portable MP3 Players

[Petros]

I'm looking to buy a portable MP3 player to use when I go running. I'd like to get the kind that you can strap to your arm while you run. I'm thinking about the sonicblue rio s30 or s35, or maybe the philips nike one. Any suggestions? Any others that I don't know about?

Thanks in advance!
Pete

[Telexen]

I suggest staying away from the 32mb ones. I have an old Diamond Rio PMP300...the 32mb just isn't enough if you want even decent quality music.

[Tekk]

I've been looking around too and it seems that to get a decent one (with a MINIMUM of 64MB) you'll be spending about $150. I've seen several brands with 128 out of the box for around that price too. I think one of em was the Rio and maybe some other one called the yepp. Just shop around and you'll eventually find a decent one. Just make sure it either comes with enough memory (I wouldn't get less than 128 personally) or it has expandable memory by the use of flag cards or something.

I know the Sony MD (minidisc) Walkmans are pretty cool and they can hold several hours of music at pretty good quality or less at higher quality. They are a little pricier depending on the model you get. I dont know the big difference between the models but some are about $200+ while the mid range one is prolly closer to $150 but I haven't checked the prices in a while so dont quote me.

Creative also makes the thumbdrive/mp3 player deal. Dont rememebr what its called but it has 128MB and it has the dual capabilities. That's around $150 too.

[chris64]

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...08256385397416

[PETE]

www.iriveramerica.com/products/iFP-195T.asp


I have this & love it. From the reviews I have read it is about as good as it gets. I can also use it as a USB memory stick. Apparently this has the best sound available in portable mp3 players. Sounds unbelievable when hooked to my 'hifi' headphones.


I have the 512 MB version which holds over 100 mp3's at 128bps.
There are 256 & 128 MB versions also that are exactly the same except for the amount of memory.

Did I mention that I love this gadget?

Pete

[willy_ph]

What kind of price range are you willing to work within? That'll really help you narrow down the potential players that you'll be looking at. It's nice looking at them all, but inevitably you have to decide how much you're gonna spend, and that'll be the key to your decision.

[soulja]

i've seen a good 200GB one, i don't know if its true but the mp3 player was close to a size of a regualr hard drive

[Telexen]

Getting the multiple GB ones is unnecessary...you'll NEVER need that much music on one player. Even if you do get it near full you'll never know what you have exactly.

At least 128mb is necessary for enjoyable playback, so you're not always listening to the same songs or swapping songs on the player

I got a Sony minidisc walkman and made a velcro armband for it. I record to the disks with Atrac3 132 kbps compression. The blank minidiscs are about 5 blanks for $10, can be write protected, rewritten 1 million times, and don't get scratched like cds.

I run with it everyday. The discs will hold about 2 hrs, 40 minutes (80 min disc) good quality music. The software is easy to use, but is kind of annoying. I've had no problems with ripping to the walkman from cds or MP3s. The battery life is outstanding. At least 10 hours play with 1 AA battery. It has never skipped.

With the 2hr, 40 min capacity, you could run a fast marathon, but most likely you'll run outta music

If you run 15 miles or less, you'll be fine with this.

Hope this helps!