Advice on first ever mp3 player

[Warlord88]

• Budget: $50-100. Can stretch it to 120-ish if it's really worth it.
• Use: Traveling, working out, studying/working in cubicle (don't want any surrounding chatter).
• Type/Design: No idea of design. Video watching is not a priority.
• Features: Radio and ability to create playlists on the fly. I just bought a Sony Walkman for someone and discovered that I cannot just create a playlist on the walkman. Creating it on computer and transferring to the player just doesn't cut it.
• Display: Display is important. I should be able to navigate to any song via it's album/artist/title easily.
• UI/Controls: Doesn't matter. Read above.

I'm looking to buy my first every mp3 player and don't want an ipod (hence this forum ). Above are my very basic requirements. Any kind of opinion will be greatly appreciated, especially since I'm an mp3 n00b.

[CrowdAds]

[IDvsEGO]

playlist requirement kills tons of players. the sansa has a single playlist you can add files to on the fly. if that is enough, get a clip+ and a memory card...and have enough left for a decent set of IEMs. without knowing your musical preferences I would suggest the following...

Clip+ 2gb for $30
32gb SD card for $65
Meelectronics m6 $20

[Warlord88]

Originally Posted by IDvsEGO

playlist requirement kills tons of players.

Really? I would have expected it to be a pretty common feature. Oh well.. If I could get any 'cool' features in lieu of this, I'm open to it as well - within the price range of course.

Not sure why you asked for musical preference, but I typically listen to rock/metal.

Size shouldn't be an issue. 8 GB is sufficient for me so that I won't have to buy additional card.

Thanks for the reply, man.

[lestatar]

^ warlord: Yes, sadly OTG playlists [on device playlist creation] is not necessarily a common feature in many players these days. Makes me sad too...

Agree with IDvEgo. Clip+ gets a lot of love around here as a terrific low-cost, excellent sounding, durable, no muss no fuss player.

[IDvsEGO]

I asked about musical preference in regards to the IEM suggestion. If you dont want to get better earphones though, the archos 2.8 or 3.2 could be a cool device for your price range. the clip+ has rockbox and an eq so it might sound better. I still vote to get the clip + and a better set of IEMs. You can make a bigger SQ impact with the phones than the player a lot of the time.

[nodirectionhome]

if you want playlists get a Samsung, otherwise the Clip+ is a great player.

[Olley]

The latest Archos android players have decent on-board playlist ability. The Archos 32it is $140ish.

[Warlord88]

Thanks, guys. I'll look into your suggestions.