Help buying a decent MP3 player

[Pedro H.]

Hello, guys!
I've been thinking about buying an iPod touch (in great part because of its charming design and Last.fm official scrobbling feature), though I think it's better for me to do a more rational business, so I came here to ask you for help... I'm a beginner and I don't know almost anything about players with a good sound quality.
The only requirements are support to Last.fm scrobbling and a capacity of at least 16 GB. I don't watch videos and there's no need for bluetooth or something like this. A good and friendly interface would be nice too... Sorry for the simple post (i'm a newbie on media players ) and thank you for your attention!

[The DarkSide]

Telling us what country you live in, as well as what your willing to spend, that would allow a better assessment of what we could suggest for you.

[Pedro H.]

Originally Posted by The DarkSide

Telling us what country you live in, as well as what your willing to spend, that would allow a better assessment of what we could suggest for you.

I live in Brazil... I think I'd have to import it through eBay or some other website. Well, sincerely I have no idea of how much a good player would cost Maybe I could spend $200~$250.
Thank you!

[Pedro H.]

Sorry... Any hints?

[lestatar]

FYI, I can scrobble on last.fm with all my Rockbox players [Fuze and Toshiba Gigabeat FX] as well as from my Sony E345 via lastfm. scrobbling applets.

Your budget is quite good and will easily net you a great sounding player. Consider Cowon J3 or older, slightly less capable S9 for a deluxe, full featured, awesome sounding, touch screen player. The Cowon i9 is also quite a nice player by all reports and to my ears [but I am anti-touch controls so YMMW].

Are you interested in videos, seems not so much? Or only care about music and sound? Do you need/want touchscreens/touch controls? Need/want microSDHC expansion support?

Many folks are speaking well about the recent Archos players, the 32 and the 43. Not sure about price range though and may be beyond your budget.

Sony is always a safe bet IMO. Excellent Sony sound enhancements and out of the box, in stock form, it has the most pleasing sound signature to me. Not so much uSDHC support though and top tier models can be expensive. But the S75x and the E series are great values IMO and both look great, competent interfaces and features and both have limited video support.

Then there are the faves here on ABi, the Sandisk Clip+ and Fuze. The Clip+ is a mini-marvel, awesome sounding, tiny, durable, microSDHC support, but is no frills [text only screen, ~12 hours battery life]. The Fuze is pretty much the same as the Clip+ but wider, slightly flatter, with no clip, has a graphical screen so there is Album Art support and offers around 20 hours real world battery life.

And of course, both the Clip+ and Fuze are Rockbox capable. But that is a whole other discussion. And best of all, both the Clip+ and Fuze are pretty damm reasonably priced, though of course, your Brazil location may obviate that.

But whatever player you choose, no matter how much you spend, if you use shitty headphones, you will get shitty sound.
Keep that in mind!

cheers and HTH,
-les

[The DarkSide]

Psst,...go w/lestatar's Archos 43 suggestion - all that android goodness is a win-win!!! I would know, since I've got an iPhone 4 and an Archos 70. For the price the Archos 43 is a better buy IMO.

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by The DarkSide

Psst,...go w/lestatar's Archos 43 suggestion - all that android goodness is a win-win!!! I would know, since I've got an iPhone 4 and an Archos 70. For the price the Archos 43 is a better buy IMO.

And currently down to $219.97 on Amazon.com. (You know you want one!)

[Pedro H.]

Oh, I'm really sorry, I was traveling and could only reply now

Originally Posted by lestatar

Are you interested in videos, seems not so much? Or only care about music and sound? Do you need/want touchscreens/touch controls? Need/want microSDHC expansion support?

I don't really care about videos... I mean, I would almost only listen to music and don't really need expansion. But it would be fine, since it must be hard to find a PMP with a ~30GB capacity without memory card support...

Originally Posted by lestatar

Many folks are speaking well about the recent Archos players, the 32 and the 43. Not sure about price range though and may be beyond your budget.

Yeah, I've been reading about them and found it really interesting. I know a guy who have already saw them for sale on a Brazilian store, so I might be buying them

Originally Posted by lestatar

But whatever player you choose, no matter how much you spend, if you use shitty headphones, you will get shitty sound.
Keep that in mind!

Yes, also, this is not something for this thread, but I might be looking for a substitute for my Audio Technica CKM-30 soon...

I've been taking a look at the SanDisk players, but I think my budget allows something more "interesting"... So I'll check a bit more on the Archos and Cowon. Thank you, Les, your post was really helpful!


Also, thank you DarkSide and Marvin, the Archos 43 really seems to be a pretty good choice!

[lestatar]

Glad to try and assist - its what we are all here for

Do let us know what you decide!
-les

[Olley]

A decent player? Your idea of "decent" may be different than mine in the U.S., but Apple is the only company working to keep porn away from you. At least they ban it from any apps you can buy for the Touch, iPhone, or iPad. If want the right to decide what is good and what is more interesting, then you're in the right place and shouldn't get an iPod Touch.

Get the Cowon J3 if you don't care for email and apps or a WiFi connected player. Get the Cowon D3 if you do. The D3 a little rough around the edges yet, but as much attention as Cowon is throwing at it I don't doubt it will be an amazing player eventually. I may even have to buy one.

[Marvin the Martian]

Porn does look nice on the retina display though.

[The DarkSide]

Originally Posted by Marvin the Martian

Porn does look nice on the retina display though.

Yeah, it sure does,...

[deadohiosky]

*sigh* right now i'm wishing the reputation system back.

watching porn is a sin. watching pr0n on a 3.5 inch!!! display is the ultimate and eternal sin.

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by deadohiosky

*sigh* right now i'm wishing the reputation system back.

watching porn is a sin. watching pr0n on a 3.5 inch!!! display is the ultimate and eternal sin.

lestatar watches it on his 1.9 inch Fuze screen, so I think TDS and I deserve a pass....

[The DarkSide]

Besides, we could always vote you and your "prejudices" into oblivion,...now could't we deadohiosky?!?!?!

[deadohiosky]

hmm... ok.


both of you: your sin gets downgraded to ultimate sin, from ultimate and eternal sin.


lestatar, you are banished from the land.


the land of planet earth.


may your mortal hull be crushed and dissolved by the ever ending vacuum of space and your soul be damned to watch chatroulette "sessions" for eternity.

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by deadohiosky

hmm... ok.


both of you: your sin gets downgraded to ultimate sin, from ultimate and eternal sin.


lestatar, you are banished from the land.


the land of planet earth.


may your mortal hull be crushed and dissolved by the ever ending vacuum of space and your soul be damned to watch chatroulette "sessions" for eternity.

I didn't realize that you were a priest.......my bad!

[The DarkSide]

Rob Halford for teh win!!!

[WalkGood]

Get back on topic guys, the last 9 posts have nothing to do with helping Pedro H. the OP.