Durable player that handles playlists well, with long battery life?

[ruan]

I'm looking for an 8GB (or higher) mp3 player that won't require hours and hours of tinkering to get it work with my setup (a PC running Windows 7).

The most important criteria are:
- easily (comfortably) fits in a pocket
- easily managed with MediaMonkey*
- easily supports creation and management of playlists on the device with MediaMonkey
- long battery life
- resistant to breakage/screen scratching

• Location: USA
• Capacity: 8 - 16GB (but wouldn't complain if even higher GB, obviously)
• Budget: <$200
• Use: mainly for working out; also for traveling (driving, planes, trains)
• Type/Design: AUDIO -- video totally unnecessary!
• Display: display not important -- but prefer something that resists scratching and breakage
• UI/Controls: User interface with tactical buttons, touch or combination of both
• Battery life: maximal possible (certainly no less than 15 hours for audio)
• support for ReplayGain would be nice, but not required
• ideally, able to sync ratings from pc to the player

(*Although I would prefer a player that works with MediaMonkey, since I've already invested a lot of time with MediaMonkey, if there is an alternative player that has all of the other features but does not work with MediaMonkey, it might work for me!)

I always seem to get a player that has rave reviews but ends up not having some feature (eg playlists management) that is actually important to me. So hoping you can help.

[CrowdAds]

[kachumber]

maybe a Sansa Clip+ with microSD?

4GB-8GB + 32GB microSD
very small and portable
really great battery life
perfect for working out
clicky buttons
small but readable screen (not color)
great sound quality
built in clip for pockets/belt
works with media monkey

hard to scroll through a library that is enormous tho as there is no search or sort by letter and refreshing media when you turn it on can take a while with a huge library....

[bikertrash]

The Clip Zip can search by letter and has all the criteria your asking for except maybe long battery life. I get a solid 12 hours out of my Zip.
You might want to check out the Sony E series if battery life is real important to you, but the Zip is unquestionably rugged, easy to use and a 4 gig is under 40 bucks. Add an SD card for whatever size you want.

[Just Some Guy]

Agreed. Sony E-series get's you 16GB, a good physical size and great battery life, while the Clip+/Zip gets you even smaller physical size, potential for way more capacity with a good microSDHC card and still having enough money left over for something else.

If you find small buttons a problem, the Sony might be the better choice. But the Clip has the card slot, which trumps the Sony for storage.

Either way, you're good to go.

[JK98]

Get a 2GB Clip+ for $30(it has a microSDHC card slot). Hopefully at the end of August Sandisk will come out with a new version of the Fuze that has much longer battery life than the Clip+ and a larger screen. It is nice to have more than one player. You will be able to add a cheap 16GB or 32GB micro SDHC card to both of these. The Clip+ is nice for working out due to its small size and built in clip. Battery life on the Clip+ is around 12-14 hours playing mp3 files.

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by JK98

Battery life on the Clip+ is around 12-14 hours playing mp3 files.

Maybe with 128kbps mp3's, or with Rockbox installed....

[Just Some Guy]

I know that microSD cards are easier to work with and save on space in the player, but I do wish more devices would take advantage of regular sized SD cards. The 128GB ones are really coming down in price.

Maybe a future Sandisk player could, I don't know... had an SD slot instead of a microSD slot?

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by Just Some Guy

I know that microSD cards are easier to work with and save on space in the player, but I do wish more devices would take advantage of regular sized SD cards. The 128GB ones are really coming down in price.

Maybe a future Sandisk player could, I don't know... had an SD slot instead of a microSD slot?

I don't think you'll see that. Cameras and computers, sure....but not phones or DAP's. My former netbook that I bought last year had a full-size slot that would accept SDXC.

[JK98]

I used to want a full sized card slot in an mp3 player, however since micro card prices are around the same price as full sized cards except for the highest capacities, I am content using micro cards. Yes, micro SDHC cards seem much easier to drop and damage than full sized cards. Micro cards are so small that perhaps soon enough we may see players with 2 or more card slots.

Recently I started seeing some smaller digital cameras using a micro SDHC card.
The thing I really wonder about is the data integrity of microSDHC cards vs full sized cards. I am much more concerned about this for a digital camera than for an mp3 player. I can't seem to find any data on this on the net. I guess card makers want to keep this a secret. They also seem to want to keep secret how many bits per cell are used for each model of card. I guess many cards today use 3, although some might use 4 or more. I guess the fastest ones that are also very expensive might have 2 or even one bit per cell. The more bits per cell, the less stable the data is, and the the card will wear out with much fewer writes. While a higher number of bits per cell might be suitable for use in a music player where the card won't be written to so many times, and one has backups of their songs on their pc, using cards with more bits per cell for a digital camera of for data backups is another matter.

[Astina94]

Get the best! Buy Sony S series!

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by JK98

Micro cards are so small that perhaps soon enough we may see players with 2 or more card slots.

I really doubt you will see this. Why, you ask? Because then the manufacturers would expect everyone to take your chosen approach of buying the smallest amount of built-in memory possible, which would cut down on the profit margin.

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by Marvin the Martian

I really doubt you will see this. Why, you ask? Because then the manufacturers would expect everyone to take your chosen approach of buying the smallest amount of built-in memory possible, which would cut down on the profit margin.

Not sure that they would make any less, they charge what they think they can get. BTW there's video cams that have 2 expansion slots with very little onboard memory and they're fairly expensive. I'd love to see a dual microDS slot Clip or Fuze (I say Fuze because I don't think the Clip has the space to go w/2) with 2GB onboard memory, Their main business is selling cards anyway ...