need your opinion on what mp3 player to buy

nynaevelan · Post by **nynaevelan** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 10:43 am

Yikes they are very bulky, the size is the one thing I hate about the Zen.

Nyn

MobyGrape · Post by **MobyGrape** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 5:55 pm

nynaevelan wrote: My son has a 80 gb classic but I don't think he will let me erase his music just so I can test the syncing capabilities of MM and he likes ITunes so I doubt he will switch to MM. Nyn

He may change his mind about liking iTunes if he ever gets into more advanced music manager features, or even if he finds another source for music (MP3s from amazon.com etc.).

nynaevelan · Post by **nynaevelan** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 6:21 pm

If you could see the disorganized files and tagging both he and my husband have you would understand that neither is interested in advanced features or moving away from the "simple" itunes. I've finally gotten my husband to use MM but he still hasn't attempted any tagging, playlists or syncing and he's been using it for almost a year. I've given up on those two.

Nyn

Dreadlau · Post by **Dreadlau** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 8:54 am

After reading this threat, I googled the sansa clip...

...and I think I falled in love with it

Probably gonna buy me one today

(the 1go version)

Please can someone quicky tell me if the synching with MM3 works well??

Thanks

Nonreality · Post by **Nonreality** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 2:48 am

If you haven't bought yet here is another idea. The Sansa e200 series. Right now you can find (got mine at woot.com but you have to watch to see if they have it again, one deal a day) refurbished 260's (4Gb) and 270's (6) for cheap. They have new cases and new batteries. I'm really impressed with mine. Had it about a month and love it. The advantages are : Replaceable batteries, great screen, the sound quality is better than my 1st gen Nano with rockbox and my son's 2nd G Nano without rockbox. It also has a microsd slot that integrates seamlessly on the database and you can use explorer drag and drop or MM automated. Most of the refurbs seem to be V1 which can use the Rockbox program as an alternate system. I put it on mine and its great. You can then play just about any codec though some are more efficient than others. Even if you get a V2 the standard system is not bad. One of the cool things about Rockbox is that you can boot into either system so you can still use the original programming. I happened to have a 2Gb microsd in my phone and never really made use of it so it's in the Sansa E270 now so I have an 8Gb flash player for under $80 bucks. When prices come down on 8Gb cards or bigger I'll just upgrade. I bought it on a whim to have another rockboxed player to go with my Nano but now my Nano is going to my son and his is going to his sister.

nohitter151 · Post by **nohitter151** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:15 am

Nonreality wrote:If you haven't bought yet here is another idea. The Sansa e200 series. Right now you can find (got mine at woot.com but you have to watch to see if they have it again, one deal a day) refurbished 260's (4Gb) and 270's (6) for cheap. They have new cases and new batteries. I'm really impressed with mine. Had it about a month and love it. The advantages are : Replaceable batteries, great screen, the sound quality is better than my 1st gen Nano with rockbox and my son's 2nd G Nano without rockbox. It also has a microsd slot that integrates seamlessly on the database and you can use explorer drag and drop or MM automated. Most of the refurbs seem to be V1 which can use the Rockbox program as an alternate system. I put it on mine and its great. You can then play just about any codec though some are more efficient than others. Even if you get a V2 the standard system is not bad. One of the cool things about Rockbox is that you can boot into either system so you can still use the original programming. I happened to have a 2Gb microsd in my phone and never really made use of it so it's in the Sansa E270 now so I have an 8Gb flash player for under $80 bucks. When prices come down on 8Gb cards or bigger I'll just upgrade. I bought it on a whim to have another rockboxed player to go with my Nano but now my Nano is going to my son and his is going to his sister.

Wow, what a coincidence, they're selling these on Woot.com right now! (3/17/2008) Pick one up ASAP if you want one, they're only ~$50.00 (shipped) and will sell only for the rest of the day or even sooner if they sell out!

spacefish · Post by **spacefish** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 4:02 am

nohitter151 wrote:Wow, what a coincidence, they're selling these on Woot.com right now! (3/17/2008)

Ah, too bad they don't ship internationally.

drjboulder · Post by **drjboulder** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 4:10 am

spacefish wrote:
nohitter151 wrote:Wow, what a coincidence, they're selling these on Woot.com right now! (3/17/2008)
Ah, too bad they don't ship internationally.

I Love Woot!
Sorry for no international.
'Course part of the Woot beauty is the "No Matter What It Is" $5 ship, which would not really "translate Internationally".

Dreadlau · Post by **Dreadlau** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 10:43 am

Thanks but too late. i already purchased the clip. though i took the 2gb version.

I'm pretty satisfied for the moment.

Just two things that bugs me.

- the back button doesn't act different then the next one in shuffle mode.
- No rockbox for the clip yet

moonmoon · Post by **moonmoon** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 3:45 am

hope to work out the bugs.

Rockyjocky · Post by **Rockyjocky** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:13 am

I have quite a large library of only flac files, about 1TB. Currently I sync random albums in MM to my 30gb Zen Vision:M to Wma overnight.
After testing it with Wma/Mp3, Wma is the best option for me at the moment with this player IMO.

There's no Rockbox for this player.

I would like to buy a new player which can play lossless files. The ability to play Flac would be great & I am considering the Cowon iAudio 7 but it is not a lot for the money IMO http://www.amazon.co.uk/MP3-MP4-Player- ... 097&sr=1-1

I'm edging towards an Ipod classic 60gb. I assume MM will sync the Flac files on my PC - lossless AAC on the Ipod ok?
As this is lossless - lossless, are the sync times good?

Thanks in advance

Nonreality · Post by **Nonreality** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 10:21 pm

Why the urge to go lossless on a portable? I mean I could see it if you were going to just so you could easily move your flac files to it, but since you are thinking of transcoding anyway why not go lame 3.97 and encode to a 192 variable bit rate. To most people this is transparent, and maybe even 160 variable bit rate. That way you wouldn't need such a big player or you could get the big one and leave room for movies and other stuff. Lossless is great but kinda unnecessary for portable audio players. Try encodings at different bit settings and see for yourself. If you have a friend have him set it up as a kind of blind test, you will be surprised. I've done it on mine and settled on 192 but I think 160 probably would be fine for these ears. Anyway just my 2 cents.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 3:21 pm

I find encoding to mp3 192vbr too slow, in my own tests wma at 100% is faster & sounds better IMO.
As I wrote, if flac support is not widespread, and I opt for an ipod, will tanscoding from flac to apple lossless be faster than transcoding from flac to mp3 or wma?
I was assuming it was as it is lossless to lossless but wanted someone to confirm or put me right if I was assuming incorrectly.
Can MM even transcode from flac to apple lossless? I cannot see it as a option.

Nonreality · Post by **Nonreality** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:07 pm

Anonymous wrote:I find encoding to mp3 192vbr too slow, in my own tests wma at 100% is faster & sounds better IMO.
As I wrote, if flac support is not widespread, and I opt for an ipod, will tanscoding from flac to apple lossless be faster than transcoding from flac to mp3 or wma?
I was assuming it was as it is lossless to lossless but wanted someone to confirm or put me right if I was assuming incorrectly.
Can MM even transcode from flac to apple lossless? I cannot see it as a option.

Just did an unofficial test. Using dbpoweramp I encoded Neil Youngs Tonights the Night from flac to WMA 98% Lame -V2 -vbr -new Standard quality (about 190 bit rate) and Apple lossless. You are right at least in my case. Laptop single core.
WMA 4.05 sec MP3 4.14 Apple 2.19 Your results may vary.

I don't think you can convert to Apple lossless right now in Mediamonkey but I think they are working on that right now. Check in the beta forum.

Rockyjocky · Post by **Rockyjocky** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 9:56 am

The Zen Vision:M I use cannot play Wma lossless files, when I transcoded a Flac to Wma lossless in MM the Zen wouldn't play it.

But, I can use MM to encode a Flac to WMA vbr with quality of 100% & the Zen will play these files.

Surely a Wma file at 100% is itself lossless? Or do I missunderstand something here?

Either way, IMO, the Wma at 100% does sound better than the tracks I used to encode at Mp3 192vbr. If there is a difference between lossless & Wma 100% I might consider looking for a lossless player, but if there is no, or little difference I am happy with this.
Thanks to those who responded to my part in this thread.