[churros]

Since the iPod is dead, has anyone found an old-school solution to the mobility problem? I have a big collection which I'm not getting rid off, and dislike streaming.

[Elster]

Good ol mp3 player with micro sd slot?
Micro sd with your selection to load on your phone?

[Repo]

Just buy a phone that supports micro sd and load all your songs on your phone.

[RatInTheWoods]

They still making MP3 players that you can just drag and drop your mp3s on.

I never did like Itunes, always stick with a usb stick mp3 player

[Suits]

Just buy a used smartphone and use it exclusively as a music player.

[roberto]

Don't mean to go all SJW, but how is this even a question in 2017?

[churros]

(05-08-2017 03:11 AM)roberto Wrote:  

Don't mean to go all SJW, but how is this even a question in 2017?

I listen to very particular music, and they don't have it online. Streaming is only good for background music and casual listeners. I also don't like needing to be connected 24/7.

[roberto]

(05-08-2017 09:39 AM)churros Wrote:  

(05-08-2017 03:11 AM)roberto Wrote:  

Don't mean to go all SJW, but how is this even a question in 2017?

I listen to very particular music, and they don't have it online. Streaming is only good for background music and casual listeners. I also don't like needing to be connected 24/7.

What I mean is, I don't think you can even buy a phone these days that doesn't have MP3 capability

[Guitarman]

Why not just buy an iPod touch?? They are still available and can now get up to 128gig capacity.

I still use my gen 3 I pod from 2003 in my car.

[churros]

I don't know. The battery on these phones is so bad, I just don't trust them as stand alone music players. Maybe I'm wrong. The SD card looks like a good option.

Ipod touch looks interesting. Isn't a massive amount of storage though.

[churros]

I tried uploading my library to google music once, but that was a pain in the ass, and in the end you're still streaming.

[Guitarman]

You can get a lot of MP3 files on 128GB of storage! And I believe the iPod touch has a much better battery life than the iPhone, especially if you don't use the wifi feature much.

[DJ-Matt]

Back in the day before I had an iPod I owned several Archos Jukebox players. They had four little AA NiMH batteries (user replaceable) and a small spinning HDD inside, 2.5" laptop drive I think.

Pretty bulky but I had 20 GB of music when people were carrying around those shit 1 GB players or CD discmans. Anyway I'm getting off on a ramble:

There was an alternate firmware developed for the device and eventually others called "Rockbox", it added lots of great functionality. My favorite was the audio processing features like an AGC leveler to keep the volume even. Rockbox is still being developed today and for even more devices now. Archos no longer makes the old bulky jukebox however SanDisk has a line of tiny MP3 players called "clip" that it runs on.

https://www.rockbox.org/wiki/WhyRockbox

The reason? Some people don't want to drag around their expensive or heavy phone when working out, or doing something where you'd break it! The SanDisk clips are cheap and have massive storage.




Also unlike cheap MP3 players or the SanDisk default firmware, these will play lossless FLAC files!

[churros]

Looks cool, but I don't understand, you can install rockbox on other mp3 players or what? Volume levelling would be nice alright.

[debeguiled]

This thread will go nowhere until you say how much you want to pay, how much storage you need, how important sound quality is to you, what size you want the player to be, and whether or not you need to be able to play many different types of files, like ogg, flac, or Apple files(Are these proprietary, or will other players play them?).

[churros]

Ideally not more than $250 for just an mp3 player. I saw some options for like $500, but come on...

Sound quality is very important. Size not so much.

Storage is important, because I'm tired of playing musical chairs with my files!

[debeguiled]

(05-08-2017 02:18 PM)churros Wrote:  

Ideally not more than $250 for just an mp3 player. I saw some options for like $500, but come on...

Sound quality is very important. Size not so much.

Storage is important, because I'm tired of playing musical chairs with my files!

Best mp3 Players of 2017

I got my eye on this one:

https://www.cnet.com/products/astell-kern-ak-jr/review/

Not as active in the past, but I found the perfect player for myself on this forum a few years back:

Anything But iPod Forum

[churros]

This looks nice! Will definitely look into it.

And a whole forum dedicated to mp3 players – that is pretty cool!

What did you go with, in the end?

[Seadog]

(05-07-2017 10:28 AM)churros Wrote:  

Since the iPod is dead, has anyone found an old-school solution to the mobility problem? I have a big collection which I'm not getting rid off, and dislike streaming.

What exactly is the "mobility problem"? Having to take a backback full of tapes around with you for your Sony Walkman?

This problem has been solved with the introduction of the portable MP3 player in the late 1990s. I remember Diamond Rio was popular amongst my nerdier friends at the time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_PMP300

They're to the point now that you can get one for not much more than the cost of the memory. I got a 512 Mb one for free once with a car stereo. I bought one around 2005, 128 Mb, didn't have LCD beyond title/length/song number stock ticker style, and a AA battery lasted for months.

I'm on the side of Reberto here. This is along the lines of me posting a thread about the "general mobility problem" asking people how they get around cities nowadays given that condo living isn't conducive to having horse stables.

[monster]

Found a few for you:





These even have skip protection!

All you have to do is record your mp3s on tape and CD.

[DJ-Matt]

(05-08-2017 02:18 PM)churros Wrote:  

Ideally not more than $250 for just an mp3 player. I saw some options for like $500, but come on...

Sound quality is very important. Size not so much.

Storage is important, because I'm tired of playing musical chairs with my files!

That's the main reason to get a SanDisk, they are regularly on sale for ~$25 and sometimes come with an SD card, I seem to remember the internal storage is less than 1 GB so it's all on the card. It's one of the cheapest options to run rockbox.

[ChrisGaines]

I'm not really up on new tech, but what's wrong with an iPod? You can get a Nano for what--$150? Less for an older version. That should solve the issue--all you need is a device to store your library, right? Small, lightweight...seems like it would work just fine.

[debeguiled]

(05-08-2017 02:38 PM)churros Wrote:  

This looks nice! Will definitely look into it.

And a whole forum dedicated to mp3 players – that is pretty cool!

What did you go with, in the end?

Well, this was a few years back, and from what I can see, these are no longer available, but I got one of these bad boys:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Samsung-YP-P3...about-item



It was the Samsung YP-P3

Came out about the same time as the first iPod touches, but was just for music, though it could play video, had like, 8 GB of storage. It was three inches by four inches and a little thicker than a pencil. Great sound quality, when you played flac files you could hear the musicians fingers squeaking on the guitar strings.

Unfortunately, no longer available, so unless you find a used one in some dusty corner of ebay, not much joy there.

Still, the Anythingbutipod forum was where I found it, because I wanted something small and light with good storage and excellent sound for the price, which it definitely had, and it would play just about anything you threw at it.

They also recommended the SanDisks, like DJ Matt did, as well as Cowon players.

It's worth taking your time looking.

[debeguiled]

(05-08-2017 04:33 PM)ChrisGaines Wrote:  

I'm not really up on new tech, but what's wrong with an iPod? You can get a Nano for what--$150? Less for an older version. That should solve the issue--all you need is a device to store your library, right? Small, lightweight...seems like it would work just fine.

I don't think he wants to dealing with that controlling bitch, iTunes.

[churros]

I'm intrigued by the SanDisks. Anyone come across a tutorial on how to set it up with rockbox? Otherwise I will just dig around on that forum.