Help me buy an MP3 player!

[khorrell]

I've finally decided that I want an MP3 player and I'm having a terrible time figuring out what to buy. Your opinions would be very helpful.

I want to be able to listen to music and podcasts at home, while walking and in the car. I'm not much interested in video capability. I'm torn between small for walking and big for more storage capability. I'm also very confused about the various ways to download, such as iTunes, and I'm a little concerned about spending a fortune loading it up with music.

Also, if you know of any great bargains out there, I would be very appreciative.

Thanks for your help.

[72Tiger]

As far as small vs big storage capacity, i would go with a flash memory based player, which will be smaller. The large capacity players are hard drive driven. Hard drives have moving parts, and are going to break. You can still get a lot of music on a flash memory player of 2 or 4 GB.

Other than that, there are all kinds out there. I would hate to recommend the one I have even though I like it, because it would be doing so in a vacuum. CNET usually has good electronics reviews, and user comments. Maybe start there?

[breadandbutter]

Before, I really wanted to buy an mp3 player. The same as you are, I was also confused on what to buy with very many options available around. I ended up buying something simple (1gb) and which fitted my budget..

I think the very first thing you have to consider with is what do you want and secondly, does your budget for it fit.

[pidgeon92]

The player itself is important, but the software you use to load it and organize is equally important. Honestly, I don't think anything can beat iTunes for ease of use (I've used others).

You can load music in a number of ways:

• Rip CDs. The software that comes with the MP3 player should do this for you. With iTunes, it's as simple as putting in your CD, which then appears in the iTunes window, and dragging and dropping the tracks you want into your playlist.
• Download from an online source. iTunes is quick and easy (if you are using an iPod). Amazon.com now has a great MP3 selection, they download quickly and are often cheaper than iTunes.
• There are many online sources of free music by lesser known bands. My favorite is garageband.com. There is plenty of free music on this site, though some bands don't do downloads. iLounge, an iPod website, also has a forum where people discuss places to get free/cheap music: http://forums.ilounge.com/forumdisplay.php?f=71

[USCGamecocks]

Don't get fooled by having to get an IPOD. You can go to Overstock.com and get a comparable MP3 player for half the price in most cases. Look around there.

[starshard0]

If you don't mind regularly changing the songs on a smaller-capacity mp3 player, I would have to reccomend that. Having 12 days straight worth of songs is nice (I guess), but I never listen to most of the songs on my Zune. Having a lower capacity flash drive player is more like having a small cd player that plays nothing but mix cd's you make yourself.

[pidgeon92]

I can appreciate that Apple is considered a great Satan. It is, after all, a premium priced product. I would like to reiterate that iTunes is, however, the easiest software (my opinion) out there to load and organize an MP3 player. I implore anyone who wishes to purchase an MP3 player to try out the software for the kind of player they intend to purchase by going to the manufacturer's website and downloading it before purchase.

[wwstewart]

I found a sweet car mp3 player (it's what I would get)...you plug in your usb flash drive full of songs and it plays over radio. only 30 bucks for the player.

The flash drive can be a cheap one.

Yeah, it's no iPod. I want an iPod.

[jkuo13]

You can't beat an Apple iPod for ease of use, but you do pay a premium for it. I'll second the suggestion of a flash-based player. Unless you're a serious music lover constantly listening to music, you won't really need a huge hard drive based player. Also, make sure to get a player with a screen so that you can see what's playing and scroll through your choices. Don't get a player without a screen if you want to be able to select what song/podcast to play next.

I personally use a Sandisk Sansa since it's a lot cheaper and meets all of my needs. I only listen to podcasts, and the engineer in me doesn't mind the slightly clunkier interface.