Recommend a portable media player

Message

mzilikazi · #1 Post by **mzilikazi** » 2007-05-24 14:08

The wife wants to replace her ipod. I told her I'd find something but I'm coming up short. My requirements are:
Small in size like the archos
No ipods
5G or better storage capacity
She's complaining about the poor audio quality of mp3 so ogg playback would be nice but it's not a requirement. I suppose I could re-rip her stuff at a higher bitrate. uggghhhh.....

I Like the iriver products (small, nice looking, plays ogg) but could not find a small player w/ large capacity. Most small players seem to be only 2G or so.

Thanks for any suggestions!

chrismortimore · #2 Post by **chrismortimore** » 2007-05-24 14:13

I have an iAudio M5L, and it works like a dream. It comes up as just a UMS device, 20GB capacity, 35 hour battery life, and it works pretty well for recording lectures with it's built in mic

And best of all:

iAudio M5L page wrote:Use Mac or Linux? No problem!! iAUDIO M5 is available to be used on Mac or Linux OS

Sound quality is amazing as well. I've been using the M5L for just over a year now, and never had any problems with it.

They have loads of other players, and they are pretty reasonably priced. The website is www.cowonglobal.com

mzilikazi · #3 Post by **mzilikazi** » 2007-05-24 14:41

Wow I just found this awesome Trekstor.
$199 for the 12G model & $169 for the 8G. Check it out:

Supported operating systems
Microsoft Windows® 98(SE)² / ME / 2000 / XP / Vista, Mac® OS X from 10.3.x, Linux® from Kernel 2.4.x

With hardware like this available I have to wonder why anyone buys an ipod. An 8G ipod sells for $245 and has limited format playback. Yeah I know about rockbox but I don't think your average user would care to flash firmware no matter how easy it is.

GMouse · #4 Post by **GMouse** » 2007-05-24 15:18

mzilikazi wrote: With hardware like this available I have to wonder why anyone buys an ipod. An 8G ipod sells for $245 and has limited format playback. Yeah I know about rockbox but I don't think your average user would care to flash firmware no matter how easy it is.

One word, "Marketing".

chrismortimore · #5 Post by **chrismortimore** » 2007-05-24 15:20

GMouse wrote:One word, "Marketing".

I was thinking of a different word: "Idiots".

jml · #6 Post by **jml** » 2007-05-25 03:39

I just purchased a TrekStor unit and it has just arrived. I haven't gotten around to loading songs on it yet, but my first impressions of the hardware is very favorable. Well built, intuitive controls and very light. It does support Ogg format. The reviews of this unit I have read have been very favorable. If you are willing to give up on Ogg format and settle for MP3's then take a look at the Sandisk sansa e200 series, (not the e200r) Its about the size of an iPod Nano, only a little thicker. It also has a replacable battery.

Joe