I tend to run about 4-5 years behind the trends. I got a CD player late, and I’m just beginning to explore digital music players. This is primarily to have something smaller to carry with me on my daily commute, with a wider variety of music. Yes, I know about the category killer–the iPod–but I don’t like those. So, I’m curious about what is out there, and what I should consider. Here’s my “ideal” player:
- Works on removable and replaceable batteries. I don’t like players who recharge only through the USB port, or that have a fixed internal battery. When my batteries die on the road, I want to be able to replace them.
- Reasonable capacity. I have a full wall of CDs–probably 1,200 to 1,500. 1GB won’t cut it.
- Reasonable battery life. My current CD player seems to go forever on two AA batteries… for a value of “forever” that approaches 15-20 hours. I’d like that sort of a battery life. This may mean focusing on flash memory as opposed to hard disk.
- Non-proprietary loading interface. One of my biggest complaints with the iPod is that I can’t stand the iTunes interface. I’d like something that can work with a wider variety of non-proprietary interfaces, be that WinAmp, the Windows Media Player interface, or other tools.
- Reasonable user interface. This is where iPod rules. My daughter had a small iRiver, and the two-line interface was a pain, according to her.
- Reasonable price. OK, I’m cheap. I don’t want to pay excess bucks just for the name. So I’m interesting in something that gives the most bang for the buck; I’m also open to considering refurbished (e.g., Apple, iRiver, Creative) stuff.
There seem to be a lot of non-iPod brands out there: Creative, SanDisk, Cowan, iRiver, Toshiba, Rio, Phillips, and many others. How do they rank? There was an ad for the SanDisk 8GB Sansa e280R in today’s paper, but that series seems tied too closely to the Rhapsody music service from Real, so again there’s that proprietary interface, combined with a focus on downloaded music.
Any suggestions?
