Looking to get an mp3 player, flash based and ideally 16GB.

Really like the old nano but cant stand the new one with the touch screen and its shuffle sized proportions.

There are some Sony’s that look ok and I’ve liked Creative in the past but are there any others I should be looking at?

I have a Samsung MP3 player that has incredible sound quality, a deep rich bass that Apple products can only dream of….that said i also have an ipod because they are so convenient and hold loads of music….the Samsung item has only got 1GB of memory and was expensive in comparison to the lower end Apple products.

ipod = loads of memory, cheap.

Others = better sound, expensive.

Read anythingbutipod

I see there’s a new Sansa Clip out, and I have to say the Sansa stuff is absolutely fantastic.

Helps if you’ve got decent earphones mind!

Another vote for the Sansa clip.
I don´t see why anyone would use any other mp3 player. Its cheap, small, great screen, plays pretty much any format including flac and ogg (Sony its you I´m looking at).
Sound quality is excellent, well above ipod levels.
It is worth changing the earphones/headphones for a better set but that will be true of most mp3 players.
And its customizable, it will accept changes to its operating system and menus if you know what your doing

anything by cowon

i’ve got the iaudio 9 good quality sound, battery lasts forever and you get an FM radio

Sansa Clip +1

The first one I got I still use…4 years later, battery still runs for 10 hours plus, one about the 15th set of earphones but the same player, just keeps going, drag and drop the music.

Got given some amazon vouchers at christmas….bought another one should I ever lose this one.

Can tune into FM radio, can always use it as a USB stick, it’s survived the gym, sweat, cold, being runover, etc etc. No brainer.

Sony knocks the spots off i-anything for sound quality. Mine came with headphones better than anything else I’ve had and just plays music beautifully with no itunes fuss.

I have a sony jobby but the sound on it was pretty low even when maxed up. Turns out they have a preset limit. Pretty annoying.

Im just using my HTC hero for everything now with spotify and doubletwist.

I like my 8GB Zune

Another + Sony vote here.

Decent sound quality, easy drag and drop from Windows Media Player, good headphones included.

and just plays music beautifully with no itunes fuss

even I can ‘work’ itunes, really don’t get why people think it’s difficult or complicated.

Turns out they have a preset limit.

Which can be set or even turned off.

Turns out they have a preset limit.

Which can be set or even turned off.

Not from what i have read on the net.

Sony NWZA845B A series Walkman – one of these

One question always comes to mind when I see threads like this, and nobody seems to have a convincing answer. Everyone’s claiming that various players sound better than iPods, but has everyone done a proper comparative test between players using identical high quality tracks, around 320Kb, and top end earphones, like Shure SE215’s, Denons, or Westone? Or are you baseing the comparisons on tests using whatever phones that are supplied?
‘Cos everyone knows the supplied Apple phones are really shonky.
Without proper comparative tests, I refuse to accept that one player sounds any better than any other, as they are solid-state devices playing digitally encoded music. Given a 320Kb track encoded as an Mp3 LAME, and played through a proper quality pair of canalphones any differences should be down to the phones. All my music is ripped at 320Kb AAC, which isn’t proprietary despite what some maintain, but MP4, and has been played through various ‘phones, and the sound quality between them is startling. I’ve had several pairs of Ultimate Ears phones, and they vary across the range, Klipsch are horrible, despite positive reviews, a pair of Denons were very good until they broke, and my current Shure SE215’s are fantastic. Whenever I’ve seen reviews, they always use the supplied phones, which is always going to compromise the results. Even the actual fit of a pair of phones makes a huge difference; a pair of UE SuperFi 3 Studio’s don’t fit my ears no matter what tips I use, whereas a pair of TripleFi 10’s fit fine, and they look very similar. Phones and bitrate are the biggest influence on sound quality, of that I’m absolutely, totally convinced.
I can certainly understand someone not liking the current Nano, though it does make a nifty watch with one of the various straps available.

Another vote for Sony

No longer uses nasty software… infact doesn’t need any software or drivers… drag and drop in any operating system

Battery life, size and sound are all good

CZ: My kids and wife have Ipod touch, a shuffle and an iphone. I hate the sound from them in comparison to the Sansa Fuse – it’s flat and dull from the apple products. Before I had my Fuse I owned a couple of Creative players which I found OK, but the Fuse was like getting a new pair of ears! I use Shure 215’s and an old NAD3020i amp & mission speakers if I’m listening ‘aloud’, I have always used the 320kb sample rate (I use Media Monkey to synch the apple products).

I can’t comment on other players as I have no experience of them.

I completely agree that the differences between earphones are quite marked – even between well-fitted and poorly fitted decent ‘phones such as Shures.

Without proper comparative tests, I refuse to accept that one player sounds any better than any other, as they are solid-state devices playing digitally encoded music.

Still have to convert that data to an analogue signal and drive the headphones. Plenty of options for those designers, and lots of conflicting interests, such as unit cost, battery life etc. Totally agree that source file quality and then headphones will be a much bigger factor though. I’ll probably have wavs on my phone if I ever get round to using it for music!