I’m after an MP3 player for general use. Requirements are:

1. NOT Apple
2. Not Sansa Clip – had 3 fail on me in 6 months
3. Must have a FM radio
4. Probably not Sony – I’ve had a couple but the latest one was REALLY annoying.
5. Ideally with a micro SD slot
6. Less than £50…

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Any reason your phone isn’t suitable?

As above, really. Big memory card in your phone is easily the best answer, and one less gadget.

Bit pricey maybe, but I’m thinking of getting one a these
http://www.advancedmp3players.co.uk/shop/MP3_Players.1/FiiO.406/FIIOX1/Fiio_X1_Portable_High_Resolution_Lossless_Music_Player.14446.html

Well I mostly use it when walking/biking, and in the Scottish winter hills I don’t want to have the phone on when I may need it for emergencies. Plus the phone is touch screen and I can’t operate it with my gloves on and I can’t risk taking my gloves off when the windchill is -30!

Not including the best on the market: Apple, Sansa and Sony, basically leaves you with bugger-all choice, other than cheap crap from ebay.
Or your phone.
Or the Fiio range, as Dez has highlighted; probably the best around, for a decent capacity, and Fiio do firmware updates to keep things up to date, too.

We’re flushing out the requirements slowly 🙂

Yeah I did wonder if removing Apple, Sony and Sansa would leave me with very little else…

Are Sansa generally very unreliable of have I just been unlucky? The last 2 btw have never been out of the house before they failed so it’s not exactly harsh conditions. I would go for another one if I thought they were generally ok.

I’d forget it. Take in the atmosphere instead.

I’d forget it. Take in the atmosphere instead.

I generally agree, but when it’s deafeningly windy I like to block out the noise by having something in my ears and it might as well be music!

How did the Sansa Clips fail? And what model were they?
I’ve had a Clip+ for about 3 years, still working fine. Its been used for plenty of walking, running etc. Though the battery life seems a bit shorter now than it was.

Weird with the sansa clips. I have 2 and they have both going strong for about 2 years.

You may be very hamfisted or unlucky. Or both 🙂

Kubik Evo?

I have a bunch of them piled up over the years, Creative Zen, Touch, Creative Muvo, Sony lipstick looking thing, Shuffle, they all still work with exception of the review button on the Zen, most often I grab the Shuffle for cycling, clip by neck, short cables on phones, easily operated by blind fumbling.

That’s no help I know, just rambling…

They all just went totally dead. Tried hard resets and every other suggestion on the net. The one I have next to me now was only used about 3 times and is only a week old.

The first one lasted about 6 months but did freeze up regularly – a hard reset got it back to life a few times. The second about 2 months and it just died and couldn’t be resuscitated.

Anyone tried the Sansa Clip Sport?

Any reason why not Apple.

I hate all things Apple yet found myself with an iPod Touch and it is brilliant. I looked at all the options on the market and concluded it was the most sensible choice factoring in price, performance and longevity in terms of support.

You do not have to use iTunes, you can for example use MediaMonkey just as easily (unless you want to rip CD’s in a Apple compatible lossless format).

The other main player if you really can’t bring yourself to go that route is Cowon. advancedmp3players.co.uk is the best place to look…

I’m in a similar position and am also struggling – there just aren’t as many options as there used to be; manufacturers obviously think we should use our phones. But if you run your battery down making calls, that doesn’t leave you anything to listen to… Plus I want one with >32GB capacity, which narrows it down further.

iPod touch or nano, if you can find them – pretty good things.
Cowon still makes MP3 players, and they have a good sound and great battery life.
Sony has a few different models, including what they’re marketing as High Def audio players.
Other than that, it seems to be Fiio or Sansa…

I’ve gone and done some hunting around online. Best bet – Cowon M2. 32GB memory, 90hr(!) battery life, takes all digital music formats, FM radio. Great sound.
Only issue is it’s a little outside your price range: £140ish/ $170 in the US. I’ve been using a Cowon D2 for 7 years, and it’s been great. Looks a bit old-school, mind.

CraigW – Member
How did the Sansa Clips fail?

-30deg C ? ductile – brittle transition ?

The Filo X1 ticks most of your boxes but costs a bit more than £50 (£89)

Filo X1

+1 for Fiio X1