KVR Audio

Sascha Franck · Post by **Sascha Franck** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 12:02 pm

Hi,

I need to buy an MP3 player.
It should have quite some space (at *least* 20 GB, the more, the better), should charge automatically when connected via USB, and, most important, it should *not* require any software to appear as a USB drive and should also *not* require any software to organize MP3s (so an iPod is completely out of the ballpark).
I just want it to work like all those small MP3-sticks that you can simply plug in, copy your MP3s onto and you're good to go. No fuzz.

Certain additional things such as a nicely readable display, support of additional formats (preferably OGG) would be welcomed but not required.
Long battery life would certainly be a nice thing too.

Oh, and I'd really love a mic/line input, but that wouldn't be required either.

Anybody got some recommendations, experiences, sites with overviews etc. to share?

Cheers.

Amberience · Post by **Amberience** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 12:27 pm

www.advancedmp3players.co.uk is a good site for checking specs and reading reviews and stuff.

I couldn't recommend a specific model though as I'm still using a minidisc.

Sascha Franck · Post by **Sascha Franck** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 12:52 pm

Chibs' Bath Toy wrote:www.advancedmp3players.co.uk is a good site for checking specs and reading reviews and stuff.

Thanks, while they want to sell you things, that's a very useful site indeed, especially when using the compare function!

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 1:04 pm

Some of the Cowon ones look interesting to me. e.g.

http://www.advancedmp3players.co.uk/sho ... cts_id=951

or

http://www.advancedmp3players.co.uk/sho ... cts_id=683

they look like they support the most open standards, have built in DSP processing (inc BBE) and I'm told sound good too.

Sascha Franck · Post by **Sascha Franck** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 1:18 pm

Yeah, the Cowon ones surely look interesting. I wish they had a bit bigger HDD though as I'm planning to use it as some quick transfer medium as well.

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 1:22 pm

I don't know if they can appear to the system as an external drive though without needing extra software - that would be my requirement too.

Sascha Franck · Post by **Sascha Franck** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 1:56 pm

aMUSEd wrote:I don't know if they can appear to the system as an external drive though without needing extra software - that would be my requirement too.

They do.
Compare some of them on the site and you'll see "Removable Disk Drive Support" being answered with "Yes" and "Management Software Required" answered with "No". Perfect.
There's a 60 GB model as well, btw. But £309.00 would be a bit of a wide stretch for me right now...

Amberience · Post by **Amberience** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 1:59 pm

I'm sure there are other resources as well, I'm just not aware of them - like I said, I'm still using a minidisc. I don't yet see the need for an mp3 player.

circuitbentpirate · Post by **circuitbentpirate** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 2:04 pm

Chibs' Bath Toy wrote:I'm still using a minidisc.

A minidisc player with MP3 support would be nice

Amberience · Post by **Amberience** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 2:06 pm

Minidiscs are being phased out, give it five years and you wont see them.

soulata · Post by **soulata** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 12:06 am

Just in time for the thread. I'm looking for an mp3 player, too. 20gb'd be enough, it should serve as a dictafon as well.

From what I've seen, Creative Zen Sleek looks great.

Any other ideas?

k

flippya2000 · Post by **flippya2000** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 12:12 am

I was thinking about getting a HD mp3 player like u, but can't afford it at the moment, my advice would be to get an iRiver one, the H10 looks good (20gb, abt £150), & I think it may come with digital in - for all those high quality sample transfers..

Sascha Franck · Post by **Sascha Franck** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 12:17 am

soulata: The Creative Zen requires some software to be installed for file management (which would put me off).

flippya2000: The same seems to be true for the iRiver (at least it's been like that the last time I looked at some of their models specs).

Personally, I want maximum compatibility, which means I can just connect the player to *any* computer (usually Macs running OSX and PCs running XP) and it'll show up as a mobile drive. Drag some MP3s (or other files) onto it, done.

[decipher] · Post by **[decipher]** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 12:18 am

i have the archos gmini 202 xs. its 20gb, its supersmall, needs NO third party software. just attach the usb cable and it acts as a portable HD. but it does not recharge via usb. comes with a seperate recharging thingy (dont know the english term for it. hehe)
been using it for like 2 month now. without any problems. love it.

soulata · Post by **soulata** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 12:20 am

does it have an inbuilt microphone?

MP3 Player