Need mp3 player help!

**MyMelody** · 04-03-2009, 08:40 AM

My DH's birthday is 4/30, and the only thing he's mentioned wanting is an mp3 player w/ 8 GB of storage for when he's out in the yard or working out. Problem is, I know nothing about electronics, and I don't know where to start in researching or buying him one. What brands do those of you who have one like, and are there features or drawbacks I should be aware of?

**Momto2Boyz** · 04-03-2009, 08:43 AM

I have a really basic one, the brand is Creative. It is great. It does nothing but play music and it is really easy to use and I like it.

DH thought he had to have one with all the bells and whistles. So he bought a pricey one (I can't remember the brand...Phillips, I think), and it can hold pictures and play videos. Of course, as you probably guessed, he has done nothing but put music on it!

These days, it seems you can get a really good price on the basic ones, if all you want to do is play music. I do think they are a really good buy, I get alot of use out of mine, and it is going on 3 years old!

**tina150** · 04-03-2009, 08:45 AM

I would definitely say ipod. The downside of a mp3 player though is music can get pretty expensive...

**WV_mom_of2** · 04-03-2009, 09:56 AM

I have a 1 GB nextar brand from Kmart. I love the thing. It's small and it works well. I paid 20.00 for it and 10.00 for one for dh at a Thanksgiving sale. Of course he wants much more storage space so it wouldn't work for you. 8 GB is ALOT of space!

My dd has an ipod, just the simple ones and loves it. My parents got it for her for Christmas. You can go to the website and they offer refurbished ones cheaper. They are brand new, and you get the new warranty for them. I think they paid 80.00 for dd's. She can put tv shows and pictures, etc. on it.

We transfer cd's onto ours and download music from the internet. Dd uses Itunes for her ipod but I download from Amazon.com.

I just looked on mine and I have 172 songs on it and have only used 1.90 MB of space. It says I still have 429.56 MB of free space if that helps. He may not need 8GB.

**DJ1972** · 04-03-2009, 10:28 AM

It depends on what he will use it for. If he only wants it for music, and you guys use wimdows media for your music on your computer, then a basic mp3 player will work just fine. My first one was a Creative Zen, it worked great. I think I paid around $60 for it from walmart.

I currently have an 80gb iPod. I love it. I listen to Dave Ramsey podcasts on it, and other podcasts. I have a few books on it, some videos, and about 1000 songs, and I still have a ton of memory left. DD and DS also have ipods, they have the 4gb nanos. They use them daily.

**nuisance26** · 04-03-2009, 02:26 PM

~I bought one last year for my DH. He wanted an iPod but I got a 'knock-off' Sansa. It's really fantastic! Plays video, great screen, easy to navigate and expansion slot for a micro card and I paid 1/4 of what an iPod would have cost. ~
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Sansa-Player-MicroSD-Expansion/dp/B000ETVKHE/ref=pd_bbs_10?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1238783071&sr=8-10"]Amazon.com: SanDisk Sansa e260 4 GB MP3 Player with MicroSD Expansion Slot (Black: Electronics[/ame]

**mamamia** · 04-03-2009, 04:32 PM

I just bought 2 Apple Nano 8 GBs Ipods from Target's. If you buy it this week, you get a bonus $15 Target GC. They're the same price as on the Apple site, but at least you get the GC. I can tell you that this is the "ONE" all the teens want right now. But it depends on your daughter's age too. Than she doesn't really need anything too "high tech", kwim?

Oh, and be careful of knock-offs! They're really junk.

Sorry, I guess that's not much help accept that I know what teenagers want right now.

Theresa

**thesightofoneself** · 04-03-2009, 04:42 PM

Originally Posted by MyMelody

My DH's birthday is 4/30, and the only thing he's mentioned wanting is an mp3 player w/ 8 GB of storage for when he's out in the yard or working out. Problem is, I know nothing about electronics, and I don't know where to start in researching or buying him one. What brands do those of you who have one like, and are there features or drawbacks I should be aware of?

does he really need/want a 8gb?

**thesightofoneself** · 04-03-2009, 04:44 PM

Originally Posted by mamamia

Oh, and be careful of knock-offs! They're really junk.

this is not regarding you but said as a general statement, not all the knock-offs suck. mp4 players work just as well and cost half as much. if you want a good site just pm me.

**MomToTwoBoys** · 04-03-2009, 05:28 PM

Originally Posted by Momto2Boyz

I have a really basic one, the brand is Creative. It is great. It does nothing but play music and it is really easy to use and I like it.

DH thought he had to have one with all the bells and whistles. So he bought a pricey one (I can't remember the brand...Phillips, I think), and it can hold pictures and play videos. Of course, as you probably guessed, he has done nothing but put music on it!

These days, it seems you can get a really good price on the basic ones, if all you want to do is play music. I do think they are a really good buy, I get alot of use out of mine, and it is going on 3 years old!

I have to second the notion on Creative. I have a Zen 30G and it's fantastic. I forget how much DH paid for it, but I sort of commandered it from him back when I wanted an iPod. I'd stay away from Samsung. DH bought one from Samsung a few years back and if you drop it even once or twice, it's completely disabled. You can't even reset it.

With 20 minutes of use each day, I only need to charge mine every week or so. It depends on what I'm listening to, but the one I have also has a lock on it so you can put the volume to where you want, switch it to lock, and it won't turn up or down or switch music on you if you have it in your back pocket or your purse.

**TexasPeanut** · 04-03-2009, 05:48 PM

I have the exact same mp3 player that nuisance26 posted, but only a 4gb. I paid like $120 for it at Best Buy a little more than a year ago. My DH also has the same one. It can hold your music files, photos, and videos and it also has a voice recorder and digital FM radio tuner. Our son has some little mp3 player that only held 20 songs so last Christmas we purchased him one just like ours but 8gb and man that thing is nice. It has a bigger screen on it as well and it was just a little bit more than what we paid for ours when we bought them. I can't recommend that one enough really.

I'm not sure, so maybe someone that actually owns an Ipod can answer, but I believe with Ipods you can only put on songs and things that you download and pay for on the Apple site. I do not think though that an Ipod supports the files you may have in your windows media player. Again hopefully someone can answer that for you. But if so know that you will have to buy some music you may already have on cd and on your computer.

On any other mp3 player just make sure they support wma (windows media files), wmv (windows media video), mp3, mp4 and so on depending on if you want to add photos and videos you may have in on your computer as well. Usually the files they support are listed on the back of the packages. Most regular mp3 players (non Ipods) support just about every file out there so you shouldn't have any problems. Some though of course do not have photo or video capabilities due to size.

Check some places online like Best buy, WalMart and any other store near you that sells them. That's a great way to see what's all out there and the specs of each one so you can find the best one and at the same time compare their pricing.

*** Keep in mind, not all knocks offs are junk and there are some really great mp3 players out there that are far better than an actual Ipod as far as files supported, for less than half the price. You just have to do some research and start looking at them.

ETA: The Samsung Sansa that all three of us have, 2 of which we've had for over a year, have been well used. I've dropped mine numerous times. DH used his out in his shop daily and it was always coated in dust and grime. I don't know why it would disable and not reset for the other poster but we've never had not one problem with any of them. Products, especially electronic ones are hit and miss. You can have two of the same thing and one work and one not, you can pay out the wazoo for one thing and it not work as well as a cheaper version and vice versa. It's a chance you take buying anything electronic. I know several people that have tons of problems with actual Ipods and I wouldn't say they are junk really...just more expensive. Sometimes you just get a bad product no matter what or something else happened to it.

Also another thing. Make sure whatever mp3 player you get has firmware that can be updated.

**pop goes the weasel** · 04-04-2009, 07:34 PM

We have a sansa also. The only problem we had was of our own doing. Nowhere on the box did it say the capatability requirements. I had Windows ME and it wouldn't work. But then a friend gave me an XP that was in bad shape and I could use it. Now with Vista I have no problems. I paid 30 bucks for it and download from cd's and it also has a voice and radio recorder on it. (If you hae a quiet place you can even use it to record from cassettes. We use our basement.) It's a 2 GB and holds 250 songs

**mamamia** · 04-05-2009, 01:53 AM

Originally Posted by MyMelody

My DH's birthday is 4/30, and the only thing he's mentioned wanting is an mp3 player w/ 8 GB of storage for when he's out in the yard or working out. Problem is, I know nothing about electronics, and I don't know where to start in researching or buying him one. What brands do those of you who have one like, and are there features or drawbacks I should be aware of?

Sorry MyMelody. I thought your post said DS instead of DH, and figured you were looking for one for a child or teen. I really need more sleep.....

Theresa

**guest002** · 04-05-2009, 02:30 AM

We both have Sansa brand. We like them.

**Katybird** · 04-05-2009, 09:32 AM

I have a Creative Zen 4gb and I love it. I can put video, audio, pictures on it and it also has a FM radio tuner. I have about 650 songs on it and 3 books ranging from 7 hours to 13 hours long and still have memory left on it. I got mine at Walmart and paid $100 for it. It is worth every penny

.