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General discussion

Can you use mp3 players like portable hard drives?

Mar 12, 2009 1:47PM PDT

i was going to buy a portable hard drive so i can move all my music and videos from work to home, to friends houses easily. But then i thought if i buy a big mp3 would it be able to do the same thing?
I've gone off ipods after my computer crashed and i couldn't even get the music off my ipod and put it on my new computer. but can you do that sort of thing with a mp3 player? or anything that will also play music

Discussion is locked

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Slow but Yes, if you choose the right player
Mar 12, 2009 7:05PM PDT

You need one which supports an option for use as a removable disk (sometimes called MSC) in its PC connection settings. This allows simple file drag and drop between player and computer.

Tends to preclude players which depend on proprietary software or Windows Media Player such as the iPod, (I believe) the Zune, some Philips models and earlier Sonys.

The snag in your plan may be speed -- even with USB2, transfers may not be up to the pace of a dedicated portable hard drive. The drive in a player is designed to be as small as poss and speed of transfer isn't an issue when playing music.

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MP3 player as an external hard drive
Mar 14, 2009 2:31AM PDT

iPOD can be used as an external hard drive if properly configured. See iPOD Manual.

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yes you can
Mar 14, 2009 8:55PM PDT

most of the mp3 player support this option just power off the mp3 player and plug it to your computer you will see it as mass storage device just open it and create folder to keep ur data if u like past it directly to the device that is all

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any recommendations?
Mar 15, 2009 8:08AM PDT

can anyone recommend some brands? i once had a creative zen, which ended up being replaced twice (faulty) before it was finally exchanged for a ipod which i loved at first but i don't think i want another one.

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recommedation
Mar 16, 2009 9:19AM PDT

i prefer philip nike mp3 or sony mp3