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General discussion

Which MP3 Player Should I Get? I'm Very Picky....

Jul 25, 2005 1:35PM PDT

my dell dj just died after only 15 months of use so i need to get a new mp3 player. i did some research and it seems like all the mp3 players out right now suck so im having a hard time trying to decide on what to get.

here is my criteria:
the main thing is i need something with at least 30gb of space (preferably 40 gb) and a lot of battery life (20 hours +). also it has to be reliable and last me a long time. i dont want it to stop working after just a year like my dell dj. my budget is under $350, and i dont mind buying off ebay if i can get a good deal. a photo mp3 player would be nice, but is really not a high priority for me. im not too picky on sound quality since i figure anything over $300 will sound good enough. ease of use doesnt matter to me because im not a ******* who cant figure out how to use an mp3 player.

so far the cowon iaudio x5l seems like the best choice because of all the features and long battery life, but it seems too expensive for only 30gb of space.

i liked everything the sony vaio pocket had to offer, but unfortunately it has a crappy design and is too big.

i dont really want an ipod because they are too popular and trendy. also they are overpriced and have low battery life. does anyone know anything about the next generation of ipods? because if fix the battery life and lower the price i might consider it. i dont want to wait to long to get a new mp3 player though.

i love the design of the sony network walkmen hd5, but its 20gb hard drive is too small.

so what do you guys think? should i just wait until there are better options, or are there any current mp3 players that fit my needs?

Discussion is locked

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I would suggest waiting...
Jul 26, 2005 1:52AM PDT

I was going to recommend the iAudio model, but that seems to be out of your price range. Have you checked websites like pricewatch.com and pricegrabber.com? they can sometimes find really good prices on items. also, you might want to check www.dapreview.net. They cover high-end and medium-grade mp3 players from most major manufacturers. They skimp on ipod coverage since there are several websites which do that, but they are a good source of info on Cowon, Creative, Iriver and Archos products.

If you can wait till Thanksgiving, companies are likely to have new models out by then, and you can definitely get great deals on existing models.

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HD5
Jul 26, 2005 4:41AM PDT

I think I read somewhere that the HD5 will be available soon with a larger hard drive. If that's true I'd wait for it. I love my HD5 with a passion.

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WHICH MP3 PLAYER TO CHOICE
Jul 26, 2005 12:08PM PDT

Well jawad06, I am having the same problem you are having. To many crappy mp3 players out there, and you want one that has a lot of memory, looks good, lots of battery life, and last for more than a couple of months. I suggest that you look at the sony hd5. Its about $300 and its got a pretty nice design,20 some odd hours of battery life on each charge, and I havent really heard anybody say anything bad about except that the buttons on the silver version are crappy and they might break. Its 20 GB, thats like 12,000 songs I can't imagine that anybody would need to listen to any more songs than that. But I think that the HD5 is one of the very few mp3 players out there right now that are worth buying. Don't waste your money on an I-pod!

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May need to wait if 14 hrs is not long enough for you
Jul 30, 2005 2:20PM PDT

I have iAudio X5 30GB. I almost bought X5L from cowonusa.com but I switched once I saw $309 (plus $6 S/H) from ecost.com. I figured I need to enjoy it now or there will always be something better later. I will use the saving to get a battery replacement from Cowon if I need to. Not a bad deal in my opinion since it is thinner too. I will manage the charge (DC or USB).

There will be new model from Samsung. There is a thread on it on dapreview.net. It has specs of 25 hrs and 20/40GB versons. The speculation was sometime in Sept for US. X5L will be available with lower price by then most likely.

Check it out here:
http://www.samsung.com/za/products/yepp/yepp/yh_j70l.asp?page=Specifications