Portable CD-R/RW/MP3 Player? 94
Eldie asks: "My ancient (1995) portable CD player has finally rolled over and died. I'd like to replace it, and I'm not looking for something as grand (read: expensive) as an iPod. I'd like to have something a bit more useful than the baseline -- it should at least play CDs, CD-Rs, CD-RWs and MP3s. It would be great if there was some sort of useful hierarchical MP3 interface so that I didn't simply end up having to skip back and forth through 100 tracks, 1 track at a time. Is there anything out there that fits the bill?" This was touched on almost 3 years ago, where quite a few of you had useful recommendations. Three years is a long time, however, and it would be interesting to note if there are any better (or cheaper!) options out there. If you were to look for such a player, today, what would you buy?
All the good resources for geeks (Score:4, Informative)
check the link
[thinkgeek.com]
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/mp3/6356/
seems like an handy device for me
if i wasn't like 12000 miles away from america
i would get this one for myself.
Rio volt (Score:1)
Re:Rio volt (Score:1)
MP3 CD players are the way to go. I can carry my entire music collection in a small CD wallet.
I even bit the bullet to buy the Sony car stereo that plays MP3 CDs. This was back when I was ma
Some useful links (hopefully) (Score:4, Informative)
They are all Amazon "So you'd like to..." guides, but they are worth looking at, anyway.
Re:Some useful links (hopefully) (Score:3, Informative)
Go with Memorex (Score:5, Informative)
Beyond the fact that they're durable, they're relatively cheap. Most of the Target stores in my area have portable Memorex players for around $40-$50, with the slightly more expensive ones including a backlit screen and a digital radio tuner. I'm not sure how much they run in other stores or online; you'll have to do a bit of research to check.
And lest I forget...they work. Very well. They have no problems with reading CDRs or playing MP3s, though I'm not sure how they handle CDR/Ws.
Hope I've helped.
Re:Go with Memorex (Score:2, Informative)
This of course is only anecdotal observation - I gave the horrid thing away eventually. Perhaps they have improved.
Re:Go with Memorex (Score:1)
Someone gave me the $100 "Classic" brand player, and it was awful. It would apparently run out of buffer in the middle of a song, causing skips and crashes. You couldn't have more that 67(!) files in any given folder, including root.
Luckily, somebody dropped it and reimbersed me for it. I got a Rio Volt for $160 ($40 now) and have loved it ever since.
Re:Go with Memorex (Score:1)
well i can tell you my experience (Score:4, Informative)
The problem? Philips seem to have replaced all Expania (at least in the UK) with the Exp521. This (or the one i received) is so bad i sent it back - the disc hit the inside of the player when you shake it, the skip protection (advertised as being much longer) doesn't work if you move, half the time the buttons don't respond... i could go on. yuck. So if you can find an older model 2xx or 3xx series Expanium they're great (avoid the earliest 1xx square ones for battery life and not being able to seek in tracks.. like the 521!). It also came with all kinds of accessories, depending which pack your buy. Only the headphones needed upgrading, as per most models.
btw the Philips way of doing things is to have an extra pair of buttons to skip back and forward through folders. So you put one album per folder. It works great. I'm not sure what other makes do yet.
I've now got my eye on the new iRiver IMP-700 (75GBP) which has.. wooh just come into stock on Amazon uk! (and probably just gone out again now ;) Because i do fancy that track display that i was going for with the Exp521.
Anyway that's just my 2p.
Sony Walkman (Score:5, Informative)
Some notes: It will play on a pair of NiCD AA batteries seemingly forever, the advertised battery life is 18hrs playing MP3s, so I guess thats good enough.
Problems:
1. I've noticed skipping when playing VBR mp3s on batteries... I think the player is VBR agnostic, so it runs out of frames to play and haves to spin up the disc out of powersave to get more the track, if this bothers you, don't do VBR or something I guess.
2. Like I said, battery life is awesome, but not in -30 something degrees weather, like we had here a few weeks back, I had to do the public transportation thing, and it dropped out a few times, I had to press stop, play, stop, open the lid, close the lid, whatever to get it to work, and this meant taking off my gloves, which sucks because it's freaking cold!
Also, I must be spoilded, because I want a backlight! How can I see what track I've selected when I live in eternal darkness heh.
Good stuff:
The battery life, like I said, and those batteries are two AA's, not something wierd like a lithium ion sealed inside the case or 3 AAA's burining a hole in my wallet, because I only have AA rechargables, and throw away batteries cost less to buy, but more to use.
Damn near impossible to make it skip, you can shake it, drop it, whatever, of course I've been gentle to it, but it's nice.
Quick tip:
Name your files like this:
AlbumFolder/01Title of Song.mp3
It'l show up as 01Title or 02ABCDE, you get 7 characters in folder display, so if they all look like "08 U2 -" then that would kind of suck. It shows scroling tag info, Title, Album, Artist, Track #, Bitrate, Time played, press the display button to rotate through them.
Good lick picking your player, I really do like this player, two flaws ain't half bad.
The ATRAC support may also be a flaw, since I don't give a damn about SONY's propritary crap, but it isn't a flaw, because you don't have to use it, MP3s work just fine.
I recharge the batteries about once every two or three weeks, not bad.
When I'm not lazy, I plug it in to an ac adapter, it didn't come with one, but It's 4.5 Volts, and you can get the correct head to stick on one of those multi voltage A/C adapters from rat shack.
P.S. (Score:2, Informative)
Best feature, The Jog-Dial, I love that nobby thing, I dont know if other players have it, I'd figure they would, but it makes selecting an album or track so simple any idiot could ask me to do it for them.
Re:Sony Walkman (Score:1)
Unless something has drastically changed, you _can't just ignore ATRAC_.
The MP3 support you refer to, doesn't store the MP3's directly on the minidisk. But rather, you use the OpenJukebox software provided by Sony, to convert the MP3 files to ATRAC format, before transfering them to the minidisk player, which in turn writes them to
Re:Sony Walkman (Score:3, Informative)
It does MP3, but they try to trick you into ripping to ATRAC so they can lock you in, typical behavior for a record company.
If I was new to computers, (Think: MY DAD), I'd use ATRAC and their stupid burning software, which I can ignore, but I don't like that they do it, I'd rather get a CDDA/MP3 Player that does just that, but everyone thinks WMA would be nice or o
Re:Sony Walkman (Score:3, Funny)
No, in a perfect world we would have a player that you could throw any CD, even an AOL CD, or a handful of gravel off the ground into, and it would play any music requested.
Re:Sony Walkman (Score:2)
Yeah, but that said.. burning 64kbps ATRAC3Plus (which is bearable, if not great) means you can get 23 hours of stuff on a single CDR. I've produced a couple of these full of generic kinda stuff, then have higher quality MP3 discs for the niches/favorite stuff. It's great to have 23 hours of stuff on you in the times you can only take one CD out with you.
Also, ATRAC3 at 132kbps soun
Re:Sony Walkman (Score:2)
so if they all look like "08 U2 -" then that would kind of suck.
Wow, it certainly would. There, a snarky reply to a lucid and earnest response, and the week's work is at an end.
Re:Sony Walkman (Score:1)
Yes, I get the dig, I wanted to use an example that would show how if you named your files like most people do, "Artist - Album - Track - Name.mp3" it would get bungled up.
To date my player's display has never been so defaced.
Two or three songs that I'm partial to, ONE and only ONE that I actually really really like. Not bad for two decades millions of dollars later.
Re:Sony Walkman (Score:2)
Re:Sony Walkman (Score:1)
Same features as above with the following addidtions
Rechargable Batteries built in - 150 hours life - and they are replaceable (tho I shudder at the cost) - it comes with a really cool charging stand too.
External removable AA battery pack - Seems to last forever (as above)
Backlight inline remote.
I replaced their above standard generic headphones with MDR-EX1 in ear ones - these have to be the best phones I ever used (without looking like Princess Leia)
technical aside (Score:1)
The only difference between a cbr mp3 and a vbr mp3 is that the frames all happen to compress down to the same size in a CBR one. Unless you write deliberately stupid code, playing VBR and CBR mp3s is exactly the same process.
I agree with your assessment, though it seems foolish of Sony not to use their skip buffer for preloading mp3 data just like they do for redbook audio cds.
Re:Sony Walkman (Score:2)
I got the D-NE518CK for $70 over at Amazon. It's very similar to the D-NE510 except it has a car kit and it's black.
Doesn't the two line LCD display make odd folder naming not required? I still haven't had a chance to play with mine because it got shipped to
there are quite a lot if i understand you correctl (Score:2)
also not bad is a dioneer.
and some play mp4 too (Score:1)
Re:and some play mp4 too (Score:2)
Re:and some play mp4 too (Score:1)
My recommendations would be... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:My recommendations would be... (Score:5, Informative)
I had 2 other mp3 cd players before, the thomson lyra and the napa davsomethingorother, and both of those were pretty crap. iRiver is excellent.
Daniel
Re:My recommendations would be... (Score:2, Insightful)
As long as you stick with trusted brands like Sony, Panasonic, iRiver, etc., you'll be fine... =)
However, I'd go for a HDD-based MP3 player (a 40GB iPod or an iRiver iHP-120) if most of my music archive consisted of MP3s.
Re:My recommendations would be... (Score:2, Informative)
I second the Sony/Panasonic recommendation. Most of them seem pretty durable and well-made. I work at a RadioShack, and we're sticking pretty much exclusively to these two brands -- we're pretty disenchanted with no-names like Koss. (Yes, they're now a no-name brand in my opinion, just like the once-elite Jensen.)
The Sony players cost a bit more; from what I can see, you're only paying extra for the ATRAC3 compatibility and the little SONY logo. ATRAC3 is Sony's proprietary compression, and from what I've
Re:My recommendations would be... (Score:4, Insightful)
Do you own all three of these? Have you tried all three of these? What were your experiences with all three of these?
Sorry, but unless you can back up your suggestions in some way, I'm having trouble finding how this post is informative.
Re:My recommendations would be... (Score:1)
Besides, I've been working for Audiocubes for nearly a year now, and I've read many reviews on these units, including ones on iRiver's iHP series HDD-based players.
iRiver iMP-550 (Score:2, Informative)
Re:My recommendations would be... (Score:1)
I would like ot see something that plays more file types and can play from DVDs. I am looking into kluging somthing with a nano-itx board, DVD drive (from a laptop?) and laptop battery and small LCD display. With something like that I coul
Re:My recommendations would be... (Score:2)
Re:My recommendations would be... (Score:2)
RioVolt (Score:1)
SAFA (Score:1)
Ask Slashdot (Score:1, Funny)
I've looked at the bargain brands, but I didn't think they would get my question posted on Slashdot.
Can you geeks tell me what your experiences are? I've recently come into some money and want to
make the right choice, but being a poor college student, I still have to stay within a reasonable budget.
Re:Ask Slashdot (Score:2)
Why don't you steal TP from your college? Duh! It's probably not soft or absorbant, but don't pee on yourself, and you don't need it to be absorbant.
Re:Ask Slashdot (Score:5, Funny)
But yeah, CD players? That's kind of old tech, and completely uninteresting. Does nobody have any good questions? Slashdot these days...
Re:Ask Slashdot (Score:2)
but CD players old tech? not when they decode all kinds of new formats :)
Re:Ask Slashdot (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Ask Slashdot (Score:3, Funny)
Rather than helping you clean up afterwards, it simple helps you avoid the need for taking a messy old-style dump in the first place.
Re:Ask Slashdot (Score:1)
No, seriously (Score:2)
I recommend getting the Toto washlet [washlet.com]. That is a truly high-tech solution for the unclean-butt problem.
The initial purchase price will set you back a bit, but it will earn itself back because it greatly reduces the need for toilet paper. Instead of needing large amounts of paper for the cleaning action, you will only need a tiny bit of paper to dry the area, because the washlet will have automagically cleaned the area with a comfortably warm wash. No m
Epinions Anyone? (Score:5, Insightful)
iRiver (Score:3, Informative)
iRiver [iriver.com]
CD-R/RW/MP3/Ogg/WMA/FM tuner/Flash upgrades/etc....
I can tell you just which one to NOT buy (Score:3, Informative)
Re:I can tell you just which one to NOT buy (Score:1)
The navigation and panel display are really nice and easy to work with, but the sound quality stinks. I guess I assumed that if an MP3 sounded bad on playback then it was a problem with the
Portable DVD-R (Score:4, Interesting)
Personally, I need more music than a CD-R player can offer. Currently, I have an iPod and find it great, other than the fact that it was overpriced and a little bit fragile (AA batteries would be nice, though I can live without them). DVD burners are gaining marketshare quickly. Why don't we have some portable DVD-R mp3/ogg/FLAC/yatta players? I think most of the geeks here could use a player that had removable 4.7gig storage, and it would eliminate the worry of a head crash (which is why I'm paranoid of snowboarding with my iPod).
Anyone heard of anything?
Re:Portable DVD-R (Score:2)
As a wild guess, I'd say we might see one in 2005 - but it probably won't sell enough to take off, if it's not killed off on purpose. (Media companies want you listening to the new DVD-audio discs, not DVD-R discs full of MP3s)
There are now some camcorders that record onto mini DVD-Rs, so the technology for the heads/motors is now there. (Probably somewhat designed to be battery fr
Re:Portable DVD-R (Score:1)
YES!!!! (Score:1)
DVD/MP3/CDR Players!! (Score:2)
Sony DVM1 [home-dvd-p...eviews.com]:
Thi
Re:Portable DVD-R (Score:1)
Epinions DOT Com (Score:1, Redundant)
Yepp (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Yepp (Score:2)
Check BrandSmart (Score:2)
I shopped for a CD-player/FM-tuner for my (now ex-) girlfriend a few years ago at x-mas time and found several CD/CDR/CDRW/MP3 players for $28 at BrandSmart. They also had what I was looking for for the same price, but if you want MP3 (et al) _and_ the FM-tuner, it's like twice the price of buying 'em both individually.
Re:Check BrandSmart (Score:1, Funny)
Panasonic makes nice units (Score:2)
Lame (Score:2, Redundant)
So how did I answer it? I went to the local department store, hit the electronics section, and looked for MP3 CD players. I looked until I found one that said it read CD-R and CD-RW and recognized directories, then I looked for the cheapest one with this feature set. Total cost, $40, and it works great. Is that really so hard?
Re:Lame (Score:2)
Re:Lame (Score:2, Informative)
Portable MP3 CD Player! (Score:1)
Think Visual (Score:1)
Re:Think Visual (Score:2)
However, they are larger than portable CD players to accommodate the LCD 16:9 screen.
Re:Think Visual (Score:1)
Thank goodness the price on portable LCD DVD players has dropped. For the longest time the price was up there to the point where buying a laptop with a DVD drive in it actually made a lot more sense.
AVC Soul player! (Score:3, Interesting)
anyway- if you can get one of these, definitely do it!
this player is great for long road trips, because not only does it save a lot of shuffling cds in and out of the player, your friends can browse what else is on the cd while a song is playing. its also better than USB/flash media players when you're on the road, because its so much easier and cheaper to bring a stack of mp3 cds instead of a laptop and/or memory sticks.
its the little things about this player that make it great... and there are SO DAMN MANY of them.
I have a Rio Volt 250 (Score:1)
I bought one a year or two ago and I've been very happy with it. It will play VBR MP3s, display the ID3 tags, allow some form of directory navigation, playlists, has a wired remote, FM radio reception, etc. I've tried to see if I could make it skip by shaking it as hard as I could, but it would never happen. As far as batteries go, I think it came with some rechargeable AAs. I've never had to replace them.
I don't know if they are still being made, but you might be able to find one cheap on ebay from so
iRiver (Score:3, Insightful)
El Cheapo (Score:1)
More specific questions... (Score:2)
I'm looking for a CD media player that supports playlists, shuffle and resume on start. I.e., I have a couple CD format MP3 players that shuffle the whole disk, but don't do playlists, etc. I want something that I can choose a burned playlist (for various moods), and will shuffle play that playlist, and when I turn it
Gah! (Score:1)
Get an iPod.
ARCHOS 20GB MP3 Recorder (Score:3, Informative)
Archos products have been known to be somewhat less reliable than the high-end stuff like iPod, but for this price you can't go wrong.
To make this player/recorder even better, simply drag-n-drop files, umount/eject and play. There is no rearranging of your music... it's there just as you placed it on the drive. Not sure about this unit, but batteries are easily changed in version 1 (which I own).
Go get one today... then load the Rockbox [rockbox.haxx.se] firmware and keep on rockin. In version 2 you can even flash-upgrade the flashrom for a 4sec bootup.
btw... I posted a review on Amazon just this week and bought the rebated unit for my neighbor to use on his bike.
Yea, this sounds like an ad... but it's not. I just want to make sure people know what kind of bs they are getting from the major 'players' out there. Make sure you check the music management issues when you do your research. Any player I will buy must be Linux compatible.
Cheers! nomasteryoda
Yeah! my first posting!
aka ...
Leery of Panasonic (Score:2)
CD-Yepp (Score:1)
http://www.samsungusa.com/cgi-bin/nabc/product/b2c _product_detail.jsp?%20eUser=&prod_id=MCDHM200H/XA A [samsungusa.com]
Just burn MP3s to a CD and go. It also works with folders, so you can put each album in a folder for easy browsing.
iRiver ChromeX (sux) (Score:1)
Best Buy (Score:1)
IRiver, Nike and RIO Volt (Score:1)