MP3 player - Minimalist, cheap, solid-state

[Silver Smudger]

I am looking for an MP3 player. I use it on the mountain bike mainly so it needs to be small, light and skip-proof with a straightforward control system. I do want a display (so no iPod Shuffle) but no need for photo, video, bluetooth, phone etc and I don't want to spend much more than around £100.



I currently have a MobiBLU Q-Be MP3 player (2Gb) that is totally ideal for me, sounds fine and meets all the above criteria, but have had it for about 4 years and battery life is beginning to deteriorate. I could do with more than 2Gb storage too, but nothing with removable cards please - My wife's phone has a micro SD card, and that is always getting loose.

Can anyone suggest a replacement?

Thanks

Edited by Silver Smudger on Saturday 28th January 13:39

[MagicalTrevor]

iPod Nano @ £129 has a little screen and 8GB. You can get a watch strap for it which may be handy on the bike?

[MagicalTrevor]

Actually, there is a thread here about people sending their Gen1 Nano back to Apple due to a recall. They're being sent back 8GB Nanos (me included).

You could maybe put a quick post there to say that you'd like to buy one. They're refurbished I think but will be ideal really (nowt wrong with them)

[TheHeretic]

There should be a flood of them on eBay I would imagine.

[FunkyNige]

You can get a little 4GB Sony player for £40
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-NWZB163-Music-Clip-Wa...

I've had mine for a few years without any problems, they do quite a few similar ones if you look around, some have radio but some don't.

[Silver Smudger]

FunkyNige said:

You can get a little 4GB Sony player for £40
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-NWZB163-Music-Clip-Wa...

I've had mine for a few years without any problems, they do quite a few similar ones if you look around, some have radio but some don't.

Thanks - That looks great for the price, are you still getting close to 18 hrs playback?

The Nano looks like too many fluff features added that I don't need ("Shake to shuffle" feature sounds handy for bumpy rides!). The Sony is much more like what I am after.

Anyone beat the Sony?

[BenM77]

It doesn't look like the Sony one has a screen which was part of your criteria.

The nano seems to fit your criteria and you can turn off the shake to shuffle function.

[ATG]

That bit you said about no cards? Well, I'm helpfully going to ignore that. I've been using a SanDisk Clip for a couple of years. Tiny, light, dirt cheap. 2GB built in plus 32GB micro SD card gives heaps of storeage. SD card has never fallen out.

[Silver Smudger]

BenM77 said:

It doesn't look like the Sony one has a screen which was part of your criteria.

The nano seems to fit your criteria and you can turn off the shake to shuffle function.

The Nano is about £120, there is loads of stuff on the ad about personal trainer "real-time voice feedback" functions, pedometer, album art, touch-screen, car stereo connection etc, etc and other stuff I really don't need.

The £40 Sony says it does have a screen - I guess it is the bit that says 'Music Library' in the pic below - Never had any issues with Sony kit and there are minimum buttons on it.



SanDisk Clip looks interesting, but not a fan of micro cards.

[BenM77]

I missed that screen, the Sony one looks spot on for what you need then

[TonyRPH]

What about a Sandisk Sansa Clip Zip?

£45 8GB



Or the Sandisk Sansa Clip+

It has a MicroSD slot - but you don't need that as it has 8GB on board anyway. On special for £35...

Edited by TonyRPH on Saturday 28th January 22:53

[FunkyNige]

Silver Smudger said:

Thanks - That looks great for the price, are you still getting close to 18 hrs playback?

I use it for a few hours at a time so it's hard to judge, guess it's still well over 12 though. It does have a screen with a couple of lines of text on, another handy feature is that you don't need a lead to plug it into a computer as the end comes off and there's a USB connector underneath.

[Silver Smudger]

FunkyNige said:

I use it for a few hours at a time so it's hard to judge, guess it's still well over 12 though. It does have a screen with a couple of lines of text on, another handy feature is that you don't need a lead to plug it into a computer as the end comes off and there's a USB connector underneath.

Cool, thanks - I am down to about 2-3 hours life on the cube now, so it's rubbish on an all day ride.

You've sold me on it!