[mdmania]

I'm not in the buying at the moment but I am planning of getting into HD player real soon. I already own several audio portable devices such as Muvo NX 128mb, MZ-N707 md portable and Slim-X CD/MP3 player. With all the hd players that already came out, I am having difficulty on what to choose among the players. I am well aware that I will get all sort of suggestions here but I am willing to accept what ever that might be...Anyways, what I'm looking for such features are:

*Not necessarily the size but big enough memory from 20gb to 40gb. On a side note: I'm planning to use this with 192kbps MP3 per song. I don't care about Ogg.

*Features. (Shuffle, playlist, and resume is a must).

*Size and Weight (small enough that I can use this with armstrap).

*Battery (I'm not really thrilled about re-chargeable battery but if there is not any other alternatives player that uses regular AA or AAA, that's fine as well. (of course I want to able to replace the re-chargeable battery once it dies).

*Software simplicity. (If all possible it should show as a external hd in the explorer, if not oh well).

Are these too much to ask for?

Thanks in advance and I will look forward to all of your answers.

 

[GSTom1]

Mdmania, yeah I agree with you...with all the HD based mp3 players out there, choosing one can be quite daunting.

Let's go through your list of requirements and see what we can come up with.

*Size: If you looking for around 20GB of space, the most popular choices would be the iPod, Nomad Zen 2.0/NX, iRiver iHP-120 (coming out shortly) and the Rio Karma 20. If you want something bigger, your choice is limited to the Ipod 40GB (which replaces the 30GB), Nomad Zen 2.0 60GB (discontinued, hard to find) and the Nomad Zen NX 30GB.

*Features: All the above mentioned players can shuffle, handle playlists and resume from where you left off.

*Size & Weight: The two smallest players are the iPod and Rio Karma, but I'm not sure if you could wear those with an armstrap. They are small, but not as small as say a flash based mp3 player.

*Battery: You won't find any Hd based mp3 player that operate solely on AA or AAA batteries. The power requirements to run these players (especially the HD) are just too great. You'll end up spending a small foretune on batteries.

All of the above players use recghargeable batteries, with the Zen NX being the only one with a removable battery. Spare batteries are going to be around $50 each. You can buy an optional Belkin external battery pack for the iPod that will extend the battery life from around 6 hours to a reported 20 hours. Apple and Creative Labs are supposedly offering iPod and Zen 2.0 users the option of sending in their players to replace the batteries once they die. The iRiver iHP and Rio Karma are too new to know what their company policies are regarding th battery.

*Software simplicity: The iPod and iRvier iHp-120 are recognized by Windows as external drives and do not require extra software. The Nomad Zen 2.0/NX are not and require software. I'm not sure about the Rio Karma 20. The iPod has some sort of limitation of how many computers you can share your music with.

I hope that helps you out.

 

[mdmania]

Thanks for some good suggestion. How about the Nitrus?
I think that's small enough for armstrap.

 

[PeterDLai]

The iHP-100/120 is pretty small too, so is the Toshiba gigabeat g20, but disregard that one.

What really mystifies me is the upcoming Samsung YP-910GS. It weighs an incredible 60 grams, compared for example to like an iPods 150-170 grams.

I already bought a Zen NX though, oh well.