[BobM]

Since there's no "Portable Audio" circle I'm posting this question here.

I'm looking to get my daughter an MP3 player for Christmas (shopping early).
 - I don't think I want a hard drive based system, with bad battery life and assorted hard drive skipping problems.
 - I think a flash memory player would be best, so the I-Pod Nano's come to mind, but there are other manufacturers who seem to offer more format coverage and even video, like i-River.

What I think is important:
 - storage space 2GB is probably enough (but if video is involved maybe 4GB would be better)
 - battery life
 - coverage of multiple formats (which is the Nano's drawback)
 - audio quality (just because I'm an audiophile)
 - cost, I really don't need or want to spend more than $150-200

Which player do you recommend, based on your personal experience (or thtat of your kids and friends)?

Thanks,
Bob

[BradJudy]

I just got my wife a Nano, but it was largely because she already used iTunes to handle her music and, IMO, having good front-end software is huge for something like this. 

iRiver and Sandisk are the big ones to look at next to the Nano.  If you have the chance, try out each of their interfaces and see what you like. 

What turned me off from the iRiver and Sandisk was that you have to use Windows Media Player to manage your music.  It's a very similar approach to iTunes, but I don't like it as much - your opinion may vary. 

I think the iRiver and the Sandisk are a wash with the Nano on format support.  None of them support FLAC.  The iRiver and Sandisk support WMA, but not AAC and the Nano is the opposite.  The iRiver does add ogg, but unless you rip to that, you won't encounter it much "in the wild".  If you have an online music store preference, that will probably push you one way or another. 

Battery life is supposed to be excellent on all of them - they just improved it more on the Nano (don't discount HD players on this item - they have excellent battery life these days).  I haven't seen a comparison of audio quality between them, nor would I really trust one unless it was from a reputable audio person (and not a tech person). 

The Sandisk does have a memory card slot for some expansion, which it nice.  The Nano has the most options for accessories and integration with things like car stereos. 

[fajimr]

bob,

great questions but I know that for my 12 yr old daughter having a 'Nano" was the most important criteria 
You might want to see what she thinks of different players....

I think the sound isn't very good (the earbuds are sh--) ... especially for some of the music she gets from the internet...but she doesn't seem to mind. 

[BradJudy]

fajimr has a good point - all of them come with crap for earbuds, so if you want good sound, set aside some money for something else (depending on budget, the Ultimate Ears super.fi 3 pro (under $100), Shure E2c (under $75), etymotic ER6/6i (under $100), or Sony MDR-EX71 (under $40))  for more traditional headphones instead of in-ears, Sennheiser has some good under $50 offerings. 

[BobM]

Thanks everyone. I did some additional reading on customer reviews and there's a lot of different perspectives. I think the Nano is probably the best one to go with in the long run.

1 - it's a good product
2 - it's the name brand
3 - it will be supported by everyone, because of 1 & 2
4 - it has different GB sizes available
5 - it comes in different colors (which is important to a girl)
6 - I bought non-name brand before and regretted it (not in audio, but in consumer products)
7 - it has resale value, if that becomes a need later on
8 - it has plenty of add on accessories, if she want to pick them up later on

But I'm still listening for any other suggestions.

Bob

[jon_010101]

Thanks everyone. I did some additional reading on customer reviews and there's a lot of different perspectives. I think the Nano is probably the best one to go with in the long run.

1 - it's a good product
2 - it's the name brand
3 - it will be supported by everyone, because of 1 & 2
4 - it has different GB sizes available
5 - it comes in different colors (which is important to a girl)
6 - I bought non-name brand before and regretted it (not in audio, but in consumer products)
7 - it has resale value, if that becomes a need later on
8 - it has plenty of add on accessories, if she want to pick them up later on

But I'm still listening for any other suggestions.

Bob

I agree with every point! 

Nearly everyone I know who bought a non-iPod MP3 player ended up replacing it with an iPod within a year.

[robert1325]

Get the Nano with some sennheiser earbuds (mx500) or foldable portable phones (px100),   I didn't go for the nano because I wanted good sound quality for less money,   found a refurbished rio carbon... Sounds great ,  very neutral.   

[BradJudy]

I wouldn't call iRiver and Sandisk non-name brands.  Sandisk is the second largest mp3 player maker after Apple and a major player in the memory card market.  iRiver has been making a variety of mp3 players for a number of years.  Both have decent staying power (Sandisk as a company has more than iRiver, but I could also see Sandisk dropping mp3 players in the future to refocus on memory cards). 

If you can, check out the Nano colors in person first - both my wife and I agreed that only the silver and black were reasonable.  If the colors were more subdued, they would be okay.

[texasphile]

If you want to spend the money on some decent in the ear canal earphones, check out www.provantage.com.   http://www.provantage.com/etymotic-research~110ETYM.htm  http://www.provantage.com/ultimate-ears~110ULTE.htm     and also do a search for Shure earphones to look at theirs.  The prices are pretty good, unfortunately, if you don't go with a high bit-rate file, these earphones will highlight the poor sound of lossy compression technologies.  Oh, there is a 4 GB iPod Nano in Pink now...it might just be the ticket for your daughter.

Good Luck,

Chris

[lonewolfny42]

Bob....Maybe Santa can bring this player...for your daughter ....a diamond in the rough...
.....free shipping.....nice !

[BradJudy]

I haven't dealt with Provantage, so I don't know if they are an authorized dealer for those items, but there are authorized dealers that have prices that are as good and support places like Head-Fi forums.  These include:

headphone.com
earphonesolutions.com
discountheadphones.com

Check them out.  headphone.com has a huge selection and several buying guides

[BobM]

Bob....Maybe Santa can bring this player...for your daughter ....a diamond in the rough...
.....free shipping.....nice !

Now we're talking. And it comes with upgraded Sennheiser earbuds too - no after market upgrading. Now that's a deal!

Maybe I'll get one for myself too and bring it to the next Rave. 

Enjoy,
Bob