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As the title says, I'm looking for a good MP3 player and I cannot seem to find anything on the Internet that suits my needs.
Here are my criterion:
- I don't really have a price limit, between 50 and 100€ is fine, I can afford more if it's a good product.
- Preferably available in Europe, although I could probably import it.
- Very good sound quality.
- I do not care if it reads video or not.
- Lots of space available. I have at the moment a bit more than 16gb of music so either 32gb or a micro SD slot (I already have a 32gb micro SD card).
- No tactile: tactile works great for smartphones and such but I have a terrible terrible user experience with tactile on MP3 player. To be honest, to scroll my playlist and hit play, I'd rather have a couple buttons.
- No Apple products: I have a fierce hate of iTunes and it's absolutely out of question that I use this shitty piece of software. USB mass storage style only.
I know I'm a bit exigent, I'm not even sure such a product even exists so that"s why I'm asking the wonderful TL community who seems to know everything 
I was going to change my smartphone and use it for music but the Nokia Lumia 925 that I'm probably going to chose is only 16gb in EU which was a bit of a let down...
Any help appreciated!
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While I despise Apple products, you don't need iTunes in order to sync your music with your iPod. This link outlines the possible alternatives for you, should you decide on an Apple product. I regularly use them for clients that are having issues, or who also don't like iTunes as their music software.
Your next best bet is choosing a smartphone that meets your music needs as well. I know you considered the Lumia 925, but having two separate devices doesn't necessarily seem like an efficient solution for you.
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Use your smartphone as an mp3 player, so you have one device instead of 2! Get a bigger sd card for your phone so you can hold all your music.
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ditto on smartphone
so much less work
also calls and texts no longer go unnoticed when you have headphones plugged into your phone, though that may be more of a personal problem of mine...
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I think the term 'MP3 player' itself is almost obsolete at this point.
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China6331 Posts
A standalone MP3 player is vastly unnecessary these days.
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No tactile: tactile works great for smartphones and such but I have a terrible terrible user experience with tactile on MP3 player. To be honest, to scroll my playlist and hit play, I'd rather have a couple buttons.
did you mean you DO want a tactile interface? tactile means you have buttons. touchscreen means no buttons, just a screen.
the sansa line of mp3 players are often recommended for anyone looking for a good quality mp3 player at a price much lower than apple products.both the sansa clip+ and the fuze are within your budget, have enough memory, are tactile, and have very decent amplifiers (meaning you'll get good sound quality and enough strength to power more demanding headphones). both also microSD expandable.
i've used both and both deliver. i've also read very good things about the different cowon mp3 players (from people who are big into headphones), but i havent used one myself to i cant really comment.
edit: the sanza fuze and clip also have equalizers in their software. not sure if you care - this lets you tune your headphones a bit better, since the amp in your mp3 player may make your headphones sound different than, let's say, your computer.
edit2 - to the people saying mp3 players are unnecessary if you have a smartphone: yes, for most people, the features on a smartphone are enough. but you also need to consider that mp3 players specifically targeted at people looking for high quality sound often have better amplifiers. while this doesnt make a different for most people, someone using a more resolving pair of headphones can tell the difference in sound quality. if you have a good set of headphones, you dont want your mp3 player bottlenecking your sound quality.
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I use my iphone, bit off topic but they're pretty awesome for music. Upgrade your phone and gain an mp3 player in the process xD
Or get an ipod, i imagine their quite good too
Ive also never used itunes other then to set a ringtone or organise games, never for music.
@Ieatkids5 Im yet to find a better sounding mp3 player then my iphone with the apple headphones.
Granted ive never used an expensive mp3 player or a set of headphones but the sound quality is pretty damn good if you ask me 
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How about a SansaClip?
It's a minimalistic MP3 player without any video play and the interface is purely text based (So no touchscreen with album pictures or anything.) It also has an adjustable EQ and expandable memory with SD cards.
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The sanza clip is amazing, but make sure you're using a low profile jack with it. I've gone through three when I decided to use my headphones instead of IEMs because I haven't bothered getting a low profile adapter for them T__T. They're cheap as chips though, with really good feature support, small usable size, no stupid touchscreen and decent amplification/DAC, hard to recommend anything else.
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Thanks guys for the answers.
Regarding the choice of smartphone / MP3 player: the reasoning behind "I'm will buy a Nokia Lumia 925" is that I want to learn how to write good modern UI applications (Windows 8 style) and generally speaking develop on it (I'm a C# developer ).
The only two products available with my mobile phone provider being HTC 8X (that I don't like) and Nokia Lumia 925, I'm left with little choice. And the one they are going to sell in France is 16GB with no slot.
@ieatkids5 Whoops, you're right Word to word translation from French did not work really well in that case, I did mean no touchscreen. Thanks for the clarification!
@divito I tried Sharepod a couple month ago and iirc, it still required iTunes to be installed which is probably already too much. But thanks for the link, I'm gonna try the other softwares and not rule out completely Apple products.
I'm gonna check Sansa products as well.
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Cowon J3 is what you are looking for exactly
- Very good sound quality (one of the best mp3s for that).
-comes in 16, 32 gb versions, all have microSD slot which adds to capacity!
- My favorite part: no software needed. just drag and drop your music files/folders and you are done!
-insane battery life (like 60 hours music)
-great compability with files (can play almost everything you throw at it) and flexible and very customizable
anyway, you should check it out, seriously
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Looks really good! My concern is about the touchscreen as very often, with MP3 players, it is of extremely bad quality. Do you have any feedback on that?
Seems pretty expensive as well but I can probably deal with that.
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maybe check the site of Creative: http://uk.store.creative.com/entertainment-devices-mp3-players.aspx#subcat949 (weirdly enough there are only 3 MP3-Players on that site and I can't see a way to see all of their MP3-Players..)
I've personally used two MP3-Players from Creative so far, the ZEN (4GB) and now the ZEN X-Fi2 (64GB). I've only bought the second one because 4GB was just not cutting it. I've never had problems with either of them and can highly recommend them, both have slots for more memory, however, the 4GB ZEN sucked with SD-Card usage as you had to select the SD-Card every time you started the device, not really my thing.
To those claiming MP3-Players are obsolete, that may be your own opinion, adjusted to your own needs.
My MP3-Player is currently holding slightly above 40GB of music, I have about 8000 or so titles as a massive shuffle playlist. As I only put music on there which I listen to anyway there is no skipping songs or anything like this, just listening.
As I spend a lot of time on the bus on my way to university and back home it's really a way better option as I don't have to recharge my MP3-Player often, either, and can simply enjoy my music.
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On May 17 2013 20:11 LML wrote:maybe check the site of Creative: http://uk.store.creative.com/entertainment-devices-mp3-players.aspx#subcat949 (weirdly enough there are only 3 MP3-Players on that site and I can't see a way to see all of their MP3-Players..) I've personally used two MP3-Players from Creative so far, the ZEN (4GB) and now the ZEN X-Fi2 (64GB). I've only bought the second one because 4GB was just not cutting it. I've never had problems with either of them and can highly recommend them, both have slots for more memory, however, the 4GB ZEN sucked with SD-Card usage as you had to select the SD-Card every time you started the device, not really my thing. To those claiming MP3-Players are obsolete, that may be your own opinion, adjusted to your own needs. My MP3-Player is currently holding slightly above 40GB of music, I have about 8000 or so titles as a massive shuffle playlist. As I only put music on there which I listen to anyway there is no skipping songs or anything like this, just listening. As I spend a lot of time on the bus on my way to university and back home it's really a way better option as I don't have to recharge my MP3-Player often, either, and can simply enjoy my music.
Sounds like a pretty OK mp3 player. The problem is that you make 40GB of music, about 8000 titles, sound impressive, as if a smartphone can't compete. Well, my smartphone has spotify, which makes your 8000 titles seem like a joke.
Mp3 players are definitely obsolete, though it will probably take many more years until there stops being a market for them.
EDIT: Your comment on battery life is valid though. Not that battery life is an issue for the vast majority of people out there, but if it is, MP3 players win by a landslide.
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I have Spotify too on my current smartphone but half my CD are not available there (I buy a lot of stuff and a lot of underground bands) so it does not solve my problem and MP3 players are definitely NOT obsolete, at least for me...
The Cowon J3 could be what I'm looking for but it does not seem to be available anywhere. I've tried every single retailer listed on their website and none of them still sell it 
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On May 17 2013 20:19 Tobberoth wrote:Show nested quote +On May 17 2013 20:11 LML wrote:maybe check the site of Creative: http://uk.store.creative.com/entertainment-devices-mp3-players.aspx#subcat949 (weirdly enough there are only 3 MP3-Players on that site and I can't see a way to see all of their MP3-Players..) I've personally used two MP3-Players from Creative so far, the ZEN (4GB) and now the ZEN X-Fi2 (64GB). I've only bought the second one because 4GB was just not cutting it. I've never had problems with either of them and can highly recommend them, both have slots for more memory, however, the 4GB ZEN sucked with SD-Card usage as you had to select the SD-Card every time you started the device, not really my thing. To those claiming MP3-Players are obsolete, that may be your own opinion, adjusted to your own needs. My MP3-Player is currently holding slightly above 40GB of music, I have about 8000 or so titles as a massive shuffle playlist. As I only put music on there which I listen to anyway there is no skipping songs or anything like this, just listening. As I spend a lot of time on the bus on my way to university and back home it's really a way better option as I don't have to recharge my MP3-Player often, either, and can simply enjoy my music. Sounds like a pretty OK mp3 player. The problem is that you make 40GB of music, about 8000 titles, sound impressive, as if a smartphone can't compete. Well, my smartphone has spotify, which makes your 8000 titles seem like a joke. Mp3 players are definitely obsolete, though it will probably take many more years until there stops being a market for them. EDIT: Your comment on battery life is valid though. Not that battery life is an issue for the vast majority of people out there, but if it is, MP3 players win by a landslide.
mp3 players are not obsolete and will not be for a while. battery life, as you said, is one reason.
i wrote earlier in this thread about sound quality. for most people, using your smartphone to play music is fine. but there are some who need a higher quality amp/DAC, usually because they are using more resolving headphones, and they do not want their mp3 player's amp/DAC to limit their sound quality.
people shouldnt even be arguing "mp3 players // smartphones are better" because they serve different purposes. if one of these products fits your needs, then it is better for you.
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T.O.P.
Hong Kong4685 Posts
On May 17 2013 21:05 ieatkids5 wrote:Show nested quote +On May 17 2013 20:19 Tobberoth wrote:On May 17 2013 20:11 LML wrote:maybe check the site of Creative: http://uk.store.creative.com/entertainment-devices-mp3-players.aspx#subcat949 (weirdly enough there are only 3 MP3-Players on that site and I can't see a way to see all of their MP3-Players..) I've personally used two MP3-Players from Creative so far, the ZEN (4GB) and now the ZEN X-Fi2 (64GB). I've only bought the second one because 4GB was just not cutting it. I've never had problems with either of them and can highly recommend them, both have slots for more memory, however, the 4GB ZEN sucked with SD-Card usage as you had to select the SD-Card every time you started the device, not really my thing. To those claiming MP3-Players are obsolete, that may be your own opinion, adjusted to your own needs. My MP3-Player is currently holding slightly above 40GB of music, I have about 8000 or so titles as a massive shuffle playlist. As I only put music on there which I listen to anyway there is no skipping songs or anything like this, just listening. As I spend a lot of time on the bus on my way to university and back home it's really a way better option as I don't have to recharge my MP3-Player often, either, and can simply enjoy my music. Sounds like a pretty OK mp3 player. The problem is that you make 40GB of music, about 8000 titles, sound impressive, as if a smartphone can't compete. Well, my smartphone has spotify, which makes your 8000 titles seem like a joke. Mp3 players are definitely obsolete, though it will probably take many more years until there stops being a market for them. EDIT: Your comment on battery life is valid though. Not that battery life is an issue for the vast majority of people out there, but if it is, MP3 players win by a landslide. mp3 players are not obsolete and will not be for a while. battery life, as you said, is one reason. i wrote earlier in this thread about sound quality. for most people, using your smartphone to play music is fine. but there are some who need a higher quality amp/DAC, usually because they are using more resolving headphones, and they do not want their mp3 player's amp/DAC to limit their sound quality. people shouldnt even be arguing "mp3 players // smartphones are better" because they serve different purposes. if one of these products fits your needs, then it is better for you.
A smartphone like the s4 or the iphone can play 4 days of music non-stop, playing music doesn't use much power on top of what it already uses. A smartphone can play music and it does it better. You can store music, download/stream music on the go, and scroll through music more efficiently with a touchscreen.
Is there any data that shows that certain mp3 players offer superior audio quality than smartphones? Maybe some snr numbers?
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On May 17 2013 20:40 Merany wrote:I have Spotify too on my current smartphone but half my CD are not available there (I buy a lot of stuff and a lot of underground bands) so it does not solve my problem and MP3 players are definitely NOT obsolete, at least for me... The Cowon J3 could be what I'm looking for but it does not seem to be available anywhere. I've tried every single retailer listed on their website and none of them still sell it
Though that obviously starts to eat in on the space of the smartphone, it's a simple measure to put your MP3s lacking on spotify in an offline playlist to access them that way, it's not a big deal to make spotify all that you need. With a galaxy S3, you can just get a SDXC card and you suddenly have 64GB of data for all those CDs currently not on spotify, which definitely puts it in the range of most MP3 players.
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Sansa Fuze - it has an awesome wheel and you can have Rockbox (the best software for music players ever) on it. It only has 4GB memory but it has a MicroSD slot too. None of the Apple nonsense of needing special software on every computer just to put music in it.
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wrong button :D, delete pls
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On May 18 2013 00:17 Tobberoth wrote:Show nested quote +On May 17 2013 20:40 Merany wrote:I have Spotify too on my current smartphone but half my CD are not available there (I buy a lot of stuff and a lot of underground bands) so it does not solve my problem and MP3 players are definitely NOT obsolete, at least for me... The Cowon J3 could be what I'm looking for but it does not seem to be available anywhere. I've tried every single retailer listed on their website and none of them still sell it Though that obviously starts to eat in on the space of the smartphone, it's a simple measure to put your MP3s lacking on spotify in an offline playlist to access them that way, it's not a big deal to make spotify all that you need. With a galaxy S3, you can just get a SDXC card and you suddenly have 64GB of data for all those CDs currently not on spotify, which definitely puts it in the range of most MP3 players.
As I've explained a bit before, this is not compatible with my choice of smartphone hence the MP3 player required
Anyway, Amazon UK seems to have a few Cowon J3 left, I'll probably make my choice between this one and one of the Sansa products.
Thanks guys for the recommendation!
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Just a little bit on the touchscreen on the j3 as you asked about: the screen quality itself is quite spectacular as it is an AMOLED screen; videos look very good. The touch response is also decent; perhaps not quite Apple level but definitely perfectly functional
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Smartphone + portable amp is great. I got Poweramp on Android and that app rocks.
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If you have trouble finding the J3, its successor, the Z2 might be more widely available.
I'm still using a trusty J3 though. Almost 2 years old now and still running well.
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EPT
