Wow, I have alot of MP3 players.  But then again, most of them are obsolete, since they have limited memory, or they use outdated interfaces, like parallel printer ports (MPMan F20).  So I will review my limited collection of MP3 players, if anyone’s interested, with photos.

 

MPMan F20
My first MP3 player was the MPMan F20.  It has a whopping 32MB of integrated RAM, which will play about 30 minutes of music encoded at 128kbit bitrate.  It uses a cable that plugs into the parallel port for transferring songs.  The display window on the device only shows the track number, no song info here.  Very basic player, with decent sound, but no equalizer.  Has different sound settings, such as bass boost to improve the sound.  I paid about $150 for this a long time ago, I think in 1999.  Amazing how far technology has improved since then.  I keep this player as part of my collection, but no longer use it since my computer doesn’t have a parallel port.

 

Sitecom MP-310 Cube
Portable player, that accepts SD memory cards.  I think I paid less than $20 for this player.  No display, similar in concept to Apple’s shuffle player.  Decent sound, but not with the included headphones.  I bought his just because it was so small, and cheap.  Uses 1 AAA battery. 

 

Samsung YP-MT6
Nice player, great sound, equalizer adjust, track display, FM Stereo (can record stations), built in mic to record dictations, only 512MB of RAM.  Heavy little brick-like player, cost me about $80 at Best Buy.  Doesn’t support subscription type music services, but a good sounding player that uses only 1 AA battery, with great battery life. 

 

Sandisk Sansa M250
2GB player that supports subscription type music services, like Rhapsody.  Good sound, very lightweight and portable.  Build quality doesn’t seem that good, but for $40, it was a great deal at the time.  Uses 1 AA battery.  USB connection works with standard mini-B  type cable.  Had lots of issues with this player being “seen” in Rhapsody, sometimes it would work, sometimes not.  Very frustrating.  This was the main reason that I stopped using this player.  Don’t know if it was the software or the player.

Iriver Clix
Another 2GB player, that supports MP3, WMA, Ogg Vorbis, and plays videos.  Unique click type navigation that is easy and comfortable to use, however it leaves the screen full of fingerprints.  Special proprietary connection to USB.  FM stereo and flash type games are also available on this device.  Great sound and great battery life.  Left this player in the seat pouch in front of me on the airplane, while I went to the bathroom.  The girl seated next to me apparently stole this player, and when asked if she’d seen my MP3 player, she acted as if she didn’t know what I was talking about.  Was a great gadget while I had it.

 

Sandisk Clip
1GB player with outstanding sound.  Works with subscription music services.  This player is extremely portable, and easy to use.  Intuitive interface, great battery life (up to 15 hours, rechargeable through USB port), supports MP3, WMA, and secure WMA.  Has a voice recorder with built in microphone, and can hold up to 1000 songs.  Probably enjoyed this player most of all, with the exception of my Ipod Touch.  The sound quality as I mentioned was super, considering the small size of this device.  Unfortunately, because it was so small, it got destroyed when I washed my clothes, with it hidden in one of the pockets.  The battery died, but it still works if you power it externally, which means it’s no longer portable.  The picture below shows my “mod”, with wires soldered to where the battery used to be.  Not pretty.

 

Sony NWZ-S615F
Yes, another 2GB music player.  Load this one up from songs on Rhapsody, or add your own music files.  Plays MP4 videos on its tiny screen.  Good for TV shows, but too small to watch full length movies.  Outstanding battery life, very good sound.  Internal battery charges from USB port.  Lots of options, equalizer, FM Stereo, playlist support, intelligent shuffle, photo library, and more. 

 

Ipod Shuffle, 2nd Gen
1GB MP3 player, no display, just BACKand NEXTcontrols, PLAY, PAUSE, FFWD, REW, and volume UP and DOWN.  Amazing sound quality.  My wife originally bought 2 of these, one for each of my sons.  At the time they mentioned how great the sound was, I didn’t believe it.  Then I took a listen, and was surprised.  The fidelity, and sound output of these small players is outstanding.  And they are built very rugged, with an aluminum case.  Also shown in the picture is an adapter I bought from Amazon, for about $3, which included shipping.  This allows you to charge and transfer music to the player.  I misplaced the data cable, so had to purchase this adapter, which is very compact, and works well for being made in China.  Although I still use Itunes for my Ipod Touch, for this Shuffle I use Doubletwist for updating or deleting the music files.  The Shuffle would be a great gift for teenagers, as it’s nearly indestructible, is very portable, and holds enough music for a weeks’ worth of listening.

Lyra HD Jukebox
20GB “portable” player, that is very heavy.  Got this baby at Savers, which is similar to Goodwill.  Bought it for $20.  Works well as an external harddrive, but considering that it uses USB 1.1, it is verrrrrry slow.  Came with a charger, headphones, carrying case, and necessary cables.  Transferred some MP3 files from my computer to this device, which took forever.  Sound quality is good, and this RCA device supports MP3 pro, but you have to buy the encoder to convert your music to this format.  Menu navigation is frustrating, and not well thought out.  Battery life from what I gather is about 4 hours, but it could be that the internal NiCad has seen better days.  Nice blue backlit display, this player would work well in a car if provided with external power, and left to play continuosly.  Unique player, and great for a collection.

 

Ipod touch, 2nd Gen, 16GB
What can I say about this, that hasn’t been said already?  It plays music, videos, games, applications, and more.  Almost anything you can do on a laptop, you can do on this device, with the exception of playing flash files while surfing the web.  This is the 16GB model, which I purchased from Apple for $199, since it was refurbished.  And came with a full warranty regardless.  Can’t beat that deal.  Good battery life, unless you’re playing 3d games.  I use this everyday to listen to music on the way to work.  I would have preferred to have the Iphone, but I can’t afford the monthly service fees from AT&T.  This was a good compromise.  Only gripe I have is that it often locks up, and needs to be reset quite often, which is irritating.  But this hasn’t happened while playing music.  You gotta get one of these.