Anyone recommend a good, non ipod, mac compatible MP3 player?

toomevara

...pretty much as it says on the thread title...all suggestions greatly received...

pleasant Co.

Any of the new sony players, any cowon player, any iriver player, any sandisk player, any archos player, any new samsung player....so you've a good deal of choice.

What are you looking for in this mp3 player?

toomevara

Mactard wrote: »

Any of the new sony players, any cowon player, any iriver player, any sandisk player, any archos player, any new samsung player....so you've a good deal of choice.

What are you looking for in this mp3 player?

Cheers Mactard, thanks for the prompt response. I want two,actually make that three, main things, an FM radio built in (talk radio junkie) and the kind of sound quality which my PC using mate's sony walkman has (i.e. amazing),also greater reliability than my last two ipods which died/malfunctioned..I've been looking at the new Sony's but its difficult to ascertain whether they're fully compatible with Macs...

PS, that may just be me as I'm a knuckle dragging, bottom feeder when it comes to technology....

pleasant Co.

They are compatible, fo sho....in terms of great sound quality that'll narrow down the list a bit: (list in no particular order)

Sony
Cowon
Sandisk
Samsung (but wouldn't recommend them until they get their product line sorted)

Despite my dislike of Sony as a company they do make some real quality players (although stay away from their E series line of players, the A, S and X lines are all safe bets) Cowon's S9 is also fantastic and probably the most user friendly player available and the Sandisk Sansa clip or fuze are just about the very best "bang for buck" on the market (with arguably the best sound quality too). Samsung's current flagship model is the P3, supposedly a rock solid device but I haven't used one myself, the reason I said I wouldn't recommend them is because they have 2 or 3 other new players in the pipeline and no one is quite sure where the P3 stands in that line up.

I'm going to be offline for a bit but I'll get back to any questions I can help you with as soon as I can.

toomevara

Mactard wrote: »

They are compatible, fo sho....in terms of great sound quality that'll narrow down the list a bit: (list in no particular order)

Sony
Cowon
Sandisk
Samsung (but wouldn't recommend them until they get their product line sorted)

Despite my dislike of Sony as a company they do make some real quality players (although stay away from their E series line of players, the A, S and X lines are all safe bets) Cowon's S9 is also fantastic and probably the most user friendly player available and the Sandisk Sansa clip or fuze are just about the very best "bang for buck" on the market (with arguably the best sound quality too). Samsung's current flagship model is the P3, supposedly a rock solid device but I haven't used one myself, the reason I said I wouldn't recommend them is because they have 2 or 3 other new players in the pipeline and no one is quite sure where the P3 stands in that line up.

I'm going to be offline for a bit but I'll get back to any questions I can help you with as soon as I can.

Great stuff, thanks a mil...massively appreciated

sedohre

My iriver clix is not compatible with mac, needs wmp 10 or above. So maybe not all creative players are mac compatible

pleasant Co.

sedohre wrote: »

My iriver clix is not compatible with mac, needs wmp 10 or above. So maybe not all creative players are mac compatible

Ah, my bad, I had forgotten about the first generation clix (no longer produced) which is MTP only....although something in the back of my mind is saying you could flash the clix (U10 in S. Korea) with the S. Korean firmware to get rid of mtp support and instead gain msc support. iriver did correct this BIG mistake when they brought out the second generation Clix.

Don't think anyone mentioned Creative, but you are right, they won't work with mac - unless you install something hacky like libmtp.

sedohre

Mactard wrote: »

Don't think anyone mentioned Creative

Oh, I had always though that iriver clix was made by creative. Don't know why actually

toomevara

Mactard wrote: »

Cowon's S9 is also fantastic

Did a lot of research based on your recommendations, just ordered meself one of these babies. Will let you know how I get on with it...again, thanks for the steer, I'd never have stumbled on one of these left to my own idiotic devices...

conchubhar1

i would highly recomend not gettinf the sony walkman

biggest piece of ....

pleasant Co.

Cool man, do let us know how you get on with the S9.

nialler

Bad luck, I have two teenage daughters and have had about 7 or more ipods over the years never had a problem with them, still have a 2g iPod in the drawer in the kitchen that is in perfect working order, I couldn't imagine any other device replacing the simplicity and ease of use of iPod/iTunes on the mac.

toomevara

nialler wrote: »

still have a 2g iPod in the drawer in the kitchen that is in perfect working order,.

funny that, me too...gave one,which i'd used, to my Gf, what 3 years ago....still works like a charm,despite all the abuse she chucks at it....

pleasant Co.

I still have a nearly 4yr old 5g that has taken a huge amount of abuse thanks to one year lending it to my younger brother, but still keeps ticking (and i still use it) on the flip side i've had a 3g that broke in under 6 months, an ipod classic that broke within 2 weeks and 3 ipod touch's (gen 1 and 2) that have had to be replaced due to screen issues, but it's certainly not limited to ipods alone, every brand ship duds unfortunately and generally speaking it does all come down to luck in the end.