Mp3 Player - about €100 budget

Lovely Bloke

Hey all,

My father, a man of 60, has asked for an MP3 player for Xmas.

He's not unused to them, but I do think an iPod, with the iTunes software may be a touch beyond him. I'd rather not be getting phone calls on a regular basis "Can you update this for me" "it's too hard to use" etc.

He's had a Creative Mosaic in the past, and I'd like to keep with the "drag & drop" feature for him. He can rip Cds, find where they are stored, and move them to his device. also, the small size of the Mosaic means he's used to somoething of that ilk, however, he is getting older so wouldn't be as dextrous, or have as good eyesight, so something a little bigger may be needed.

I don't think he'd appreciate Touch Screen, he's been offered touch screen phones in work, but has refused them and gone for ones with manual buttons.

I've been looking at the Creative X-Fi 8gb
Also, Zen Style M300

These both have "touch responsive" buttons - I've a Galaxy SIII phone, which also has these buttons, and I think the fact that they are clearly demarcated buttons, rather than a touch screen, he'd be ok with them.

Anyone got anything to say about either?

I've considered Sansa also, however myself and my wife have had issues with the Clip+ - I know they get rave reviews around here, and believe me, having used the Clip (non+) I understand those reviews, but I do feel a bit burnt by them. I myself have owned the Vision M and it's the best bit of kit I've owned, I respect and like Creative.

Ste-

What issues did you have with the Clip+ do you mind me asking ?
Most players now use either software or MTP on windows for transferring.

I'd go Sansa myself but then I do have loads of them, have you checked out the Sony range of players ? I think they're drag and drop too. Good thing about the sansa tho is the micro sd slots on them, allowing for more storage over time.

Lovely Bloke

Ste- wrote: »

What issues did you have with the Clip+ do you mind me asking ?

Specifically the Sansa Clip+, sound only coming out of one earphone, on multiple sets of phones, and in the car sound only on one side using the Aux input.

It's the earphone jack that's dodgy.


As I said, there was an older Clip that worked perfectly.

PPC

Did you contact Sansa about the problem? Sounds like something they would have covered under warranty no problems.

Ste-

TheNinthGate wrote: »

Specifically the Sansa Clip+, sound only coming out of one earphone, on multiple sets of phones, and in the car sound only on one side using the Aux input.

It's the earphone jack that's dodgy.


As I said, there was an older Clip that worked perfectly.

A well known problem which google does turn up lots of solutions, firstly I'd have gone direct to Sansa tho. Have been in contact with the CS in USA before and have found them very easy to deal with.

Lovely Bloke

It was a refurb that cost less than 30 quid, so I wasn't too bothered about it.

It's not that old either, probably 4 months

smilerf

IMO Sony is the way to go. user friendly. so easy

KingJamsie

http://www.gamestop.ie/MP3%20Players/Games/40675/ipod-nano-4th-generation-8gb-pre-owned?previousUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gamestop.ie%2FSearchResult%2FQuickSearch%2F%3Fq%3DMegaMonday%26inTitle%3Dtrue%26platform%3D21

Lovely Bloke

KingJamsie wrote: »

http://www.gamestop.ie/MP3%20Players/Games/40675/ipod-nano-4th-generation-8gb-pre-owned?previousUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gamestop.ie%2FSearchResult%2FQuickSearch%2F%3Fq%3DMegaMonday%26inTitle%3Dtrue%26platform%3D21

Thanks but

TheNinthGate wrote: »

He's not unused to them, but I do think an iPod, with the iTunes software may be a touch beyond him. I'd rather not be getting phone calls on a regular basis "Can you update this for me" "it's too hard to use" etc.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-NWZE474-8GB-Walkman-Player/dp/B0089B6330/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1354631094&sr=8-2

drag and drop.

simple to use.

long battery life.

durable.

8gb should be ok for your dad even though it's not a lot. having 100 albums at decent bitrate (100 x 80mb average) capacity should impress an oldie!

diarmuid05

I'm getting this for Xmas off the OH

http://en.store.creative.com/entertainment-devices-mp3-players/zen-touch-2/948-20275.aspx

diarmuid05

diarmuid05 wrote: »

I'm getting this for Xmas off the OH

http://en.store.creative.com/entertainment-devices-mp3-players/zen-touch-2/948-20275.aspx

looks good if you want extra feature like android apps alright.

wonder how the battery life is.

pity the tv connector is an unspecified cost extra.

steve_r

TheNinthGate wrote: »

Hey all,

My father, a man of 60, has asked for an MP3 player for Xmas.

He's not unused to them, but I do think an iPod, with the iTunes software may be a touch beyond him. I'd rather not be getting phone calls on a regular basis "Can you update this for me" "it's too hard to use" etc.

He's had a Creative Mosaic in the past, and I'd like to keep with the "drag & drop" feature for him. He can rip Cds, find where they are stored, and move them to his device. also, the small size of the Mosaic means he's used to somoething of that ilk, however, he is getting older so wouldn't be as dextrous, or have as good eyesight, so something a little bigger may be needed.

I don't think he'd appreciate Touch Screen, he's been offered touch screen phones in work, but has refused them and gone for ones with manual buttons.

I've been looking at the Creative X-Fi 8gb
Also, Zen Style M300

These both have "touch responsive" buttons - I've a Galaxy SIII phone, which also has these buttons, and I think the fact that they are clearly demarcated buttons, rather than a touch screen, he'd be ok with them.

Anyone got anything to say about either?

I've considered Sansa also, however myself and my wife have had issues with the Clip+ - I know they get rave reviews around here, and believe me, having used the Clip (non+) I understand those reviews, but I do feel a bit burnt by them. I myself have owned the Vision M and it's the best bit of kit I've owned, I respect and like Creative.

I was also a creative fanboy - untill I tried the x-fi3. Utter rubbish, the buttons are very hard to use.

I'd look for an older creative if possible, amazon ebay.

I have a clip, don't love at as much as everyone else seems to but if it's working fine then its a high quality player with removable storage that's very well priced.

steve_r

steve_r wrote: »

I was also a creative fanboy - untill I tried the x-fi3. Utter rubbish, the buttons are very hard to use.

I'd look for an older creative if possible, amazon ebay.

I have a clip, don't love at as much as everyone else seems to but if it's working fine then its a high quality player with removable storage that's very well priced.

older issue with older player is that the rechargeable battery will be degraded.

I think that the clip and now the zip are good players - only issue for me is the battery life which is not great.

smilerf

glasso wrote: »

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-NWZE474-8GB-Walkman-Player/dp/B0089B6330/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1354631094&sr=8-2

drag and drop.

simple to use.

long battery life.

durable.

8gb should be ok for your dad even though it's not a lot. having 100 albums at decent bitrate (100 x 80mb average) capacity should impress an oldie!

I got the 4gb version a few weeks ago for 40. Amazing sound and battery life. Bundled earphones are great too which is a refreshing change. No need for an upgrade

Morf

glasso wrote: »

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-NWZE474-8GB-Walkman-Player/dp/B0089B6330/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1354631094&sr=8-2

drag and drop.

simple to use.

long battery life.

durable.

8gb should be ok for your dad even though it's not a lot. having 100 albums at decent bitrate (100 x 80mb average) capacity should impress an oldie!

Think I'm going to buy one of these for my brother. I'm starting to believe the talk that Creative have gone to the dogs the last few years.