Favorite 100GB+ MP3 Player?

[sraun]

I don't want an iPod.

What's your favorite non-iPod 'holds all my music' MP3 player? My library is currently 40GB, I'd like a minimum of 60GB and would really like 100GB+. I'll take Flash or Hard-drive. My budget looks like it could be as high as $500.

Comments

[norabombay.livejournal.com]

I'm in love with my sandisk sansa clip. It is only 1GB, but can be expanded with the little chips for cell phones.

Not what you are looking for, but awesome for $30. I've got mine up to 9GB of music....

[sraun]

IIRC, the Clip+ comes in up to an 8GB version. And I could toss a 32GB MicroSDHC card in one. But that puts me right on my current library size, and I'm betting again the Clip+ being able to read MicroSDXC (when they finally come out).

I've currently got a 2GB Sansa device that I've got either a 4GB or 8GB MicroSDHC in. For me, it's a pain to only have partial library.

[adina-atl.livejournal.com]

I don't want an iPod either, but so far I haven't been able to find a non-iPod MP3 player with a docking station with speakers. All of the speaker/docking station combos seem to be for iPods only.

[sraun]

That's not a part of my spec - I'm perfectly willing to deal with external speakers that take a mini-RCA plug (i.e., headphone jack).

[carbonel]

I respect your choice, but purely out of curiosity, why no iPod?

[sraun]

Mostly philosophical objections - I don't like Apple's walled garden. I've actually installed iTunes a couple of times to see what their classical selection was like - either it was awful or I couldn't find it. It really annoys me that there's no web interface to the store for someone who just wants to look at the selection.

[carbonel]

You seem to be conflating the iTunes store with iPod functionality. I agree that the iTunes store isn't very good for classical music.

But the iPod device is ecumenical; just about everything I have on it is converted .mp3 files from CDs, and it plays many different formats (not sure about Ogg Vorbis, though). I think I have all of three songs on it from the iTunes store. If it's a religious objection, that's one thing. But if it's just annoyance at the iTunes store, I'd suggest a fresh look at the iPod itself -- the iPod Classic, that is, not the iPod Touch.

[sraun]

My major objection is that I don't like Apple's Walled Garden approach.

Can you sync your music to your iPod without using iTunes? The only way I know to do that is by installing RockBox on the iPod - and according to a discussion elsewhere, RockBox doesn't support the current iPod Classic yet.

My research last night is leading me to believe that my choices may be an iPod Classic (bad), a Microsoft Zune (worse), a discontinued model (blech), or a full-blown Android Tablet (not great). A year from now I might have the option of a flash-based player that takes an SDXC card - but I'm not holding my breath.

I'm not certain what I'm going to do.

[carbonel]

My major objection is that I don't like Apple's Walled Garden approach.

You keep saying that thing. I don't think it means what you think it means.

While I'm not sure there's any way to use an iPod without using iTunes, you appear to be conflating the iTunes store with the iTunes application. You can use iTunes for free without ever giving them a credit card, without ever accessing the iTunes store. I did that for several years.

The iTunes application is simply a music management system. And really, it's a pretty good one. Not perfect, but better than anything else I've found, and I've done a certain amount of searching. iTunes the application doesn't have any walled garden aspect to it. You don't need to buy any specific vendor's music to use it.

[sraun]

I think you are missing something - I have two different issues.

First, my major objection is to Apple. I do not want to support the company in any way. I do not like their philosophy of how computing should work.

Second, I'm glad that you are happy with iTunes. I know the plural of anecdote is not data, but I have heard way too many people complaining about what iTunes did to their Windows box when it was installed. I was stuck with Quicktime for many years, and every time I went to install it, or that it updated itself, Apple tried to force iTunes on me, and several times they tried to get me to install Safari. I got sick and tired of having to go through the custom installer every time and deselecting the same options every time.

[carbonel]

Okay, so it is essentially a religious issue. That explains your willingness to suffer for it. :-)

[khavrinen.livejournal.com]

Does anyone make 100GB players? I just read an article in PC Pro where they reviewed several, and the largest capacity they listed was 64GB. The non-iPod one they rated best was the Cowon J3, which I had never heard of before, but they seemed relatively impressed by it. The comparison article doesn't seem to be online, but here's the review of the J3 itself:
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/media-players/358210/cowon-j3

[sraun]

Sounds like they were probably reviewing just Flash memory players. 100GB+ are probably all hard-drive based still.

iPod classics are available in 120 & 160, Zunes are available in 120, Archos has some 160 & 250 models, Cowon has a 160, iRiver has a 120.

This is according to a quick eBay check. From my quick check at archos.com this morning, their models may be discontinued. :-( They were the ones I was probably most interested in.

[mle292.livejournal.com]

With a budget that high, I'd suggest getting a nice Android cellphone. The newest of the phones can hold that much memory.

[sraun]

If I go Android, I'll probably go for a tablet of some kind. An Android cell would be nice, but I've got one-time money for this, not on-going expense money. And if I had a smartphone, I'd really want to use it as a phone! With a data plan! And $60-90/month just isn't in the budget.