MP3 player on the cheap
 

Wife gave me her MP3 player to listen to when flying... it now will not hold a battery charge... so I'm shopping for a new one to replace it.

I'm on a tight budget so less than $100... preferably less than $50

I only use it when flying to block out the mindless chatter of fellow passengers and screaming babies.

I would like and easy interface that works with XP or Vista so I'm thinking Zune or Sandisk?

Anyone have something like this they like and can recommend?

Carry on... carry on...

I always really liked my Creative labs stuff. They work well with windows... in fact I didn't even use their software... just Windows media player....

Creative Labs Zen MX 16 GB MP3 Player


Search that on Amazon

Search done... the Creative Lab Mosaic is a little closer to my price rage... anyone played with one of those?

I don't need mega storage... 4 gig is probably more than I will use.

Thanks for the help.

No experience with that one but it looks very similar to my ZEN color that I had back several years ago... Good UI, the radio tuner rocked and the mic was good too... I really liked that just stopped using it when I got the iPhone...

If its not too late.

The ipod shuffles are hard to beat if you want small, light and long battery life.

They are about 1.25 inches square - hold 2gig and the batteries last forever.

I use mine at the gym and basically I never charge it. Lasts well over a month between charges.

I think the earbuds weigh more than the ipod. Downside (and upside) is that there is not a screen.

Problem with the shuffle is that you can't select a certain song or album... Just have to listen to what it gives you....

There are a ton of used ipod nanos on ebay for less than $50 and you can probably get into a new one for around $100. itunes is easy to use and I prefer it to windows media player. My ipod is over 5 years old and has been bulletproof. The battery will still last for over 5 hours and this is after pretty much daily usage of 2-5 hours for the last 5 years. It is the only source of music I have used in my car for 2 years, so it gets used and abused and it is still going strong.

I would stay away from the ipods and zunes. Their DRM infested software is a major PITA, and frankly I hate synching devices of any sort.

I like the ones that connect via normal usb cables so you can drag and drop mp3s from any computer, mac or pc, without installing software.

Just music?

Sandisk, hands down. Sansa Clip for just music, Sansa Fuse if you want cheap video. Under $50 is easy, and they have direct drag and drop via USB. No conversion software, no DRM issues, no "pay for the name".

New ipod is close to the high end of my budget, would prefer to spend less... not interested in buying used.

The creative labs MP3 looks like a drag and drop type unit, I like that idea also.

Sandisk Sansa.
Meets all of your requirements.

I may have one I'll send you...

Point of order: itunes only has drm if you buy music from their online store. Otherwise they are just the files that you have on your computer simply uploaded into a player.

Not attempting to Apple down anyone's throat just wanted to clear up what I perceived to be confusion.

It looks like it is down to a Sandisk or Creative Labs.

Some of the online reviews bag on the software for both but I presume they do not know you can just connect them via USB and drop files on them like an external drive.

How about the Sony MP3 players, anyone use them?

I wouldn't mind getting an ipod but the key here is to spend as little money as possible.

Drag and drop worked just fine on my creative...

I would go with the sandisk. Buy one with a small card then you can always upgrade to a larger micro SD card when prices fall or when you want more storage. They seem to be able to go up to 32GB which is pretty good.

I got one for my wife and liked it so much I bought one myself. Works really well and syncs with media player or you can just drag and drop files. I got the 8mb version and have well over 2000 songs on it. Very easy to get through the menus to select songs by title, artist, album, or year. Never run out of battery, but I probably don't usually go more that three or four hours between plugging it in to my computer to charge. I have been slow getting into the mp3 player stuff, but I love this. I tend to take it with me when I have to drive the company car and just play it through the stereo. It's like taking most of my CD collection with me.

Crap! I had a Sandisk 8 gig sansa all picked out on Amazon... brought the old MP3 player (2 gig sansa) into work to give it one last chance to charge... and it seems to be holding the charge now. (must have not had a good connection when trying to charge it with wifes laptop)

Rats... foiled again!!!

No new gadget for me :(

Thanks for all the replies!