Help in buying an MP3 player ...

[swwdts]

I'm am wanting to buy a MP3 player for the 1st time.Which brand should I buy? I work on a farm & I need one that can handle a bump or drop & not get broken.Apples version is somewhat high priced where I live over $ 180.00.Is that too much to pay for one?

[markw]

The wife and I both use Sandisk Sansa players. Not the fancy ones with the multi-color displays, but the cheaper ones with monochrome displays, like this:

http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product=4059677

Please note this is a four gig unit. One gig units, like we have, come in at under $60 and hold about 250 WMA songs. ...and it has a built in FM tuner

[audio_dude]

yup, the sansa players are pretty nice, i bought one for my dad, although i'm an ipod man myself.

[swwdts]

Thanks to the both of you for the help!

[bubbagump]

I own two iPods, two Rio Carbons and have owned about half a dozen other brands over the years. I now use a Rio Forge (two actually) and use it almost exclusively. It does everything most people need and a couple of things most other players don't. It uses a single AAA battery instead of a proprietary rechargable. This is a major advantage if you use the player a lot or if you travel a lot. No more thinking about where to get the next charge. I'm getting at least 15 hours of playback per battery. The second major advantage is that it's upgradeable with SD cards. There are three versions of the Forge. The 128MB, 256MB and 512MB versions. The model you want is the 256. The 512 doesn't have an SD slot. I'm using a Patriot 4GB SD card. The sound qulaity is as good as I've heard in an mp3 player. It uses Plays For Sure firmware for access to subscription services such as Audible, Napster and others (not iTunes though). It's completely solid state and rugged. Best of all, it can be had for 50 bucks plus the cost of the SD card of your choice. It also has hard bookmarking, something many players don't. If you listen to podcasts, audio books or want to bookmark favorite songs, the Forge lets you set up to nine bookmarks. This is an uncommon but necessary feature for me. Even the iPod won't let you do this unless you wipe it and install Rockbox, something beyond the majority of consumers.

http://system.s2gstore.com/site/RioAudio/index.htm

The downside is that the screen isn't as readable as modern oled and lcd displays. It won't do video either but this is first and foremost an audio player. Also, Rio is out of business for the time being. Personally this isn't a problem for me but it might be a deterent for some.

[basite]

my nephew has got a cowon iaudio u2, it has 1 gig of flash memory, looks quite good, 2 gig version available, it was the cnet editors choice, they have alot of models, their newest u-series is the U3, they come at $200 or so, they are really good. look at www.cowonglobal.com for more info.

[audio_dude]

one problem, Rio went out of buisness!! :'( :'(
they made some pretty kick ass players, almost bought one, but ended up with an iPod mini, now i've got my 30gig video, but still happy with it!

get one of the sandisk players, maybe one of the cheaper ones, that way, if it breaks, you can always just buy another one!

oh, you might want to also factor in the price of some decent earbuds because stock ones almost always need improving

[ciscokid1970]

My favorite MP3 player is the Creative labs Muvo TX FM

Very small, size of a lighter
Uses regular battery 1 AAA
Clean Powerfull amp built in so you can power big headphones.
Built in FM Radio, for when you run out of songs.
Built in USB connector, so no cables needed.
Can be used as a usb flash drive, sweeeet.
128M or 256M or 512M or 1G available.

512M version for $55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16855102167

1 G version is hard to find here are some from 75 and up.
http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=6081806/zip_code=75007/

[N. Abstentia]

For what you're doing you need a flash player (NOT hard drive) and one that uses standard batteries (assuming your tractor does not have an iPod charger built in).

So, as others have said...Sandisk Sansa.

[jrhymeammo]

This is what real men use.

http://www.mobibluamerica.com/dah1500.html

It's smaller than 1"x1"x1". I'm sure you can stuff about a dozen of them in your pockets.

Which ever model you decide to go with, be sure to get earbuds like these
http://www.koss.com/koss/kossweb.nsf/p?openform&pc^eb^SPARKPLUG
I really love these. My Grado 60 can go to hell.
I use them with my Ipod Nano, and compared to stock earpieces they really help me save battery. I only have to charge my player once every 3 days as oppose to every night.
-JRA

[emorphien]

I've got an iRiver iHP-120 and am waiting for the 4gb black Clix to come out. I've found iRivers to be very tough and reliable. They have some other flash players that would fit your budget but in general they're not the cheapest players (they tend to be worth the little extra though).

The Sandisk Sansas are also great, as are Mobiblus. I think either of those two would offer what you want for a very reasonable price.