The Battle of Cheap-Ass Flash-Based DAPs!

Post by **CronoTriggerfan** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 2:59 pm

Let me state first that I've always been a bit of a one-device for all kinda guy, so looking at players that do anything less is a bit new for me. I've currently got an iPod Touch, and as much as I love it, it's a bit too limited as a gaming device for me, and it's battery life is damn near jack crap. It's also a bit too chunky for me when I'm working out and constantly falls out of my pocket when running or benching. Therefore, I've decided to sell it to fund my purchase of a Pandora when it comes out as my new all-in-one device.

But if I thought the iPod Touch was too big to work out with, the Pandora is even worse. It'll be a great DAP for daily use, but I'll need something else to work out with. It has to be small, preferably flash-based, cheap, and hold a gig or two worth of workout tunes on top of all my podcasts. With that in mind, does anyone have anything in mind? I'd like to stay away from the Chipod realm. I know there's some solid players out there like Teclast and Meizu players, but still, I just don't wanna deal with it. Thanks!

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 3:49 pm

My brother had a 4GB Sansa e260, and now has a 4GB (with a 8GB SDHC card) Creative Zen. He said that the Sansa was better for music and battery life (rated at 20 hours or something like that), but the Zen is much better for video and memory expansion.

Post by **bicostp** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 4:04 pm

Get an iPod Shuffle. $70 for 2 gigs and it will work with any music you may have previously bought through iTunes. (The 1 gig model is only $50 but why limit yourself like that?) It's also the smallest (and therefore most likely to take a trip through the washing machine) out of the MP3 players I've seen.

If you need more room than that, they've got refurbished 4 gig 3rd gen Nanos in their store for $99. (Refurb 1 gig and 2 gig Shuffles are $39 and $59, respectively.)

In my experience, a lot of the MP3 players out there are flaky garbage. Ignore anything not by a major brand (Samsung, Microsoft, Creative), it will most likely suck and you won't find support for it anywhere in 6 months. My cousin bought a Sandisk m200 or something. The first was DOA. The second died when he tried recording with it. The third works but he can't use the recorder or radio, and he can't put new firmware on it.

Whatever you go with, research it first to make sure you aren't setting yourself up for disappointment.

Post by **CronoTriggerfan** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 4:24 pm

Thanks for the advice, guys. Yeah, I'm not really looking for this thing to play videos at all, it just needs to be a solid little audio player. The Shuffle is a good device for the price, but I really do like seeing the songs I'm trying to select. They're also not very good for sorting through the myriad of podcasts I have (I think about 25 at the current count).

Though I must say, I'm extremely impressed with the durability of Apple products so far. Given I've got my Touch in a plastic case all the time, it has still managed to survive numerous falls off the treadmill, drops from the pocket to cement, as well as other unfortunate accidents. Still not quite as durable as my old Creative Zen Micro (that thing was a beast!) but battle-hardened nonetheless.

So, bic, your cousin had a lot of trouble with the Sansa players? Good to know, those were some of the ones I was looking at. I'll take that into consideration when I'm trying to sort this all out.

Jongamer · Post by **Jongamer** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 5:00 pm

I like my Zen Stone

Very cheap like $38 for 2GB

grossaffe · Post by **grossaffe** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 5:02 pm

As the owner of a sansa e200 myself, i can tell you that they are real quality mp3 players. also, if you're into games (this forum is pretty much dedicated to gaming in a way, isn't it?), it has support for the rockbox firmware which has various games from doom, to tetris, to even a gameboy color emulator.

Aguiluz · Post by **Aguiluz** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 5:04 pm

I like my Cheap-Ass Curtis MPK1062.

Yeah, it's 1 GB. But I got all the music I like so far. And it plays videos too!

All for $20!? It's great!

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 5:21 pm

CronoTriggerfan wrote:So, bic, your cousin had a lot of trouble with the Sansa players? Good to know, those were some of the ones I was looking at. I'll take that into consideration when I'm trying to sort this all out.

I've heard of other Sansa players having problems, too, but I don't think I've ever heard of anything bad about the e200 series.
You should probably get some suggestions from here, and then search and see if anyone has had problems with a certain one.

Kurt_ · Post by **Kurt_** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 6:44 pm

One bad thing about the Sansa e200 (260 to be specific) is rockbox isn't 100% bug free. Still better than the original firmware, but every month or two it decides to wipe my files when i try to load a playlist. But I've never ran out of batteries on the thing, ever.

Post by **bicostp** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 6:45 pm

No, it was an m200. The little blue AAA-powered turd.

samus · Post by **samus** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 7:37 pm

stick with creative labs.

grossaffe · Post by **grossaffe** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 8:21 pm

Kurt_ wrote:One bad thing about the Sansa e200 (260 to be specific) is rockbox isn't 100% bug free. Still better than the original firmware, but every month or two it decides to wipe my files when i try to load a playlist. But I've never ran out of batteries on the thing, ever.

I have rockbox, but i haven't actually utilized playlists, so i don't know about that problem.

on the topic of rockbox and the e200, its important to note that the v2 (version 2) does not support rockbox.

Post by **Triton** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 10:25 pm

I like my Zen Stone Very Happy

Very cheap like $38 for 2GB

+1 zen stone is awesome, samus had one as her main mp3 player until she got her zune, fantastic little device, the new stone has a little oled screen on it too!

legoboy · Post by **legoboy** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 12:17 pm

Either a Zen Stone+ or an iPod shuffle.

grossaffe · Post by **grossaffe** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 12:28 pm

legoboy wrote:Either a Zen Stone+ or an iPod shuffle.

no, ipod shuffles are too expensive for what they deliver. there are plenty of mp3 players that deliver what the shuffle does for a lesser price. the sansa clip might not be a bad one. I've heard they have great audio quality, and they're tiny. they also still have a small screen so there is some way to navigate.