Philips introduces new Shuffle-sized MP3 players with built-in display
Philips has just introduced its new line of Shuffle-sized MP3 players and I rather like them. With names like the SA2845, the SA2825, the SA2840 and the SA2820, the branding is execrable — the usual sluicing of random alphanumeric characters through the corporate drainage shunt. But they come with 2GB-4GB worth of storage, have FM-radio flavors and, better yet. an embedded screen. They are about the size of an iPod Shuffle width wise, just not quite as thin... still an absolutely fine size for a clip-on sports MP3 player. And the interface is pure drag-and-drop: a big boon to those who don't like to use audio file managers on their computers.
I'm tempted. I've just taken up jogging, and I just picked myself up a Shuffle because my 160Gb iPod was simply too bulky (and potentially gender-neutering) to have clogging around my thin running shorts' pockets during a run. It's fine for the purpose, but the lack of a display already annoys me when I try to find my place in audio books, and I even find it a bit irritating when I try to listen to previously unheard albums, since I can't look down and memorize the title and track number of a song I like. With prices starting around $44.99, though, I might pick up one of these Philips and convert my Shuffle into a keychain.
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The Sansa Clip is pretty nice, too. It's cheap and has a bright OLED screen. Only 1GB, though.
Sigh.
Another non-iPod that looks nice, but whose manufacturer doesn't support using the thing with a Mac (at least according to the spec sheets.)
Not all Mac users are zealots, Samsung. Perhaps we'd buy this if you'd just let us.
Of course, I meant Phillips.
But Samsung, this goes for you too! (Stern finger waggle)
Surely an MP3 player with drag-drop player support is just a USB flash drive with an MP3 decoder slapped on top?
Anyone know if it plays MP2? My main use of my MP3 player is to play digital radio recordings (of drama), and my Bug records MP2s. (I'm told Ipods don't play them.)
Actually the Sansa Clip has a 4GB version, for $80 US. It includes a radio, and a recorder that can record either voice or from the radio. Not sure about Mac support, but there's DnD support on both Windows and Linux. (Although the recognition on my OS of choice, Ubuntu, is a bit spotty. I find pulling the USB plug half out and reinserting does the trick.) I've really been enjoying mine the past couple of months.
Spigothead, are you sure there's not something wrong with your Sansa? I've had a bunch of different Sansa mp3 players (my fave is the e270) and all of them have worked just fine with Ubuntu Studio.
And they really sing with rockbox on them.
Pope Ratzo,
This seems to be a known issue with the Sansa Clip and Ubuntu 8.04, although perhaps it's just with the 64-bit version of the OS. My Clip works perfectly if I boot into Windows. (But we all know how painful that can be...)
If you are gonna buy cheap crap, why not just get one of those $10 players? About the same size and function level.
Does it play AAC music? I do like buying music on iTunes, so an MP3 player that can play my losslessly-unDRM'ed iTunes files might be worth looking at.
But what am I talking about? My phone playes AACs, and with a 4GB microSD card in it, it already makes for a fine iPod replacement. Why is it that every time I hear about some new small shiny thing, I investigate it for no good reason...
4Gb Creative Zen Stone for 70€ . Yes, it's just a USB stick with MP3 decoder slapped on on and a tiny OLED display, but it does work on WinXP/Vista, OS X, Ubuntu, SuSe... And possibly a few grams lighter than Shuffle!
My only gripes are abysmally low output level (in-ear plugs only, forget about any decent headphones), no FLAC support, and clumsy file browsing, but OTOH I suspect these are common problems with all flash-based audio players.
A note on the audiobook thing-
I just use Jointogether to turn my audiobooks into nice bookmarked .m4b files on my ipod. I'm sure this has surfaced here before but I find it really helpful when I'm listening to multiple audiobooks and so forth.