Ask Engadget: Best no-frills portable media player?
By Darren Murph 
posted February 25th 2010 11:09PM
posted February 25th 2010 11:09PM
We appreciate the brevity, Cam. In your spirit, we'll skip the usual coaxing and just demand that those with lovable gym-certified PMPs drop some knowledge in comments below. And... go!"I'm getting quite sick of my Sansa Clip, with it deciding when and when it doesn't want to work. I'm looking for a new PMP. The only requirement is that it has at least 4GB of storage, and supports FLAC files. Expandable memory would be cool too."
@evilbonsai I beg to differ about the random part of the Clip. It played the same song (same title, different albums) 3 times in a row.
@Cam
Wonder if there might be a firmware difference. I've not had any issue like that my Clip. Battery life has also been pretty exceptional. I do think the Creative Zen Stone Plus I have sounds a bit better overall than the Clip but the not-random shuffle is pretty irksome. I tend to let it play in alphabetical order, so as to have to not deal with that. Good luck with the search.
Check out an archos vision product. I own their internet tablet, but their vision products are very nice, with good memory, and less than $100. Now that's a deal!!!
I think Sony Walkmans support FLAC, but they're not exactly cheap - although their sound quality is truly amazing, expecially A/S series
@DariaMorgendorffer 'fraid not - Walkmans only support LPCM (read: WAV) as a lossless format, and it's not a usable one really, considering there's no tags or cover art.
Walkmans can make high-bitrate MP3s sound pretty good though.
Wanting to use FLAC files =/= getting a PMP with only 4GB of space.
Seriously, when the fuck is somebody going to bring back the HDD based PMP again? To my knowledge, the only two companies that still make them are Apple and Archos. Apple hasn't bothered to update the iPod Classic in 2 or 3 years, and Archos makes non-pocketable, expensive, lower quality players.
I managed to buy a Zune 120 for $200 over the holiday break, but they're pretty hard to find at this point with the Zune HD being the main focus now. Not to mention the feature set is as old as the iPod Classic is (about 2 to 3 years). It pisses me off because my library is too large to fit on these flash based players. Maybe I'd be able to compromise with a 64GB player, but the iPod Touch costs $400 in that size. Fuck that shit, lol.
Idk. It's kind of like SDTVs. My mom got one for her living room right before they disappeared. She wasn't gonna pay the extra for an HD cable box, and she can't tell that much of a difference between HD and SD, though she can tell that an SD signal looks shitty and stretched on an HDTV. I unfortunately feel that HDD based PMP players are going the way of standard definition televisions.
Thanks for all the responses, I really appreciate them.
Question regarding Clip+, have the issues been fixed? My current non + clip will quit working if you move it the wrong way (Slight exaggeration).
Someone asked about FLAC support in a PMP, I already have most of my music in FLAC, and I have a good stereo at home, but as someone else said, keeping 2 different files of the same song is a pain, but I guess I could if I needed to, I've got the HDD space.
@Cam Instead of keeping two copies, you could try some different software that will convert your FLAC files to your chosen lossy format when syncing up with your player.
Personally I use MediaMonkey to do this (everything else has given me sync issues with my Walkman).
@Cam
If you already have all you music in FLAC then converting it all to a lossy format like MP3 or OGG isn't that much of a problem. Just use transcoding software (like Foobar) and set it to convert your whole library. It may take 10hrs or so depending on your library and your computer but you can just leave it to do it's stuff overnight.
As for the Clip+, well I never had a Clip, but for me it has been totally solid. Literally never had a problem. People say it is a no frills player but if you go by useful features rather than flashyness then I think it is pretty thrilly ;-)
OGG support, tinyness, excellent value, cheap (have you seen the price of 8gb Micro SD cards lately) expandable storage and excellent built in voice recording among them.
No doubt about it: Nationite OS-72HR, with 8-16GB on-board storage, up to 32 GB DSHC, 4.3" LTPS 480 X 800 screen, support for 1280 X 720 .avi or RMVB vids onscreen or ported to TV via component, APE and FLAC support, FM radio, powerful FM transmitter for beaming sound to your car deck, ebook reader (.txt), and all wrapped up in a mil.-spec zinc-magnesium alloy case with hardened glass screen and machined cut-metal buttons for ~$90 to $109 shipped from Hong Kong. This is the mp4Nation.net branded unit, a.k.a. the Teclast TL-m50HD. A GREAT, literally unparalleled picture; CONS: not touchscreen. A little low-level digital hash heard when switching songs on the music player. Otherwise solid sound, with particularly robust, but very tight, low bass and crystaline HF. PROs: Not touchscreen (i.e. no hazy touch layer to peer through which obscures that great hi-rex vid quality! Plus, easy to operate in the cold with gloves on. Terrific support on the mp4nation forums. Go for it. Picture and build qquality is amazing. http://www,mp4nation.net.
The E-matic EM108VIDB. I had never heard of it before I got one for Christmas, but it's about as easy to use as my Sansa Clip and has much better sound. It's louder and seems to have a "fuller" sound. The Sansa is good too, though.