Mp3 player for my dad?

theKMD

theKMD

Active member
I'm thinking about buying my dad an MP3 player for christmas (so he can stop lugging around his 1994 walkman to the gym). He doesn't need a ton of music and isn't too tech-savvy, any suggestions? Just a cheap, easy to use player that can hold a couple hundred songs
 
I've had very good luck with the Cowon/iAudio line of players. Most of them support Ogg Vorbis, which is how we should all be storing our music anyway... :happy:

More importantly for someone with a smaller music collection, many of the Cowon players also support FLAC, which can be used to compress audio from CDs without losing any info at all -- it's the same quality as Wav files, but take up about a third less space. If your dad ripped his CDs that way, he'd be able to listen to them in full quality on the go.

I have one of the discontinued models (The iAudio G3), which doesn't support Flac, but does have one feature I really like: it takes a standard AA battery.
 
Nano. Super small and he will have the largest online store. He get's to feel like he has an 'iPod' like everyone else. When I was in college, I really wanted a Sony Discman, my cousins bought me some other knockoff and I definitely enjoyed it less. When you enter a new market, it is nice to have the actual thing you have heard so much about. Let him refine his taste on his second player.

You can get one for 149 and laser engrave it. He might like that.
 
Unless he's THAT brand-conscious, you should probably at least look at the iRiver Clix. It's everything you'd get with a Nano (though a bit bigger), but with more storage capacity, better battery life, and support for a heck of a lot more formats.
 
If he's more of a simple non tech kind of guy check out the ipod shuffle. My wife just got one and at first I thought it was silly with no screen or menus, but you just turn it on and it plays music. no thinking involved. it has forward, back, and vol up/down buttons and an on/off switch. Its perfect for my wife who doesnt want features or to watch videos. And its cheap! My only complaint is that its so small you have to keep good track of it. At least I would :)
 
I'd say get one with USB stick/combo, you know the ones that are like a USB memory stick but also play MP3s, they are really good, because you just stick it into your PC and drag and drop your mp3 files, you can't make it any simpler!


Also most of them get charged up (battery) when you plug them in, so as your downloading your songs your charging it at the same time, plus the fact that you can store your other files as well..
 
If he's using it at a gym, the new shuffle with an armband is INCREDIBLE. I have a nano as well, but keep that in my car.

The shuffle is great when working out and not a burden whatsoever.

-Kegan
 
Barry_S said:
Absolute best deal--the Sandisk Sansa E260 4 GB refurb for 49.99 shipped.
Click to expand...

Wow. I normally steer clear of refurbs but that price, I'd take a chance. That is a very good deal.

I have a 30 gig ipod. Its big for some to take to the gym but I just leave it in my pocket...its no big deal. However, the wheel annoys me. So, I'd definitely consider non apple...they may have fortified the revolution but they definitely do not have it all locked up.
 
They just ran out, but buy.com was sellling the 2 GB E250's for only $35 shipped. I just bought another because I figure I'll need an extra gift at some point. If it doesn't get gifted, I'm keeping it and maybe loading rockbox. After my 3G 30GB ipod was stolen, I replaced it with a 30GB Zune from woot for only $100 and I found I liked the damn thing more than the ipod. So I was open to trying the Sansa's and they're amazing for the price. All refurbs--all look brand new, so maybe just overstock.
 
Barry_S said:
Absolute best deal--the Sandisk Sansa E260 4 GB refurb for 49.99 shipped.

http://www.buy.com/prod/Sandisk-Sansa-e260-Rhapsody-4GB-MP3-Player/q/loc/111/206611716.html

I just bought a Sansa E250 refurb for my younger daughter and she loves it. Looks brand new, has audio, video, photos, FM, voice recorder, expandable with microSD memory. My older daughter with an iPOD is jealous. :)
Click to expand...
I ended up thinking the San Disk was ideal (he'll probably use the radio more than anything else haha) and found one for a great price, one less thing to worry about for the holidays. Thanks for all the help guys!
 
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