MP3 player gurus....

[SubZeDiZeD]

Yea..... so I finally got sick of having to look through my
massive CD case for a CD while driving down the street.

It's time to get an MP3 player I can just keep in my car.

What's the best bang for the buck?

This is basically what I'm looking for:

- Must have AT LEAST 20gigs of space.
- Size/Weight not important at all.
- Must have a screen for easy navigation.
- Don't care about video, I'll never use it.
- Brand doesn't matter, as long as it's reliable.
- The cheaper the better, in case it get jacked.

Any ideas?

[BlackElantraGT]

Since you'll be using it in the car and you want easy navigation, I think your best bet is the Apple iPod 30 gig w/ video, unless you want to find a used, older generation from eBay or something.

Since you're looking for a lot of space, the only real competition to the Apple iPod (hard disked based model) are the Creative Zen series (go to their site to find whatever the newest name is).

Honestly though, if you have that much music (I have a 60 gb video with about 40 gigs of music), most likely you probably don't even listen to most of the songs. I'm guessing they're all full albums right? You would be surprised if you used iTunes and started rating your music that most of the music you listen to would probably fit on something like a 2GB-4GB Nano.

But, I know that feeling of wanting to have your WHOLE collection on hand, even though chances are I'll never listen to most of the songs. The iPods will be the priciest, but as much as I hate Apple, iTunes is much easier to use and organize music than WM Player 10. And the click wheel is probably the best way to navigate for your music. You'll also have plenty of accessories to pick from, including those for your car stereo if you ever wish to integrate the two for even easier navigation.

If you went with another brand, you might save $50-$75 at most, but don't think of it in terms of the cost of the mp3 player. If I lost my $400 iPod, I would be pissed of course, but I'd rather lose that, than lose a cd album with thousands of dollars of CDs I've bought.

BTW, if you do get a hard-disk based model (since you want more than 20 GB), I would recommend getting the insurance for it or buying from a place with a good return policy, like Costco. My last iPod didn't last more than 2 1/2 year even though I had a well insulated case and it was never abused. Luckily I bought it from Costco, and I returned it for a full refund and bought the new 60 gb video, which is barely 2 months old but has already been acting up like my old one. You would expect a lot better quality from a $400 product, but at the same time you also have to realize you're walking around with a barely encased hard-drive in your palm.

[evan938]

I had a dell dj 20gig. it was easy to use, but i had WAY too many problems with it. unlike you, i wish i still had all my cds (they were stolen which is why i bought the DJ...much easier to carry when leaving the car). currently i have about 4 cds to my name, and thats all i have to listen to. i have to start looking for cd's again soon

[punkrocker3_00]

I just picked up a 1 gig Creative Zen last week. It holds 500 songs in WMA or 250 in MP3 format. I have been really impressed by how well this thing works. The one I have works on 1 AAA battery and that last around 18 hours. I got it at Circuit City online for $70.

[ArunSenior04]

Yea I heard the Zen was real good, but Id also have to agree that the Ipod is the shiznit.