Good Music players

[Chaco Taco]

I am in the market for a music player of some sorts. My last hike, I was missin music so I am breaking down and shopping around. I have a ton of music but will make shuffles for the next hike. I do not want to go the ipod route. Whata re some good players out there with a decent size memory that are light?

[Fiddleback]

If your primary use of the player is going to be on the trail then one of the features you'll want to emphasize is battery life. That being said, there's always a lot of give and take between iPod and anti-iPod camps. I've never been much of an Apple fan myself but I am in love with my iPod and there are some good reasons to seriously consider the brand:

- iTunes. The software that manages your music inside iPod. The program is simple, effective, and 'pretty.' I really enjoy working with it. You can download it for free (no iPod necessary) and check it out. It works great on my XP-based PC and I've read it (now) works fine on Vista PCs as well.

- market share. With over 85% percent of the 'MP3' market, you can be assured that there will be plenty of support. If you're just gonna rip music from your own CDs that may not matter as much. But if that's what you're doing, see above...iTunes makes it incredibly easy to rip, manage, and organize your music.

- difference in sound. Is there any? Can you tell? I'm not sure I can but I've read audiophiles can hear the difference between players. Still, an upgraded pair of earphones is probably more significant than the initial sound difference thought to exist between players.

I'm sure there are as many reasons to choose another brand but I'm not sure there are reasons not to choose iPod. Again, the iTunes software is a dream and is probably the reason iPod is dominant.

To keep things fair and balanced and to provide some grains of salt to go with the opinions above...the iPod Nano is the only player I've ever used.

FB

[otterman]

Zen Nano Plus made by creative labs. It is an MP3 and an FM radio. Voice recording. 18 hours of play on a single AAA battery. Oh, and very small.

[redtail]

Zen Nano Plus made by creative labs. It is an MP3 and an FM radio. Voice recording. 18 hours of play on a single AAA battery. Oh, and very small.

I also have one of these and love it. Very small and lightweight. The screen is also small though and it's kind of a pain to navigate folders compared to larger players but it's a size/weight trade-off. The sound is decent. The earbuds that came with it were uncomfortable, switched to lightweight headphones.

[stag3]

Zen Nano Plus made by creative labs. It is an MP3 and an FM radio. Voice recording. 18 hours of play on a single AAA battery. Oh, and very small.

Ditto..The lithium ion battery seems to last more than 18 hours.

[walkingdog]

I have to agree that my first choice is the Zen Nano Plus for trips of 1 week or less. I also own a 40 Gig Ipod and use it for medical classes, backpacking pod casts and trips over 1 week. 12-15 hour battery life and carry a solarcharger. You can buy a waterproof hard case that allowes you to listen and controll it with ease. I have had my Zen Nano Plus for 2 years with no problems.

[wilconow]

I have to agree that my first choice is the Zen Nano Plus for trips of 1 week or less. I also own a 40 Gig Ipod and use it for medical classes, backpacking pod casts and trips over 1 week. 12-15 hour battery life and carry a solarcharger. You can buy a waterproof hard case that allowes you to listen and controll it with ease. I have had my Zen Nano Plus for 2 years with no problems.

can you please recommend a waterproof hardcase and solarcharger for the ipod? thanks.

[Footslogger]

Zen Nano Plus made by creative labs. It is an MP3 and an FM radio. Voice recording. 18 hours of play on a single AAA battery. Oh, and very small.

====================================

I'll second this recommendation. Have carried my trusty little Zen on many hikes now and the battery (single AAA Lithium) seems to never wear out. 1 Gig of space and holds about 500 or so songs, plus the FM radio feature.

There are plenty of choices out there and some have more capacity and/features but for around $45 - 50 the Zen Nano is pretty hard to beat.

'Slogger

[Fiddleback]

can you please recommend a waterproof hardcase and solarcharger for the ipod? thanks.

Can't help with the solar charger but Otterbox ( http://www.otterbox.com/products/ipod_cases/ ) makes bombproof cases...waterproof, dustproof, shockproof...all while allowing operation of the clickwheel and reading of the screen. The Nano case weighs a touch over 4oz. It lists for $40 but can be had cheaper with a little online searching.

About the only time mine leaves its case is to recharge or to play it in the car.

FB

[Revolutionist_Rob]

Creative Zen Sleek Photo- It has a stainless steel casing and is extremely durable, although not very light. I've dropped it on concrete dozens of times with no ill effects. 18hour Battery life on its built in lithium rechargable. Very nice player and works seemlessly without any troubles with windows media player. Highly recommended (its 20gb, and cheap)

[ShakeyLeggs]

I prefer the SanDisk products. I have the M250 Sansa. I get about 18 hrs on one battery. It has a built in FM tuner that I found to be pretty decent. Also has a built in mic to make recordings.

[berninbush]

Another vote for the Creative Zen Nano Plus. :-) I love it because it's small, not too complicated to use, and runs on an AAA battery that you can find pretty much anywhere.

The one shortcoming, IMHO, is that it doesn't do playlists. I compensate by making my own mix when I'm loading the music and putting it on there in the order I want.

If you want audio books to listen to, check out www.librivox.org. They make audio recordings of public-domain books and put them on the web as free downloads. (I've read a few things for them!)

On my last long car trip, I had my Nano loaded with three books and a ton of music. :-)

[Chaco Taco]

Well, I am going to be getting the Zen Nano.

[doodah man]

I am in the market for a music player of some sorts. My last hike, I was missin music so I am breaking down and shopping around. I have a ton of music but will make shuffles for the next hike. I do not want to go the ipod route. Whata re some good players out there with a decent size memory that are light?

Lowspark, I just got back from a month backpacking and was using the Panasonic SV-MP010 mp3 player. I got it for $30 and it is advertised to give 80 hours on a single AA cell, and I think I did about that much. No radio, but it supports play lists (actually folders drag-n-dropped on the USB player). It has 1 gig of memory and I fit about 250 songs on it. I picked that one because the plan was that AA batteries that didn't have enough juice left for my camera would still give a few hours of service in the player... but, it was still going strong on the battery I started the trip with. The SV-MP020 is a 2 gig version. I often see them on e-bay. doodah-man

[Chaco Taco]

Lowspark, I just got back from a month backpacking and was using the Panasonic SV-MP010 mp3 player. I got it for $30 and it is advertised to give 80 hours on a single AA cell, and I think I did about that much. No radio, but it supports play lists (actually folders drag-n-dropped on the USB player). It has 1 gig of memory and I fit about 250 songs on it. I picked that one because the plan was that AA batteries that didn't have enough juice left for my camera would still give a few hours of service in the player... but, it was still going strong on the battery I started the trip with. The SV-MP020 is a 2 gig version. I often see them on e-bay. doodah-man

Now that is interesting. Its so compact! Wow, im going to look into thgat one with the crazy battery life. Thanks!

[Fiddleback]

Solar chargers --

I just saw this on CNBC's Innovation segment...the Solio Universal Hybrid Solar Charger from Energy Innovation Systems (I think).

In its folded position it appears to be about palm size. Three solar panels fan out making the device about 12" in diameter. The panels charge the Solio's internal user-replaceable lithium ion battery (which also can be charged with an included AC charger). The lithium battery is then used to charge iPods, PDA, cell phones, etc. The spokesman said the charging to the iPods, phones, etc., can be ongoing while the Soilo's battery itself is being solar charged.

It weighs 5½oz, works in a -4°F to 131°F range and lists for $100.

It works with iPod, mini iPod, Nano, iPod 3G and 4G, and iPod Photo as well as Nokia, Motorola, Blackberry and Samsung.

Comes with AC charger, 12V cigarette plug charger, foreign power adaptors and other stuff.

And it's stocked by REI, http://www.rei.com/product/751233

I'm tempted...

FB

[Footslogger]

Problem might be that a lot of the AT is partially canopy covered. Question is ...do they require bright light to function well or any level of light ??

Have heard of hikers using this device with success on the PCT but not yet on the AT ??

'Slogger

[Fiddleback]

Good point, Footslogger. I didn't hear or read anything about the solar intensity required.

Sometimes I really miss the AT's hardwood forests...but I don't miss the humidity that makes them grow so good.

FB

[walkingdog]

can you please recommend a waterproof hardcase and solarcharger for the ipod? thanks.

I see others have reported the solar charger that I use. The hard case is from: http://www.otterbox.com/

Make sure to get the correct version (old Ipod vs New)
My case has been as deep as 10 feet in water with no problems.

[walkingdog]

For low light conditions I use another charger: http://store.sundancesolar.com/brso6wafosop.html