Best sub-£50 MP3 player

Lateralus · Post by **Lateralus** » May 30th, 2008, 9:41

It's my brother's birthday next month and I had the sudden realisation that I have no idea what to get him. I'm thinking of an MP3 Player, but don't want to spend more than £50. Seeing as how I've never really looked into these before, I'm not sure what's considered good these days.

Currently top of the list is the Creative Zen Stone Plus 4GB. 4GB is probably plenty, and not too bothered about video playback. The main reasons I'm interested in this is that it has an FM radio built in, and that you can record directly to it without a PC. Not sure how that would work or how useful it may be, but the radio is a bonus.

Are there any better players out there under £50 that I should be looking at?

Post by **Grimmie** » May 30th, 2008, 10:02

The stone's good.
If you want to push your budget to £50 exactly, then get the <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Creative-70PF20 ... r=8-1">Zen V+</a> which has a colour screen and video playback.
It's only tiny, but it does a lot more than the stone plus.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » May 30th, 2008, 10:06

Grimmie wrote:If you want to push your budget to £50 exactly, then get the <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Creative-70PF20 ... r=8-1">Zen V+</a> which has a colour screen and video playback.
It's only tiny, but it does a lot more than the stone plus.

got my dad one of them a while ago, seemed decent enough.

Lateralus · Post by **Lateralus** » May 30th, 2008, 10:12

That does look handy actually. Does it come with a mains charger or is it USB charging only? Also, does it come with the headphone jack to headphone jack cable that I assume you need for copying directly? I guess you can use that method to copy from other MP3 players too which is a handy trick.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » May 30th, 2008, 10:13

usb only, I think.

and no idea about the other cable

Post by **Grimmie** » May 30th, 2008, 10:54

As far as I know just a short USB cable.
My sister has the regular version, so I'll ask her for you.

My Zen came with a shit-ton of cables that I haven't used yet

Post by **Dog Pants** » May 30th, 2008, 11:44

I think I'll get one of these too. Looking at the entry on Amazon the customer reviews make it pretty clear that there's no mains charger. They're less than a tenner to buy, although all the ones I've looked at so far have been from Marketplace and have had fucking terrible reviews.

Anyone know if you can get the little docking stations with speakers for these?

EDIT: And a little case, and one of those car transmitter things. I'm looking myself but I'd be grateful for any suggestions or recommendations in the meantime.

Post by **Dog Pants** » May 30th, 2008, 12:41

Fucking hell, there's a distinct lack of decent accessories for these things. Loads of good reviews, and apparently Mrs Anery has one of the Stone ones and Anery reckons it's great, so the thing itself is a safe bet. I can't find a decent container for it though (there's a groovy rubber sleeve for it which looks like a tyre, but it doesn't have clips on it), and the one company on Amazon that sells mains chargers has a terrible reputation.

The Creative travel speakers look good though: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI ... ROKL5A1OLE

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » May 30th, 2008, 12:50

summat like this should work fine.

hell, only take 2 minutes with a 5v power brick and a usb cable to make something suitable.

Post by **Dog Pants** » May 30th, 2008, 13:08

Good call. I've a few things that'll probably charge off that.

Stoat · Post by **Stoat** » May 30th, 2008, 14:17

http://www.play.com/Mobiles/Mobile/4-/4 ... oduct.html
£4 delivered, as opposed to 1p + 4.50 shipping at amazon.
Actually sold by Play too, rather than some shady third party, which I consider its main plus.

I got a similar thing from Maplin the other day, but it's some how incompatible with my phone (charging animation but no apparent gain in power)

.

Lateralus · Post by **Lateralus** » May 30th, 2008, 14:24

Well, in the Zen V+ and that Play charger, I think we have a winner.

Post by **Dog Pants** » May 30th, 2008, 14:44

I was going to have a look on Play for a case and Fm thing, but got distracted by work and going home. I ordered the Zen V+, Creative 400 thingy speakers, and USB charger.

Lateralus · Post by **Lateralus** » May 30th, 2008, 14:47

Please let me know what they're like once you've had a chance to play around a little. Most interested in the Zen V+ and charger as I'm not sure he'll bother with speakers.

Post by **Dog Pants** » May 30th, 2008, 15:03

Yep. The speakers were pretty much essential to me - I don't wear headphones when I'm out and about, but a decent MP3 player is useful to me for when I'm on the cross trainer upstairs or on a course and using my laptop for something else (read: games).

Post by **deject** » May 30th, 2008, 15:54

I'd suggest looking at the Sansa e200 series as well, it's got a nice screen and it's about the same size as an iPod Nano. I've got an e250 and it's pretty slick. It has FM tuning and recording capabilities too.

http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electro ... oduct.html

Post by **Dog Pants** » June 4th, 2008, 19:23

My Zen V+ arrived today. I thought I was going to be able to write that it was so easy to use Mrs Pants had already set it up, but alas it was just the speakers I got (which are pretty bloody good actually).

The player itself got off to a good start. It's pretty small, about 3"x1.5" and about 2/3" deep. Feels nice and sturdy, minimum of fuss. Installing the software took a while, but it worked perfectly as soon as I started using it and within minutes I had about 90 tracks and a few videos on it, arranged into playlists. A monkey could have probably done it with only marginally more trouble. The first charge has been going for a good few hours now and I was waiting for it to finish before posting (you can't use it while it's 'docked', ie. attached via USB to your computer), but an impromptu crash enabled me to switch to the USB adapter charger thingy Berk pointed out. This also works fine.

So, testing it out. The screen is only about 1.5" square, but seems clear enough. I played a few porn clips (well what else do I have that's only a minute or so long?) and got as full an effect as I'd want. Watching a movie on it might not be so great, but I didn't buy it for that. The music, while I'm no expert, seemed perfectly clear with the dinky little Creative in-ear headphones provided, and navigatino and use seems pretty simple. I've realised while typing this that I don't know how to put shuffle on, but I'm sure I can fix that.

All in all, a decent little player. I've little basis for comparison other than Mrs Pants's Sony Bean Walkman thing, but the software alone puts it above that.

Comes with: Headphones, USB cable, micro-mini jack out, bit of string, faux-velvet pouch.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » June 4th, 2008, 19:26

The Zens should work with winamp too, which means less creative software and more function

Post by **deject** » June 24th, 2008, 18:06

Seeing as the screen on my Sansa e250r broke (it was $30 and was refurbished) I have now purchased a Creative Zen 8GB, which should arrive on Thursday. I will see how good it is.

Post by **Dog Pants** » June 24th, 2008, 18:20

I'm rather impressed with mine. Admittedly I haven't used it an awful lot (I never do) but the only real issue I've had is a slightly fiddly interface. Took me ages to find teh shuffle option.