# Which mp3-player is "the best"?

## lemino

Hi, I have been going for minidisc for a while now, but since the dissapointement of the fact that there doesen't seem to be ANY WAY of making the net-md function work under Linux, I'am thinking seriously about switching over to mp3 instead. And it's here the question arises: which player shall i purchase? Which one is "the best"? I know it's impossible to answer considering the fact that different people value different properties when it comes to this. Therefor, I'm going to make this a little easier: which player is the best if you're thinking about using it under Linux? (or at least: which are ok, and which sucks?) Greatful for any help!

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## Deathwing00

Moved from Multimedia.

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## InfinityX

iRiver players are very good, I have a H100. Works perfect on Linux since it's really just a portable hard drive.

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## hw-tph

I'll side with InfinityX and say you can't go wrong with iRiver. They're not only the best for Linux - they're the best, period. All in my opinion, of course, and Apple still has the upper hand in design.

Håkan

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## Sgaduuw

I'm still madly in love with my iPod, it works perfect for me under gentoo

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## edudlive

Creative Zen Xtra 40GB, it costs 241.58 (free shipping) at Newegg.com

It is just an external USB HDD...so it'll work fine..and there is also a port of the Windows App for it

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## ralle

Same situation as you...going to sell my netmd on ebay to kick vmware (which served as my netmd "driver") from my hd.

I ordered a creative muvo2 yesterday, which has usb2 and a 4gb microdrive (same as ipod mini). Linux can talk to it via usb mass storage, so you can also use it as a memory to carry around.

And the last big plus is the price:

In Germany you can get it for 240¤ (shipping included), that's about the same price the builtin microdrive costs on ebay.

So if you don't need the 4gb, you can just sell it on ebay and have the player for free. You only need to have a compact flash card from your camera...

--

Ralph

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## Steven Robertson

I love my Neuros.  A little big, but feature-rich (and with soon-to-be-open-sourced firmware!)

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## vonhelmet

I have a Creative Jukebox 3 and it bugs me because it uses some wacky proprietary filesystem so I can't just plug in and go, I have to use gnomad2 which is good, but not as nice as seeing a plain hard disk would be.

You have been warned...

Get an iRiver, they rock the house.

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## Malakin

I'd also go with iRiver. Just about all their players also support ogg vorbis which is an added bonus.

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## gazoombo

I have an iRiver iFP-390T. It took a kernel patch to get it working correctly as a UMS, but now everything is dandy.   :Very Happy: 

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## lemino

The problem regarding the Jukebox 3, does it go for all creative products, for example the Zen-players? Is it possible to get around somehow, either by upgrading the firmware or in some other way? How important is the OGG-VORBIS-support? Is it going to be bigger than mp3 soon or what?

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## smelialichu

All of the Creative hard-disk based mp3 players have a proprietary filesystem, and can not be mounted as a usb mass storage device. However, libnjb and gnomad provide an excellent solution for file transfer. I'm happily using my Zen Xtra 30gb under Gentoo.

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## ralle

That ist not true. The Creative Muvo2 can definately be mounted as usb mass storage.

Here is a description how it works:

http://linux.highsphere.net/howtos/muvo2.php

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## lemino

Is the problem based on the firmware in the players, and if so, will it be fixed in some upgrade soon? Does this probem show under windows as well, or can you use the players as mass storage devices directly there without software? 

Is the muvo2's battery rechargable inside the player?

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## ralle

If I understand it right, there is no problem with kernels newer that 2.6.3.

I use 2.6.7 currently, but I cannot verify functionality, because the delivery date for my muvo has changed. It should be leaving the online store on the 14th of July, but the current date is the 27th of July (http://www1.atelco.de/6INFdsDz6gKHsY/lo/articledetail.jsp?aid=2687&agid=88&adp=4). So that's about the time when I can tell you if it works.

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## smelialichu

 *ralle wrote:*   

> That ist not true. The Creative Muvo2 can definately be mounted as usb mass storage.
> 
> Here is a description how it works:
> 
> http://linux.highsphere.net/howtos/muvo2.php

 

You are of course right, I'm sorry. I was forgetting about the microdrive line. lemino, I personally don't find the fact you can't mount the player as a mass storage device to be a problem. It annoys some people though, and I wouldn't bet on Creative making any changes to the firmware to allow mounting as a mass storage device.

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## lemino

Is the Muvo 2 battery rechargable "inside the box" and can it be mounted as an usb-device as easily as the iRiver-players?

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## ralle

According to the german computer magazine c't (issue 14/04, page 66/67), the muvo2 can be mounted as a usb mass storage device (just as you would do with your camera).

Concerning the battery, I translate from german:

"The delivery contains ..., a recharger and a Li-Ion Akku, which serves for 14 hours permanent operation."

So I suppose, yes, the battery can be recharged "inside the box".

I will come to this again when I finally received my muvo2...

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## beastmaster

 *edudlive wrote:*   

> Creative Zen Xtra 40GB, it costs 241.58 (free shipping) at Newegg.com
> 
> It is just an external USB HDD...so it'll work fine..and there is also a port of the Windows App for it

 

 :Surprised:  really..., can you tell me what windows app port is it? cuz I got Creative zen xtra 40GB also   :Smile: 

it's a nice toy, i'd say it's certainly cheaper than ipod and it does the job right.

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## ralle

Hello!

I just want to assure in this thread that the creative muvo2 works like a charm. It mounted without problems (I'm using vanilla-sources 2.6.7) and I successfully transferred some music over (damn fast, usb2)!

The fstab line needed to mount as user:

```

/dev/sda  /mnt/muvo vfat  noauto,user  0 0

```

--

Ralph

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## Aggamemnon

Has anyone tried an iPod with Gentoo?

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## vonhelmet

 *Aggamemnon wrote:*   

> Has anyone tried an iPod with Gentoo?

 

Tons of people, and it works fine from what I understand. gtkpod or something.

I've never tried it though, as I'm not rich enough to buy an iPod!

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## lemino

Which player has the best compatibility under Linux (Gentoo), iPod or iRiver? Or maybe they are both good? The reason I ask is that a friend of mine said the comp. with iRiver under Linux is a little doubtful. Is this true?

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## vonhelmet

 *lemino wrote:*   

> Which player has the best compatibility under Linux (Gentoo), iPod or iRiver? Or maybe they are both good? The reason I ask is that a friend of mine said the comp. with iRiver under Linux is a little doubtful. Is this true?

 

An iRiver should work fine. As far as I know, it mounts as a standard vfat drive, so you can just copy everything over.

The iRiver supports ogg too, so if you're into that, or are a FOSS zealot, then it's the way to go.

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## xiber

I have a 3G ipod that I use under gentoo.  Works well for me without any problems.  Not alot of hoops to jump through to get it working.  I use gtkpod, which works very well.  I just wish it were faster when reading its local itunes database.

Ok, here's the combo I'd like to have: madman + ipod.

----

xiber

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## u2mike

iriver has some nice products. I would recomend that or an ipod.

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## malloc

Well i'm gonna buy a Rio Karma 20Gb after a friend of mine bought one and i saw how great it was. Another option i've pondered was the Archos gMini 220.

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## KuroRyu

iRiver H120 here, and VERY happy indeed   :Cool: 

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## tanjeff

I found this thread right now. I didn't read all posts.

I was looking for a MP3-Player, too, with net-MD in Mind. I found that Net-MD seems to be totally incompatible on Linux, as was said in this thread earlier. The iRiver seemed to be fine (I fancied with the H320 or H340). The disadvantage was that it needs a special Software to updat e the ID3-Database, so without that SW you can't search for a specific Artist, for example. Of course it is possible to organize the filesystem to reflect the artists, albums and so on. On Germany, the iRiver H320 costs about 300EUR, without remote.

Then, I found the Archos players. I bought the Archos Gmini400 now. It has 20GB Hard Disk and can record music, but not in mp3-Format. It supports uncompressed PCM and ADPCM (lossy compression), which I was able to convert to mp3 with SoX. The advantage of the Gmini400 is that it updates its ID3-Database itself. I also can create and manipulate Playlists, which will not possible with the H320. In addition, the Gmini400 is able to play mpeg4 videos (but is quite restricted in resolution, framerate, etc) on the internal display or on a TV (via tha AV out). The Gmini400 also has a FlashCard reader, which comes in handy if you have a DigiCam. It also shows the pictures, of course, also on a TV screen, if you want.

There is also an Gmini402 which in general is identical to Gmini400, but has no card reader, but an USB host connector, so you can connect a digiCam, a Memory sitck or an iRiver  :Wink: 

The Gmini400 costs about 250EUR in Germany, the Gmini402 is about 290EUR (both without remote). I'm really happy with the Gmini400, as it has a lot of features which the iRiver lacks (e.g. copy, remove, rename files, play Mophun Games). However, a friend of mine has the iRiver H320, and that is a really good choice, too, as it records mp3 and plays ogg. 

At least one warning: the remote for the Gmini400 is of low quality. It has a display which makes noise when the background light is on. It also "ticks", when text is scrolling through the display. That noise is not that loud, but is quite annoying, especially in silent regions.

So I recommend the Gmini Series, as the players are cheaper like the iRiver and have more features than most (all?) others. If you don't really rely on a specific feature (like recording in mp3) they are the best choice. By the way: my player seems to be quite robust while looking fragile on the pictures.

If you want more Info on the player or have a specific question, simply post here.

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## tSp

the RIO ce2100 works well too, uses standard usb-storage for access.  I made a small howto here:

http://www.edwiget.name/content/view/40/26/

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## nukem996

I have an iRiver 340 and I love it. Many iPod people dont like it because it is a bit bigger and heavier then the iPod, espcially the iPod Nano. The best part about it is you just copy your music (ogg, mp3, wav, and/or wma) and it plays. No crappy programs you have to use. Mine also displays pictures(jpegs only I think), text files, and videos(crappy quality but it works). It also makes for a great backup/file transfer device.

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## mickwd

Another vote for the iRiver here.

Even better than the standard iRivers, open source Rockbox firmware is now available (the iRiver H-series are flash-upgradeable), which adds much-requested features to the iRiver players, such as gapless playback and on-the-fly playlists.

With Rockbox, they can play MP3, Ogg/Vorbis, A52 (AC3), AAC (MP4), WAV, FLAC, ALAC and Wavpack.

Sorry, I know this sounds a bit like an advert for these guys, but they're doing a wonderful job.

Their stuff also works on (and was originally developed on) Archos MP3 players.

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## optiactive

I have an iRiver, but I've yet to try it on my Gentoo box. I did break the headphone jack on it, though. I don't know if that happens much, but... I had the iPod mini for about a week, and then I returned it due to the fact that it had some functions to try and protect the content. The iPod stores songs on it's hard drive with gibberish names (e.g., XGGADE.mp3). I like the iRiver because it stores the files with their actual names. One thing I have to say about the iPod is that the scroll wheel deal is much better than the landing strip the iRiver provides for navigation.

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## nukem996

 *optiactive wrote:*   

> One thing I have to say about the iPod is that the scroll wheel deal is much better than the landing strip the iRiver provides for navigation.

 

The new H10 series has a scroll stick which might solve that problem for you.  :Wink: 

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## die_vms_die

I've got a sandisk sansa flash mp3 player.

usb-mass storage device.

Easy menus,  AAA battery.

NiMh batteries work well.

http://www.livedigitally.com/?p=277

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## cylgalad

mp3s are bad quality, a lot of the sound is missing, flac is the new way to go !

If I were to buy one digital player I'll go there : http://eng.iaudio.com/

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## pilo

I root for iRiver. 

I have a H120 with Rockbox and it does wonders to an old player like that. Rockbox also works with Archos, but I have no impression on how good those are.

If I'm ever going to buy a new portable music player, it's going to be an iRiver.

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## mike_nl

Hello everyone,

i'am using the first MP3 player from creative, but i have changed the

original drive (6Gb) with a new one. This drive has now 80Gb. So i have

a little bit more room for my music  :Smile: .

I have the plyer now more then 2 years and its works fine.

Also i have installed today libnjb and Gnomad2 and all is running fine.

Br, Mike

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## terwey

I'm using my iPod Video with no problems under Linux, though I have some problems atm with gtkPod and libgpod from CVS because those have the features to support video...

But for the rest, it works like a charm, better then Windows even, but then again, iPods are pricey

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## Mattwolf7

I've got a Dell DJ v2 (a Nomad) and I am really pleased with it.  Everything works perfectly with it using Gnomad/libnjb and it was a heck of a lot cheaper than an iPod and still does everything I want (I'm not trying to start a flame war, just giving my personal opinion)

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## elsphinc

iaudio seems great and it supports flacs and oggs.  Now i just hook up my laptop in the car because i've killed 2 ipods and a creative jukebox.

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## GNUtoo

rockbox supported player?

why not switching to ogg(better quality)?

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