I know, I know, we all hit the trails to ride and not listen to music, but I do a lot of riding on my trainer, the trails by myself, and the local rail trails and get really bored hour after hour with nothing to hear.
Does anyone have any MP3 player recomendations? My budget is less than $150 as I have some gift cards to a local electronics store to use. I've been looking at some that are 128 MB or 256 MB. My only requirements are that it be smaller than a portable cd player/Walkman and have a FM radio as there are a few radio programs that I enjoy listening to as well.
I'd love an IPOD, but the budget is not that big. Thanks!
I have a samsung yepp that I really like. One of my buddies has an I Rock that he is really happy with.
One thing to keep in mind, the headphones that come with them suck. At least for me they did, I couldn't keep them in my ears to save my life. Spent $15 on a set of headphones and have been happy ever since.
check out www.newegg.com for mp3/wma players.
You can get a tiny 256 MB player with radio for less than $70 that also can be used for USB storage device.
I got an X-Micro 256 MB player from them couple of monthes ago that I use for skiing, but they sold out of them.
Newegg is like JensonUSA of computer stuff, consistently best prices with quick fed-ex shipping.
Got it at one of the big box retailers. Only had 128 megs of storage, but can take a camera memory card to bump it to 1 gig. Also nice and small it fits easily into the palm of your hand.
Has a FM radio, three or four song types, and an armband thingy to hold it securely. Came with headphones, USB 2.0 cable, and a regular AAA battery. Nothing weird or really slow. All good things. Some of the other ones I looked at had weird (watch type) batteries, or only used a USB 1.1 cable (ssslllloooowww), or (most) were not expandable. If you needed more memory, you needed a new MP3 player.
Oh, and it cost me $110 including tax. The 256 meg on was close to the $150 mark.
And my wife is very happy with it so far.
JmZ
Sadlebred said:
I know, I know, we all hit the trails to ride and not listen to music, but I do a lot of riding on my trainer, the trails by myself, and the local rail trails and get really bored hour after hour with nothing to hear.
Does anyone have any MP3 player recomendations? My budget is less than $150 as I have some gift cards to a local electronics store to use. I've been looking at some that are 128 MB or 256 MB. My only requirements are that it be smaller than a portable cd player/Walkman and have a FM radio as there are a few radio programs that I enjoy listening to as well.
I'd love an IPOD, but the budget is not that big. Thanks!
If your gift card is from Circuit City don't forget their price-match policy. I got a Rio Cali 128MB from Circuit City for my son for Christmas and they matched Wal-Mart's price of $78. Wal-Mart also has the Rio Cali 256MB for $99.
If you can hold out for another month or so, rumor has it that an ipod will be within your reach. Apple is expected to announce an even smaller ipod, with 256 - 512 megs of flash memory, for about $150.
I've got an old Intel one, and as much as I'd recommend it to anyone, they stopped manufacturing it 18 months ago. It's got more than 512mb of space, smaller than a mini-ipod, and it's rugged as hell, so I'm happy.
If you can hold out for another month or so, rumor has it that an ipod will be within your reach. Apple is expected to announce an even smaller ipod, with 256 - 512 megs of flash memory, for about $150.
QUOTE]
Yeah I'll be the first on the block to get that one, because I don't want to damage the HD based mini on the trails. And lightweight? mini is only 3.5oz, so a flashed based iPod will be like 2oz. Can't wait!
I recommend going with as much space as possible within your budget. I paid $109 for a Rio Cali 256MB MP3 flash player back in November (including S&H, 2yr warranty).
Things the Cali has going for it include:
Tough casing and arm strap,
No moving parts (flash),
Decent earbuds,
Great sound,
and holds approx. 60 songs.
I wish it held more tunes but I would not take a $300+ hard drive MTBing.
I got a Creative Lab's MuVo 256MB w/ SD card. I got the splash mode w/ arm band. I think this is the best value at $99. I too though IPOD was a rip off.
After a major search I bought an iAudio CW300, a 1 1/2 ago. It cost $200 at the time. It has worked flawlessly, use it working out at the gym or on the trails when I'm riding solo. 4 hours of music and one battery goes about 10 hours. It is 256MB storage and has an FM tuner that actually works. Great sound. It came with it's own download software. I don't think you can get this anymore but you can go to Amazon.com, look up MP3 player reviews and spend all day finding something in your price range. Get as much memory as you can.
I have the Creative Labs Muvo TX without the FM radio option. It has 256mb of storage, is very small, and can be had of the internet for less then $80 bucks. SanDisk which are sold at BB and CC are very simillar. Later.
I had the Samsung Yepp 128MB. Really nice player, and super small. Least it was when I bought it like 3 years ago... Still today it would be a nice size. In my opinion if you get too small it just gets too hard to use, and easier to break or lose.
128MB is definitely the smallest you should go...
An iPod mini would be great at what, 4GB I think? But they're still expensive.
I own 2 rio players a Cali 256 and a Forge 512. The Cali works great but the Forge has some issues and from what I read the issues are not and isolated cases for this player. The radio feature on both these palyers is a waste of time and will only get a very close local station. The nice feature is the memory card slot. If I get another one it will be an Iriver 7** series player. From reviews I've seen they have a better amp in them, they get usable FM reception and the 7** series has an available water proof case and head phones supposedly good enough to be used under water. The only down fall is they don't have a memory card slot although you can get them with up to 1gb onboard memory.
you could try the site the gives iPods out for free, you know the site.
It works, i got an ipod mini and my LCD tv is shipping.
Id spam my link, but people would get pissed and i already have the ipod
I went through the same situation. I do a ton of long hours on the bike during the summer and in the winter on the rollers and spin bike. I wanted something good, but nothing too nice incase I crash on it. I ended up getting a Rio Chiba for less than $100. I think I got it at Wal-Mart. I runs for over 8 hours and holds 256mb. Plus it has a FM tuner and a stop watch with is helpful for interval training indoors. It's also very small....about 1/2 the size of a Ipod mini.
I went through the same situation. I do a ton of long hours on the bike during the summer and in the winter on the rollers and spin bike. I wanted something good, but nothing too nice incase I crash on it. I ended up getting a Rio Chiba for less than $100. I think I got it at Wal-Mart. I runs for over 8 hours and holds 256mb. Plus it has a FM tuner and a stop watch with is helpful for interval training indoors. It's also very small....about 1/2 the size of a Ipod mini.
Ditto, but got mine on Ebay. Lots of new Rios there (and refurbs- watch out!). I'm guessing that the Cali is being replaced by the Forge. They are all pretty much the same- except for headphones- in different cases. Bought the GF a Rio Forge 256 for $130 at buydig.com (everything ships free). She says the FM works great and it seems to be OK on my Chiba, so maybe they have addressed that issue.
You might want to check out the reviews on cnet.com
Ditto, but got mine on Ebay. Lots of new Rios there (and refurbs- watch out!). I'm guessing that the Cali is being replaced by the Forge. They are all pretty much the same- except for headphones- in different cases. Bought the GF a Rio Forge 256 for $130 at buydig.com (everything ships free). She says the FM works great and it seems to be OK on my Chiba, so maybe they have addressed that issue.
You might want to check out the reviews on cnet.com
I got the ILO from wal mart it came with aa arm band that I threaded through the rear vents on my helmet wrapped the exter ear phone cable around the elastic and left just enough to put the buds in my ears the only down fall is that AAA batt does not last to long but it is to cool to have music on solo rides.
Funny story... so I got a mini- IPod for Christmas. It was my main Christmas present. Didn't really know much about them when I got it. Well the irony of ironies is that when I went to use it, I discovered that my computer doesn't have firewire to use it! (My computer is about 5 years old but now it feels dated!) So much for that. Oh well.... I'll return it and wait until they're more affordable. My question is; Why is the mini-Ipod so expensive if it doesn't even have an FM radio like some of the other models? Doesn't make sense to me. Hmmmm... that's almost half the price of a surfboard or used snowboard... I think I'll take the board. ;-)
Funny story... so I got a mini- IPod for Christmas. It was my main Christmas present. Didn't really know much about them when I got it. Well the irony of ironies is that when I went to use it, I discovered that my computer doesn't have firewire to use it! (My computer is about 5 years old but now it feels dated!) So much for that. Oh well.... I'll return it and wait until they're more affordable. My question is; Why is the mini-Ipod so expensive if it doesn't even have an FM radio like some of the other models? Doesn't make sense to me. Hmmmm... that's almost half the price of a surfboard or used snowboard... I think I'll take the board. ;-)
I got a 256 mb Creative Muvo Tx for Christmas. I helped my mom buy it for me on Walmart.com, and it was only $82. It has USB 2.0 and a decent FM tuner. Other cool things about it are that is doesn't need any cables (it has a built-USB plug), comes with a beltclip and armband, runs 15 hours on easy to find AAA batteries, and is about as small as you would ever want. Downsides: it doesn't fit all your music and the included earbuds are horrible. I would reccommend it. I have yet to try it biking, but hope to this coming week.
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