Portable Mp3 player recommendations?
 

Hi all. After my stepson's ancient portable CD player bit the dust, he's taken over my RioVolt. I'd thought about replacing it with another mp3-capable CD player (which are cheap nowadays . . . hell, I once payed $160 bucks plus for that RioVolt!), but after some consideration I think burning CDs is a pain in the arse and it's high time for a portable mp3 player. So I'm seeking recommendations from those "in the know." Here are my requirements:

Must haves:
- Must be drag-n-drop capable. Absolutely no proprietary software.
- Readable display (with backlighting . . . I listen in the dark) and intuitive navigation.
- Fairly rugged.
- Battery powered, with good battery life.
- AC adaptor included or at least available.
- Above all, must sound terrific, with a meaningful volume control.

Preferable/Desirable (but not absolutely necessary)
- Sleep timer (or at least will turn itself off)
- Plays .wma files (not really necessary, I guess, since anything can be made into an mp3)
- Support for playlists?

I don't need lots of bells and whistles, so anything else is cream. As for size and price, I honestly think I'd be happy with a 256 or 512 MB model, and certainly 1 GB would be a "gracious plenty" as they say. I don't mind swapping songs out from time to time.

I would like to keep the price around $150 or less.

Can it be done?

=Aaron

Hardware music/mp3 queries tend to belong in Other Talk, whereas software questions mostly need to go to Tech Talk.

You might find what you are looking for here: <A HREF="http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=328526" target="_blank">Need MP3 Player For Working Out..$150?</a>.

If there's nothing in that thread for you maybe you can bounce it with a copy of your post....


Benedict
Moderator, Music Talk