MP3 player help

[materamagic]

I don't own one, can anyone help me out here?

I want a cheap (under $200) mini MP3 player which I can load songs that are on my windows media playlist and real one player list, etc...Something I can listen to on long bus trips, etc...



Can you buy one and simply add the songs onto it and listen?

Any help would be great

Also how many songs could I expect to fit on it at any one time? What are the limits?

 

[materamagic]

anyone? please i need to make purchase soon

 

[music_2000]

Check this article out http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;196033645
It will summarise what I could spend ages going on about. basically it is possible to buy an MP3 player and add songs to it but you usually need software to convert your CD collection into MP3 files

Anyway I used to have a no name brand MP3 player and I don’t recommend them as many of them are lacking the software to convert CD’s to mp3 files. But stores like Strathfield car radio sell cheap basic MP3 players. but you are better off with brand name MP3 players like Creative and I-river. I have a creative mp3 player and I can sync playlists from windows media player to the device. I-river on the other hand is manufactured by microsoft and is easily compatible between WMP. IPOD's may be all the rage but are more compatible with the Apple mac. you can't sync playlists between WMP and an IPOD (i think)

there are a few things to consider when buying an MP3 player

do you want extras? like an FM radio, voice and sound recorder, screen display, ability to store data on the device. these are all standard features that wont cost much extra but it is well worth getting a model with these as standard. the IPOD sadly lacks most of these features as standard

device storage size: as you want to spend less than $200 you could easily find a good flash based memory one. for example a standard mp3 size is the 512mb mp3 player which hold around 120 songs depending on how the file was encoded. i.e. you can reduced the quality of an mp3 player to increase song storage. for $200 don't expect to get a device that holds all of your CD's. i.e. a hard disk based model. I recently purchased a 5gb Creative Muvo mp3 player for $170 but that was cheap because they no longer produced that model. also remeber if you like to play sport while using ur MP3 player get a flash model as they will last longer

battery life: some MP3 players have an internal battery that can be charged via a PC USB port (or even an ac adaptor if ur lucky) others require AA or AAA battery/s. now you need to ask yourself if it is worth forking out $4 at Kmart for a pack of energizers each week or charging via pc? remember that AAA or AA batteries may have a longer life than an internal battery. my mp3 has a 14 hr life but I saw an I-river model that used AAA batteries and could go for 60+ hours

Hope that helps mate.

 

[TheReason]

Anyway I used to have a no name brand MP3 player and I don’t recommend them as many of them are lacking the software to convert CD’s to mp3 files.

The software side is easy to sort out.

Go and get (for free) MP3 Split (Absolute MP3 splitter). Not only does it split an MP3 file into seperate MP3 files and at any specific point you like, but converts to and from MP3 etc...

I'm sure there's 1000's of these freeware programs out there.

 

[materamagic]

Check this article out http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;196033645
It will summarise what I could spend ages going on about. basically it is possible to buy an MP3 player and add songs to it but you usually need software to convert your CD collection into MP3 files

Anyway I used to have a no name brand MP3 player and I don’t recommend them as many of them are lacking the software to convert CD’s to mp3 files. But stores like Strathfield car radio sell cheap basic MP3 players. but you are better off with brand name MP3 players like Creative and I-river. I have a creative mp3 player and I can sync playlists from windows media player to the device. I-river on the other hand is manufactured by microsoft and is easily compatible between WMP. IPOD's may be all the rage but are more compatible with the Apple mac. you can't sync playlists between WMP and an IPOD (i think)

there are a few things to consider when buying an MP3 player

do you want extras? like an FM radio, voice and sound recorder, screen display, ability to store data on the device. these are all standard features that wont cost much extra but it is well worth getting a model with these as standard. the IPOD sadly lacks most of these features as standard

device storage size: as you want to spend less than $200 you could easily find a good flash based memory one. for example a standard mp3 size is the 512mb mp3 player which hold around 120 songs depending on how the file was encoded. i.e. you can reduced the quality of an mp3 player to increase song storage. for $200 don't expect to get a device that holds all of your CD's. i.e. a hard disk based model. I recently purchased a 5gb Creative Muvo mp3 player for $170 but that was cheap because they no longer produced that model. also remeber if you like to play sport while using ur MP3 player get a flash model as they will last longer

battery life: some MP3 players have an internal battery that can be charged via a PC USB port (or even an ac adaptor if ur lucky) others require AA or AAA battery/s. now you need to ask yourself if it is worth forking out $4 at Kmart for a pack of energizers each week or charging via pc? remember that AAA or AA batteries may have a longer life than an internal battery. my mp3 has a 14 hr life but I saw an I-river model that used AAA batteries and could go for 60+ hours

Hope that helps mate.

Thanks for your replies people. So I-River and Creative are compatible with Media Player Windows.

 

[music_2000]

I-river and creative are not the only ones compatible with windows media player but I-river and Creative MP3 players work much better as they were designed specifically for windows. I think most other reputable brands like Samsung and Sony should be but check the box of any MP3 player and it will say whether the MP3 player can be synced with Windows media player just to be sure. some are only designed to transfer MP3's to your mp3 player or just delete them