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Best Cheap MP3 Players, iPods and MP3 Player reviews

Related Guides: Bluetooth Headsets and Headphones

Finding a cheap MP3 player -- that is, one costing less than $100 -- means looking beyond the high-end iPod. This can be difficult for many of us: iPod has long dominated the market in terms of visibility and, frankly, cool factor.

As of January 2010, about 250 million of the slick, minimalist units were in circulation worldwide. Roping iPhones into the crowd, along with 11 more months of sales, that number is obviously far higher now. But for nonconformists willing to branch out, there are multiple cheap MP3 players to be had for lesser amounts of money. Many offer more memory and more features than the iPod. These include discount MP3 players from Creative, Sony, SanDisk, Philips, Cowon, and iRiver.

A word of caution: You can't expect the moon and the stars from a discount MP3 player. What you can expect for your money, however, is good sound (especially with upgraded earbuds or headphones) and, depending on the size of the player, a relatively high-resolution screen, light weight and easy portability, a decent amount of memory, and an intuitive interface. As technology advances, some of the discount MP3 players are also integrating features such as an FM tuner, an equalizer for adjusting sound, and capabilities for storing pictures. Devotees of Apple should keep in mind, however, that the vast majority of these discount MP3 players are designed to be compatible with PCs, not Macs. Although using them with Macs is possible, the syncing process can be lengthy and complicated.

As you start checking the merchandise, decide what's most important to you in a cheap MP3 player. If you're spending less than $100, do you need a screen? Does it matter that you have access to FM radio or voice recording? If you have a Mac, are you willing to deal with the difficulty of using something other than an iPod? If you have a PC, does your loyalty to Microsoft extend so far that you'd be willing to be the only person on your block walking around with a Zune? Once you know what you value, how you'll use your discount MP3 player, and which features are crucial (e.g., screen, weight, audio quality, cool factor), the buying decision will be vastly simpler.

Based on our research into discount MP3 players, we've narrowed down the candidates for best cheap MP3 player to the SanDisk Sansa Fuze+ 8GB (starting at $74, Amazon) for its feature set and overall value. The Creative Zen Mozaic EZ300 8GB (starting at $60, Amazon) and Apple iPod shuffle 2010 2GB (starting at $46, Amazon) are our picks for good discount MP3 players; each offers the must-have features and garners warm applause from a claque of experts and consumers. As for a cheap MP3 player you may not want to bother with, we've nominated the Sony Walkman E Series NWZ-E353 4GB (starting at $64, Amazon) due to support for only a handful of formats and clunky operation.

MP3 Players Size.

What good is a cheap MP3 player if it can't disappear into a pocket or pack as you go about your day to the strains of your favorite tunes? Not much, obviously, and that puts a premium on pint-sized specifications. Cue the fourth generation iPod shuffle 2010 2GB (starting at $46, Amazon). Partly because of its cheap price but also because of its small size and low weight (not even half an ounce), the new shuffle is a good pick to take to the gym but not to give to someone who may be prone to misplacing things. This particular discount MP3 player is so tiny (1.24x1.14x.34 inches) that you may inadvertently run it through the washer, a mishap CNET reports has occasionally occurred. Not quite in the same size bucket but trim, nonetheless, is the SanDisk Sansa Clip+ 4GB (starting at $40, Amazon), which weighs 0.8 ounces and features a 2.2x1.4x0.6-inch profile.

By contrast, the other cheap MP3 players we researched are relative giants. The iRiver E150 (starting at $100, Amazon) weighs 1.9 ounces and users say it's too big (3.8x1.9x0.5 inches) to comfortably clip to a shirt or belt. The SanDisk Sansa Fuze+ (starting at $74, Amazon) is about the same size, but reviewers are loath to fault its weight (just over two ounces) or dimensions (3.1x1.9x0.3) considering that it's stacked with attractive features. Most other cheap MP3 players present with similar stats. The Creative Zen Mozaic EZ300 (starting at $60, Amazon) weighs less than two ounces and measures 3.13x1.58x0.5 inches, the Sony Walkman E Series NWZ-E353 4GB (starting at $64, Amazon) measures 3.7x1.75x0.4 inches, and the slightly higher-priced second generation Zune 4GB (starting at $94, Amazon) comes in at 3.6x1.6x0.33 inches and 1.7 ounces.

MP3 Players Memory and Battery.

Two related must-haves in a cheap MP3 player: enough memory to store all the music you love and a long-life battery so the player doesn't cut out at inopportune moments. Indeed, as technology continues to shrink everything down to itty-bitty sizes, storage keeps getting better for can't-live-without media devices. Cheap MP3 players with 4 GB of memory hold about 1,000 songs, 2 GB players hold about half that, and 8 GB players hold about double. Among the cheap MP3 players on our list, the Sansa Fuze+, Zen Mozaic EZ300, and iRiver E150 all step up to the 8 GB standard. The Zune 4 and Sony Walkman NWZ-E353 hang back with 4 GB and the super-compact iPod shuffle pulls up last with a mere 2 GB of memory.

The battery inside each MP3 player has a lot to do with how much listening frustration users experience day-to-day. But it seems that manufacturers have been listening to consumers' grumbles, and each new generation of MP3 player improves upon the staying power of its predecessor. The Sony Walkman NWZ-E353 claims a battery life that maxes out at an impressive 50 hours for audio playback and 10 hours for video. Other cheap MP3 players aren't quite as generous with their time: the Creative Zen Mozaic EZ300 boasts up to 32 hours of audio time; the Zune 4 and SanDisk Sansa Fuze+ claim up to 24 hours of listening pleasure and up to four hours of video time on the former and five hours on the latter. Battery life on the iRiver E150 may run to 22 hours for audio and six hours for video, while audio on the iPod shuffle and SanDisk Sansa Clip+ lasts around 15 hours, at most.

Batteries on all these cheap MP3 players can be recharged with AC adapters but for the iRiver E150, which takes its juice only from a computer (the shuffle and Sansa Fuze+ can also be charged via computer).

MP3 Players Screens.

The small and cheap MP3 players don't offer much in the way of screens, although some of the newer models are a bit more bountiful. Regardless, you probably won't want to spend hours watching a video on these discount MP3 players unless you're standing on line waiting to go through airport security. Better uses for these small screens include sneak peeks at your photo files and album art while listening to a song or two, or choosing a song or playlist.

The size of the full-color LED screen on cheap MP3 players varies by model. The Archos 3Cam Vision (starting at $89) stands apart from other low-cost MP3 players for its video capabilities -- it shoots stills and live action -- and a large 3-inch display with resolution of 400x240 that makes movie-viewing a tolerable experience. The SanDisk Sansa Fuze+ features a more modest 2.4-inch display with 320x240-pixel resolution. The Sony Walkman NWZ-E353 offers similar resolution on a 2-inch screen and the Zune 4 manages the same on a 1.8-inch screen; the Zune 4 deserves special mention here for its glass covering instead of the usual plastic. The 1.8-inch display with 128x160 pixel resolution on the Creative Zen Mozaic EZ300 seems second-rate compared to its competition. But if watching is what you like to do, regardless of viewing quality, the iPod shuffle won't do at all: there's simply no screen, which helps keep the shuffle light, smooth, and tiny.

MP3 Players Interface.

Many of the original interfaces on cheap MP3 players were modeled on the iPod: they used scroll wheels positioned below the screens. Many newer models, however, have adapted their own style of controls, which isn't always a good thing. The SanDisk Sansa Fuze+ features a touch-strip navigation pad that borrows from the gesture crowd but can either outrun or lag behind the place you really want to be, reviewers note. The Creative Zen Mozaic EZ300 features a checkerboard set of control buttons in alternating black gloss and matte that challenges your MP3 intuition, say the experts at PC World. Controls on the Sony Walkman NWZ-E353, which include a clickable stationary wheel and two smaller buttons, hark back to yesteryear, asserts PC Mag. Likewise, controls on the iRiver E150 may stump the MP3-savvy crowd, given the flat surface that barely hints at the appropriate pressure points, and up and down "buttons" that move you back and forth instead of the expected left and right "buttons." The Zune 4 is both touch-sensitive and clickable, making its navigation something of a hybrid.

The ascetic new shuffle offers neither screen nor earbud controls but revives the big round button of an earlier generation, which here fills up nearly the entire square shape for play/pause/skip/volume; other controls are positioned at the top edge. Although some users wax nostalgic for those moments when you could mix things up with a touch to the earbuds, this cheap little MP3 player at least meshes with any set of headphones your ears desire. Without screen-based menus, the only options are the next song, a random selection, or a voice-over feature (in up to 14 languages) that lets you choose a playlist or specify a mix.

MP3 Players Extras.

FM tuners and voice recording are increasingly common on cheap MP3 players. The SanDisk Sansa Fuze+ and Sansa Clip+, Creative Zen Mozaic EZ300, and Archos 3Cam Vision feature these extras, but as noted above, the Archos 3Cam Vision steps it up with video- and photo-taking capabilities. One thing going for the Zune 4: built-in wireless and a service that lets users share music (and pictures and podcasts) wirelessly. This unique feature means you can listen to one transferred song three times before having to commit real money to buy it. But the function makes sense only in a world where your BFFs are also tuned into Zunes, and given the real world, that's not a realistic assumption. The wireless feature in the Zune 4 also lets you buy a song you've just heard on its FM tuner, but you've got to be in a Wi-Fi hotspot or connected to your network at home. FYI, the Zune 4 is not compatible with Macs in any way.

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Sony 4 GB Walkman
Coby MP610, 4 GB
Creative Mozaic, 4 GB
iRiver E150, 8 GB
Microsoft Zune 4
Sony Walkman E Series
Creative Zen Mozaic EZ300 8GB
Apple iPod shuffle 2010 2GB
SanDisk Sansa Fuze+ MP3 8GB

Philips SA41, 1 GB

 

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