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Best Cheap MP3 Players, iPods and MP3 Player reviews
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Cheap MP3 Players Buying Guide
Finding an MP3 player for less than $100 or so 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.
The iPod's most notable lower-cost competitor, the Microsoft Zune (starting at $109, Amazon
But for those willing to branch out, there are multiple cheap MP3 players to be had for relatively small amounts of money. Many offer more memory and more features than the iPod and less social stigma than the Zune, and these include inexpensive MP3 players from iRiver, Sony, Coby, Philips, Archos, Creative, and Samsung.
Devotees of Apple should keep in mind, however, that the vast majority of these cheaper 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.
Back to top »What To Look For: Cheap MP3 Players Features
You can't quite expect the moon and the stars from an MP3 player that comes in at under $100. What listeners can expect for their money, however, is good sound and, depending on the size of the player, a relatively high-resolution screen, weight and portability, a decent amount of memory, and an intuitive interface.
Cheap MP3 Players Sound
. The consensus seems to be that Sony's relatively inexpensive 4GB Walkman (starting at $80, Amazon
) produces great sound, with a particularly strong bass. This budget model also features a voice recorder and FM radio, and is lightweight enough to take along while jogging. The earbuds, however, according to MP3 player reviews on Cnet, are considered lackluster, which is especially disappointing considering how good the sound can be.
Other economical MP3 players also suffer from disappointing earbuds, including the Coby MP610 4GB (starting at $31, Amazon
The similarly small navy blue Philips SA41 (starting at $36, Amazon
Inexpensive MP3 Players Weight and Portability.
Partly because of its low price, the Philips SA41 is a good pick to take to the gym or to give to someone who may be prone to misplacing things. This particular cheap MP3 player is also easy to carry. The iRiver, by contrast, is a heavy, though workable, alternative that some MP3 reviews on Cnet find clunky and hard to use.The modestly priced Walkman can also be faulted for its weight: at 5.9 oz, it's pretty heavy, so despite its name, the Walkman is probably not best taken walking. But the players that will drag you down most are the low-cost Coby MP610 4GB and the Zune, which weigh in at one full pound a piece.
With the budget iPod Shuffle, you are paying largely for the name and its portability. Shuffles are as easy as they could be to tote around -- they were designed with joggers and gymsters in mind -- and they're tough, so that even if they fall off while you exercise, they won't show any damage. The Shuffle isn't the only lightweight inexpensive option: the low-price Creative Mozaic is also impressively weightless, especially for the number of features it sports.
Budget MP3 Players Memory and Battery.
Low-cost MP3 players with 4 GB will hold about 1,000 songs; 1 GB players will hold a quarter of that. All the players on our recommended list, except for the 2 GB Shuffle (which holds up to 500 songs), meet the higher standard. But the kind of batteries each player uses has a lot to do with how much listening frustration users experience day-to-day. The relatively cheap Creative Mozaic is a winner is this category, boasting a whopping 38 hours of battery life. The slightly pricier Sony Walkman is also singled out as an excellent and efficient user of energy.The bargain Philips SA41 wins points for allowing users to replace the battery at will. The inexpensive Samsung Yepp, which provides 10 hours of listening or viewing on one removable battery, offers the same convenience although it has the least memory of the group -- only 512 MB, which holds about 155 songs. Most of the other budget MP3 players run off of internal batteries. The iPod Shuffle, for example, can only be recharged by plugging into a computer, and runs about 11 hours when fully charged; if or when internal batteries fail, users generally have to get a new MP3 player.
Economical MP3 Players Screens.
The small and lower-priced MP3 players don't offer much in the way of screens. The LED screen on the Philips SA41 is narrow, can be set to one of seven different colors, and is easy to read. The larger SA44 comes in black with a similar narrow, inverted black-and-white display. Each shows only the minimal amount of information necessary: essentially, which song is playing.On the other hand, the fourth generation budget iPod Shuffle (2 GB) does not include a screen (nor does its 4 GB siblingstarting at $75, Amazon
The larger low-cost players all come with color screens of varying sizes. The economical Zune's screen is made of glass, which adds heft and displays images that users posting on laptopmag.com complain are somewhat fuzzy. Users posting on the same site appreciate the Sony Walkman's sizeable screen, but the inexpensive Creative Mozaic and Samsung Yepp are both good alternatives, according to user and expert MP3 reviews on anythingbutipod.com and PC World.
Low-priced MP3 Players Interface.
Many of the interfaces on these budget MP3 players are modeled on the iPod: they use scroll wheels that are positioned below the screens. Ironically, the ascetic and inexpensive Shuffle offers neither a scroll wheel nor a screen, and receives overall mixed reviews on Cnet for its quirky navigation and other flaws. Users commenting on Amazon roundly criticize the Shuffle's earbud controls, which seem to stop working when you start sweating, which makes the player relatively useless in the gym or on the jogging path. This design peculiarity on the Shuffle means you can't substitute any other headphones without a special, and costly, adapter.Most users posting MP3 player reviews on anythingbutipod.com appreciate how intuitive the low-cost Zune is to use. Unique to the Zune, users can share music wirelessly: one transferred song can be listened to three times before it needs to be purchased. The Zune Pass subscription service makes little sense to users, however, and the device, which comes courtesy of Microsoft, is not compatible with Macs in any way. Connecting wirelessly with other Zune-sters would work best in a Zune-full world; in our world, the feature can be sadly underutilized.
The cheap Philips SA44 is straightforward to navigate, according to MP3 player reviews on Amazon, as is the low-price Samsung Yepp. Reviewers are split about the Creative Mozaic: some at PC World have dinged it for its "puzzling" interface while others at anythingbutipod.com praise its user-friendly qualities. The cheap iRiver is dismissed by reviewers on Cnet for a host of design and performance failings (e.g., a plastic feel and sluggish navigation).
Back to top »What To Expect: Cheap MP3 Players Performance
Bargain MP3 Players Overall Performance
. Objects can never be measured as well against each other as they can against themselves -- that is, what they manage to be as opposed to what they are trying to be. The low-cost iPod Shuffle generally does what it sets out to do -- provide music with decent sound quality without weighing you down -- despite being criticized on Cnet for its earbud navigation and lackluster battery life. The Sony 4MG Walkman is another budget model that delivers. CNET's editors and users praise it and MP3 player reviews on Walmart.com gush over the design, the sound, the simplicity, the range of features, and the overall value of the Walkman. And the Coby MP610 manages to produce high quality sound and video despite its bargain basement price, according to user comments on Amazon.Low-cost MP3 Players Reliability and Consistency
. The other cheap MP3 players, having to compete with the Shuffle, provide more functions but with varying degrees of success. The bargain Philips SA models seem to be less reliable: reviewers posting on Amazon complain about the product crashing either right out of the box or not too much later. The inexpensive Samsung Yepp, on the other hand, wins praise from reviewers on Cnet for its consistent performance and fit with relatively small media collections.Discount MP3 Players General Features
. Mac users who want to look beyond the iPod Shuffle for something cheap that has a screen do not have many options. Loyal PC users will be satisfied with the slightly pricey Zune's screen, which reviewers at mobiletechreview.com declare to be both straightforward and fun to use. With the help of some nifty software, the low-cost Sony Walkman can be used without Windows; expert reviewers at goodgearguide give high marks to the interface, the long battery life, and the video playback feature. Other user reviews on Amazon note the iRiver is decent but a bit spotty -- poor volume, poor reception, generally below average but CNet reviewers are simply not impressed.While the low-cost Creative Mozaic does not play well with Apple, it has the advantage of being easy to handle and use and provides a lot of bang for limited dollars, say reviewers on Cnet. According to MP3 user reviews on Amazon, the Coby MP61 4GB is a good pick despite its defects, such as uncertain reliability and not being very user friendly.
One Final Note
Make sure to decide what is most important to you in a budget MP3 player. If you are 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 would be willing to be the only person on your block to walk around with a Zune?
Once you know what you will use your inexpensive MP3 player for and what features are crucial -- screen, weight, audio quality, cool factor--the buying decision will be vastly simpler.
Back to top »
Good Cheap MP3 Players
Creative Mozaic, 4GB
The solid Mozaic comes with earphones rather than buds (a plus for people who can't get the buds to stay in), and includes an FM radio, slideshow capability, an impressive 38 hours of battery life, and a decent amount of memory for the price.
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iPod Shuffle, 2 GB
This fourth generation Shuffle can hold up to 500 songs and announce the name of the artist and title, and is controlled remotely from the earbuds; despite few features, no screen, and mediocre battery life, its low price, small size, minimal weight, and built-in clip make it a appealing choice.
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Products Mentioned in This Review
Philips SA41, 1 GBiRiver E100, 4GB
Creative Mozaic, 4GB
iPod Shuffle, 2 GB
Sony 4GB Walkman
Coby MP610, 4 GB
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