I am not a big fan of apple, so the mp3 player doesn't have to be an ipod. What I am looking for is an mp3 with 8 - 16 GB of memory that's decent and that will essentially operate like a USB drive. I don't want intrusive software. I want to be able to drag, drop, copy, delete and modify files just as I would if I were using a USB drive. The mp3 player needs to be able to play mp3s with bitrates of up to 320 kbps. If it plays flac files, that's even better, but lack of this functionality is not a deal breaker. I want the mp3 player to display album cover art. If the mp3 player can play videos that's a plus. If it comes with a voice recorder that's also plus. It needs to have decent battery life. I am not looking to spend a fortune on this thing. $100 is a reasonable price, maybe $200 if I am truly impressed, but I doubt I will be that impressed . Can someone recommend an mp3 player that meets all this criteria?
Probably the best out there and one of the cheapest named brand player is the Sansa View. I bought a returned 16g + 2yr warentee+shipping for about 100 USDs. It will also take a SD card I think they make a 32g card. It has the most vivid screen of any player I have seen and have a great battery. All the controls have a nice feel to them. These do are to the pleasure of using your mp3 player. One of the big pluses is it will play most formats, more than a dozen. Apple eat your heart out! I believe it will play flac and waves but by the time you are over 20 years old you can't heard the difference between a 192 mp3 and a wave file. mp3s cut out the highs. 320s have high notes higher than a baby can hear. Most educated audiophiles have their CDs backed up to lossless formats ,flac or ape, but they listen to 160-192 bit rates on their mp3 player. You REALLY don't want this. You might think you want it till you try using it. Ones that act like a usb drive are garbage. They only have 2 modes: 1) play a tune you select. 2 play all the tunes in random or sequence. Finding the tune you want in a folder of 3-4 thousand tunes will get very old very fast. A usb drive is not smart enough so you can find a tune by artist->alums->tune. Good players will allow play lists, play an artis or play an album. You can drag and drop. All Sansas and Zens will allow you to do that but they are not USB drives. They still use a database so you can retrieve by artist. Unlike some players that require ejecting or disconnecting the Sansa does maintenance when it is disconnected. Although you can drag and drop I suggest you try something like media monkey or winamp. Especially if you want to use play lists. They don't report your inventory back to homebase like itunes or WMP. Get in the ear buds. Most are about the same with amazing sound. I prefer the philips. Not only do they have great sound but the ear inserts are softer and the wires are smaller and softer. The last I bought went for $12+ shipping. Not bad since they sound as good as the $100 Bose.
There are several Sansa Views. Do you think you could me the link so I can see exactly which model you are referring to?
Yes they differ in memory. I think that is it. I bought mine here. http://www.ecost.com/detail.aspx?edp=42078762&source=EWBBASE&cm_mmc=CSE-_-google-_-ewbbase-_-Electronics&CAWELAID=366946578 Again, I suggest using a good audio app to manage your music and sync. The drag and drops can be screwed up especially if you do something unexpected. The only complain in the reviews was someone that screwed up his player with drag and drops.
