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[Chasoscar]

When my ole iPod finally quit, I was considering purchasing a new one to replace it.  I have to be honest..... I was a little miffed to learn that JRiver would not support the newest iPods. I had stated that I dreaded making the choice between iPods(of which I have owned 3) and the JRiver software(which I have owned since MC9), because I loved them both, but it seemed that a choice was inevitable.

Luckily, just to get me by, I ran across a reconditioned Sansa e270(6gb) for $40....... It appeared brand new, but it took some getting used to and I had to cull music to get what I needed on the 6gb device. The “stock” Sansa would only support an additional 2gb SD expansion card but fortunately installing Rockbox allowed the Sansa to support SDHC cards and I was able to snap up a 8gb class6 microSD card for $16 to increase my current capacity to 14gb.

The price of SDHC cards is falling as I am writing this and Rockbox currently supports up to a 32gb SDHC expansion card but that will also increase as the prices fall. Thank goodness it ALL works Beautifully with MC and I got it all for a measly $56. I can only recommend that anyone that had the dilemma of feeling they had to make a choice between JRiver/Apple consider this one....... you wont regret it.

May Apple someday realize what their choices have CO$T them and also that getting along with folks can sometimes be more important than the almighty buck ........  I am confident I will never go back. 
Long live open source!

Thanks again Jim
Chasoscar

[WinoOutWest]

I agree - after my first ipod we are now a family of 6 Rockbox'd Sansas.  Never had a single problem and they all sync with their respective playlists in MC.

[JimH]

Chasoscar,
You made my day.  Thanks!

I fully realize that others will feel differently.  I only wish it were possible to satisfy everyone.  For now, we've decided not to spin our wheels.

I saw 4GB Sandisk players for $39 today at Best Buy, and I know Sandisk is running specials on others.  http://www.sansa.com

Cheers,

Jim

[Magicland]

Long refusing to be a lemming to a company that uses "think different" to prod their herd, I'd gotten a Sansa E250 shortly after they came out. Liked it enough that I got another for my daughter. Finally gave it to my wife when I started using my phone (T-mobile Dash) for all my portable music needs. All work perfectly with MC. Just picked up an "ipod video", because the nitwits at kenwood haven't figured out how to make my HU play random from any other USB devices, only to find that, despite the name, the unit won't play video. Apparently apple broke this in their last firmware revision (1.3) and there's no (official, anyway) way to roll it back to the previous version which DID play video. This isn't an issue on all of the ipod video units, but it is enough of a problem that it's noted by many users on apple's support forums. Of course, there's no acknowledgment of this from apple, or any solution, other than to buy a newer, more expensive model.

[Listener]

Good thread.  Thanks to the OP and others for all the good info.

I think I'll need a 32 GB memory card but that's come. 

Are there any good player choices that can use a standard size SDHC card?

Bill

[RobOK]

I am getting more and more frustrated with Apple, although I am liking the iPhone.  i think they did a great thing with the AppStore, but at the price of buying into Apple's system.

My last iPod is dead, I am looking for a non-Apple shuffle or mini.  I haven't started much research yet.

I think Apple is really doing a lot of evil lately.


EDIT:  what is the MC experience with Sansa Clip, I searched and only found 1 or 2 threads.

[bwaldron]

The Sansa Clip works just fine with MC. It's a great little player with superb sound quality.

I am getting more and more frustrated with Apple, although I am liking the iPhone.  i think they did a great thing with the AppStore, but at the price of buying into Apple's system.

My last iPod is dead, I am looking for a non-Apple shuffle or mini.  I haven't started much research yet.

I think Apple is really doing a lot of evil lately.


EDIT:  what is the MC experience with Sansa Clip, I searched and only found 1 or 2 threads.

[Chasoscar]

Are there any good player choices that can use a standard size SDHC card?
Bill

Bill,
I think most(if not all) of the newer MP3 players/phones that support expansion cards use the microSD and that is what Sandisk uses in their players but presently I am pretty sure their current hardware only support the regular microSD up to 2gb and not the the SDHC (high capacity) cards which presently can be found up to 32gb & possibly even 64gb but Im not sure about that.

Installing Rockbox, which is really cool open source firmware, allows you to use the HC cards. The only problem with the 32gb or higher is the pricing, but as I said above, the prices are falling. I found the "sweet spot" right now to be at 8gb for $16 for a class 6 card and if you dont mind swapping them out(which only takes a second) you can get several of them. I find I can put approx 150 cds worth of music on each one and at that price (along with a Sansa) you cant beat it not to mention the freedom of not having to hassle with iPod and especially iTunes.

The only caveat with the microSDHC cards is most of the earlier readers will not work with them and you need that to load your files, but I picked up a nice Rosewill @ newegg for only $7 but it reads the full size SD, SDHC, microSD & microSDHC (Almost all microSD/SDHC cards come with full size adapters)
Hope this helps,
ChasO

[Listener]

> The only caveat with the microSDHC cards is most of the earlier readers will not work with them and you need
> that to load your files, but I picked up a nice Rosewill @ newegg for only $7 but it reads the full size SD,
> SDHC, microSD & microSDHC (Almost all microSD/SDHC cards come with full size adapters)

Last spring I purchased a gen 5.5 80 GB iPod and loaded 30 GB of MP3 files on it.  That worked fine for a trip across the USA.

I'd like to load the same 30 GB of music files on another player for our other car.  It looks as though I'll be waiting on thee dge of my seat for 32 GB microSDHC cards to appear and get to a reasonable price level.  (Or maybe 64 GB cards.)

Thanks for the info.

Bill

[boydn]

I wish it were that easy.  I just bought a 16gb Walkman for work and it works ok.  Until somebody comes up with a car stereo to portable that really works I'm "stuck" with the Ipod in the car...

[Frobozz]

The problem with having RockBox as an alternative is that RockBox doesn't work on any current hardware.  All the hardware it works on is obsolete, stuff you can't buy new at Best Buy anymore.  If you want RockBox you have to hunt down an old player and know what you're doing so you end up with something that will work.  They're still working on getting RockBox to work on the V2 SanDisk devices.  If they ever get it working the devices may be obsolete by then and on to V3.

If you have a requirement that a player absolutely must do gapless playback, what are the available choices right now?
RockBox on obsolete hardware
iPod
Zune

That is all I am aware of.  I don't see a lot of choice for alternatives to an iPod.

[RobOK]

My last iPod is dead, I am looking for a non-Apple shuffle or mini.  I haven't started much research yet.

I think Apple is really doing a lot of evil lately.


EDIT:  what is the MC experience with Sansa Clip, I searched and only found 1 or 2 threads.

I ordered a Sansa Clip, should be arriving today. 

[JimH]

We regularly hear good things about rockbox.

[lalittle]

That is all I am aware of.  I don't see a lot of choice for alternatives to an iPod.

This is my reaction as well.  I would LOVE to dump my iPod/s and get something else, but nothing else does what I "need" it to do at the moment.  If you can live with 32GB or less (usually a LOT less), there are a lot of options, but for some of us, the whole point is to have your entire collection available at all times and not have to constantly manage what gets synced and what does not.  This might sound silly to people who are used to 8GB units, but this is simply how "I" use a handheld player.  I need about 80 Gigs for this just for audio -- more if I want much video on the unit.  I can find other hard drive players, but there is always some crucial feature missing, like no audible file playback, or no browsing by tags, or some other silly issue that is simply a deal breaker.

Lately I've been investigating Pocket PC's (i.e. PDA type devices), but I have not been able to find one with a normal size hard drive in it, so I remain stuck with the iPod and the uncertain future with being able to sync it with MC.

Larry

[RobOK]

the whole point is to have your entire collection available at all times and not have to constantly manage what gets synced and what does not. 

I used to think that too, but when by big iPod died, i just adjusted my thinking and outlook.  To be honest, I don't listen as much as i used to.

[lalittle]

I used to think that too, but when by big iPod died, i just adjusted my thinking and outlook. 

The paradigm just doesn't work for me.  I just don't have the time or patience to manage the unit.  The result would be the same as in the tape and CD days, where I would end up with the same one or two dozen albums in the car which I had long since stopped listening to.  I would constantly try to remember to swap them out, but I would keep forgetting.  This was partly because the task of selecting new ones just "felt" like too much work, which resulted in my constantly avoiding it.  For me, I either need to have the whole collection along with me (where I don't have to think about syncing for weeks at a time), or I'm just not interested in carrying it.  This is simply what a handheld "is" to me.

Larry

[gummbah]

I used to think that too, but when by big iPod died, i just adjusted my thinking and outlook.

This is exactly what I did when I bought my iPhone. I changed my original  view that i had to have a multi-functional fully adjustable all-in-one media player. Since then I am perfectly happy with iTunes.

[Magicland]

When syncing my Dash (which has a 2 gig micro flash card in it), there obviously wasn't enough room for my entire collection, but using MC I believe I was able to use a "smartlist" to fill it to capacity (and every sync would fill it with a different assortment of music based upon my smartlist). No thinking needed on my part, and 2 gigs of freshly selected music that I liked whenever I wanted. Throw in a set of stereo wireless headphones that double as a phone headset when needed, and it's hard to beat for commuting.

[lalittle]

No thinking needed on my part

The "thinking" comes in when deciding what music to put on given that I'm not a "random selection" type of person.  I like to select what I'm in the mood for -- I just don't use the "random" approach.

Larry

[Chasoscar]

I tend to agree with Magic....... and I generally do like to listen to random music, but the way I do it is using ratings(which I could do with smartlist). I have found that I usually only REALLY like 3-5 songs on a given CD. So when I load my Sansa e270 6gb with the 8gb SDHC expansion card even tho it only holds 250 CDs worth of music(which by itself is alot of music).... it is actually music from approx 500-600 different CDs. That way I dont loose the ability to listen to anything that I "want" to listen to and I dont end up having to skip songs that I dont particularly care for.

I mean sure, its not my entire collection, but it is the stuff that I like to listen to and to be honest, it is more than enough. I never catch myself wishing to listen to something that I dont have. If my player is full and I find something new that I like(rate) better than something that is on it, I just add the new stuff and remove something that I dont like as well.

My favorites from 600 different CDs is alot of GOOD music & if I do decide to "think" about what I want to listen to....... it is on there. Also remember, I have less than $60 invested in hardware and I personally find that AMAZing considering the music at my fingertips.

One more thing to consider....... I am from the "8-track is cutting edge" generation........ so I am easily amused!
Just my $.02

[RobOK]

LOL on the 8-track!!  Further proof that while music lives on, media formats come and go!!!

[Frobozz]

I should clarify my comments about RockBox.  I didn't intend to be so negative on RockBox.  Chalk it up to my general frustration with how little support there is for gapless playback with current portable MP3 players.  Several manufacturers have been promising gapless support in future models but have yet to deliver (SanDisk, I'm still waiting).  I find it to be a frustrating state of affairs and really limits my choices for a DAP.

RockBox does gapless and I love it for that.  I have yet to have a chance to actually try it on a device though.  But as long as it has gapless and a reasonable interface I'd be happy.

[Chasoscar]

I understand why people might shy away from Rockbox because the do not yet support the Sansa V2 hardware but I am not really sure what (if anything) makes V2 better than V1 besides it is just the "latest greatest". I do know that if you go buy a pair of socks nowdays....... they dont last as long as the ones I use to buy(and no I havent quit clipping my toenails). You can generally find a reconditioned V1 real cheap and in my opinion they are like new if not better because they have gone thru additional (re)testing that the production line stuff has not. That said, I know they are making progress on the V2 rockbox firmware, but as far as an ETA for that ........ your guess is as good as mine. If you already have a V1, I highly reccommend trying it, because it is Really Cool and gives you many more options than the Sansa firmware! Here is a link if you want to monitor the progress. Be sure to go to the last page if you want to see current situation~~~~~~~

http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=14064.0