recommend me an mp3 player?

Thanks for info on the fiio Jon, perhaps I'll give it a go

Regarding Sansa pricing, think they're a fair bit more expensive in Europe than US, judging from amazon offers

Do they not make them anymore? I'm on my 3rd or 4th I think.

Sansa Clip+ is, unfortunately, discontinued

Oh no!!!!!!!!!!

Why, Lord? Why?

Maybe an issue with the factory or delivery of some of the parts... It's the best player I ever had :'(

I feel your pain. I should take better care of the one I've got. Cherish it.

Totally...
Always weird when a company follows a product up with an inferior version... Maybe they just got lucky with the Clip+

Not luck, the clip zip was also great.

I think I read that the devolution from clip + to its successors was because of some key component no longer being made by the sub suppliers

I still think for twenty odd quid's worth of expandable mp3 player the latest Sport/Jam models still represent value. My Clip + still works, but perversely I have relegated it for audiobooks only use. With my damaged hearing I'm not so sensitive to the drop offs in sound quality in the latest models tbh.

The sport/jam supposedly have much longer battery life

It doesn't seem any better or worse to me, but it's not like I go on trips to the southern hemisphere - but definitely no complaints about the battery life.

My clip +'s have always been pretty quick to run down.

got the Fiio X3 - silly button placement and interface ultimately makes it not the product for me

eventually I'll be getting a damn smartphone instead

not truly cheap, but there's a few clip+s to be had here if anyone's interested
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4GB-SANDISK-SANSA-CLIP-PLUS-MP3-PLAYER-with-BUILT-IN-FM-RADIO-MICRO-SD-SLOT-/222344593965

For those less concerned with fidelity than swimming laps or even jogging with secure earbuds, I've been pleasantly surprised with the Syryn (avg battery life, drag n drop file management, 8 GB, $60 w/ earbuds). Mine's been down to 30 ft without issue.

fiio M3 has had a firmware update-- files within a folder now play in proper alphanumerical order, thank god. Folders still display in the order in which they were written to the micro SD disc, though, instead of alpha (e.g. in the Pink Floyd folder Animals comes at the end because I just put it in there yesterday).

Oh, that's weird, my X1 has always shown the files in alphanumeric order. Is M3 from an older series?

The issue only exists on the M3, which was kind of fiio's attempt to make something Sansa Clip-esque (cheap, simple). It launched a couple of years ago. It's not a satisfactory Sansa replacement but it does have great sound quality and great battery life and this firmware update helps a lot.

pono

I think I was supposed to run some firmware for my X1 but couldn't figure how to do so.

Good sound, good battery life, not sure things were saving to where they were supposed to.

This is how you do it:

1) Go here and download the zip file.

2) Unzip the file into a folder.

3) Plug X1 to your computer and open its root directory. The root directory is the first folder that opens when you double click the X1 device symbol on your computer, the one where all your music folders/files are.

4) From the unzipped folder, copy the file called x1.fw to X1's root directory. Don't place it in any of the music folders, or it won't work.

5) Unplug the X1 from the computer, let it update its files (there's a message on the screen that says it's updating, wait for the message to disappear), and turn it off.

6) Hold down the "shortcuts" button on the X1 (the one on the upper left corner of the control wheel). While holding it down, press the power button until X1 turns on.

7) You get a message that says X1 is updating and a progress bar.

8) When the update is done, choose the system language, plug the X1 into your computer, open the root directory and delete the x1.fw file.

Voila!

Thanks - that's genuinely appreciated.

No prob!

I wished I'd bought a shitload of Sansa Clip+'s when they were going for £30 brand new in 2012. People are selling them on ebay for £130 now, they are going for even higher prices in auctions. I've got one in perfect condition but can't bring myself to sell it.

I've actually got 2 refurbished ones extra if anyone needs

I'd buy one of them off you

you pay postage I'll send it to you

U in the US?

I'm in Denmark. Can probably post it as a regular letter without insurance for 7 euros. With insurance it's more like 30 euros so that's not a great deal.

Send me an ilxmail!

done

Amazing to see that there's a whole cottage industry of people refurbishing iPod Classics with 480 GB SSD drives.

Anyone in the UK bought from Ea-audio recently? Ordered an MP3 player from their website on 13 August (for a birthday present on 12 September). Haven't received the MP3 player and emails are seemingly being ignored. I'm open to the idea that it might be a small operation and that they could have been on holiday (the website was closed for a bit) but I'm starting to get a bit shifty.

(Update: emails weren't being ignored ... they'd gone to Spam. That said, I still kinda wish I'd just ordered from Amazon or the like).

Are those JuiceBar portable speakers that you can pick up for £25-£30 in supermarkets any good?

???

I haven't had those specifically, but I've had other bluetooth speakers and they're fine... fairly loud, decent sound, good battery life. good as a portable in the kitchen or shower or out for a picnic or something.

B&O models are more expensive but sound very good, I bought an A1 and love it

I think there's quite a few quality bluetooth speakers on the market and personally I'd wait until I could afford a good one (I had the UE Mini Boom before, and while it was impressive for its price, that level of sound quality does not bring me much joy)

I had a couple of these bluetooth speakers and they were great for what I needed, tho as expected for this price the build quality faultered and they only lasted a year or so:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/JINRUI-Waterproof-Shockproof-Hands-Free-Speakerphone/dp/B01G8AOTA2

I recently sprung for a Fugoo Style speaker, which sounds better and looks nicer, tho whether it's £90 better I'm not sure:
http://www.fugoo.com/fugoo-style-silver/

looking for something with:

1. good audio quality
2. long battery life/playing time
3. the ability to hold SD cards

anyone using anything that qualifies (that I can actually still buy)? I've been using my phone for this purpose for the last couple years, but it wipes out my playlists whenever there's a software update, and lately it won't even let me reimport them afterwards. it's just not built for dealing with this much media.

the 16 gb (expandable up to 128) sansa clip sport + is going for under £30 on e-bay atm. yeah it isn't as good as the 2010's clip + they did, but I haven't seen anything better in that price range (or even pricier) yet.

what software are you using on your phone? i haven't had that problem on mine. i've occasionally looked but most standalone portable audio players these days start running into software issues with more than about 10,000 songs or so

I'm using BlackPlayer on my Android phone.

tbh though the audio quality is what really bugs me. I have this wonderful old Cowon player that still works as well as it did when I bought it 5 or 6 years ago, and it sounds amazing - the only issue is that I cracked the screen pretty bad and it only has 32gb of space. but I still love how it sounds and want that for the rest of my audio. (Cowon is still kicking and has higher-capacity players but they're well out of my budget)

vv happy with my cowon plenue d player, great audio quality and jeteffect 5 + bbe, does high res and has an sd card slot up to 128 gb

god they're so expensive but look so fucking good. I might end up biting the bullet.

simon: i get what you're saying about the sound quality, i have that issue too. how portable does your portable solution need to be? because what i do is i use my phone and cheap headphones for situations where i'm walking, driving, etc., and i carry in my bag a laptop that i use with my dragonfly DAC and my good headphones for when i'm out somewhere, on the train, etc. i find that to be a cheaper solution than the high-end purpose-built players!

it would need to be fairly portable, yeah. I run and gym a fair bit and would enjoy it more w/ nice audio because I am a fancy bastard

Sony NWZ Walkman is the only player I've owned that meets your requirements. The current Sansas are fine for sound quality and battery life but brain dead when it comes to navigating your files, like shockingly so.

FiiO stuff sounds great but none of it has long enough battery life.

Walkman has excellent battery life, I'm currently running a 400GB micro sd in mine, and great sound. And very compact. It has a proprietary USB connector though, and is as someone pointed out is very sharper image looking. IDGAF.