High Capacity Portable MP3 Player

[Ehtyar]

Hi all.
For the past hour or so I've been looking on the net for a high capacity MP3 player, and I've yet to find something that matches my needs (hard to believe right?). My criterion are below:

• Capacity >= 100GB
• NOT by Apple
• NOT by Sony
• Not priced for the huge screen

That's pretty much it really, I'd like batter life to be >10 hours on unprotected audio playback, but I'm willing to overlook poor battery life if necessary. If Sony and Apple are my only choices, then I'll go without, though I almost can't comprehend that no decent company is competing against the horrendous tech sold by these companies.
Please leave a reply if you know of something that might match what I'm after 

Thanks, Ehtyar.

[housetier]

don't these eeePCs from Asus(tek?) have a large harddisk? maybe a different subnotebook will do and be cheaper as well...

[cthorpe]

I'm not sure exactly how much you want to spend, but the Zune 120 might be a possibility.  It's priced around $240 USD.  It has a rated battery life of approximately 30 hours, however your mileage may vary.  I have one of the old Zune 30s, and I love it.  I also pay for the Zune Pass, so I always have tons of music to access for a single monthly fee.

C

[Darwin]

I'm guessing that the Archos line is guilty of premium pricing for the screen...?

[Ehtyar]

don't these eeePCs from Asus(tek?) have a large harddisk? maybe a different subnotebook will do and be cheaper as well...

-housetier (October 28, 2008, 04:58 PM)

Not a bad idea..not ideal, but I may end having to get one regardless, thanks House Man.

I'm not sure exactly how much you want to spend, but the Zune 120 might be a possibility.  It's priced around $240 USD.  It has a rated battery life of approximately 30 hours, however your mileage may vary.  I have one of the old Zune 30s, and I love it.  I also pay for the Zune Pass, so I always have tons of music to access for a single monthly fee.

C

-cthorpe (October 28, 2008, 05:15 PM)

This is PERFECT , not quite sure how I missed it, though it may be because it's not released in my country yet. Unfortunately, I completely forgot to take into account the utterly pathetic Australian dollar at the moment. You thought $240 was bad, here that converts to somewhere around the $450 mark, while keeping in mine that two months ago we were 10c away from parity with the US dollar. Still, if the situation improves, this one will be mine. Some cody-currency to you, thanks cthorpe.

I'm guessing that the Archos line is guilty of premium pricing for the screen...?

-Darwin (October 28, 2008, 06:28 PM)

'Fraid so Darwin, thanks for the suggestion though.

Ehtyar.

[4wd]

I made my own years ago with the help of this MP3 Module - before the days when every dog and his owner had an iPud and/or flash drive sized players.

Portable - Yep, AFAIAC since it's used for camping, LAN parties, whatever.
Battery Life - Haven't flattened the car battery or the mains yet.
Song Capacity - Heaps or just choose another drive/disc.
Output - As powerful as whatever amp you plug it into.
Remote Control - You betcha, can program it to accept almost anything.

Currently equipped with a 80GB 3.5" HDD with >9900 MP3s but I'm looking to downsize to a 40GB 2.5" HDD since I'm only using about 50% of the 80GB.

Otherwise, have a browse through ChinaVision's selection of HDD enclosures - most play media files.

[Ehtyar]

I considered building my own, though the MP3 player would be for train travel, not car travel, so neither this option, nor the other I've seen would work for me. Thank you for the suggestion though.

Ehtyar.

[Darwin]

Even though the Canadian dollar has dropped like a stone, the Zune 120 is still available priced at par with the US dollar ($240 CDN.)... Have you checked on the Aussie prices?

[Ehtyar]

The Zune has not been released in Australia.

Ehtyar.

[Darwin]

The Zune has not been released in Australia.

Ehtyar.

-Ehtyar (October 28, 2008, 11:03 PM)

Ah... difficult, then to make the comparison 

[Ehtyar]

Honestly, even were it released in this country, it would not have been priced on par with the US version, regardless of the value of the Australian dollar. If I were to buy it, it would be through an American friend.
Word Man tells me the Australian Federal Reserve is buying up Australian currency, so perhaps I'll be able to buy one at a reasonable price in a decade or so

Ehtyar.

[4wd]

I considered building my own, though the MP3 player would be for train travel, not car travel, so neither this option, nor the other I've seen would work for me. Thank you for the suggestion though.

-Ehtyar (October 28, 2008, 08:23 PM)

If I may ask, which train journey would require a MP3 player with that much capacity?

[f0dder]

I considered building my own, though the MP3 player would be for train travel, not car travel, so neither this option, nor the other I've seen would work for me. Thank you for the suggestion though.

-Ehtyar (October 28, 2008, 08:23 PM)

If I may ask, which train journey would require a MP3 player with that much capacity?

-4wd (October 29, 2008, 01:32 AM)

Perhaps the idea is to have a decent music base to select from, rather than hearing the same tracks over and over - or having to transfer new music all the time?

[Target]

If I may ask, which train journey would require a MP3 player with that much capacity?

the ghan?
the indian pacific?

highlights one of the silly things about MP3 players in general though - I know storage is (relatively) cheap, but who needs to carry their entire collection (and probably then some) around with them all the time?  There is no known (portable) player that will run long enough to play it all, and even if there was, the likelihood is that you would be sick of it w a a a y before you got to the end (I often am, and FWIW my round trip commute is about 5 hours a day)  

[4wd]

I considered building my own, though the MP3 player would be for train travel, not car travel, so neither this option, nor the other I've seen would work for me. Thank you for the suggestion though.

-Ehtyar (October 28, 2008, 08:23 PM)

If I may ask, which train journey would require a MP3 player with that much capacity?

-4wd (October 29, 2008, 01:32 AM)

Perhaps the idea is to have a decent music base to select from, rather than hearing the same tracks over and over - or having to transfer new music all the time?

-f0dder (October 29, 2008, 01:43 AM)

I think I'd rather have a small player that could take SD(HC) flash cards and just swap them for variety - that's if I could be bothered becoming one of the walking dead.  You know the people walking around not paying attention to anything because they've got earphones plugged in 

Plus I could always use them in the camera in an emergency.

the ghan?
the indian pacific?

-Target (October 29, 2008, 01:48 AM)

I've been on the Trans-Siberian/Mongolian, even that had power points.  Plus the conductor would let you charge using their power points if needed.

highlights one of the silly things about MP3 players in general though - I know storage is (relatively) cheap, but who needs to carry their entire collection (and probably then some) around with them all the time?  There is no known (portable) player that will run long enough to play it all, and even if there was, the likelihood is that you would be sick of it w a a a y before you got to the end (I often am, and FWIW my round trip commute is about 5 hours a day)

Is there anything more uncomfortable than having plugs stuck in your ears all day, (headphones are bad enough)?

[f0dder]

I considered building my own, though the MP3 player would be for train travel, not car travel, so neither this option, nor the other I've seen would work for me. Thank you for the suggestion though.

-Ehtyar (October 28, 2008, 08:23 PM)

If I may ask, which train journey would require a MP3 player with that much capacity?

-4wd (October 29, 2008, 01:32 AM)

Perhaps the idea is to have a decent music base to select from, rather than hearing the same tracks over and over - or having to transfer new music all the time?

-f0dder (October 29, 2008, 01:43 AM)

I think I'd rather have a small player that could take SD(HC) flash cards and just swap them for variety - that's if I could be bothered becoming one of the walking dead.  You know the people walking around not paying attention to anything because they've got earphones plugged in 

-4wd (October 29, 2008, 02:00 AM)

"Walking Dead" is awesome - especially if you're also... illuminated and set loose upon an unsuspecting world, feeling godlike

I'm pretty fond of my 8GB sandisk flash-based Sansa e280. Mine survived lying in water for an hour or two, it's a pretty rugged little beast, and it accepts SD-Micro cards. Seems to have problems with the 8GB Kingston card I bought, though - dunno if it's a capacity, DMA, firmware or water-incident problem though, going to test the card in a friend's sansa asap.

[Ehtyar]

Perhaps the idea is to have a decent music base to select from, rather than hearing the same tracks over and over - or having to transfer new music all the time?

-f0dder (October 29, 2008, 01:43 AM)

Correct.

Ehtyar.

[katykaty]

Can you tell us what it is that makes Apple and Sony a showstopper?

That'll help us identify solutions for you.

[Ehtyar]

Sony I refuse to support ever since the Sony-BMG-rootkit debacle (so on principal basically). Apple has twice screwed over iPod users in my country and I'm not interested in being one of them.
I think for the moment at least I'll have to go without, unless I get something with a small capacity to hold me over until the Aussie dollar is worth diddly-squat again, but I'd more than welcome any alternative suggestions.

Ehtyar.