Battery Life vs Expandable Memory (Music Player)

[jeremejazz]

Hi guys, I'm choosing between two music players.
One features expandable memory while the other has battery life that
lasts up to 6 hours of playing. Based on your experience, which would you prefer to buy?


and, have you tried 3rd gen ipod clones like these?

what do you consider when buying a music player

[worstje]

Your battery-or-memory problem is impossible to answer as you have it stated right now. The real question is: how much battery on the plain model vs how many songs on the plain model?

I have an ipod with tons of memory, and I've barely added any music since getting it. Mind you, with 30,000 songs on it, I already don't listen to most of it. So, how many songs can you put on yours? If it is enough, then go battery. If you can't, then start to think about the problem. (Unless you intend to use it as a portable HD as well; mine doubles as temporary-backup-during-reinstalls, for example.)

[Darwin]

jeremejazz - it would help if you'd indicate which two devices you are considering? I have two Archos players that have fantastic battery life (both far greater than 6 hours of music playback and around 7-8 hours of video playback) and lots of memory (one is 16GB the other 32GB - because they both have microSD slots, the first now has 32GB of total storage and the second 48GB...).

It sounds, reading between the lines, that the third, unmentioned, variable is price?

[jeremejazz]

ok Mr. @Darwin, thanks for the advice.. here are the two devices I've been comparing,.. I'd link them out for you
The first one is
Melody Mp4 .. -the one with battery life
and
Symphony Player - what's special to it, that it's got and expansion slot, great for travel.. but I guess it's like the other players with standard battery life of 2.5-3 hours

Sorry if they don't look good.. i can't afford ipod yet so I just wanna try the imitations instead.. but from your answer. I might consider long life battery if it provides that much memory.. (and it's cool to have something like yours of 7-8 hours of playback)
thanks

[jeremejazz]

..given that both the players are 4GB .. --that's a lot of songs already.. and yeah, you don't listen to 30,000 songs.. I like the idea

[Carol Haynes]

My answer is to buy a decent MP3 player - I am still using my old Creative Zen Photo MP3 players (years old now). 8Gb of memory and play up to 20 hours on a single charge.

If you only get 6 hours play time it sucks so don't buy it.

[Darwin]

Agree with Carol... I also have an older Samsung mp3 player (2007 model - YPT-9) with 4GB storage and it plays for over 25 hours on a single charge and lasts, in stand-by more, forever... I get rattled trying to scroll through all the songs on it (about 3.8GB worth), though it doesn't have a large, touchscreen display - which I've found really helps on the Archoses that I own.

The two Archoses are rated at over 20 hours music playback as well. Mine are both internet tablets (A43IT - 36 hours rated music playback - and A5IT - 22 hours music playback) with flash memory. Archos has dedicated mp3 players in the $30 - $99 range that are smaller but also feature shorter battery life (8 to 15 hours from the quick search I did). Sony makes a range of well thought of mp3 players as well. Where I am, the 8GB models are often on sale for under $100 and the 16GB models for under $130.

I'm with Carol: look for the highest quality you can afford. The audio output, forget battery life, will make it worth it!

PS (added in edit): I am reasonably confident that the audio output from the iPod clones that you are considering will not be all that great...