Budget MP3 player group test
February 13, 2009 by Insider Staff
Logic would suggest that MP3-player sales must be dwindling, muscled out, like digital cameras before them, by ever more versatile and powerful mobile-phone music players. However, logic can clearly go jump in a lake, because in 2008, sales of iPods at least actually went up.
There’s now a clear split in the market, with premium-priced, feature-heavy, touchscreen-operated numbers at one end and remarkably inexpensive, ticket-pocket-sized devices at the other. Down in the bargain basement, you should still insist on excellent sound quality. To be honest, practically all MP3 players sound alright these days – it’s not like the era of tape or CD Walkman rip-offs – but some still sound better than others. Also, look out for decent quantities of storage and easy, drag-and-drop operation. It’s traditional at this point to advise you to furthermore shop around for video and FM radio options, but let’s be honest: if you tell folks you like the “distinctive” – ie: inaudible and interference-ridden – sound of FM that uses your earphones’ cable as an aerial and enjoy viewing video on a screen the size of your big toenail, they will think there’s something wrong with you. Come on – there’s nothing wrong with you. Pull yourself together!
With the exception of the Shuffle, all the players here are available at Advanced MP3 Players, the web’s home of all things pocket-sized and audio/video-playing.
Apple iPod Shuffle
If all you want to do is clip the Shuffle on, earphone up and hit the treadmill or the bus to work, with a different MP3 or AAC soundtrack every time, it’s perfect. If you want to browse through tunes to find just the right musical setting for that train journey to Rhyl, forget it. Either way, it is comfortably the best-looking player you’ll get at this price point.
Click to read the full review >>
Go to the Apple iPod Shuffle product page >>
Creative Zen Stone Plus 2GB
A more-than-credible iPod alternative, the Zen Stone is outrageously cheap, sounds great, feels robust enough for gym-pounders and has a few extra features as a kind of icing on top of the tiny-budget-MP3-player cake. Particularly if you’re not an iTunes user, it’s the obvious choice for the cash-strapped customer.
Click to read the full review >>
Go to the Creative Zen Stone Plus 2GB product page >>
Sumvision Ice 1000 8GB
The iPod Touch won’t exactly be looking over its shoulder in fear of this device. We salute Sumvision for fitting in so much for so little, but if you’ve got any taste and discernment whatsoever, you’ll give this a wide berth. The Sandisk Sansa has a few quirks, but it handles video better than this, sounds a lot better and doesn’t have an interface that could drive a monk to drink.
Click to read the full review >>
Go to the Creative Zen Stone Plus 2GB product page >>
Nu Dolphin 1GB
This is an easy product to review. If you simply must have music as you glide through the chlorinated water of your local pool, there’s nothing better than the Nu Dolphin. If you’re not a swimmer, or can happily breaststroke without the accompaniment of the Goombay Dance Band, avoid it like you would a verruca.
Click to read the full review >>
Go to the Nu Dolphin 1GB product page >>
PriceRunner recommended
Sandisk Sansa Fuze
For PC users, this is a top-notch, great-sounding, easy-to-use device for its piffling cost. Mac fans may well like the sound quality, but they won’t like its incompatibility with AAC files, the relative lack of slickness of its interface compared to an iPod, and the lack of a video conversion programme for their machine. On the other hand, given what a pain in the ass said video conversion is, maybe that last one’s not such a bad thing.
Click to read the full review >>
Go to the Sandisk Sansa Fuze product page >>
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