MP3 players!

[dream]

looking to get an mp3 player. ideally a modern one so battery life is good and it has quality of life features. but also ideally it would be simple with retro appeal, cheap, quality. any recs?

[AnIzzi0t]

the mp3 player I own looks more like a mini cell phone, but it functions the same! I got it in either 2021 or 2020, so i'd say its modern. despite that, it's VERY glitchy. sometime in 2022 I decorated it with a ton of TMNT stickers...

it might be Sony? I scraped off the logo a LONG while ago

..yeah that looks close enough

[fablefound]

honestly, with how bleak streaming is looking, going back to mp3s has been more tempting than ever... a lot of people i know are taking stuff off spotify and apple music due to their latest Evil Corporation Moves, and all the other streaming services i've tried (qobuz, tidal, etc) have completely failed at having libraries that include small artists, or anyone not american.
i don't know if i'd be able to find/mod a whole mp3 player that meets my various needs (small/portable, bluetooth, big storage, preferably customizable on the aesthetic front)... but i know there are some apps that could be a sort of meeting halfway. i'm very intentional with how i curate my listening and i'm getting mighty tired of spotify and all the others trying to algo me.

[candycanearter07]

I've been looking for a good mp3 player for the holidays, mainly one that handles podcasts/marking as read, one that has an open/hackable firmware, and probably more than a day of battery. any ideas

[cinnamuff]

Heya! I think the Fiio X1 might be good- currently it's the best mp3 player I've used during my years of using them. It is a little pricey since I've seen most listings go for over $100 USD and the one I managed to snatch went for about $80 USD when I bought it a couple years ago. The model is from 2015 but I believe there's a gen 2 model that's slightly newer?? Also it doesn't have any touch screens- the scroll wheel is akin to the tactical wheel of an older ipod (which is my favourite thing hahaha).

[Bede]

I very recently got myself a Innioasis Y1, and I'm a huge fan! It's on the cheaper side (buying it from the official site is usually $69.99, but it's on sale right now for $49.99), and a full charge yields around 25-35 hours of battery life. (In my experience, it's lasted over 40 hours per full charge many times!) It comes with 128 GB of storage, and you can upgrade that further with SD cards.

In terms of aesthetics, it's pretty clearly inspired by the iPod Classic, and uses its familiar controls. It has a community that makes custom themes, can use Rockbox, and, in my experience, it's pretty easy to customize for yourself, too!

(If anyone in this thread is looking to convert their music collection to MP3s, by the way, I recommend doubledouble.top, which rips from multiple popular music services! For fellow nerds, I also recommend KHinsider, where you can download video game OSTs that may not be available on official streaming services.)

[MushroomMoss]

Omg mp3 player shoutout! Love them! I used to have an old Sony one but it got put in the wash when I forgot it in my pants pocket...
I have a new one tho, some china one from Amazon. But it's sturdy and works perfectly fine, been with me for a few years now. I'm almost to 1900 songs on it. I also put a microSD card in it, so it houses downloaded movies, podcasts and books as well as music :). It's like my little treasure trove of content.

[ValyceNegative]

I was obsessed with MP3 players during their golden era: I was an highschool kid when they became the norm, there wasn't a single moment in my waking day in which I didn't have headphones on. XD

Sad to say I stopped using my beloved Creative Vision M when I realized I could listen to Youtube on the phone and got progressively lazier on loading and categorizing songs on my drive... but things might change again now that the aforementioned site is more akin to an advertisings machine rather than a music one. I was even thinking of going back one step further and revamp my USB MP3 player or get a brand new one, I've seen they're available online. Hoping they are of decent quality frankly!

[ValyceNegative]

For reference: this is my baby <3

Same colour, of course, 'cause I'm obsessed with green.
Obviously I'd never dare to toss it away, it's a big part of my adolescence and the sight alone brings so many memories of past events, people and emotions. It survived a battery swap (these things weren't made to replace batteries... but I did it anyway) and so many trips all over the country, but I might have misplaced its unique adapter cable and software CD over the years, coupled with the fact that now that time has passed, I don't feel that confident in charging the battery I put many years ago. So that's why if I would get back to MP3s, I'd keep this one as keepsake and utilize one of those simpler USB sticks instead.

[echogecko]

ahh i wish. My parents had an ipod nano that i used for a little bit a few years ago, but it is literally bent and the battery is super stuffed. but i liked having it, and it could record videos :P. im tryna transition into not using spotify anymore. i wanna get an newish ipod for my birthday or something so i can use that when i go out instead of spotify.

ive already put like 60% of my 62 hour playlist onto a usb drive!

[rolypolyphonic]

I'm reminded of an old player I have unfortunately since lost, the Creative MuVo Nomad:

I wouldn't recommend it at all for its small capacity of only 128MB (and it isn't easy to find anymore anyway) but I do regret losing it if only for nostalgia. It's a cute little nugget and I'd get a new one if I could.
Nowadays I just download MP3s and listen on a phone. Never really felt the appeal of streaming.

[HABITRABBITS]

i do and i love it so much man

i am the 20 billionth modded ipod user, running rockbox (with future plans to slap in an iflash board and maybe a purple click wheel for that tasty contrast), but it's been a great breath of fresh air since i finally ditched spotify. i love my little music brick and how nice it is for something literally as old as i am :)

for my mp3s and actually adding metadata or loading them to the ipod, i do it the old way: file explorer and windows media player. i know there's much better options out there but i'm just used to it. most stuff will be burned onto a CD eventually as well, if it wasn't already ripped from one.