Most Reliable Brand of Mp3 Player?

[mamamia88]

Well i've just had my second sansa mp3 player brick and looking to sell it and get something different when I get my replacement. I don't really want anything that needs propietary software to work properly like a ipod or zune. i don't want to risk apple releasing a software update for the touch that makes it useless on ubuntu. want to get an 8gb+ mp3 player with great battery life and good ui. I would prefer the music to not have to be tagged to show up properly so that i can just drag and drop music onto the device. what would you get?

[Crunchy the Headcrab]

What were you doing when your device bricked? Why would you sell a broken device? I'm just curious because I have never had problems with sansa devices and neither have 3 other people I know that have owned them.

I've heard good things about Archos players.

[mamamia88]

i'm having it repaired then i'm gonna sell the unit i get back. the headphone jack is broken on the current fuze. on my old one i added some music too it and it just never got past refreshing database. i went ahead and formatted it and upgraded firmware and still won't work. i really don't want to get another sansa.

[Simian Man]

I have been happy with Sony Walkman's. I used one for around six years and it survived several drops and so on. I only replaced it because the storage was quite small. My new Walkman is doing fine as well and works great with Banshee too.

[aysiu]

Well, I've had two Sandisk players that lasted me years and one Cowon player that didn't last very long (http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntucat/goodbye-cowon-hello-again-sandisk/). I'd recommend Sandisk, except you apparently had a bad experience with Sandisk already.

[Redo]

I love my Cowon

[ve4cib]

I love my Cowon

Agreed. I've had a Cowon X5 for... four or five years now, and it's still working properly. It's been shaken around in pockets with keys, used in temperatures ranging from -30 to +30, partially submerged, and dropped onto concrete from wait-height.

The only serious maintenance that's been done to it are:

- replacing the battery (under warranty; it's a soldered-in battery, but it's easy enough to replace on your own if you've got a soldering iron and a replacement part)

- re-solder the headphone connector once after repeatedly catching a very long, straight jack on my pocket. (Headphones with L-shaped jacks are so much better... stupid Apple convinving the world that straight jacks are trendy and cool)

[RiceMonster]

I love my Cowon

Also agreed. I've got a Cowon D2 (about a year and half old). No software required, and it supports flac and ogg. I've also dropped it a few times and it hasn't done any damage to it at all.

[TheNessus]

Well i've just had my second sansa mp3 player brick and looking to sell it and get something different when I get my replacement. I don't really want anything that needs propietary software to work properly like a ipod or zune. i don't want to risk apple releasing a software update for the touch that makes it useless on ubuntu. want to get an 8gb+ mp3 player with great battery life and good ui. I would prefer the music to not have to be tagged to show up properly so that i can just drag and drop music onto the device. what would you get?

I have an iPod Nano v4. It suits your demands just fine. 8GB and long bat life.

It can be easily hacked and replace its OS into something that is just drag and drop, but you can sync it with Songbird instead of iTunes if you don't want to hack it.

[AllRadioisDead]

Honestly, I have about 25GB's of music and besides ipod's or zune's. I was unable to find a suitable replacement for my collection. Good luck OP.
If it wasn't for my android phone, I'd probably be in your situation.

[Chronon]

I have an iPod Nano v4. It suits your demands just fine. 8GB and long bat life.

It can be easily hacked and replace its OS into something that is just drag and drop, but you can sync it with Songbird instead of iTunes if you don't want to hack it.

Which hack are you talking about?

I have found Toshiba Gigabeats to be pretty reliable.

[DaveHi]

My little Samsung YP-U1 has proven to be a excellent buy, surviving all sorts of misuse and still performing above and beyond it's price.
For quality I also have a Cowon S9 which besides having superb audio qualities has also proven to be very reliable over the last two years. A little quirky but reliable!
Recommend either and so suggest looking at their manufacturers to see if they have a model for you.
Let us know which direction you choose to go.