A good MP3 player for Ubuntu?

[SZF2001]

Now, I have written a guide (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=312196) for the Sansa e200 player (http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/B000ETVKHE/ref=s9_asin_image_3-hf_favarpcbss_2238_p/002-0968395-0942410?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=13W2QSPXRX9GBN9S5580&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=279667501&pf_rd_i=507846) series (end shameless plug), but I feel like it might be time to move onto a bigger sized MP3 player.

There is this Creative Zen 30 Gig MP3/Video player (http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Zen-Vision-Video-Player/dp/B000CS7U1C/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-0968395-0942410?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1175926078&sr=1-1) which I am really considering, but there is a slight setback - it uses the MTC library set up vs. the MSC library setup which most flash players (like my Sansa) use. Ubuntu just recodnizes the Sansa player as a flash drive, while this one would be a little more... I dunno. Can Linux even use the MTC library? And hopefully I'm calling it the right thing, MTC...

Anyway. Maybe there is some sort of 30 Gig flash based player? Or... I dunno, any of you guys have any ideas?

[igknighted]

Now, I have written a guide (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=312196) for the Sansa e200 player (http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/B000ETVKHE/ref=s9_asin_image_3-hf_favarpcbss_2238_p/002-0968395-0942410?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=13W2QSPXRX9GBN9S5580&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=279667501&pf_rd_i=507846) series (end shameless plug), but I feel like it might be time to move onto a bigger sized MP3 player.

There is this Creative Zen 30 Gig MP3/Video player (http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Zen-Vision-Video-Player/dp/B000CS7U1C/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-0968395-0942410?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1175926078&sr=1-1) which I am really considering, but there is a slight setback - it uses the MTC library set up vs. the MSC library setup which most flash players (like my Sansa) use. Ubuntu just recodnizes the Sansa player as a flash drive, while this one would be a little more... I dunno. Can Linux even use the MTC library? And hopefully I'm calling it the right thing, MTC...

Anyway. Maybe there is some sort of 30 Gig flash based player? Or... I dunno, any of you guys have any ideas?

You can get flash players up to 8gb (maybe more, but thats the highest ive seen)... I find that the iPod nano's work really well with Ubuntu and tend to run cheaper than their alternatives. Also, for the larger HD players, I know its MS (and I have absolutely no idea if it works at all with linux) but the Zune really catches my eye. The iPods are also good. Both are plumeting in price and you can pick either up for around $200 USD.

I would really look and try to get a player that handles OGG, but if you can't find them one of the mainstream ones is likely your best bet (note: if you can buy them a generation old the price is way less...), due to more demand, which leads to better support. I don't think many players are better supported on linux than the ipod, because everyone has them there is so much work going on to support them better.

EDIT: Did some browsing... this baby is a bit more expensive than you were looking at (300 USD) but has a sweet video playback screen and does ogg... also got great reviews... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16855603835

[TravisNewman]

I have a creative zen nomad that works well with the gnomad program or neutrino.

iPod's work well with gtkpod.

[maniacmusician]

You can get flash players up to 8gb (maybe more, but thats the highest ive seen)... I find that the iPod nano's work really well with Ubuntu and tend to run cheaper than their alternatives. Also, for the larger HD players, I know its MS (and I have absolutely no idea if it works at all with linux) but the Zune really catches my eye. The iPods are also good. Both are plumeting in price and you can pick either up for around $200 USD..

ugh, the Zune is pretty horrible if you take a closer look at it.


I'd recommend something from Cowon. Their iAudio X5 is pretty good...I wish I had one myself. Anyways, check their full line of products; http://www.cowonamerica.com/products/

[eXcentra]

I second the iAudio X5/X5L recommendation. I considered getting one because it's just drag and drop to upload; it also supports ogg and flac out of the box, which I think is neat.

There's also the audio players that rockbox (http://rockbox.rog) supports.

[SuperMike]

ugh, the Zune is pretty horrible if you take a closer look at it.


I'd recommend something from Cowon. Their iAudio X5 is pretty good...I wish I had one myself. Anyways, check their full line of products; http://www.cowonamerica.com/products/

Does a Cowon mount okay on Ubuntu like a USB hard drive? Is it DRM-code free?

I've been interested in the iAudio-T2 for my son.

[daynah]

I also have a Zen Nomad. Specifically, I have a Zen Nomad Jukebox, Zen Nomad Jukebox Xtra, and my dad has a Zen Nano. The first two are no longer supported by Creative (they're OLD folks), and the Nano is about to reach it's end of cycle, so though it's GREAT (it's like a ipod shuffle with a screen) I don't recommend getting something about to be thrown out by Creative. :)

All of the creative products (I believe) can use gnomad2, which is in the repos. I've also used Amarok. But Amarok, you can't select all your music at once (or I haven't found a way), you have to transfer by album, so for very big transfers (like if you got a new harddrive), you'll want to have gnomad2. Gnomad2 is very, very ugly, so you'll like Amarok for when you feel like being pretty. I dunno, I'm a girl, I feel like being pretty sometimes. :P

Last I read, the Zen:Vision (the latest line of Creative) is supposed to be Windows-Only. DO NOT BE MAD! This is Creative's misguided attempt at becoming an iPod killer. Just write them a letter to let them know that they're missing out on many, many linux lovers who hate super-propritary apple by not supporting linux. Creative is good with Linux with every other products, they just threw out the baby with the bathwater in this one. :(

What's missing is the transfer of the movies. You'll be able to do the mp3s, and something else. I don't really know, all mine has is mp3s on it (actually my mp3 player it's really just an external hard drive with a screen... MWAHAHA!). But there's a lib file in development to fix this! If you can wait, or if you dual boot windows already....

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=199250

In short, I'm a Creative guppie. I'm more of a creative guppie than anything else. I spent $20 more on a webcam (a webcam?! creative is famous for MUSIC not video!) just because it said "creative" on it. I'm like one of those Abercrombie people, except with Creative. But with good reason!

You WILL get better sound quality with a creative than with an iPod, and probably with most other mp3 players. Creative is known for it's sound quality. To harness this, grab a pair of Shure E2Cs (I say that like they're just $20 or something), but even with the out of the box speakers, you'll notice this when listening back to back.

Creative rox my sox off!1! :)

Good luck with whatever mp3 player you get, I hope you enjoy it. Remember to think about your head phones and how you're going to hook it up to your car. :)

[slimdog360]

I hate how a lot of players have the proprietary USB connections, someone should tell them that the U in USB stands for Universal. What happens if I loose the cable, or it gets damaged, or Im at someone else's place and want to use it there. I don't want to be lugging around a 2' cable everywhere.

[%hMa@?b<C]

DIY, build a make daisy
makezine.com/daisy

[daynah]

I hate how a lot of players have the proprietary USB connections, someone should tell them that the U in USB stands for Universal. What happens if I loose the cable, or it gets damaged, or Im at someone else's place and want to use it there. I don't want to be lugging around a 2' cable everywhere.

All of my creatives have used a USB to Mini-USB cable, which the majority of my friends have. My camera though, came with one extremely similar looking but a little bit smaller, so check before you buy a spare.

So just see what kinda cord it comes with. :) It may come with a very common cord. I keep an extra USB to Mini-USB in my car, laptop bag, or purse just for stealing people's music (I don't download, I take off others computers, perfectly legal). The other stays at home.

Oh! And to store them, I keep them folded in the same way they were (ends up about four inches long) and I wrap them with a colored hair elastic (maybe a guy'll get a colored rubber band). Then when you get a big pile of cords in a cord box, they'll be wrapped up and color coded. White for your ipod? red for your red phone? if something has a propritary cord, like a pda, then give that one of the colors you can't think of where to apply.

[slimdog360]

Oh, I meant like this http://g-ec2.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/9c/5d/f6491363ada0cd49fddad010.L.jpg
Only sandisk can sell the cables (unless others pay them to produce the cables), hence they cost more and are harder to find. Same deal with the ipod, but because its more popular the expence and availability isn't as bad. I dont mind the smaller usb connectors like your talking about.
Either way, I still dont like carrying cables.

[maniacmusician]

While creative is okay, I still prefer Cowon. There's a few bad things about creative;


- They seem to cycle through their products fast enough that even the Zen:Vision will be eclipsed by something newer soon

- They have just okay Linux support, not great. They use the MTP PlaysForSure thing that Microsoft came up with, and we have to use ugly tools like Gnomad2 to use it. Even that doesn't provide full functionality

- In my personal experience, they don't have the greatest customer service.

Cowon on the other hand, allows for drag&drop right onto the player, and is generally Linux compatible. Use it with any file manager you want, or with your favorite media player. Their player is also pretty good looking. The X5's screen is a little small, but not significantly. Nice battery life. All in all, I would recommend this over Creative.

By the way, this is coming from experience, after owning a creative player. I'm not too fond of it. Transferring songs from my computer was such a pain that after the initial 30GB transfer, I just didn't bother doing it anymore. I don't even use the mp3 player much anymore, except to do some meditation excercises with.

[konungursvia]

A related Q: with my 4 GB ipod nano, gtkpod finds mismatched checksums, then does some sort of matching attempt. Perhaps unrelated, but maybe not, it doesn't let me actually save songs on the pod, except as an external USB drive, in the wrong directory, and if I want more songs on the thing, I have to boot xp and use MS. Is there a known issue I can quickly fix?