Tis the season, MP3 Player recommendation (UK)

[purdy hate machine]

Hi all. I want to buy my hubby a nice MP3 player for Christmas. Can anyone recommend a Linux friendly device easily available in the UK? Not an IPod.
It will be used mainly while working out and running so it will need to be jog/skip resistant. Easy music transfer is a must have, capacity around 4Gb.
Thanks, phm

[toupeiro]

I use a Zen: Vision M in 7.10 without a hitch. That being said, I don't use it for video, nor have I tried. The smaller sized ones use the same transfer protocol / fs I believe, and Amarok can hook into it. There is also a open source app for the Creative MP3 players based on the Nomad, but I can confirm that works with the Zen too.

[Rhubarb]

Have a look at this one from Cowon, 4 / 8GB, works with linux fine:
http://www.cowonglobal.com/product/product_i7_feature.php

[nalinde]

As Rhubarb mentions cowon is a great company to look at if you want your mp3 player to work without hustle in Linux and mac. And their products... wow :).
Well personally i own an old Iriver hdd mp3player and i think they have the same policy as cowon when it comes to supporting real OS:es. I've heard that Irivers Clix2 is really sexy :)

Good luck...

[purdy hate machine]

The cowon devices look promising. I’ll check out their availability in the uk.

[keithcleaver]

Similar to above, what's available with OGG support?

[Bluecube]

You say no iPod but iPods IMHO are the best MP3 players you can get despite the limited file formats they support. Bung on Amarok and you're sorted for file synching.

[alwiap]

You say no iPod but iPods IMHO are the best MP3 players you can get despite the limited file formats they support. Bung on Amarok and you're sorted for file synching.

I won a free video iPod (30 GB) so I was forced to use it I guess, and I really have had no problem at any time with Amarok / gtkpod to customize it.

[uwishurockedthishxc]

sansa? are they in the uk?

[Rhubarb]

Similar to above, what's available with OGG support?

Cowon iAudio 7 supports: "MP3, OGG, WMA, ASF, FLAC, WAV, MPEG4(video) playback"

Many iRiver players also support OGG (I have the iriver S10, works fine with OGG Q10)

The Sandisk Sansa players do not support OGG playback.

I would advise you not to get an ipod on grounds of big problems people have been having with the latest ipods with linux, and poor audio codec support (AAC and mp3 only), poor features (no radio, no microphone, no mass storage device in some cases), expensive compared to similar capacity mp3 players from different companies, and big support for DRM (which is what you don't want to be supporting).

[purdy hate machine]

sansa? are they in the uk?

I have heard some good things about Sansa but looking at their website I see a lot of their devices require Win XP min, are Sansa MTP devices?

[easyease]

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/125181 these are great, i got one and they are ace. this review says it all
"I bought this to replace a 1gig MP3 player which my wife had jogged to bits at the gym. It was £23 with the Google discount and for a 4gig player that is an astounding price. No issues with folders, just drap and drop, sound quality is very good with the supplied headphones which have quality chromed parts and connectors. Radio reception is excellent, I live 10 miles from a mast and a nice addition.

My daughter rattles on about buying an Ipod, I asked to her check the prices, her answer was 'If I get the Ebuyer one can I have the £100 that you would have spent extra buying me an Ipod", she's still waiting........

Buy it, you will not be disappointed."

as well as having fm radio to listen to you can also record the radio to its memory or use the built in mic to record notes, oh and it does handle ogg files even though the ebuyer description doesnt mention it.

[happy-and-lost]

I have heard some good things about Sansa but looking at their website I see a lot of their devices require Win XP min, are Sansa MTP devices?

I have a Sansa e200 series and love it to bits. It's fully Linux compatible, as it has a UMD USB mode. I put Rockbox on mine, so it plays almost every audio codec under the sun (including OGG, WMA, FLAC, M4A, etc). And... Rockbox has built-in Frozen Bubble :D

[keithcleaver]

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/125181 these are great, i got one and they are ace. this review says it all
"I bought this to replace a 1gig MP3 player which my wife had jogged to bits at the gym. It was £23 with the Google discount and for a 4gig player that is an astounding price. No issues with folders, just drap and drop, sound quality is very good with the supplied headphones which have quality chromed parts and connectors. Radio reception is excellent, I live 10 miles from a mast and a nice addition.

My daughter rattles on about buying an Ipod, I asked to her check the prices, her answer was 'If I get the Ebuyer one can I have the £100 that you would have spent extra buying me an Ipod", she's still waiting........

Buy it, you will not be disappointed."

as well as having fm radio to listen to you can also record the radio to its memory or use the built in mic to record notes, oh and it does handle ogg files even though the ebuyer description doesnt mention it.

This is great. It looks very similar to the 512MB I own currently. How quick was the delivery?

[bobbocanfly]

I would seriously think about the Sansa e200 Series. I got an e280 (8gb model) for £80 GBP on Amazon.co.uk on the recommendation of some of the folks here. It is basically what the iPod Nano should have been and fixes all the problems it has (Except for ogg playback by default, but who seriously doesnt replace the firmware with Rockbox?). The batteries are replacable, movies by default (if you are into that sort of thing). Insanely good quality for the price. It fits all your requirements :

1 - As far as i can tell its pretty jog resistant and very solid so unlikely to break if dropped, but its still incredibly compact

2 - it has a 4gig model (Sansa e240?)

3 - Very Linux friendly (no problems here, provided not using MTP mode obviously)

4 - Music transfer is simply copy and paste. Couldnt be easier.

if you dont want a Sansa, look into Cowon as they are really Linux friendly, but avoid Apple like the plague.


This is great. It looks very similar to the 512MB I own currently. How quick was the delivery?

I bought a case fan with eBuyer the other week using the cheapest delivery possible, came within 4 working days.

[daynah]

I have a very old creative that supports ogg and a medium age creative that supports ogg, so I'm going to guess the Creative Vision (which I desperately want) supports ogg.

I REALLY suggest creative. Sound BLASTA!

[easyease]

This is great. It looks very similar to the 512MB I own currently. How quick was the delivery?ebuyer re really fast turning stuff out, the longest time a delivery takes is 5 working days but you can pay a bit to have next day delivery if urgent.
the parcels come by citylink so you dont have to worry about the royal mail, lol

[easyease]

oh and by 5 working days i mean for example i ordered a new camera on monday and its going to be delivered on friday because i took the free delivery option as i spent over 50 pounds.

[ajifans]

Another recommendation for Cowon, they are platform independent and regularly come up trumps in Which magazine reports.

I bought by Cowon D2 in the UK.