[vox] Linux-compatible MP3 player recommendations wanted!

[David Hummel]

Hi Bill,

On Tue, May 31, 2005 at 01:53:27PM -0700, Bill Kendrick wrote:
> 
> These days, the kind of MP3 player I'd want for Linux would probably
> just be a USB 'mass storage' device, and/or use a standard memory
> card, like Compact Flash (CF) or Secure Digital (SD).  (I have a
> reader for the former, which I currently use to get photos out of my
> camera, and transfer files quickly to/from my Zaurus.)
>
> Has anyone out here got recommendations for such a beast?

I assume from this that you would prefer a flash player, as opposed to a
"jukebox" hard drive player.  Either way I'd recommend one of the iRiver
players.  I think they're all USB mass storage devices, and more
importantly, many of them play Ogg Vorbis files.  The sound quality is
also the best I've heard from any portable MP3 player.

  http://iriveramerica.com/prod/ultra/

I used to have a Creative MuVo 256MB flash player, but there was some
extreme flakiness when trying to mount the player on different systems
(Linux, Mac OS X, Windows 2000).  Moving from one system to another
would often results in all the files being erased.  Perhaps some whacky
copy protection in the firmware.  I'm not sure this particular model
was really a true USB mass storage device, and I suspect buggy firmware,
which, unlike the iRiver players, required a Windows program to upgrade
it.

> Would an Apple iPod be usable without lots of crazy configuration and
> trickery?  (I have a feeling they're way more expensive than they're
> worth :^) )

If you care about interoperability and sound quality, and you can live
without the groovy interface, I would advise against an iPod.  Despite
everone and their dog having one, the sound quality is inferior to
other brands of music players on the market.

-David
(who is waiting for the day when he can carry around his entire
collection as FLAC-encoded files on a device the size of the iPod mini,
and the battery will last for a month)