Which USB mp3 player to purchase?

[Will H. Backman]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: ubuntu-users-bounces at lists.ubuntu.com [mailto:ubuntu-users-
> bounces at lists.ubuntu.com] On Behalf Of Lee Colleton
> Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2005 12:58 PM
> To: Ubuntu Help and User Discussions
> Subject: Re: Which USB mp3 player to purchase?
> 
> On 11/29/05, Ron Bellomo <cyberbear at plateautel.net> wrote:
> > Alligator wrote:
> >
> > >A dilemma, I bought a LG - Ubuntu would not recognize it. Next a
Sony
> > >walkman network, it works up to the point of pressing play "No
Data",
> so
> > >Sony decodes mp3. What should I purchase that works?  I want a
small
> > >device not an iPod, something around 512M. Tell me what works for
you!
> > >Ron
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > I have been using a small Lexar Jump Drive that has an MP3 player
built
> > in. It is only a 128MB capacity player but holds enough songs for a
one
> > hour run/jogging workout. the Lexar works with Windows 2000/XP
without
> > any drivers. It works seamlessly in Linux, too. Just plug it in, add
or
> > delete files, and go!
> >
> > There may be higher capacity units available now.
> >
> > I have an iPod but only use it for listening while walking on lunch
> > breaks. I found out the hard way that using a hard drive based
player
> > for anything that causes moderate jostling can cause the drive to
fail
> > prematurely.
> >
> 
> I agree that running or jostling and hard drives don't mix.  I had a
> Rio Karma which would crash now and then perhaps because of physical
> impacts.  It also couldn't connect with Ubuntu over USB, so I ran
> Windows in VMware just to manage the music on it.  Expensive and
> inelegant.
> 
> I'm really happy with the iRiver flash player 800 series that I
> currently use.  They have a range of capacities from 128MiB to 1GiB,
> FM tuners and voice recorders.  The players encode mp3 files directly
> but can playback Ogg Vorbis files which makes them compatible with
> Ubuntu from a software patent perspective.
> 
> There is a command line app for loading files called ifp which works
> really well and can integrate with the midnight commander file
> manager.  A GUI system was developed as a frontend for ifp but it
> drops uploaded files in the root directory of the device, which is a
> little messy because you can't refile them from inside the device.
> 
> Flash players that have built in USB plugs are probably your best bet
> for ease of file management, but I carry a separate USB key for that.
> My cabled iRiver works fine for me.
> --
> Lee Colleton <lee at colleton.net>

I have an iRiver with the USB Mass Storage firmware installed so it acts
just like a USB drive, no need for special software to copy songs to it.
I also have a creative MuVo, which is a USB thumb drive with mp3 playing
and tuner.  Both are great, although with the MuVo, you don't need to
remember a USB cable.