Best mp3 player for travel

breadmonkey

A friend of mine is off travelling the world in a week or so. He rang me today asking what would be the best mp3 player for him considering:

1)He doesn't mind how bulky it is.
2)It must have a long battery life.
3)Must be robust.
4)He doesn't want an ipod.
5)He'd like to make playlists on the go since he won't have access to a computer.

I own a Zen Touch 20GB which has a very long battery life and is very robust (I've dropped mine a good few times and it's still grand). You can't, however, make playlists on the go.

Any suggestions/opinions welcome.

TempestSabre

I'd get something that takes AA's. I'd go with a CD portable that plays MP3's. Some of them have massive battery life. MP3 players, especially HDD units are not all that robust. Make a copy of your CD's. Also means if you hear something you like on the way, you can buy it can play it.

Oriel

Creative Zen Sleek.

aaf

Check out the iRiver or iPod thread

Nala

A CD player would be madness-if he's going travelling he's not gonna want to bring a load of CDs.

Sangre

Iriver with rockbox software

Selik

Sangre wrote:

Iriver with rockbox software

I'll second this!

Been travelling the world since April and my trusty Iriver 140 has been with me all the way, working as well as ever!

cormie

iRiver with RockBox, you'll be looking for the H1XX series, 16hr battery life, totally plug and play, on the fly playlists, remote etc. One problem, these have been discontinued and are probably only available on the likes of Ebay or maybe on a website. The question is, will it be delivered on time.

If he has the money, he could go for the iAudio X5L, meets 1-5 but is quite expensive compared to the H1XX in terms of an MP3 player.

TempestSabre

Nala wrote:

A CD player would be madness-if he's going travelling he's not gonna want to bring a load of CDs.

Yes thats what you do with a MP3/CD player. Bring all the orginal CD's with you . :rolleyes: Its a cheap low cost option. CD players are so cheap whos going to rob you for it. Whereas with an expensive HDD MP3 player.... Theres other advantages aswell. its a lot lighter than a HDD if you are backpacking. But it doesn't have playlists. So its out on that anyway.

Giles, how are you managing keeping the iRiver charged? and why are you on the forum. You'd think you'd have more interesting things to do I expect theres web cafes every where these days.

Selik

TempestSabre wrote:

Giles, how are you managing keeping the iRiver charged? and why are you on the forum. You'd think you'd have more interesting things to do I expect theres web cafes every where these days.

Er, I charge it wherever I am staying ie right now at my hostel in Melbourne! There always a way my friend! Oh and the battery life is very good (+ 10-14hrs depending on the bit-rate of the tunes I'm listening to amongst other factors...)

And yes.... I do have better things to be doing that surfing the net but I'm looking for work and rented accomodation right now so the net comes in handy for that!

Bakha

Have you heard of the new sony NW 3000? I think that one matches totally what your friend wants, so give it a try. Go to http://www.sony.co.uk/view/ShowProductCategory.action?site=odw_en_GB&category=Audio:D

breadmonkey wrote:

A friend of mine is off travelling the world in a week or so. He rang me today asking what would be the best mp3 player for him considering:

1)He doesn't mind how bulky it is.
2)It must have a long battery life.
3)Must be robust.
4)He doesn't want an ipod.
5)He'd like to make playlists on the go since he won't have access to a computer.

I own a Zen Touch 20GB which has a very long battery life and is very robust (I've dropped mine a good few times and it's still grand). You can't, however, make playlists on the go.

Any suggestions/opinions welcome.