best MP3 player

8ofSpades

Hello all

I'm new to running (6 months) or so and try to get out for an hour every other day, longer on the weekends. I find I run better when my mind is elsewhere. Any time I'm thinking about running I start feeling all the aches and pains but when my mind drifts off I find i can cover the miles and not feel a thing.

So to aid my training and mind drift I was wondering what the most runner friendly MP3 players are.

It probably depends a lot on price range as well but I'm just wondering what peoples preferences are

Also are the best earphones the ones you can loop around your ears or are headphones better

Just wondering what other runners/athletes thoughts are?



P.S Also for anyone with an interest in football and sport in general I'd reccommend the newstalk off the ball podcasts, thats what I intened listening to, and a bit of music for variety occasionally

Krusty_Clown

I had a Sansa Scala Clip - 8Gb with FM radio, cost me around 60 euro.
Worked really well, until the rain killed it. I think I'll buy another one, but carry a light plastic bag with me, just in case of rain.
iPod shuffle is cool too, but has no radio.

On the head-phones front, everyone is different, but for me it's the ear-hanger jobbies.

osnola ibax

Sony have a new mp3 player out with the mp3 part on the actual headphones, so wire free. I think they are specifically made for active types but youvwould really need to check them out before committing.

I bought a set of Sony active headphones with a thingy that goes around the ears and around the back of the neck. It works fairly well but still the ear buds sometimes come out of the ear, not as bad as any other set I've ever tried though. They say you can't go wrong with the seinheisser running range, but I haven't used them so can't comment.

In terms of an mp3 player, it's iPod nano all the way for me. So light, screen, plenty of gigs. The screen sets it apart from shuffle options for me.

Sosa

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

I had a Sansa Scala Clip - 8Gb with FM radio, cost me around 60 euro.
Worked really well, until the rain killed it. I think I'll buy another one, but carry a light plastic bag with me, just in case of rain.
iPod shuffle is cool too, but has no radio.

I was thinking of getting one of those Krusty,i have an ipod nano but would love a good radio for a change.
I think they have them in xtravision for €50

In-ear headphones are the only job

Krusty_Clown

Sosa wrote: »

I was thinking of getting one of those Krusty,i have an ipod nano but would love a good radio for a change.
I think they have them in xtravision for €50

Yep, that's where I picked up mine (60 euro). No drivers required, and handy drag and drop of music files, podcasts etc, without the need of iTunes. Doesn't have RDS, but it's very easy to tune etc.

Sosa

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Yep, that's where I picked up mine (60 euro). No drivers required, and handy drag and drop of music files, podcasts etc, without the need of iTunes. Doesn't have RDS, but it's very easy to tune etc.

Is the radio good on it ?
Thats the only reason that i would buy it....or is there a something else out there with just the radio on it that would be cheaper as i already have the nano ?

seanie500

Have these Sennheiser headphones top quality will pay roughly £25 no more headphones falling out and sound is very good.

Also have the Sansa MP3 player small with a handy clip so you can attach to shorts radio also reception isnt as good as a noirmal radio but is decent all the same

http://www.sennheiser.com/sennheiser/home_en.nsf/root/private_headphones_sport-line-PMX-80?Open&path=private_headphones_sport-line

Sosa

seanie500 wrote: »

Have these Sennheiser headphones top quality will pay roughly £25 no more headphones falling out and sound is very good.

Also have the Sansa MP3 player small with a handy clip so you can attach to shorts radio also reception isnt as good as a noirmal radio but is decent all the same

http://www.sennheiser.com/sennheiser/home_en.nsf/root/private_headphones_sport-line-PMX-80?Open&path=private_headphones_sport-line

A bit dissapointed to hear of the radio quality on the sansa....

Does anybody reccomend a good small radio suitable for running ?

Woddle

Sosa wrote: »

A bit dissapointed to hear of the radio quality on the sansa....

Does anybody reccomend a good small radio suitable for running ?

Hi Sosa I've had this for years, it's radio only, easy to hold in your hand, you don't even notice you have it and you can change the stations with your thumb with ease
Sony

Sosa

Woddle wrote: »

Hi Sosa I've had this for years, it's radio only, easy to hold in your hand, you don't even notice you have it and you can change the stations with your thumb with ease
Sony

Exactly what i am looking for,thanks woddle.

Just purchased on ebay for €27

8ofSpades

Sansa Scala Clip 8Gb version sounds good

Had a look on ebay and they are all 70 Eur +
None on komplett

Anyone got a good site reccomendation or will I just take myself down to xtra vision?

Krusty_Clown

On the Sansa, I've never had any problem with radio reception. I also have the digital version of Woddle's Sony radio, and would say radio reception is identical, except the Sansa has an LCD display, so you can see what station you're tuned to. Extravision is the cheapest I could find at the time.

mithril

I recommend the Apple shuffle - you should be able to get the old 1 GB model for around 40 Euro as shop discount to clear obsolete stock. I got mine from Extravision. The advantages are cheap, tiny size and weight and it supports Itunes which I don't think the Sensa does. You need very little capacity for a device. The main drawback is no display (which is why it is so small and light) and no radio but 1 GB capacity should be plenty for running.

I also recommend the Philips ear-clips - its the only one I have found that stays in place and has pretty good sound.

jlang

Not an MP3 player but the radio I use is a http://www.sony.ie/product/rad-personal-radio-walkman/srf-m95
It's out of production now but mine has outlasted several pairs of headphones. Was a present but I suspect it was expensive at the time. Best feature is the digital tuner and easy to find buttons so it's easy to flick between talk stations on LSRs/easy runs or between music stations to avoid ads and keep the tempo up on faster days. Would probably replace it with something similar if it dies. MP3'd be nice, but I know I'd never get around to putting music on it and I'm quite happy with the variety radio gives.

8ofSpades

thanks for your advice everyone

Have just won an auction on ebay for a SanDisk 4GB Sansa Clip MP3 Player with FM Radio, hope nobody here was the little fecker who kept trying to outbid me??!!

now.....time for wrap around earphones...

mick867

Hi

I am looking for a small sized big memory capacity MP3 with radio

that caters for the lcaters for the likes of Map my run etc.

I dont want to run with an IPOD etc-

any advice would be appreciated.

mick867

mick867 wrote: »

Hi

I am looking for a small sized big memory capacity MP3 with radio

that caters for the lcaters for the likes of Map my run etc.

I dont want to run with an IPOD etc-

any advice would be appreciated.

what do you mean by an mp3 player that caters for map my run

if you mean gps then dedicated mp3 players don't come with gps. the only way to do that is with a smartphone that's has an mp3 player e.g. android or iphone.

the other option is an mp3 player on its own in conjunction with a gps watch unit - the garmin 305, 405 etc.

a sansa clip is a good option for an mp3 player. can be got up to 8gb size but it has micro sd expansion so buy a 16gb or 32gb micro sd card and you have a high capacity player. it's light with a built in clip which is ideal for jogging.

mloc123

Nature. The best MP3 player for running with

futurefarmer

Anyone know the best headphones ? I know a few ppl have mentioned them but i have slightly larger ears so inserts are not an option and the wrap around ones seem 2 come out as well although they were only single ones havent had the ones with the band joining them

Any others that might make my Running a lil more comfortable ?>

lfp

My wife just ended the life of my 3rd mp3 player in as many years. It was a handy cheapo from aldi, no radio or screen so I don't mind.

As I'm doing a nice bit of running now I'd like to invest a bit in a sturdy mp3. I had a sansa clip, but I don't think the Irish weather suited it.

Basically my wish list is:
Sturdy - can hack a bit of rain or has a specific cover for protection
Has a radio
I'm not a big music buff so storage space isn't a big deal

Any suggestions?

sansa clip + does the job for me - clip on to the inside of your shorts for protection from the weather... you can also get covers / skins on ebay for the clip. don't know of any jogging specific mp3 players myself - there is some sort of one that is self-contained in the earphones and / or sunglasses but they seem a bit gimmicky to me.

Krusty_Clown

I use a Sansa clip as well. Have lost a few to Irish bad weather though, so I keep it in one of those rubber cases (still managed to crack the screen) and on wet days I'll throw it into a small sandwich bag. Radio + mp3 + Podcasts.

Ticks all the boxes (except the waterproof/shock-proof boxes!).

catweazle

futurefarmer wrote: »

Anyone know the best headphones ? I know a few ppl have mentioned them but i have slightly larger ears so inserts are not an option and the wrap around ones seem 2 come out as well although they were only single ones havent had the ones with the band joining them

Any others that might make my Running a lil more comfortable ?>

Slightly larger ears, go on jugs!!!!!

Wear the inserts but put a tight hat over them, works for me..........big ears!

huskerdu

futurefarmer wrote: »

Anyone know the best headphones ? I know a few ppl have mentioned them but i have slightly larger ears so inserts are not an option and the wrap around ones seem 2 come out as well although they were only single ones havent had the ones with the band joining them

Any others that might make my Running a lil more comfortable ?>

My problem with headphones/earphones is that my ears are too small. The
standards inserts don't fit and even the smaller ones fall out easily.

Krusty recommended the Sony MDR-Q22 headphones here a while ago, and I
immediately bought a pair on ebay, as Krusty is always right !

They stay on, but look a little silly, as they are HUGE. Of course, wearing big headphones is not the only thing making me look silly when I run, so I don't worry about it too much.

They are the ones have hook behind the ear, but they are big and they do seem to stay on.

BeepBeep67

I got these Panasonic ones about 5yrs ago, still going strong.
They have wind deflector and because they sit outside the ear, you can hear what's going on around you.
Panasonic RP-HS11

$13 on Amazon

Krusty_Clown

I wear these: Sony MDR-Q22LP Headphones



They're very comfortable. They have a small hinge, so they rest comfortably on the ear. Like BeepBeep's they rest on the ear, so you can still hear the traffic/environment.

huskerdu

futurefarmer wrote: »

Anyone know the best headphones ? I know a few ppl have mentioned them but i have slightly larger ears so inserts are not an option and the wrap around ones seem 2 come out as well although they were only single ones havent had the ones with the band joining them

Any others that might make my Running a lil more comfortable ?>

Lild are selling running headphones tomorrow. They are the ones that have a band behind your head. They are cheap, so maybe worth a try.

loinnsigh

futurefarmer wrote: »

Anyone know the best headphones ? I know a few ppl have mentioned them but i have slightly larger ears so inserts are not an option and the wrap around ones seem 2 come out as well although they were only single ones havent had the ones with the band joining them

Any others that might make my Running a lil more comfortable ?>

I've tried various headphones for running over the years. I reckon it totally depends on your ear shape/size.

Earbuds (like the default iphone type) are useless for me as they fall out of my ears.
Ear-canal types (noise-isolating) are annoying to insert and remove and block out too much environmental noise (not good when you're running on country roads).
Clip-on ones can be hit-and-miss - depending on the shape/size of your ear, they may or may not stay on (my wife has a pair that stay on her perfectly but fall off my ears straight away). You'd nearly need to test-drive them first to see if they are suitable.

So I recently treated myself to Sennheiser PMX680i Sports headphones. Not cheap (about €55 online), but if they are not for an iPhone you can get the PMX680 version (without the mic/remote) for less (around the €30-35 mark).

These are the neck-band type, and the ear-pads sit in the ear with the pads facing forward (if you know what I mean). So I reckon they _should_ be suitable for all sizes of ears.

BCSG7

Can anyone tell me how I can transfer the music from my sony mp3 player onto my new ipod nano 16gb. I know a bit about them but not enough to be able to do it. If someone could explain it to me in plain english how I can do it that would be great:)