Buying an MP3 Player in 2018

[Julio Franco]

While most people who enjoy music on the go these days are listening from their phones, there are still many reasons someone might want to own a standalone portable music player. Models range from around $1 to more than $3,000, for what is already a niche market, the world of dedicated MP3 players is fragmented into various sub-niches targeting wildly different shoppers.

Read the full article here.

https://www.techspot.com/article/1728-buying-an-mp3-player/

 

[BSim500]

Nice article. Obvious reason for buying an MP3 player in 2018 - they actually have 3.5mm headphone sockets unlike "smart"-phones which seem hell bent on going full circle and crippling their own functionality to below the level of some +15 year old "Sony Walkman" dumb phones. So if you're like me and just want 1. A phone with decent MP3 player, and 2. Do not care, want or have any social media accounts, then the "functionality" of 2018 smartphones as primarily an MP3 player with a phone attached and long battery life is utterly laughable for the price.

I picked up a Sony NWZ-A15 last year in a Black Friday deal (from £160 down to below £80). Very definitely well worth the money for audio quality & battery life alone. One problem that needs mentioning with ultra-budget £20 players though is stupid artificial restrictions. Eg, the Ruizu X18 you mentioned doesn't list AAC/M4A as being compatible. And many "AGPTek" (and clones) have an absurd but rarely mentioned "maximum 4,000 tracks" firmware limitation which defeats the object of shoving in a larger 128-256GB micro-SD slot into a cheap player the first place. Would be nice to see more mid-range stuff that's both cheaper than the premium Hi-Fi brands, yet more polished than the super-budget stuff.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

No one really needs more than 10GB to store music for working out for a few hours - or even taking a 16 hour flight, and because of the high capacities in smartphones, it's actually more efficient to just use the smartphone.

#1 Smartphones have internet access - something most MP3 players don't. That means you can listen to satellite radio or Youtube at will.

#2 Smartphones are the one do-it-all device which means you only need to carry one thing.

#3 Smartphones have pushed us toward stereo bluetooth headphones and most MP3 players do not have Bluetooth radios.

The only thing MP3 players have that gets my interest is the long battery life. It might not be a problem for a workout period, but for a 25 hour long flight to Asia with layovers, it's superior. Thing is, airplanes and terminals have chargers for smartphones now.

 

[Uncle Al]

With all the features on the phones I'm surprised to hear they still make the things ......

 

[senketsu]

Physical buttons means you can operate the device wearing gloves!

 

[BBADD]

No one really needs more than 10GB to store music for working out for a few hours - or even taking a 16 hour flight, and because of the high capacities in smartphones, it's actually more efficient to just use the smartphone.

#1 Smartphones have internet access - something most MP3 players don't. That means you can listen to satellite radio or Youtube at will.

#2 Smartphones are the one do-it-all device which means you only need to carry one thing.

#3 Smartphones have pushed us toward stereo bluetooth headphones and most MP3 players do not have Bluetooth radios.

The only thing MP3 players have that gets my interest is the long battery life. It might not be a problem for a workout period, but for a 25 hour long flight to Asia with layovers, it's superior. Thing is, airplanes and terminals have chargers for smartphones now.

I'm not sure what point you are trying to make here.

For each of the 3 points you make the opposite is exactly why people still want MP3 players

 

[Julio Franco]

For each of the 3 points you make the opposite is exactly why people still want MP3 players

Different users, different needs... that's the whole point of the article and opinions/comments will differ as a result.

Personally, I used to tidily store my MP3 collection by arranging folders, artists, etc. but I've since moved on to streaming all of my music and not caring about MP3s anymore. In fact, I think I deleted most of them.

These days I like to use YouTube for live versions of songs and music discovery. Keep my personal playlist on Spotify, that plus the "song/artist radios" make it worth my money to pay a subscription.

 

[nismo91]

I can totally see the need for this "niche" market dedicated mp3 player. for those who wants a good sound quality (esp. if you're not using flagship phone) and does not want to rely on smartphone battery life. also take into consideration those new phones without 3.5mm jack.

unfortunately due to the shift to streaming services, this is again a very "niche" market. for those who are moving around with a public transport, good music is often needed.

anyway just remembered I had 2nd gen ipod shuffle. it was a beast for its size and the battery life is amazing (considering the year it came out) even when you just left it at pause without really turning it off. mine broke off due to moisture, and the latest 4th gen (which is similar) cost absurd money now. I might as well look at those "entry hi-fi" players you mentioned.

 

[sac39507]

The other thing we forget about are the dangers of long exposure to cell phones (I can't believe we still believe the lies that they are not dangerous).

Another thing is stupid freaking alerts or calls from your phone that come on when you listen to music. It's especially annoying when you are streaming it to loudspeakers and the alerts get amplified. Yea yea...I know you can turn them off but when you forget, it's annoying.

 

[sac39507]

There is a market for portable music players. Not necessarily for MP3 players. Sony and Fii0 continue to make crazy expensive loseless hi-resolution players.

 

[MonsterZero]

Hi Fidelity Streaming audio quality is far superior to .mp3 files.

 

[TomSEA]

I have five or six Sansa SanDisk Clips and still use them all the time. The article does a good job describing why an MP3 player is a better option for some people.

I'm not a big fan of streaming. You still have to customize your playlist, providers throw in songs I could care less about, if you're not paying for a premium service you get commercials, etc.

With my SanDisk clips, I have them loaded up for whatever I'm doing. One has music for a casual walk, another for my workouts, a 3rd for driving my car, etc, a 4th for when I have company over, a 4th has party music, etc.

For a little bit of loading effort, I get exactly the music I want, when I want and through any speaker-type I want.

 

[DylanMilesT]

SNIP

You're forgetting the major point of audio players that was missed in this article: fidelity. Some people purchase high-end, portable audio players so that they can listen to lossless files through beefy headphones that require more power to drive and are more sensitive than your Apple Earpods or whatnot. Lossless file formats like FLAC can take up over half a gigabyte per song, making 10GB effectively useless if you want to store more than an album. Don't even get me started on BlueTooth headphones... You can not obtain high fidelity audio through the BlueTooth 5.0 protocol; it can only transfer data at a rate of 2Mb/s, about 50% slower than what is necessary to transfer a seamless FLAC file at the rate it is played at.

 

[DylanMilesT]

With all the features on the phones I'm surprised to hear they still make the things ......

There isn't a single smartphone around that can compete with the audio fidelity and driving capabilities of a high-end, portable audio player. https://www.head-fi.org/forums/portable-source-gear.15/

 

[BobHome]

I picked up the Agptek A20 a couple of months ago (which looks exactly like the Ruizu X20); it's like the A02 but also has a "Go back" button under the display and is supposed to be good for 80 hours play. I've loaded it with FLAC and MP3 songs. It works well from my casual listening.

One challenge on the Amazon reviews was songs did not always play in the order they were copied to the device. I guess they can go by artist or album, too. My 'fix' was to put a number in front of each title: 01, 02, 03, etc. and select Play All from the options and then they play in the order I desire. I usually play from a folder on the SD card instead of the internal storage where the 'smarts' of the device can get in the way.

 

[GeforcerFX]

I use my phone as my mp3 device, but I still have a few of my old PDAs I use for it from time to time, and my PSP is loaded with a few mixes I can listen to during some games. Still have my old Halo 3 Zune, still works great, just prefer something with a bit more functions now. A dedicated MP3 holds little value for me, I have always preferred something that I could load my movies on.

 

[BMAN61]

There is a market for portable music players. Not necessarily for MP3 players. Sony and Fii0 continue to make crazy expensive loseless hi-resolution players.

I don't have a smartphone - not sure if I'll ever get one, just personal opinion - a few years back the CD player died in my car, I didn't want to always listen to the radio + driving through the mountains the signal gets lost (as I can't stand the commercials) so I invested in a Fiio X1 2nd gen and a Fiio Q1 portable amp/ DAC.... and have never looked back.

The X1 can play all of my FLAC music files and the Q1 boosts not only the sound , but also the bass. For me it was the perfect solution for playing an seemingly endless amount of music - and I didn't have to upgrade the head unit in my car to get it.

Just my .005 cents CAD

 

[BMAN61]

I picked up the Agptek A20 a couple of months ago (which looks exactly like the Ruizu X20); it's like the A02 but also has a "Go back" button under the display and is supposed to be good for 80 hours play. I've loaded it with FLAC and MP3 songs. It works well from my casual listening.

One challenge on the Amazon reviews was songs did not always play in the order they were copied to the device. I guess they can go by artist or album, too. My 'fix' was to put a number in front of each title: 01, 02, 03, etc. and select Play All from the options and then they play in the order I desire. I usually play from a folder on the SD card instead of the internal storage where the 'smarts' of the device can get in the way.

I really enjoyed the AGPtEK IMP that I bought on Amazon, right up to the point that it wouldn't charge - switched to Fiio right after.

 

[trgz]

Hi Fidelity Streaming audio quality is far superior to .mp3 files.

Define 'Hi Fidelity Streaming audio quality' please. I hope you're referring to lossless streaming (FLAC/ALAC, even 24bit/192kbps files etc) and not just 320kbps streaming ie the same as a top end MP3.

 

[Squid Surprise]

With all the features on the phones I'm surprised to hear they still make the things ......

There isn't a single smartphone around that can compete with the audio fidelity and driving capabilities of a high-end, portable audio player. https://www.head-fi.org/forums/portable-source-gear.15/

MAYBE 1% of the population can reliably detect the difference between an mp3 and a “high quality” digital song....

And the fact that Apple no longer makes iPods - despite iPods basically fuelling their success - shows that the vast majority of people don’t really need or want dedicated MP3 players.

They are niche products, and will continue to lose market share until they become irrelevant - if they aren’t already.

 

[eleweth]

I store music in flac everywhere and songs typically average at 70-100MB depending on length, CD quality, which is also a ceiling for my iriver s100 as it refuses to play 24bit tracks properly. even those, also being 5.1, are ~200MB and only a 14 min track 24/96 4.5mbps gets close to 450MB. I wouldn't use this format on mp3 player tho, my playback problems aside, headphones on the road probably aren't sufficient to make use of that, and storing multichannels on portable device is also wasteful. 8GB is then plenty for about a dozen 16/44 albums, microSD comes in when more is needed.

 

[funglebuddy]

Nice article. Obvious reason for buying an MP3 player in 2018 - they actually have 3.5mm headphone sockets unlike "smart"-phones which seem hell bent on going full circle and crippling their own functionality to below the level of some +15 year old "Sony Walkman" dumb phones. So if you're like me and just want 1. A phone with decent MP3 player, and 2. Do not care, want or have any social media accounts, then the "functionality" of 2018 smartphones as primarily an MP3 player with a phone attached and long battery life is utterly laughable for the price.

I picked up a Sony NWZ-A15 last year in a Black Friday deal (from £160 down to below £80). Very definitely well worth the money for audio quality & battery life alone. One problem that needs mentioning with ultra-budget £20 players though is stupid artificial restrictions. Eg, the Ruizu X18 you mentioned doesn't list AAC/M4A as being compatible. And many "AGPTek" (and clones) have an absurd but rarely mentioned "maximum 4,000 tracks" firmware limitation which defeats the object of shoving in a larger 128-256GB micro-SD slot into a cheap player the first place. Would be nice to see more mid-range stuff that's both cheaper than the premium Hi-Fi brands, yet more polished than the super-budget stuff.

What I would do is find a Zune and load it with music.That way I can be a Hipster and have a great functioning MP3 player

 

[DylanMilesT]

MAYBE 1% of the population can reliably detect the difference between an mp3 and a “high quality” digital song....

And the fact that Apple no longer makes iPods - despite iPods basically fuelling their success - shows that the vast majority of people don’t really need or want dedicated MP3 players.

They are niche products, and will continue to lose market share until they become irrelevant - if they aren’t already.

Of course, they are a niche product for a relatively small market, but that's *relative*. The market is plenty large enough to necessitate innovation and continued production. Just because you or your friends won't use a product, doesn't mean others won't.

 

[Squid Surprise]

Of course, they are a niche product for a relatively small market, but that's *relative*. The market is plenty large enough to necessitate innovation and continued production. Just because you or your friends won't use a product, doesn't mean others won't.

Well that's the thing... IS it large enough to necessitate continued production? Apple, despite being one of the pioneers in this field, has decided NO. I agree with them... I guess some don't... but I suspect that Apple isn't wrong.

 

[DylanMilesT]

Well that's the thing... IS it large enough to necessitate continued production? Apple, despite being one of the pioneers in this field, has decided NO. I agree with them... I guess some don't... but I suspect that Apple isn't wrong.

Apple decided to discontinue their lines of portable audio players because their smartphones could replace them for the average consumer; however, by definition, not everyone can be an average consumer. There are many companies that do portable audio better than Apple, so Apple investing in innovating better devices specifically in relation to audio isn't a smart business strategy for them. They're not wrong to have discontinued the iPod, but you are wrong in that their motive for discontinuation was based on a lack of demand.

By the way, Apple still manufactures the iPod Touch, which, by its namesake, must be an iPod; they haven't closed up shop on them, yet.