Ok so I'm going to be starting to bike several miles everyday now. Usually I've been anti-mp3 players .. but now it looks like I'll need one.

But in all my anti-MP3 playerness.. I really don't know anything about em now.


All I'll need is a couple hundred megs... and something reliable and good.

So basically - what's the cheapest thing out there, not worryinng about storage capacity, that won't crap out on me.

ipod shuffle 512 MB $100 Smaller than a pack of gum.

If you don't mind shuffling and no LCD display, the iPod Shuffle is a great player.

MuVos are great flash players.

iRiver makes some EXCELLENT but pricey-ish flash players.

You can turn shuffle off on the shuffle. But the LCD is kind of permenantly not there >.> <.<

iPod Shuffle and these. Be warned, you won't be able to hear cars approaching with those. You will also not be able to hear cars approaching with the iPod earbuds if you listen to ear bleeding volumes, like you kids do these days.

Those cost as much if not more than the shuffle.

Christ, man.

On a side note--what's the best pair of earbuds you can get for sub-$50? I take it you'd know, Emon.

This one is pretty good. I got it for my friend for his birthday, and he really likes it, plus it is expandable. Computer geeks has a pretty decent selection of other MP3 players here. As for headphones, I really like these. They have the some of the best bass I've found in headphones like this, and for the price, you can't argue. However, they kinda suck to bike with because they direct the wind into your ears, so I wouldn't recommend them for anything other than normal listening.

i'd say listening to music while biking might not be the best idea...

but creative has some good flash players and for headphones... are you going to be on any bumpy srufaces? if you are gonna be riding on smooth roads you might be able to get away with plain earbuds and i suggest something like sennheiser MX400/500 or 450/550 (only difference between the 4*0s and the 5*0s is the 5*0s have an inline volume control on the cable)

if it's gonna be less than smooth... earbuds with an over the ear clip thingy would work... as for suggesting some good ones... can't help you much there

The street price is around $90, and will get you better sound quality than speakers five times their price. That includes many forumgoers' precious Logitech and Creative gaming speakers. That's right, those little things trump them.

Best earbuds? Eh, probably the Sennheiser line that Jim recommended, maybe the Sony EX line or Sharp MD-33 or the tons of other rebrands of those. They're kind of like canalphones like the ER-6i, but don't go in nearly as deep. The Shure E2c are canalphones that are around 60-70 dollars.

BrianTheSith: If you really like those headphones...eep.

But seriously, biking with headphones is a bad idea. Unless you're riding on clear, smooth rodes (READ: NOT IN THE CITY) I wouldn't recommend it at all.

Isn't it against the law to bike or drive your car with your headphones on? That's what ma momma always told meh...

Anyway, iPod Shuffles are pretty good for what they are. Very lightweight and fits well in a shirt pocket or the like.

Not for riding a bike, but in most places, having headphones on while driving is illegal.

When I drive, bikers with headphones on scare me.

Rio. Buy one. NOW. Ultimate little flash memory playors. They are great, and come in a variety of colors and sizes. [url]www.rioaudio.com[/url]

edit: oh, and don't get the rave. my parents have them. They are annoying to transfer songs onto. And unreliable. My dad's mp3player died.

Yes. Rios are very good. I have one.

Mine is a Cali 256, which would actually be ideal for your biking. It is small, lightweight, already comes with a armband and clip, and is virtually bulletproof. Seriously. So much has happened to the thing and it still functions perfectly. Runs on one AAA, and has a (good) FM tuner built in. Standard memory is 256 MB, but has a slot for SD cards, so you can add upto a gigabyte. Perfect 'sport' player.

Edit: Though you can still buy Cali 256s in some places, on the Rio website, it has been given a makeover and named the forge. Looks nearly the same, though.

Yeah, when you drive you can just use one earpiece. That's why hands free cellphones only have one.

Picked up an iPod shuffle for $95 shipped.
Gotta wait for my bank to confirm paypal then I can get around to actually paying for it...

Good man. Shuffle ftw as far as flash players go.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And because phones only have one speaker.

EW! EWEWEWEWEWEWEW!

I am sorry, but I hate Rios more than I hate iPods...

At least iPods have the capability of working correctly, and will at least accept returns within their warranty.

My situation with my Rio 500:

Bought it. Not the next day, it stops turning on. Tried everything, new battery, formatting the thing on my PC, etc.

Called up Rio for an RMA. They tell me I am "out of luck, there is no way to prove I didn't damage it myself."

Of course, I am furious. I ask for a manager. He tells me the exact same thing. I keep going up the phone chain until I get to the head of the service department. He FINALLY gives me an RMA for it.

I RMA it, and I get it back 3 weeks later. Exactly the same as I had sent it. With a message attached: "Device tampered with; Warranty void."

After this point, I call again, getting nowhere. And then I finally file a report with BBB, and return it to the store. (With some arguing there too, but it wasn't really their fault. I was past the 30-day return limit by the time the RMA came back)

Maybe they have changed, maybe they haven't. All I know is, I won't be doing business with them again, and I will tell everyone who considers one about it.

My Rio Volt lasted three years until it finally died, after multiple falls from my car onto my driveway.

Some people don't realize experiences differ wildly, I guess. I'm partly to blame here too.

It seems the MP3 player world is much like the HDD world. :\

Maxtor sucks!!!!1

:p

Didn't you buy another maxtor to replace that one? :p

Seagate > *. If they made an MP3 player, I'd buy it in a heartbeat

Actually, my old 40 gig Maxtor is what's running my system right now. The 200 gig Maxtor that I bought to replace it crapped out on me multiple times, each time completely corrupting the file system, needing a format, finding bad sectors, etc... The ****ing thing is going back as soon as I get back to Montreal.

Aye

I agree. My harddrive to my comp crashed once. Then I got a replacement free. Then the system files got corrupted and I had to re install xp. NOT COOL!

Funny, another one of my family's maxtors died again this week. God, they are a terrible company. We've switched to Western Digital now, but some Maxtors remain.

He was kidding.

As for both of you guys, I know people who have gone through 6 or 7 WD's in the span of a year. And my Maxtor has been running for well over a year and a half.

It's just a margin of error no company (except Seagate?) has been able to fix on their harddrives yet.

Like I said, my old 40 gig Maxtor is still running perfectly.

I've had trouble in the past with some old 200 mb WD's, but no recent experience with them.