MP3 players

[Nalixor]

I am looking to buy a nice MP3 player. I have been using my PSP for music for the better part of two years now, and while it has served me well, it is just too bulky and annoying for my needs. I'm after a player that I can just drag and drop stuff onto through windows explorer, and I don't want to use iTunes or WMP (so that rules out a iPod or a Zune). I'm not particularly into bells and whistles, and it needs to have a minimum of 4 gigs of space. I'd like it to have good battery life. Oh, and it needs to have some kind of playlist support, like using .mpu files, or whatever. I've looked online, and in stores, but I do not know what is good and what is shit. I call upon the collective knowledge of Zgeek for aid! I liked some of the iRiver players, with their innovative d-click interface (I hear it is swell!), but I am not sure if you require any special software to use it.
Oh, and if possible it needs to be rechargeable as having to keep spare batteries around seems like a chore.

Any recommendations?

Edit: forgot to add something.

[gimpieman]

iRiver or a Sansa player would probably fit the bill.

[2000th post]

[hymartin]

iRiver or a Sansa player would probably fit the bill.

And Creative labs

[and3w]

Yeah, creative are good IMHO.
However, I have found that, if you don't need all those whistles & bells, it doesn't really matter WHAT type of mp3 you go for. Get a cheap one & use the money saved to get a decent set of headphones. Senhausser are what I use, but I have heard good things about Head Candy and I used to have a pair of Sony sports ones that had great sound.

[Soahc]

If you like ear buds the sennheiser ear buds are excellent. They block out all outside noise and have very good audio quality. Also the Koss ear buds are excellent too, they were what I had before and are on par with the sennheiser ones. I can't wear cheap earbuds because they hurt my ears after a few hours. I can wear these ones all day and have no problems.


Senheiser CX300 (http://www.sennheiserusa.com/newsite/productdetail.asp?transid=500830)
Koss KEB79 (http://www.koss.com/koss/kossweb.nsf/p?openform&pc^np^KEB79)

[gimpieman]

Go 1 better and get the Sennheiser cx95.

[jmoore]

iriver x20 8gb ... its the bomb. its all drag and drop as well which is handy. its really good sound quality as well

[djrobotek]

If anything please oh please avoid the Toshiba gigabeat. I got one as a prize from work and while it is good for use at the gym, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone - really user unfriendly. Shitty options...

AVOID!

[t101]

I recently bought my sister an iRiver X20 8GB (Product Specs Here (http://www.iriver.com.au/iriver/index.cfm?pageID=2&sID=1&prodID=19&mid=30&)) and from her reports it rocks.

And if 8GB isn't enough it also has an expansion slot (microSD I believe).

Doesn't need any stupid software to play around with your music (just acts as 2 USB drives when you hook it up - one for the onboard memory, one for the memory card if you have one installed), has a nice clean interface and while small and light feels very solid. Comes with decent earbuds as well.

Unfortunately its becoming harder to actually _find_ iRiver products around....

[Chebyrator]

Sony NWZ S615F is good i got 2 gig version can go up to 8. Plays mp4 videos and displays photos to looks really nice too. Part of the reason I got it is coz when I went to Harvey Norman I talked the guy into droping about 40 buks of the sale price.

so yea if ur on a budget could be a good idea. Oh its drag and drop too an none of that proprietary shit for a change

[KrisEz]

fuck off and buy an ipod.
if your smart you can use itunes ONLY to copy your music, but you have to be careful when setting it up/installing.
ipod are the market leader for a reason. best value, best features, and best interface.

[Nalixor]

Yeah, creative are good IMHO.
However, I have found that, if you don't need all those whistles & bells, it doesn't really matter WHAT type of mp3 you go for. Get a cheap one & use the money saved to get a decent set of headphones. Senhausser are what I use, but I have heard good things about Head Candy and I used to have a pair of Sony sports ones that had great sound.

I currently own two pairs of Sennheiser HD 555's. One I use for my computers, and one for listening to music abroad with.

[Nalixor]

fuck off and buy an ipod.
if your smart you can use itunes ONLY to copy your music, but you have to be careful when setting it up/installing.
ipod are the market leader for a reason. best value, best features, and best interface.
I don't like them. I never have. Everyone around me has one, and the fiancee has a iPod Touch 16gb. I dislike them all. I don't want to have to 'be careful' when I set it up. It simply shouldn't have that shit there at all.

[Up_All_Night]

I really like my 8 gig ipod nano

Used to be all about size, but i have a big player for everything, for carrying in my ocket the 8 gig is surberb.

[Hairyman]

Beosound 6