4 ms·
Standalone MP3 players are increasingly useful, now that: 1) Most smartphones lack a headphone jack 2) Most smartphones lack an SD card slot 3) Your phone is
by AdmiralAsshat 3y ago
Standalone MP3 players are increasingly useful, now that:
1) Most smartphones lack a headphone jack
2) Most smartphones lack an SD card slot
3) Your phone is probably the most important thing you have on your person, and conserving the battery life is more important than listening to music
I unfortunately ditched my Sansa Fuse mp3 player after I got my first smartphone, because the Galaxy S2 felt like a straight upgrade to a standalone mp3 player at the time, whereas the modern smartphone is, shall we say...no longer fit for purpose?
There's definitely a market for such things, but having looked in the past, the middle-class seems to have fallen out. You either have the dirt-cheap $20 things you see sometimes at Wal-Mart, or you see the $1000+ specialty audiophile players. I kinda wish I had something with my old Sansa Fuse's form-factor, but had bluetooth support and USB-C charging (the proprietary charger being pretty much the only reason why I haven't bought an old Sansa Fuze on ebay).
- Shawnj2 3y agoThe YouTuber DankPods has an argument that the last iPod Touch is actually a good device for this use case because has a then-modern A10 which is well faster than what you need to run an MP3 player, you can use it with music streaming services to download your catalog, it has a headphone Jack, and it’s not that expensive to get a high capacity one.
- AdmiralAsshat 3y agoThat's all well and good, but I never had an iPod during its heyday. I had a Creative Zen Touch circa 2005/2006, and then the aforementioned Sansa's around 2009-2010. And, of course, my Android phones. I don't aim to change that now--it's a matter of pride.
- lolive 3y agoMy very-alive iPhone 6s is still my most useful device ever.
- yterdy 3y ago>I unfortunately ditched my Sansa Fuse mp3 player after I got my first smartphone Stepped on mine. I don't leave anything with a screen on the floor anymore. I still have it, hoping I can extract some old files from it someday.
- bondarchuk 3y agoSurfans F20 with rockbox is quite decent and not too expensive (100-150 bucks iirc).
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- isk517 3y agoI love standalone MP3 players, mostly because I don't like carrying my phone around with me at the gym or when I go out running. Right now I use a AP-60 II by HIDIZS. It was about $100, and perfectly fit into that sweet spot between the dirt-cheap questionably functional $20 models and the $1000 audiophile players. Sadly it looks like HIDIZS ceased to be a company at some point so once my current players and the spare I picked up for $50 die I might be out of luck.