can anyone give any recommendations for an MP3 player under £30? I did own a Sony Walkman NWZ A816 $gb video walkman, but never made any use of the video capabilities nor the full 4gb space available.

One thing that did annpy me about the player i had, was the proprietry connecotr, which meant when I couldnt find the cable, I could chare the stupid thing. I once went 4 weeks not being able to use the player as I couldnt find the cable to charge it.

What I'm looking for is either a player with a usb port attached to enable charge without any additional cables, or with a mini usb port as I have many of these cables floating around. Also I'm after approx 2gb of storage and I want to pay no more than £30.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance

I got one from asda for 30, Phillips GoGear 2GB. It's very small, decent enought for the price, and has mini USB port.

The Sansa range are very good, e.g:

4GB - £40
http://www.amazon.co.uk/SANDISK-SANS...2825427&sr=8-5

2GB - £18
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sandisk-MP3-...825427&sr=8-16

Great if you're not bothered about looks...

Well shucks, what would your mightiness suggest instead?

Here's what I would recommend. Okay, it's a bit over £30 but you could get the 4gb version for less.

http://www.tinydeal.com/index.php?ma...roducts_id=262

The 4gb is just over £25. I have 2 of the 8gb and also use the mini sd slot with a 2gb card. I have nearly 30 movies on it.

for a kick off, I don't like the fact it looks like an ipod touch, secondly, I dont want a touch screen mp3 player, thirdly, I didnt use my sony walkman for videos, so why would i need something with such a large screen.

I want something that has a decent battery life, easily charged without proprietry ports ) so mini usb or usb attached and a screen to view whats being played and scrolling through mp3s stored on the device.

[quote=Fromez;30366552]The Sansa range are very good, e.g:

4GB - £40
http://www.amazon.co.uk/SANDISK-SANS...2825427&sr=8-5

the oh got the 8gb sansa clip today for £39.99 from currys instore (in silver)

Ive had a rethink on all aspects of what I'm looking for in a player if anyone can help (sorry to those who have already taken time out to give a response)

After browsing the market, I have noticed that I could probably get what I wanted however the quality of product may not be what I was expecting. Also, after thinking about it, the idea of having a 2gb player may not be the best, as my usage may change during the lifespan of the player.

This is what I'm after
- a player which doesn't have proprietary cabling to charge/upload
- Memory 4GB + (thinking maybe 8gb if possible)
- expandability (micro sd HC card)
- screen for song information
- Budget £50-60, absolute maximum £65

I have been looking at a number of different players, that I have found, more specifically the Creative Mozaic 8GB black found in Argos for £49.99 - Has anyone got one of these to give any reliable usage information.

Another I have seen is the Sandisk Sansa Fuze - I would be looking at the 4GB version from Play and using a 4GB Micro SDHC card taken from my old mobile phone to increase the memory. This is also £49.99 but has the downside of the proprietary cable to charge and upload music to it. The upside is, that because it can accept the sdhc micro cards, theoretically it could accept the 32gb card, which would mean i 'could' have 36GB of storage for music, or if I could afford the 8GB version, end up with a 40GB player.

Is there anything else I could look at? Something I have not considered? What manufacturers of MP3 players should I seriously consider buying and which should I look to avoid?

Sorry again to those who have already replied and thanks in advance to those who provide any further replies.

I'd check out http://www.advancedmp3players.co.uk/
and ask them if they can help with your queries.

You could have a look at a couple of the cheaper Cowon players.

Excellent sound quality, excellent battery life, standard mini USB connection at 2.0 speeds, no software/drivers etc required ..... just drag and drop or use something like MediaMonkey if you want to sync.

Only drawback being, you're right at the bottom end of their price range.

So, just looking on google shopping, I'm sure ebay and the like would also be well worth a look:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...=REG&A=details - 8gb U5 ..... but it's in the USA. You'd have to hope you dodged import tax and I don't know what the shipping would be. Not expandable, but meets everything else.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...=REG&A=details - U5 again but only 2gb. Website is UK based I think. Never heard of them but they rate well as a seller on google shopping (4.5 stars from 80 odd ratings). Problem is, only 2gb and I don't think it's expandable.

http://www.breezily.co.uk/products/c...yer_colour_red - UK based again by the look of it .... but I've never heard of them. 4gb but I don't think it's expandable. Excellent battery life.

I can vouch for the quality of their kit. Used an A2 myself for a couple of years now.

If you can stretch to £80, you could get the 8gb of the iAudio 7 .... http://www.advancedmp3players.co.uk/...ayer.2491.html

Why did you get rid of the Sony? Besided the non-standard cable, they're pretty good little players aren't they? I though you were very pleased with it?

Sandisk sansa 2gb mp3 player.

http://www.advancedmp3players.co.uk/...ned_.2023.html

there was something about the sony that i didnt like but I cant put my finger on it. yes it was a good player, decent screen, quality of output, size and weight. I guess I kind of lost patience with it after not being able to use it because the proprietary cable had gone walkabout.

In any case I got good money back for it (I think i bought it for £70-£75 - I got £50-55 back for it after a year of usage, so cant complain really.

the link you refer to is for a reconditioned sansa e280 an 8gb player which i considered purchasing last year before settling on the sony walkman (which i sold over a month ago)

The sansa fuze which i am currently considering is essentially the same player except it is slightly smaller and the micro sd card slot will take a larger, higher capacity card than the e280. Also, there were reported issues when using the card slot on the e280 regarding the files on the card. Not entirely sure what those problems were, but they seem to be resolved with the newer fuze.


Sancheez - I do really like the Cowon IAudio 7 8GB player - the only problem I have is my budget is set at maximum £65, mainly because my finances cannot take anything more than that due to my triplets and their outgoings (even at 5 months old, they still need lots of money spending on them - like this is ever going to change as they get older!!!) If I had the freedom to pay £80, I wouldnt be asking for advice, I would have ordered the cowon weeks ago.

To be honest, i think it is going to have to be a choice between the creative Mozaic 8gb from argos, or the sandisk sansa fuze 4/8GB from play/currys/a.n.other store. which one would you choose?

Personally, I'd go for the Creative .... simply because I like their kit. I have an ancient Muvo2 from them that I've had for years .... still going stong (connected to the little mini hifi in the kitchen) and never missed a beat.

You could also have a look at the iRiver E100. You can pick up the base unit (2gb I think) for around £60 and it's expandable with Micro SD cards. iRiver have always made pretty decent players.

I too would suggest the Sandisk Sansa. My mum has one and it's a great little device. It's simple, nice sound quality and has a really clear screen. She's got the black and white screen version but they do make them with colour screen too

I got a Matsui from Dixons.

I kind of feel what I offered you meets your criteria.

1. It uses a standard usb cable you can buy anywhere.
2. It has a memory of 4gb or 8gb or 16gb.
3. You can expand the memory via a mini sd card.
4. It has a screen for text or visuals. In fact, you can use for menu, video and books if you want.
5. It is selling for £30.09 with free delivery and that's for the 8gb version.

Anyway, the choice is yours but I really can recommend it.

Just a quick update (sorry for bumping up an old thread)

I eventually decided on purchasing the Sandisk Sansa Fuze 4GB in Blue. What eventually decided it was the size of the player, compared to the creative.

First impressions of it are very good. Good sound quality through my SC's, very straight forward to use, like the mechanical wheel for scrolling. Has the option to record direct from the fm radio, which is surprisingly quite good. The main thing I looked at was the micro sd card slot at the side. I have put an old 4gb MSD HC card in, with the intention of buying a larger one when I need to bump the memory up. So far, I have 935 songs covering no more than 3.5GB across the MSD and the player itself.

The one concern I had about using additional memory would be that it would need to refresh the play lists every time I switched it on (I think it was one of the problems in earlier sansa e series players) however it doesnt - it does it once after being connected and files being added but thats it.

The OH actually said it looks like the new nano (the stumpy thing) a bit thicker, and a little longer, but looks similar all the same, and with the bonus of not having to use itunes, which was the MAIN and ONLY reason I wouldnt buy an ipod. Even if given one f.o.c, I would sell it rather than use itunes.

sorry for the rambling post, and thanks to everyone who posted suggestions and advice/recomendations.