I’m looking for a good mp3 player to use for running. I’m pretty clueless when it comes to these things, but it would be nice to have some music on some of my runs. Priority features are small size, light weight, durablility, water resistance, and ease of use. I’d be grateful for any advice you can offer.
Thanks,
Don.
ipod shuffle.
not sure how water resistant it is…but it’s so small it fits anywhere.
Last year, I bought a sony walkman. It included FM radio… which IPods don’t have, and wasn’t stuck with Itunes and AAC files.
I’m hearing good things about the Zune players though:
http://www.zune.net/en-US/mp3players/default.htm
Ipod shuffle. It comes in a variety of colors and has a 1 or 2G capacity. Smaller and thinner than a box of matches and probably lighter. I clip it on the backside of my visor and I dont even know its there.
The stock headphones are horrible, upgrade to some in-ear types. As for water resistance, it holding up to my sweaty noggin… I wouldnt take it swimming though.
Its easy to use.
You’ll get a lot of votes for the iPod Shuffle. Nothing against Apple but I don’t see the attraction to the Shuffle.
But, check out the Sansa Clip. I bought one a month or so ago and it works really well. It’s cheaper than a Shuffle and has an actual screen so you can see menus, artists, songs, etc. It’s pretty lightweight and I don’t even notice it clipped to my waistband when running.
For water resistance, there is the RCA Jet. It is larger than the other two but splashproof.
iPod shuffle here too.
I use my Blackberry, old iPod, iPod touch, and shuffle. Shuffle is great in the summer when all I have is a pair of thin shorts, sunglasses hat and shoes.
For pure running, it’s got to be the shuffle. It’s tiny, has a built in clip, and holds more than enough music for running. Bells and whistles it doesn’t have…but im running, not flipping stations, looking at a screen, or anything else. Had mine for two years, and run with it in rain, heat, snow, whatever…still works perfectly. I only use it for running though. I have other mp3 players for other stuff.
Don’t like itunes? vpod is your answer.
Shuffle here as well. I’ve used 3 or 4 other mp3 players and for the price and simplicity there is no other way to go.
Thanks for all the replies so far. I had a look at the RCA Jet and it looks pretty good with the wireless headphones. Has anyone used them - do they work well?
Another question: what is the deal with downloading music? Can I use iTunes with any mp3 player or only apple products? What are the non-iTunes options for downloading? I meant it when I said I’m clueless about these things!
I use the Sansa Clip. $50. Its very small and light and has a little “clip” so you can put it on your shorts or whatever, and being that it is so light it stays put pretty nicely. My favorite thing about it is that it works seamlessly with Rhapsody to go, if you get a subscription, you pretty much have an endless supply of music that you can put on it by paying the monthly fee. Its like $14.99 a month so you don’t have to pay $1 per song or whatever itunes charges. I don’t think the ipods work very well with rhapsody.
Hi Rod,
How water resistant is the shuffle? Unfortunately we get a lot of rain over here in the UK, so I need something that can handle getting a bit wet.
It is not very waterproof as others have killed it this way, but I’ve run in the rain with mine on several occasions with no issues - but there is a company online that can completely seal a shuffle (either buy one waterproof or send in yours) so that you can even completely swim/submerge it. You can then get some conductive underwater earphones for swimming laps.
Never dunked mine, but rain with it in the pouring rain a few times and it didn’t die.
I have the Clip and the Shuffle. I like the Clip better because it has a screen. Both have built in clips, both load music easily. I also like the clip because I bought 3 of them refurbed from Woot.com for about $40 total. If I kill one because of water or dropping it I don’t care. Buy.com has them real cheap pretty often too.
Shuffle.
I’ll be the lone dissenter and recommend an iPhone.
Sure it fails on the waterproof and size aspects, but the benefits make it a great choice for running:
o Phone to call home in case of emergency
o GPS (in case you get lost, or in conjunction with tracking applications if you want to share your position)
o External speakers (nearly loud enough to hear from your shirt pocket while running)
o Bluetooth chip in there (so potential to support wireless headphones eventually)
o The best iPod so far… means you’ll use it for more than running (movies on a plane, iTunes Music Store on the go)
Failing that (or along with it) I also recommend the shuffle purely for it’s Apple & iTunes ease of use and small size. Especially if you’re not super tech-literate, I’d have a hard time not going with the Apple experience. And this from a hardcore Windows fanboy.
I would go with the shuffle too becuase of the size and the handy clip
.
The best MP3 player for running would be the **iPod Nano **with the Nike pod. It is nice to have an audible reminder on how far you have gone and how much more you have to do.
The best MP3 player for running would be the **iPod Nano **with the Nike pod. It is nice to have an audible reminder on how far you have gone and how much more you have to do.
Don’t hide it. You just make that recommendation, because you want to be Yuri, The Champion. Remember that for life!
Thanks for all the replies so far. I had a look at the RCA Jet and it looks pretty good with the wireless headphones. Has anyone used them - do they work well?
Another question: what is the deal with downloading music? Can I use iTunes with any mp3 player or only apple products? What are the non-iTunes options for downloading? I meant it when I said I’m clueless about these things!
Forget iTunes. Use www.legalsounds.com. It is a Russian service. The royalty laws are significantly different in Russia, so they are able to sell songs for $0.10 each, so you can get an entire CD for around $1.00. I know it sounds shady, but it is legit. The RIAA is pressuring credit card companies to not allow payments to the site, but they are using 3rd party processors.
Another benefit is the songs are in MP3 format, and are not limited to only one user.
Please pm me if you are interested in signing up. I think I get some type of referral credit