What portable music/mp3 player offers the largest hard drive

[peppergomez]

I have two ipods- 16 and 80G, and am thinking about getting another portable music player, though likely not an ipod.

I only want it for music- no video or any other features so I don't care screen size. I have lots of music, and am reripping everything at 320, so it take up a fair amount of space. A portable player that has the largest amount of storage space is really what I'm looking for. (It also should be able to plug into boomboxes and car stereos, but I assume most do). It should also be reliably made.

Thanks.

[Eyal]

Besides iPod Classic 160GB, I think the best choice is Archos.
You can shop for bargains like this: Archos 5 - 500 GB Internet Tablet with Android @ $300 - Link

[peppergomez]

The Archos looks cool but not really a music player per se, so the price reflects more than I need, and I wonder if it would plug into my boombox, etc.

Thanks for the link, though.

[brs_manamal1]

I have two ipods- 16 and 80G, and am thinking about getting another portable music player, though likely not an ipod.

I only want it for music- no video or any other features so I don't care screen size. I have lots of music, and am reripping everything at 320, so it take up a fair amount of space. A portable player that has the largest amount of storage space is really what I'm looking for. (It also should be able to plug into boomboxes and car stereos, but I assume most do). It should also be reliably made.

Thanks.

I use creative zen hardware for all my mobile music for a few reasons. First you can get up to 64 gigs + add a memory card and you got some serious storage. Secondly nothing sounds like a zen mann its awesome good sounding! Third and most important is price, I just bought another Zen MX(the original) 16 gig player for 70 bucks! cant beat it yo! Next on my list is the Zen FX wich is tha bomb and cost less than 300 bones too! Check out the site @Creative.com

[windcrest77]

I have two ipods- 16 and 80G, and am thinking about getting another portable music player, though likely not an ipod.

I only want it for music- no video or any other features so I don't care screen size. I have lots of music, and am reripping everything at 320, so it take up a fair amount of space. A portable player that has the largest amount of storage space is really what I'm looking for. (It also should be able to plug into boomboxes and car stereos, but I assume most do). It should also be reliably made.

Thanks.

I use Cowon J3 simply because I rip everything to lossless audio (mostly FLAC and APE and some WMA lossless) and it plays these formats at full bitrate, but I suspect it downgrades the WMA lossless to 320kbps. I even have many FLAC files ripped from LP's at 24/96 resolution which many times translates to 2,000 to 5,000kbps (more or less) and it even plays these (probably downgrading the rate but they sound great nonetheless). FLAC/APE rates under 1,000kbps I suspect are not being downgraded, that is pretty good resolution and a lot of bits to move in a 3 minute song. It has 32gig on the internal memory, but to up the storage more it has a micro SD slot. I keep some 32gb micro SD's in my wallet with even more music and change them out from time to time. Cowon has a lot of players and it is confusing to decide what is best, video vs audio is probably the best discriminator though, and the J3 falls on the side of being an audiophile player. Other Cowon models lean to video. This was the only player I could find that did APE files as well as FLAC and was my main reason to get it. It has a better headphone amp and D/A converter than an iPod, which is not saying much since the iPods really dont sound that great audio-wise (in fact they sound like crap), and cant drive better headphones adequetly, and cant play open lossless formats at all. iPods are toys, zen and cowon are a step up for the serious listener. No WiFi BUT I just wanted the best possible sound and a lot of memory and many formats, even not being a primarily video player it still does video better than most others of this size.

[peppergomez]

Thanks, guys. Can you explain how the SD memory card works in conjunction w/ the Zen player? Just plug the card into the device and it piggybacks onto it, offering additional storage? What is the maximum storage it would support? Also, according to a CNET review "the SD card content does not get integrated into the general libraries." My goal is to have the largest amount of music in shuffle play as I can on my mp3 player, so if the SD content can't be integrated into the mix with the other music on the player, that would be a deal killer for me.

[brs_manamal1]

yes eveything is combined and as far as size the biggest one you can crame into the slot it'll run....using the old style MX ones at least from my experience!

[elliottdp]

Is there anyway to simply alter or "hack" an mp3 player to have an external hard drive plugged in in order to use that drive as the music storage?

In other words, I have an 8Gb Sansa Fuze. Yes, it is expandable with the sd slot, but My music library has grown to ~ 1.5 terabytes.

Any aftermarket software/OS upgrade that can allow hook up an external USB hard drive (AC powered, of course)?

Not sure if a creature like this even exists. Seems like it should though.

Thanks

[peppergomez]

I went ahead and bought the Cowon X7, which offers 160GB.

[nohitter151]

Is there anyway to simply alter or "hack" an mp3 player to have an external hard drive plugged in in order to use that drive as the music storage?

In other words, I have an 8Gb Sansa Fuze. Yes, it is expandable with the sd slot, but My music library has grown to ~ 1.5 terabytes.

Any aftermarket software/OS upgrade that can allow hook up an external USB hard drive (AC powered, of course)?

Not sure if a creature like this even exists. Seems like it should though.

Thanks

I'm not aware of anything like that. But if you go that far as to carry an external drive around, why not just carry a laptop or netbook as well?

[elliottdp]

Portable HD can hold quite a bit of data and still fit in my pocket. Can't do that with a laptop or netbook and most that are affordably priced do not have the 1+ Tb that I have.

Wish I had more time and the knowledge to "hack" my MP3 player's OS and create such a beast. I'm woefullly ingnorant, though. I'm just a user.


End of Line

[nohitter151]

Portable HD can hold quite a bit of data and still fit in my pocket.

I don't think you can fit a portable HD in your pocket with an AC adapter and USB cables, etc.

[elliottdp]

I wear cargo shorts. The pockets are plenty big enough. Can easily hold 20 oz. bottles in them so I don't need to pay the high prices at movie theaters when I rarely go.

I suppose a small tablet might work as long as it has a USB port and an audio jack. Have to kick the idea around some more.
Thanks.

[SalmonGod]

I've recently faced the same problem. The whole pmp/mp3 player market currently sucks ass because everything has moved to smart phones and tablets, and everyone is trying to mimic Apple's design priorities, which favors shininess and minuscule size/weight differences over flexibility, power, and advanced functions. It really had me furious and still kinda does. All I wanted was a device specialized just for playing media with USB host for hooking up to a portable hard drive. There is not a single device like this out there, and it makes absolutely no sense.

I really wanted to go for a Cowon device, but they have certain quirks that break the deal for me -- the biggest one being a firmware playlist size limitation of 400 songs. Seriously, WTF.

So I finally settled for a tablet. It's an odd sort of compromise, since I do like all the extra features I'm getting out of the deal... it's just a lot more than I need or had intended to pay for. I got an Acer Iconia Tab W500 + 750GB Toshiba Canvio + 32GB Class 10 SD Card + Adonis Jot Stylus all for less than $600, which is only slightly more than what I paid for the 5 year old Wolverine ESP that it's replacing. It's not pocket portable, but I carry a shoulder bag with me almost everywhere anyway and the primary use is to set up as a media station on my desk at work. I actually carry less stuff with me now, since it's made obsolete the notebook + writing utensils + novel I used to be sure to have on me at all times. Sometime in the near future, I'll get some cheap gadget that can fit just my favorites for when I need to be more portable.

My biggest gripe is the lack of a decent windows 7 audio player that has a touchscreen friendly interface + large library management tools. Winamp is too much of a resource hog for a mobile device. Foobar is highly customizable and could do everything I want, if I'm willing to learn coding to make it happen. Mediamonkey doesn't skin as extensively as others and it's apparently impossible to scroll via finger swipe.

aaaaarrrrggghhh

But overall I'm very pleased with what I ended up getting. Hope this helps you make your decision. I know it's frustrating, and it's kinda nice to see that I'm not alone.

[nohitter151]

My biggest gripe is the lack of a decent windows 7 audio player that has a touchscreen friendly interface + large library management tools.

Have you tried AlbumPlayer? http://www.albumplayer.com/