I want to get less reliant on my phone and go out more without it. One of the big use cases for my phone is music.
I have a lot of local music files and I would like to transfer them to a mp3 player. I would prefer something offline that I can drag files too. Also Bluetooth would be a plus so I can continue to use my earbuds.
Something easy to navigate would be ideal too. Basically like what iPods were like with a small screen where you can navigate easily and see album artwork.
Could pick up a secondhand Zune on eBay. I’ve still got mine and it works as well as the day I bought it nearly 20 years ago
If you enjoy the iPod classic format, there’s tons of second hand ones that you can flash software onto for a more modern experience. Lots of aftermarket parts for customization and upgrades like battery and shell. I don’t recall the exact model year but you can search for iPod classic upgrades and there will be tutorials out there for it.
The iPod Classic 5-7th gens are still pretty popular in the media player scene, All can have their storage modded and batteries are still available plus replacement shells if you care about cosmetic condition.
Cost more than new ones(not iPods) from Amazon/eBay etc but I’d imagine most of those are sealed and not easily serviceable.
For Bluetooth, there are adapters but no experience with those personally.
I have a gen 5 with 1TB storage and a larger battery. My only complaint is the connector. I’ll replace it with USB-C eventually.
For snowboarding and skateboarding I’ve always used the Clip by Sansa, works in any weather, pretty damned tough, and if I lose or break it, at $32 I just dont care.
The budget option is probably an entry level and used android phone without a sim.
On that note, some LG phones like the V20 were renowned for having a nice DAC
something from the “stable ports” list at https://www.rockbox.org/
I know one particular MP3 player I heard about is the Innioasis Y1, which is around $50 USD on Amazon when I checked it.
Just using an old phone without a modem plan is the easiest and cheapest option. You can put a custom rom on it.
Edit: even better than listening to my dumb ass, this website gives a rundown of the common recommendations at the moment: https://www.hifioasis.com/advice/the-best-digital-audio-players-daps/
There are options. I’m trying to work out now what to get my partner who wants to stop using her phone for audio streaming.
Budget options, these are cheap and don’t use Android as far as I’m aware:
Snowsky Echo Mini (made by Fiio)
Hiby R1
Shanling m0s
Tempotec v1
Next tier up would be (and this is where android seems to become the default, but I think Hiby use a heavily customised version of it):
Hiby M300
Fiio JM21
Hiby R3
Then you get into midrange I guess you’d call it:
Hiby R4
Sony nw-a306
More expensive:
Something from iBasso like the DX180
After that you start looking at tech outside what I think is worth paying. You can easily find reviews from audiophile websites about all of these I’ve mentioned.
Yes, I rarely listen to songs online anymore because it is extremely inconvenient for me, besides, there is a clever way to transfer any track offline even if there is no download option, although I am not sure that this method works everywhere, in some places there is protection against this, but still, the method, although inconvenient, works, and you don’t have to pay anyone a cent.
For anybody on the brink of exodus and curious about those inconvenient options, here’s what worked for me.
If you’re an audio nerd but don’t care to much about a “premium” look/feel, the Fiio Retro Mini hit the bill for me perfectly. Only $70 and has balanced audio out.
The screen is tiny and controls are a bit awkward, but couldn’t beat it for the price. My only complaint is no gapless playback. There’s about a 1/4 second gap.
I use my watch more than anything. I already have it strapped to me, so I don’t need to worry about bringing my phone. And it supports Bluetooth, so I just use my earbuds. It automatically downloads a few of my Daily Mix and Blend playlists from Spotify when I’m connected to WiFi. So I always have a fresh rotation of music, even when offline.
It’s also great for audiobooks, which is primarily what I listen to when doing menial tasks like washing dishes or working out. I use the Plappa app to connect to my Audiobookshelf instance, and can download books for offline listening. Or if you prefer Plex, Prologue is an app that extends audiobook support to Plex. Plex doesn’t natively support audiobook metadata, and serves audiobook files as if they’re just a single massive 20+ hour music file. But Prologue only uses Plex’s remote access to reach your server. Then it does its own local metadata scanning once it has access to the files, to find things like chapter data. Both Plappa and Prologue have native apps for my watch, so the UI is largely the same as if I was using my phone.
