MP3 players forum: Looking for mp3 player

How do I go about determining which players will load a large playlist without taking 10 minutes to do so?

I looked a the Amazon link you sent, but it looks like most everything is a video player as well. Don't really need that. I guess it wouldn't matter if it had a video player, just wouldn't use it. I am trying to get away from the old players. They seem to die rather quickly after I get them all set up.

Not too worried about the cost, if it will work correctly for what we need. Don't want to spend $200 bucks, but not necessarily looking for a $19.99 deal either. I'm just having trouble finding what I need without buying something and finding out it won't work.

BTW: We are all Windows PC's here. No Apple stuff.

I've encountered folk that dismiss any with video and they seem to get mad and dig in their heels. Go figure why they can't ignore that?

Why not an old iPod? My 20GB classic is still alive so why not used that you know works?
Bob

I don't care if it has video or not. I'll most likely never use it for that. I just thought that was going to add to the cost, so why get something more complicated than necessary.

I don't have experience with iPods. Will they work okay with a PC for downloading the mp3's? Will they indeed handle a 1000+ song playlist without problems?

If an iPod will work, then I'm game.

Sounds like a good question but most folk never do that so you're pushing a limit on something.

Such playlists have to be sorted and I wonder but that doesn't matter.

Even 500 items could sort in less than half the time!
Bob

Yes it would have to be sorted, obviously, to go through the Bible in the right order. Can this be done on an iPod?

"Even 500 items could sort in less than half the time!"

Less than half the time of what?

Educate me on iPods. I have no experience. Is there some model you would recommend that you think would work? Also, how easy are they to set up for this type of thing? Is there a downloader or something that I can load all of the files into and build the playlist in the correct order and then send them to the iPod or do I need to do a lot of this on the iPod itself.

I would probably just try and find one on craigslist or eBay or something. Probably won't buy a new one, not yet anyway.

Thanks for you help.

500 items should sort in half the time of 1000 items. As to the iPod the only time you find folk that push back on that is when they have a personal grudge or issue with Apple, iTunes, Windows or who knows what.

You know to just nod and let them carry on.

There's also those that have the "correct order" issues. I have never seen that to be a problem yet you can read long diatribes about it out there. Here I'll rename or such as need be. Since I'm a programmer this seems pretty trivial but that's unfair as many folk don't want to dive in.

Sorry but something is off here. Divvying up the playlist to a few seems like an easy workaround but then again you encounter folk that won't do that.
Bob

So how long does 500 items take to sort? The Dell players seem to sort really quickly. The RCA one I bought takes it's sweet time. It was a current model a year ago, so I think they kind of went backwards.

If an iPod will work, then I'm not against it. Just don't have any experience with them. Or many other mp3 players for that matter.

As far as the order, I have all of the files named with a preceding number so hopefully that will eliminate that problem.

As for splitting the playlist, this is for my Mom and she isn't too tech savvy so I'd just as soon make it as user friendly as possible. A single playlist is what she is used to, so that would be the best if it will work.

Do you have a preferred iPod, or are they all created equal for what I need? I'm assuming the current models do far more than I need. How far back can I safely go before I might run into problems?

Once again, thanks for the advice.

I do have an old 20GB HP iPod and never seen to wait at all. I'm going to bow out here since at this point you need folk that will test 500 item playlists for you and give measured times.
Bob

Maybe the one other player I tried (the RCA one) happened to be one of a few that won't handle the large playlist very well. Could be a coincidence, I guess.

I'm guessing you mean you have an HP mp3 player and not an HP iPod, as I don't think they ever made them. I think the iPod was strictly an Apple thing.

Maybe someone else will chime in soon and let me know about large playlists. Thanks again for your time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPod%2BHP

Wow, I think that this is really a solid model given it's 7 years old. I use it mostly in the speaker dock and never thought much about its age.
Bob

I told you I didn't know much about iPods. I guess it shows.