An iPod I own uncharacteristically died (battery death, I suspect). I'm looking to replace it with something compact I can stash on my person when I'm out walking/exercising.

Apple only now makes the iPod Touch, which is essentially an iPhone without the phone. I don't want to carry a phone or something phone-sized. My EDC iPods have been in the Shuffle or Nano range.

So far, I've purchased two pieces of Chinese crap from Amazon. They both went back the same day I bought them. Complete junk.

So, before I piss away more time and money, does anyone have any recommendations? Here is what I'd like:

Compact - the Shuffles were about the size of a postage stamp. They had a clip to attach them to clothing.
mp3 compatible. m4a and mp4 would be nice. So would wav and avi.
Bluetooth would be nice.
FM Radio (I understand you have to use wired earphones, as the wire is the radio antenna)
8+ GB (oh, I'll settle for 4 GB)
Ease of use. Recognized by Mac AND PC.

Does sandisk still make one? I had one about 10 years ago that was drag and drop, took a single AAA battery and held up to an insane amount of abuse (used in hot wet and dirty lawn/landscaping work) for over 6 years.

There are many iPod nanos on eBay.

There is also this look-alike on Amazon, labeled as "Amazon's Choice" for $25.99 -- https://smile.amazon.com/AGPTE...s=electronics&sr=1-4

Disclaimer: I am hearing impaired, so I have no experience with this one. I did use an iPod nano years ago, before my hearing loss.

I have a couple, small ones, from best buy. I don't recall the make. They'll hold about 8 gigs, but will take the little tiny memory cards that hold a lot more. They've been handy on long flights.

Years ago I had several Cowon (big South Korean audio electronics company) MP3 players that were excellent - great sound, great battery life, good UI, used constantly for years with no problems. That is the first place I would look if I was looking for another today.

Maybe do a battery replacement? I've done it on an iPod Classic (the big one).

https://www.ipodbatterydepot.com/installation.asp

https://www.rapidrepair.com/sh...ry-replacements.html

Everything is moving to streaming on smartphones and what you are looking for is rapidly becoming obsolete as a standalone type device.

FiiO products are worth a look and available on Amazon.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
Everything is moving to streaming on smartphones and what you are looking for is rapidly becoming obsolete as a standalone type device.

This is pretty much true, but as long as the standard for smartphone battery life is "a day of moderate use" and most streaming services use not-very-good audio compression rates, I think there's still a place for a dedicated device.

Not to mention - many smartphones have DACs and headphone amplifiers that don't sound very good, the focus being on battery life rather than sound quality, and many more don't have them at all, requiring you to use a dongle, an external DAC/amp, or Bluetooth. High quality Bluetooth audio streaming is pretty hit or miss right now.

Amazon sells refurbished iPod Shuffles for approx. 100 bucks. Some reviews complained about dead on arrival, some are fine with their player. YMMV.

I got a Maozua from amazon (for $30 and change shipped) and am very happy with the interface and headphone sound. I have a bunch of mp3s on my hd and many microsd cards, so it was a no brainer. todderbert review.

https://www.amazon.com/SANDISK...4DR15F21JX3JNBWR8BF5

Only one I have. I have nothing to compare it too

A bulk reply, so I don't have to quote particular responses:

1) Streaming via phone. I said in my OP, "I don't want to carry a phone or something phone-sized."

2) The AGPTEK, Mazua and half a dozen other identical players are likely all made by the same Chinese company, under different names. They all look alike, and I returned the one I had. It was junk.

3) eBay sells refurbished and obsolete iPods. I don't want to replace an old iPod with one that is just as old.

4) The web site for FiiO is rich in glitz and acronyms, but short on basics: are these things players or receivers (some are both). Yes, they have high-tech processors and come across as miniature computers. Which they are. I did note that most of them use Android, which is an OS I will not have anything to do with. Especially from a Chinese company (ask me why, if you don't know about Chinese spy/malware).


5) As an Adorama VIP customer, I ordered a SANDISK 16GB Clip Sport Plus. I've had other SanDisk products (mostly memory cards) and have found them reliable. Adorama will make sure I'm satisfied. My trust level in Amazon has nearly vanished.

quote:

Originally posted by fpuhan:
5) As an Adorama VIP customer, I ordered a SANDISK 16GB Clip Sport Plus. I've had other SanDisk products (mostly memory cards) and have found them reliable. Adorama will make sure I'm satisfied. My trust level in Amazon has nearly vanished.

Please let us know how this works out for you. I've wanted to purchase an iPod replacement myself.

Another option would be to purchase an Apple Watch series 3. I've seen some pretty regular deals on them on 9to5toys. Of course, you would then have to use some type of bluetooth headset. So it may not be worth it to you.

I just saw this????

https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/28...touch-new/index.html

quote:

Originally posted by springnr:
FiiO products are worth a look and available on Amazon.

^^^ this ^^^

Not a cheap throw away but a very good full product line with something for everybody.

I recently purchased the SanDisk Clip Jam at Best Buy for $30. The interface for choosing songs is basic but it works fine. It is tiny.

My Sansa e2xx series players that go back nearly a decade still work great. Clip model, too. The Fuse model died though.

Dedicated mp3 players are going the way of the Walkmann.

A smartphone really is your best bet for your desired feature specs. A lot of them have gone back to micro-sd storage so you can throw in a high capacity card full of uncompressed music of you so desire.

Sandisk Clip


Nice cheap player. They’ve made them for years.