Best MP3 player to buy for Rockbox?

[InGearX]

I love Rockbox

From all the MP3 players that it supports - what is the best in value player to buy?

Thank you...

[Febs]

Take a look at the "Buyer's Guide" wiki page:

http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/BuyersGuide

[LambdaCalculus]

And also search the forums. Many people have been asking this same question now, and you can see what others say just from searching.

[ThaCrip]

@ InGearX ... i think the Sandisk Sansa e200 series (v1) players are a solid choice because...

-user replaceable battery
-seems all around durable
-has external memory slot (supports up to 32GB MicroSDHC cards with Rockbox)
-it's cheap! (roughly 30-50 bucks or so depending on what model you get. i paid about 47 bucks out the door for my e250 back in June 2008)
-it's flash memory based. (which i consider to be a good thing since it's no moving parts to fail like ones with Hard Drives and it probably uses less power (which means more battery life) to since it's Flash Memory)

because in my opinion i think you get alot for your money (i.e. 'bang for the buck') with the Sansa e200 series.

[evilnick]

The Sansa E series does have some electrical interference, although depending on the headphones used this may be negligible.

[froggyman]

if you want to spend a fair amount of money,and get a player that will be awesome for games, and for it to have a desent sized screen get a iPod Video or the Gigabeat.

[ThaCrip]

The Sansa E series does have some electrical interference, although depending on the headphones used this may be negligible.

in my opinion it is negligible (i.e. pretty much not there)... because on my headphones (which are nothing special but sound decent (i.e. your typical cheap-ish set of headphones)) i pretty much dont hear it unless it's very quiet and the sound level is pretty low.

bottom line... weather it's there or not, it's not anywhere near the point of saying 'man this really sucks, i need a new player'

EDIT: just noticed this on this website...

"What's that weird static noise during playback?

If you hear a strange static noise while browsing the menus or during the quieter parts of songs, you are not alone. This is the sound of the Sansa "thinking" and is an unfortunate feature of the Sansa hardware. It can therefore also be heard while using the original firmware, although it's slightly quieter according to some"

i think i do hear that from time to time but it's pretty much nothing that's a real concern as it dont really effect listening quality of the music etc etc.

[r00tb33r]

I have a stack of 3 Sansa e280 on my desk right now.  They sound OK with stock firmware, however the RockBox firmware on these sounds very harsh and rough compared to stock or Gigabeat F series with RockBox.
Gigabeat F/X also has the advantage in screen size and button count, battery life, and even better battery life with compact flash instead of hard drive.

[Stu L Tissimus]

It's like this topic was made for me, I've decided that it's finally time to abandon my trusty iHP-120. (As much as I love it the jogpad is extremely fidgety, and I need to expand beyond 20GB anyway.)
So... anybody have any creative ideas on where I could find a new 60GB Gigabeat or 80GB iPod 5.5? Amazon's price for a new 5.5 is a joke. Think there's a chance Best Buy and such have any old models left over?

[TexasRockbox]

These folks ask a lot for refurbished iPod videos and I've never done business with them but here might be a source: http://www.rapidrepair.com/

I'm using an iPod Video I upgraded to 120GB.  It's a great player (in my view).  Rockbox runs reliably and parts are easy to find.

[Stu L Tissimus]

So what's the deal with 'refurbished,' is it like they take the internals out of a used iPod and stick it in a new case to pretty it up or what?

[Llorean]

What "refurbished" means can depend entirely on who you're purchasing it from. Sometimes it just means "we've run tests on it, it's functional, and there's no physical damage that interferes with use."

You should always ask the seller what minimum condition their refurbished stock is if you're uncertain.