Do people still use MP3 players?

[ElectroVibe]

Before I had a smart phone (and before I had a car with an audio input jack), I would connect audio players into various FM radio devices so I could play podcasts in my car on my commute. If your audio player was not very loud, you would hardly hear the music over the FM noise. I eventually ran across Cowon audio players that cater to audiophiles. They could play a variety of formats and were very loud (my J3 is rated at 29mW per channel stereo with a 95db signal to noise ratio). That volume allowed me to send a clean signal into what ever device I wanted down the line. I still use my J3 for practicing music (into my Vox Amplug, Rolls PM55P on my pedal board, Fender Rumble 30 amp or into my Yamaha sound sound board to my studio monitors). I also use it for listening to podcasts in the car using my audio jack.

I can't use my smart phone near my sound board/studio monitors as every time the phone sends/receives data, it causes interference that I can hear in the monitors. I also practice in areas with zero cell or WiFi signal (so streaming is out). I guess another benefit of these particular audio players is that I don't have to worry about them phoning home my data to someone else since they do not have internet access. When traveling, I find it handy to have the dedicated audio player so when I am driving all day long, I don't worry about exhausting my cell phone battery (for making phone calls or navigation).

I have found that you can reformat these audio players when they die and can get more life out of them. I will keep them going as long as I can since I find them very helpful. Also, for those who use the older iPods, you can use Spinrite on them to make them start working again. Also, there are alternate firmware out there that you can install on some of the iPods to get more features.

I agree. I don't like the idea of your private information being at risk, just for the sake of entertainment. They should always be in 2 separate devices.

 

[MonetBass]

I was surprised anyone would still be buying the older style in new versions, so long after flash drive technology had replaced it. 2014.?

The iPod Touch was released in 2007, which uses flash memory just like the iPhone. I guess since Apple planned on phasing out the iPod Classic, it didn't make sense to update the storage mechanism. Although to be honest, my iPod accepted the flash drive kit no problem. But I don't think its OS was designed to handle that kind of storage since it will get 'stuck' once in a while and skip ahead several tracks before it resumes playing. Very odd.

 

[Leigh Semmens]

What amazes me is that people spend gigadollars on a u-beaut car stereo to listen to a pin drop in their music whilst they are driving and can & should not be concentrating on the finer points of music whilst they are concentrating on the finer points of the traffic around them. A car might be a good listening space (i.e. anechoic device) but, I'd much prefer a dedicated listening room at home where I can actually appreciate good music without distraction.

 

[GreyEagle]

I used to buy MP3 players up until roughly 10 years ago and I loved them. But after a while they became harder to find. As in, finding them in stores.

Funny coincidence; I just came in from listening to my old Samsung Galaxy Player in my yard (rigged up to a desktop speaker system)! My 1st SanDisk mp3 player is still working as well!
I download music to an external drive & sync them to my cell phone's sd card for listening. Spotify through my android tv's (main is through a home theater setup).

 

[dasherf17]

I used to buy MP3 players up until roughly 10 years ago and I loved them. But after a while they became harder to find. As in, finding them in stores.

Did a better method come along? Such as Spotify or some kind of online storage?

I still like the idea of a smaller device dedicated to music that is light and easy to carry.

To be honest, I've gone back to traditional radio. Yes, for 10 years. But if I could find a good player to hold lots of music, maybe hundreds of albums. Or perhaps a way of selecting a dozen albums at a time, and then switching them out each day. If that's easy to do.

I'd even be open to online options, none of which I have used, with the exception of youtube.

Thanks for any suggestions.

I store mp3s on my phone and SD card. Once they're captured you don't use any more data...I can go through data...
Once it's on the phone, I plug it into the car system...life is good...music...

 

[dasherf17]

I buy old Android phones really cheap and install SD cards and use those as MP3 players as I don't store any music on my own smartphone.

Um, yeah, that too...

 

[geesharp]

I do. I have Sony Walkman A55.
I ripped all my CD collection to FLAC and store them in th Walkman.. along with all the songs I bought from iTunes store.

I also store all the songs on my Samsung S8 (in an SD card), and listen to music on it every now and then, with Poweramp app.
But I use my Walkman much more often then the music player on my S8.

Radio? You bet. I listen to the radio every now and then, on my Panasonic radio (RF2400D).