I'm wondering how to find the best deal on a good mp3 player. Are there any great deal-comparing sites, coupon codes, or sales I
should know about? Also, I'm interested in thoughts on brands, styles, and models? What do people have and what do they like and dislike? -Linnea
Personally, I'm not a bells and whistles kind of gal (bet you could've guessed that!) nor am I a techno-geek, so I have an Apple iPod Shuffle 1 GB. I love it and use it every morning when I work out. It works great for exercising since it's so lightweight and can just clip onto your clothing.
However, the iPod Shuffle has very little memory (or is it called "space" or something else? See, I'm no techno-geek!) compared to other mp3 players and absolutely no bells and whistles. But it serves the purpose I use it for perfectly so I'm happy as a lark with it. Oh, and I got a really great deal on mine–I earned it free through Swagbucks (thanks to extra points earned from some of you signing up with my referral code on the sidebar!). Otherwise, I'd likely still be living in the "Dark Ages" and using a CD player or radio when I work out! 🙂
For those of you who have mp3 players or
ideas for where to purchase them inexpensively, I'd love to hear your
input. I'm sure Linnea's not the only one who could benefit from it!
I quite love my Creative Zen products I’ve gotten over the past few years. As far as I know they don’t have a comperable item to an iPod touch, but everything else is good. Their prices are quite reasonable (I think you can get a good one for under $100), and you don’t pay for the brand name like you do with Apple. I think on newer models they are compatible with iTunes which is nice, but I think iTunes is going to all MP3 files instead of their own special deals so that might no longer be a great issue.
I would also highly recommend the Zune. I got my 30GB for under $80 and having had it 2 years now I would have paid 3 times that knowing all the use I’ve gotten out of it.
I have had a Creative Zen for about 6 weeks now. I love it!! It’s a 4GB and will also allow you to add a card for more storage. In addition to being an mp3 player it plays video, has an FM radio, will store photos, has a calendar, alarm clock and many other extras. I got it directly from the Creative website. It is refurbished and it came with a 90 day warranty.
Here is a link to the Creative outlet store.
http://us.creative.com/shop/shopcategory.asp?category=618
Oops! Forgot to say they got it at Wal-Mart.
My son got an MP3 player for Christmas from my in-laws. It is a 2 gig (lots of memory!) and it was on ly $20! He has tons of music on it and it’s not even half ful. It has a clip to hold it on a pocket and came with ear buds (the kind that fit inside your ear). The best part of it is that it is a USB connection. We just plug it into a USB port on our computer and load music. No extra programs or cords!
Not knowing how much we were going to like Jonathan Park radio shows – I should’ve bought a pre-loaded iPod Nano from Vision Forum for my husband http://www.visionforum.com/search/productdetail.aspx?search=jonathan+park&productid=93320
Vision Forum offers deals pretty often of saving coupons or free shipping. Just offering one additional idea! 🙂
I have a 32G IPod, I love it but it was pretty $$ and holds so much space that I will never use. I wanted to post the website that I get my music from though, http://www.gomusic.ru
The songs are super cheap and its all legal just like ITunes.
I put a fancy ipod touch on Layaway at Kmart! Granted I paid a lot for it, but it allowed me to do so in managable incriments, without involving credit cards.
Thank you for this post, I too have been on the hunt for an inexpensive mp3. Your readers have given me a lot to think about:)
We purchased one of these this weekend from buy.com
http://www.buy.com/prod/apple-ipod-30gb-digital-multimedia-device-audio-player-video-player/q/loc/111/208815163.html
A refurbished ipod 30GB for $99.99 – I’m hoping it’s as good a deal as the zune we bought a year ago from buy.com
If you don’t have to have the latest and greatest version of things, keep an eye on woot.com. They often feature older model Sansas of various memory sizes for very cheap. I got several 1G models for $10 each. They’re still working just fine.
Thank you all for sharing your thoughts! It’s amazing to have so many people willing to answer my question with helpful advice. Thanks to Crystal for posting it!
My husband got me a Sansa Scandisk from WalMart and it does the job for my workouts. It has a screen showing the battery life and the songs playing and even has a radio. It is cheaper than an Apple Shuffle too. I only use mine when I’m working out, so I didn’t see much use in spending alot of money on it.
My hubby and I both have Creative Zen V Plus players. They can do music and video as well as radio. The software is great and they are super easy to charge and use. We got Zen Stones for the kids not realizing that they didn’t have the larger screen with menus like ours. So theirs is more like a shuffle, although with a little more control. And I don’t like the software as well. So going for the better one is worth it and the price wasn’t bad at all. We had recently bought a laptop from Dell and they sent us some coupons to use, so we ordered ours from Dell and got a super good deal. The kids’ came from Walmart. I really should have taken theirs back and gotten better players. I know Apple makes a good mp3 player, but I feel like I got a very comparable product for a lot less money. We aren’t an Apple family, so it doesn’t bother us to have a different brand.
i think apple ipods are the only mp3 players worth buying. there is a reason they totally dominate the market. prices are pretty fixed on apple products, varying only a few dollars from store to store. thus price is really relevant, but getting the most for your money is. apple has a very predictable product cycle (when they come out with new models) so to maximize your expenditure, plan to buy at the beginning of the cycle. http://www.macrumors.com/buyersguide is a great resource
You can buy a great refurbished ipod for a song at http://www.apple.com. Click on the store and then click on refurbished. We’ve gotten many apple products here and never had any trouble. They come with a 1 year warranty too. Always buy Apple!! You can’t go wrong!! 😉
We have refurbished iphones coming soon!! 🙂 Enjoy!
My son & I both have a Sandisk Sansa View 16 GB (& you can also add a 16 GB memory card). We have a LOT of music so it was important to get a lot of memory. I bought both of ours on Ebay and both are refurbished. I paid $50 for mine & $85 for his (Retail for $180 at Best Buy). I like this brand because it has great sound, lightweight and compact, very durable and are easy to use. I can also load photos, videos and podcasts on it. I bought mine via a live.com search and received 30% cash back which is why it cost less than his. The ear buds that came with it were pretty cheap so I bought a nicer pair from Wal-mart.
I definatly recommend an ipod, since as many other readers have mentioned, the itunes software is so easy to use. I personally have an iphone. Although pricey, it is very convenient, and I don’t have to worry about carrying so many different devices. I do stongly recommend that if you buy a “refurb”, only buy it directly from apple. Buying it elsewhere may not add up to the savings you think. My huspand bought one from Target. We were under the assumption that it was from apple. It wasn’t. They buy refurbs from a third party. It is actually a “repair” company that is not authorized by apple. The first one we recieved didn’t work, so we contacted the warranty number inside the package. They told us to send it to them (I was still assuming it was an authorized apple repair facility) at our expense. They also insisted on sending it insurred with a tracking number which was more costly. It took 2 weeks to get it back, and it was still doing the same thing ( fuzzy and locking up). I called back, and they gave me the run around. They wanted me to send it back to them again! This time they said they’d e-mail me a prepaid ups postage label, but would not refund me, and it would take at least another 2 weeks. This is the point when I realized they had no affiliation with apple. I called Target, and under the circumstances (They normally don’t take back opened electronics) they would give me a refund if I sent it back, with all of the paperwork I had on attempting to have it repaired by their (supplier) company. I sent it back, and they did refund me , but I also had to pay the shipping fees to send it back (again insured with a tracking number). We ended up just buying a new one directly fom apple, and spent about the same amount as on the refurb after all of the extra shipping charges. So, buyer beware!
I would definitely go with an iPod for an MP3 player. I think that they are the best, and the iTunes program is the most user-friendly, and the best for music organization. I have an iPod, and my brother has a Microsoft Zune. He told me he wishes that he had gone with the Apple. It’s hard to find deals for Apple iPods (in my experience) because Apple controls the price…which means that if it’s on sale, it’s on sale everywhere, and if it’s not on sale, it doesn’t matter where you get it – the price is the same. They come with a great warranty. We had one that was dropped in water, and they replaced it with no questions asked.
I have an iTouch and bought it at Sam’s Club. I love it! I can check my emails, facebook, my blog, etc. I can also watch movies and listen to music. It’s very handy for the time that I wait for the kid’s while they are participating in gymnastics, dance, football, cheer, and basketball! LOL
I will say that one of the best things about buying at Sam’s Club has been their return policy. My first iTouch froze and I had to take it back to exchange it. I had it for 7 or 8 months. I keep my receipt in the box and keep the box in my nightstand drawer. Well, I originally bought the 8gb and when I went to do the exchange they were out of the 8 and 16 and only had the 32 gb. So I went ahead and exchanged it and only had to pay $5 more! Prices went down in that short amount of time! Woo hoo!
Oh and the shuffle is really neat. If you have an Avon friend they are only $29 with a $40 fragrance purchase. Pretty sweet deal if you use their fragrance anyway.
I buy mine refurbished from Apple. They have always worked great and have the same warranty as a new product when you buy directly from them. I shop through Ebates to get a little % back as well! 🙂
Also if you watch the sales, sometimes Best Buy or Meijer will have gift card offers when you buy an iPod where you get $ back on it after purchasing!
I have the IPhone. LOVE IT!!! I Touch is the same w/o the phone. You can do much more than listen to music. It’s one of those things you don’t realize you need until you have it.
I have an inexpesive one from Staples that hubby got me for Christmas. Bless his heart… It had a rebate card deal attached to it! Ahh.. I love him. And I love the mp3 player. It’s a Nextar 8 gig one, and it’s currently on clearance at Staples for $69.90. (http://www.staples.com/office/supplies/p1_Nextar-MA715-A-8GB-MP3-Player_257384_Business_Supplies_10051_SEARCH) It also has a little video screen, but I don’t use that feature.
I did have a bad experience with one from Wal-mart last year. It was not rechargable, and that meant that it went through batteries pretty quickly. So, go for storage space (so you can load it up and not have to keep switching out songs), a rechargable battery, and price. Otherwise, we’ve found that brands don’t matter that much.
Count us in as Sansa users! We’ve had them for several years and never had a problem. I think mine has 2 gb and I’ve yet to fill it up, and that includes audiobooks. They aren’t expensive, which is nice too.
I bought one of these for my hubby.
http://www.amazon.com/Sandisk-Player-SDMX3-2048-A18-Hassle-Free-Packaging/dp/B001QLFQOM/ref=sr_1_24?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1245697292&sr=8-24
I have a Sandisk Sansa. I figured out what I wanted and then waited…and got them 60% off on Black Friday.
I bought my sons IPod through Apple. It was a refurbished one, I got a great deal on it.
If you are not opposed to other brands, check out woot.com or buy.com you can get good deals through them too.
Enter to win one in our contest! All you have to do is upload a photo or video that are “warm and fuzzy” at http://www.warmanfuzzy.com . We are giving away iPod Nano for the warmest and fuzzy photo and an iPod touch for the warmest and fuzziest video. The contest ends on July 1st so upload as soon as you can! There have only been a few entries so far.
I have an iPod 80 GB fifth generation iPod. I bought it refurbished from Apple.com for $200 and free shipping. I waited until the 6th generation iPods were released and then bought the refurbished last generation model. My goal was to get as many GBs (“room”) for dollars as I could, and I’ve been very pleased with my purchase. I’ve had it about a year and a half now.
My husband has a 2GB Coby MP3 player he purchased 5 years ago and it is still running great. It has been through 2 wars (litterally) and a LOT of physical therapy sessions, dropped many times, and survived the hands of little people. It holds about 200 songs and palys for almost 12 hours on one charge.
I have a sandisk 2 GB player with video screen that I love. Holds a ton of music and can take me through a month of hour long dail runs on one charge. Simple to operate and fits into most of the Ipod nano accessories.
I’d check out BeatMyPrice and its companion site, RetailMeNot, if you don’t frequent those sites already. I also use Froogle, Google’s product search engine, to get an idea of what my “target price” should be for a specific item. I like it better than other price comparison sites because you don’t have to select a specific brand or model to search for. My husband and I found a Sansa MP3 player for him for $30 last year and he’s been very happy for it. If you just want a basic player, you should be able to find a pretty good deal! Good luck!
Count me in as a Sansa lover. I’ve bought three different ones from Woot, and one on close-out at Walmart, and they are GREAT. Inexpensive, great quality, the ones with picture capability are clear and crisp, etc. I can’t say enough great things about them. Easy to use, too. You really can’t go wrong with them.
The Sansa Clip is a GREAT little mp3 player that you can get for under 50 bucks. We have 3 in our household and have yet to have any problems.
I have a Sandisk Sansa and love it. I use it to work out and listen to while I do chores. The kids like it, too. I bought it after seeing a news story done by Good Housekeeping concerning alternatives to the IPOD and this was one of the 3 recommended. I paid around $50 for it at Target.
My husband and I got our iPods from the refurbish store at apple.com. We have had absolutely no problems with them. I used a Creative mp3 player for a while but it was much harder to use and the software is a lot more complicated compared to iTunes. I love my Nano for exercising. My husband has the standard iPod and finds it too bulky for jogging with. I’d like to also add that the sound from the apple products seems a lot better than the other products I’ve tried.
We love the Zune! We have had both an iPod & Zune, and love the Zune much more! And, with a Zune, you can get what is called a Zune Pass – basically, for $14.99 per month, you can download as much music as you want – so, if you buy more than one CD/CD’s worth of downloads per month, then this is a great deal. It’s also a great way to try new music, without feeling out of money if you don’t like it, because you can just delete it and download something else. Definitely check it out!
Apple sells refurbished IPODs for fairly cheap and come with a 1 year warranty.
I would check and see if your cell phone has mp3 capability. A lot do now a-days, but you usually have to buy a memory card. I bought a 4 Gig microSD memory card for mine (check how many Gigs yours is compatible for, some are 2, some 4, and some 8) for about $20. It was hands down the best deal for that much memory, and I don’t have to carry around two different devices!
I bought an older refurbished model from apple and also used ebates. I am happy with it and just use it to work out to as well.
I don’t see Ipods go on sale a lot but when I got one for DH for Christmas I got a gift card from Toys R Us for buying it. It was $10 or something but every little bit helps. I LOVE my iPod — it makes emptying the dishwasher go by so much faster!
I bought mine and one for my mother on Sony’s website. They have refurbished models for as little as $50. They are very small and have alot of memory. I also like the ability to get radio.
We have 3 Sandisk Sansas and they have worked well for over 2 years. After researching and asking those more into the techno side of MP3 players, most recommended these for the price and features instead of the iPod. We purchased ours at Best Buy because they price matched other store’s sale prices at the time.
My husband loves New Egg and Buy.com for stuff like this. I got my 30 gig iPod as a Christmas present about 4 years ago, and the deal was great according to my hubby.
Mine is a bit bulky, it has a decent sized screen because you can watch videos on it (though I never have! lol), but I have a case for it with a clip so it’s great for my daily walks in the park.
No tips on the player, but you can get cheaper songs on eMusic than anywhere else online. They are about 40 cents each. Plus you can get a free song each week through iTunes from Starbucks.
I bought a little mp3 player on clearance at Walgreens for $6! (It was regualarly $30 or so) It only plays music (no screen) but that was fine with me. I’m sure the memory isn’t huge, but I haven’t completely filled it up yet. It has served its purpose for me!
I’ve had a Creative Zen V Plus (plus means it has FM radio) for about a year and a half. It’s been used exclusively for audiobooks, many of which are available free at librivox.org and so far, no problems with it. But the best thing about it, is that after accidentally going through both the washer AND dryer, it still works!!! (Did take a couple days to dry out, though…)
I’m with Crystal – I have an IPod Shuffle and love it! It holds several hours of music on it, is VERY simple to operate, and the battery lasts forever inbetween charges. It is lightweight, and clips on just about anywhere. I paid about $60 for mine awhile back, but Target often advertises deals on it where you pay about $40 for it and you get a Target giftcard or iTunes giftcard along with it. That would be a good deal! 🙂
They sell refurbished iPods at apple.com for $99 and free shipping. Go to the apple site through ebates.com and get 1% cash back.
I would read reviews at Amazon.com of what others have purchased to eliminate brands that will go bunk after a few months. When it comes to technology, you get what you pay for, so I would be wary of inexpensive mp3 players. We are an ipod family through and through and have never had a problem with them. Costco usually sells them for a little cheaper than other stores, but they’re hard to get a “bargain” on. Determine how much your mp3 player will cost you each day. For example, I use mine EVERY day of the week–whether music for exercising or audio books while I’m cooking/cleaning. I figure the $150 investment over 365 days a year for 3 years–it’s costing me 15 cents a day.
I have a 4 gb iPod Nano (the older style) plain white, very small and thin. Perfect for working out… holds plenty of songs, so I always have a new playlist to pick from to keep me going through some agonizing cardio!
I got mine at Target, using gift cards I’d earned through a points program at my bank (Points by National City Bank)… it is a great rewards program, giving you 2 points per $1 spent on purchases using your debit card as a credit card (still directly debits from your checking account), 25 points for every pin-using debit transaction, 25 points for every check written, etc. And Target runs a lot of specials on iPod products in their circulars – like “Purchase ___ iPod model, get a $25 Target gift card” or something similar. iPod brand mp3 players rarely go on sale anywhere, but Target’s gift-card-with-purchase makes it seem like a sale, and using my Target gift cards to purchase it made it almost free!
For my kids, I visited the Apple store via FatWallet.com so that I could get the rebate in effect at the time – don’t remember how much it was. The Apple store was selling refurbished IPods for about $60 less than the same model, new. At the time, shipping was free.
I made this purchase about 18 months ago. Daughter’s still works, son’s got swiped at school. He purchased a used IPod from a classmate for $20, and it works, too. We considered using craigslist to replace the stolen IPod – there were lots to choose from – but I was concerned that many of them were HOT. I’m curious about purchasing one through a pawn shop. . . . if anyone has done that, I’d like to know about it!
I have the old Phillips Go-Gear that they did away with (30 gigs memory and shows photos as well as plays music) and my husband paid 80.00 for it. My husband has the newer and smaller Phillips Go-Gear MP3 player (will also show photos I THINK, but he doesn’t use it for that) and that one cost us 50.00 and has like 4 gigs or something like that and then we bought him an expansion card for it with tons more memory (I don’t know these things anymore…technology outpaced me years ago). Try Target. Really I’ve seen some pretty darn good deals on things through them and if nothing else their clearance sales are killer.
My husband bought a Zune (30GB) for a website called woot.com for 89.99 last year. It is much better than an Ipod if you want to use it for videos. The screen is bigger and much clearer. It is also more affordable than an Ipod even without a sale. There is a feature where you can share songs with a friend wirelessly too. I would highly recommend Zune.
I had a Sandisk Sansa that quit after a year.
I now have a 16G Pro Ebiz that is a knock off of the Ipod. Works fine. The reviews on Amazon are good. I find it works well, and am very pleased. $77 is a little pricey, but then 16G is a LOT of space.
I forgot to mention… I have a little mp3 player that sounds like the one Laura has. Again, it’s not an Apple brand though. It cost $30 and I love it! Not a huge screen. It just scrolls through and shows you the title and artist. It also has a radio. Cute and small and easy to put songs on.
Just remember that Apple is not the only brand out there. Sometimes it’s not even the best brand. Depends on what you’re looking for.
My husband is a huge tech geek. He researched an MP3 player for about 2 years before settling on one. Oh, I should mention that he’s pretty frugal too!
He bought his off of New Egg. It’s a Cowan and has 16 G. He paid $170.00.
I love the Sandisk mp3’s. I bought a nice 4 gb on ebay for less than $40 and it works wonderfully. Lightweight, easy to use, stores lots of tunes. It is less apt to be stolen b/c it’s not an iPod and if I lose it I won’t be out hundreds of dollars. I just can’t see paying that kind of $ when I have kids to feed & a mortgage to pay! It’s lasted me 2 yrs. so far…
I used Credit Card/Milage Rewards to get our iPod. They were United Miles and we earned maybe enough for one and a half tickets (after 8 years!)
So I went to the gift rewards site and found the iPod and a docking station and used most of our miles.
Buy.com is a great place to look for deals on mp3 players and other electronics. Alot of their items are free budget shipping and is usually pretty fast. I have a sandisk 2gb, it doesn’t do everything that an ipod does but I just want it to listen to music, it has a slot for an sd card so the memory is expandable and it also has an fm radio. I have it for about 4 years and still works great.
I have an iPod Nano and LOVE it. It is just a bit easier to use than a shuffle just a couple more features but not much more money and still VERY lightweight for working out. Once you try an iPod you’ll never go back! My husband loves bells and whistles and got a top of the line iPod. He took it on a deployment and used it as a stereo, electronic picture frame, TV (plays movies), alarm clock and more. There aren’t really coupon codes for iPods BUT on their site you can get a “refurbished” one for a lot less and it has the same warranty as a new one.