Who needs a standalone MP3 player in 2022? In my opinion, the respond is "almost no one." Any iPhone or Android phone is an audio player that works with subscription music apps like Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Amazon Music or YouTube Music. You pay your $v to $x a month, and you get access to near every popular song ever recorded. And the tracks are downloadable, besides, so yous can mind to your music fifty-fifty when you lot leave a Wi-Fi or cellular coverage expanse. It'southward quick, piece of cake and user-friendly. What'southward not to similar?
"A lot," I can hear some of you saying. Perchance y'all've got i too many subscriptions already, and so why pay for 1 more when y'all already have a music library of thousands of MP3 files sitting on your difficult bulldoze? Some of you, meanwhile, accept meticulously crafted iTunes playlists, like mix tapes of old, that you don't want to recreate or transfer to another service, or rare, one-off live tracks that don't exist on mainstream services. (Phish fans, I'thousand looking at you.)
Now, truth exist told, if whatsoever of that applies to y'all, you lot still don't need an MP3 player -- your iPhone can still sync music files from iTunes (on Windows) or the Apple tree Music app (on Mac), and it probably has more storage space than your old iPod e'er did. Android phones, as well, can play whatever music files you tin load them up with. Simply if you really desire a defended device for your music -- or, maybe, a parentally curated prepare of songs to requite to a kid who's not ready for a telephone -- there are still MP3 device options out there. They're not all great, and they generally come up with some caveats. Merely if you've gotten this far, here'southward what I tin can recommend, almost 2 decades later on the iPod was first released.
Best for die-hard iTunes users
iPod Touch
Sarah Tew/CNET
There's simply one iPod MP3 player left in Apple'southward lineup, and, sadly, it doesn't take a curlicue cycle. The iPod Bear upon is basically an iPhone without the telephone, with a 4-inch touchscreen and a camera borrowed from the iPhone 6 era. Only that's exactly the signal: This 2019 refresh can run iOS 13 and 14, and information technology tin can pull music from iTunes (on Windows) or Apple Music (on the Mac). It works seamlessly with Bluetooth headphones and speakers, but dissimilar mod iPhones, it mercifully includes an onetime-school headphone jack, too. And, because it's got the App Shop, you can also opt for alternating services similar Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube and the like (so long as you can access a Wi-Fi hotspot), in improver to or instead of the Apple Music app.
At around $180 for 32GB (add virtually $100 for 128GB, or $200 for 256GB), an iPod Touch isn't cheap, and information technology'southward getting long in the tooth. But information technology's the nearly capable and flexible pick hither, especially for those who are already in the Apple services universe -- or reject to leave their iTunes-based MP3 library. Information technology's also a nice fallback portable MP3 player selection for kids if yous don't want to spend up for an iPad, which starts at $300 and isn't pocketable.
Read our Apple iPod Touch 2019 review.
Screenless Spotify selection
Mighty Vibe
Sarah Tew/CNET
The Mighty Vibe is the closest modern equivalent to the iPod Shuffle, the screenless iPod that was beloved by runners for weighing side by side to cypher and just spooling off songs from their favorite playlist. (It'south too a neat gadget loophole for sleepaway camps with "no screen" rules.) The catch is that this model only works with Spotify Premium and (thanks to a contempo firmware update) Amazon Music, both of which tin can exist synced wirelessly.
The Vibe can store upwards of 1,000 songs in its music library, and -- unlike the old Shuffle -- it supports wireless and wired headphones. But it charges through the headphone jack via a proprietary cablevision, rather than more ubiquitous micro-USB or USB-C connectors. The five-hr battery life is so-so, as is the $100 price tag (recently up from $90), which feels college than what you desire to pay for this MP3 device product in an era of $30 wireless headphones and $200 smart phones.
Read our Mighty Vibe Spotify Music Player review.
Other MP3 players
Aye, the iPod Touch and the Mighty Vibe are really the merely two products I tin recommend in this category with any degree of enthusiasm. But they aren't the simply options. If you're looking for a bargain basement pick (under $50), a serious high-finish alternative (starting at $200 and going to four figures) or some interesting workarounds, read on.
Inexpensive option for drag-and-drop fans
Mibao M500
The iPod Nano portable music thespian was arguably the high point of the iPod line, and it was discontinued in 2017. Only that hasn't stopped a thriving market for knockoff players. I bought what was (in the past few months) the top-selling music player on Amazon to see if information technology came close to the real matter. Spoiler alert: It didn't. But it'south dirt cheap and generally acceptable if yous're looking for an MP3 format music histrion that lives outside your telephone. Syncing from iTunes or the Apple Music app isn't supported: You lot connect it to your computer and but drag and drop the music files.
The portable music player product I played around was the Mibao M500. No, I've never heard of Mibao either -- and what appears to be a nigh identical version of the player is sold under the Supereye brand, too.
Just for effectually $30 (!), you'll get 32GB of onboard storage (with a microSD expansion slot for more than) and extras including wired headphones and an armband. It supports standard 3.5mm headphones and Bluetooth wireless, though the latter involves a choosy pairing process for music play. Information technology has an onboard FM radio, too.
Alas, you get what y'all pay for: The company's website isn't in English, and so expert luck with any tech support. More than importantly, though, the Mibao's D-pad navigation and lack of external playlist support but had u.s. longing for that classic iPod ringlet cycle of yore. Yes, the Mibao is inexpensive and yeah, it plays your music files -- but that's nearly it.
Micro histrion for runners
SanDisk Prune
In the (distant) past, the tiny SanDisk Prune family of players were a serviceable option for basic music playback (with similar drag-and-drop limitations to the Mibao higher up). But some Amazon reviewers take criticized the later iteration of that model -- the Clip Sport Plus -- saying that its Bluetooth connexion wasn't up to snuff. If y'all desire to go this route, you might want to stick with wired headphones.
Swim-friendly tunes
Sony Walkman Headphones
Want to listen to music while you're swimming? Sony offers waterproof headphones that double as an MP3 player with 16GB of storage. We oasis't reviewed these at CNET, and the Amazon reviews aren't enthusiastic, but it'south such a unique waterproof MP3 actor pick, I wanted to include it here.
Aftershockz Xtrainerz
This 4GB "player in a headphone" model uses Aftershockz's patented os-conduction technology. It's also fully waterproof, and retails for $150. (CNET hasn't tested these hands-on, either.)
Music on your wrist
Apple Spotter
One time upon a time, people strapped iPod Nanos to their wrists and called it an Apple Watch of sorts. Nowadays the existent Apple Watch can deed as a sorta-kinda iPod, at least for Apple Music subscribers. But sync some playlists to the Watch, and you tin savor digital music (non to mention podcasts) on a set of wireless headphones, even if the iPhone is nowhere nearby.
The budget hack
Any onetime smartphone
If you've got an old phone -- or you buy a new 1 without service -- you lot'll have access to the total realm of app-based music services, and any music files you intendance to upload. Something similar the $130-ish Samsung Galaxy A10E (shown above) fits the bill nicely, since you can drop in a MicroSD card that you've preloaded with tunes. But once again, the closer you become to the $180 marker, the more than an iPod Touch beckons.
Loftier-cease portable music players
Astell & Kern and Sony Walkman
A Sony Walkman histrion from 2016
Andrew Hoyle/CNETAudiophiles accept long looked downwards on digital music considering the sound quality was notably inferior for golden-eared listeners with distinguishing tastes. But the evolution of lossless file formats (such as FLAC) and cheap aplenty multigigabyte storage have made portable high-fidelity music a reality.
At this signal, in that location are really simply two major players in the high-end portable music infinite: Astell & Kern and Sony (where the Walkman brand notwithstanding lives on). I've used earlier versions of each brand, but not the current models.
Sony Walkman music players range from about $218 to $3,500 and across.
Astell & Kern players start at $700.
If y'all're the sort of person who has hard drives full of uncompressed music audio files -- and can hear the divergence betwixt that and comparatively depression-resolution MP3 and AAC files -- then, by all means, pair upward one of those players with your wired headphone of option.
A meliorate loftier-end alternative
Tidal, Amazon and (soon) Spotify
That said, I think the ameliorate option for budding audiophiles is a subscription to ane of the several music services that offer higher bitrates on your existing devices. This premium approach began with Tidal, which offers content at 1,411 Kbps and upward. Amazon has since joined the party with Amazon Music HD (bitrates upwardly to 3,730 Kbps). And and so there's Spotify, which is planning a higher-quality offering called Spotify HiFi.
If you like what y'all hear, consider upgrading to a decent headphone DAC (that's "digital to analog converter") similar the Audiofly Dragonfly and a serious wired headphone. Then you'll have a solid audiophile choice that'southward practiced for the route, without the need for a standalone music player.
Your MP3 collection in the cloud
YouTube Music and iTunes Match
If you lot've got a digital music drove that includes one-offs and live tracks that aren't available on the mainstream services, y'all can upload them to online services, where they can live alongside subscription tracks and exist shared amidst multiple devices (including smart speakers).
YouTube Music, formerly known equally Google Play Music, offers this service at no additional toll for upward to 100,000 tracks.
Apple users can opt for iTunes Friction match, which lets you upload your own digital music to live in tandem with Apple tree Music tracks. It costs $24 a year, above and beyond the toll of Apple Music.
If you opt for either of these options, brand certain you proceed a local backup of your files, just in case these services become away.
Note that Amazon shuttered its "MP3 locker" service in 2018.
More than audio recommendations
- All-time headphones of 2022
- Best cheap headphones in 2022
- All-time over-ear headphones of 2022
- Best on-ear headphones for 2022
- Best tape actor in 2022
- Best wireless speakers for 2022
- All-time Bluetooth speakers for 2022
- Best speakers of 2022
- Best soundbars nether $300
- All-time AV receivers under $500
DOWNLOAD HERE
Posted by: shippymasphey.blogspot.com
Post a Comment