MP3 player to match ThinkPad....reccomendations? *PIC*

[bobdsmith]

Hey, I'm looking to buy an mp3 player to match my thinkpad. I was hoping for suggestions/reccomedations, as I dont have much experience with mp3 players.
Here are my criteria:
Non proprietary software: I dont want to deal with iTunes or similar stuff...plug and play please (like a thumb drive)
Black, matte, thinkpad design: the one we know and love, but I think I'll have to settle for shiny gloss, because I have yet to see a matte music player
2 GB or more
4 hours or more
preferably no excess cabling: plugs into computer, SD card storage, or bluetooth

Ideas, anyone? Thanks

[AlphaKilo470]

Get a SanDisk Sansa Express. It plugs directly into the computer (MTP compatible; recognized as a flash drive on computers without software to support MTP) and has a MicroSD slot. However, the bottom side is silver.

[rkawakami]

Well, the color scheme is almost a perfect match, but good luck finding one that still works (mine sorta does, the last time I looked at it a couple of years ago):

http://www.amazon.com/Remanufactured-Ri ... B00067YXT6 (Rio Nitrus 1.5GB MP3 player)

It even has a Trackpoint! It also has a tiny hard drive so no jogging around with it (although I took it snow skiing for several years without a mishap).

[craigmontHunter]

Sansa fuze, and you can get it with a matte black back, the front is a glossy black, and they have great sound quality, and come with a protective sleeve, a great buy.

[bobdsmith]

What do y'all think of Samsungs?


Admin note: Added PIC warning in original subject line

[rkawakami]

But doesn't this better represent a ThinkPad?

[bobdsmith]

feels rather round to me...i like brick designs. Although, I must say, that nub is pretty cool.

[vanaya]

Ray, That's pretty cool!! I agree it's more "Thinkpadish"

[bobdsmith]

After giving the Nitrus a second look, I am beginning to like it. Thanks, Ray!

[tomh009]

feels rather round to me...i like brick designs. Although, I must say, that nub is pretty cool.

I use a little tiny 4GB iRiver LPlayer ... it's black, it's square and it's small. Sorry, no TrackPoint.

[rkawakami]

After giving the Nitrus a second look, I am beginning to like it. Thanks, Ray!

Well, give it a good, close look since there's a few things that need to be said:

- it does require proprietary software (Rio Music Manager) for communicating with the player
- it has a non-user serviceable battery; in other words, one which is not easily replaceable by the user
- it uses a hard drive, not flash memory so it may be sensitive to impacts
- it only has a 1.5GB capacity

All of that said, it still looks like a Thinkpad! There's a model that replaced the Nitrus available from Rio called the Carbon. It too uses a tiny hard drive but has a capacity up to 6GB. Don't know if they are available in an all-black format. Depending on your lifestyle, a hard drive player may not make much sense. For durability, you really can't beat flash-based MP3 players.

[bobdsmith]

I think hard disk isnt going to be a problem...I dont wear it for exercise, and ave been using my X61s (hard drive) up to now with no problems (other than size). The nonserviceable battery is annoying, but if the thing has screws, I'm fine. Either way, I'm still shopping around...but thanks for the help, y'all.

[jronald]

Im impressed with this little piece of work

http://www.consumer.philips.com/consume ... +SA3245-37

It is very shiny though

Ron