Buying a Portable MP3 Player

And free file converting software

[limbo]

I started retro buying all my favourite music and converting them to digital so I can 'Jukebox' through my Aux and surround. but when I'm travelling/commuting I Love to listen to music... so I want to buy an MP3 Player.

I am hoping to buy one with a long battery life and minimum 512mb. A radio is pretty essential too. All for about £100.

Any suggestions?

Also, I have been converting Wavs to MP3 and Nero is telling me I now have to buy the converting software cos I have used all my license allows (how cheap is that!) So does anyone know of good, affordable/free software I can download to do this

Ta, Limbo.

[photon]

Take a look at dBpowerAMP Music Converter; it's free.

[bill]

Grab a copy of Exact Audio Copy and the LAME encoder. Both are free and they work together. If you're interested in some high quality ripping consider following the ÜberStandard. They have some fairly simple setup guides for making variable bit recordings (VBR).

[limbo]

Thanks Gents

I will try both of your suggetions for the file conversion software.

Anyone got any opinions on good/bad MP3 players, ipods etc?

Ta, Limbo

[photon]

I'm a big iPod fan, but I think the cheapest one is around $250, and that's the mini. For about $50 more, you can get the full size with about 15Gb more storage.

[bill]

I'm in the market too, but I'm leaning away from the iPods. For the same price, or less it seems you can get a lot more from makers like Creative and iRiver. I'm keeping an open mind about this but am still in the research stage. Toshiba has the gigabeat F60 coming out in December, and that's a 60GB model with a 240 x 320 dot full color TFT LCD. I may have to wait and see how they price that...

[defanjos]

I have the iRiver iHP-120, and I love it. Plenty of storage space and battery life. It also has a radio, which the iPods lack.

[graywolf]

If you ever decide you want one for in the house that actually goes with your AV equipment look at an Audiotron. Had mine for over a year and still luvin' it.

[limbo]

Thanks for the suggestions folks.

I have the iRiver iHP-120, and I love it. Plenty of storage space and battery life. It also has a radio, which the iPods lack.

How big a memory does this one have? It has all my other needs (radio is a necessity for me) so may well be the one......hi ho, hi ho, it's off to google...

[defanjos]

It has a 20Gb hard drive and the battery life is an amazing 16 hours.

[chchurch]

I bought the Rio Nitrus. It has a 1.5 gig miniature hard drive, and doesn't skip, even while clipped to my belt and running/jogging. I paid about US$149.