Where do I find a new MP3 player with all the features of my old iriver H320?

October 25, 2008 2:15 PM

Where do I find a new MP3 player with all the features of my old iriver H320?

Hey Metafilter!
This is my first time asking a question so here goes. I really like my old iriver H320, but it's very old and it may be nearing the end of its lifespan. The weird thing is that it seems to have a lot of features that modern MP3 players don't have. I was wondering if anyone can recommend an mp3 player that basically does the following:

1. When you plug it in to the computer, the computer treats the MP3 player as a hard drive. I want to be able to rename, change, and move around songs without having to use itunes, Windows Media Player, or any other annoying software.

2. I want my MP3 player to act like a hard drive when I'm on the go. I especially want to be able to see my various folders that contain my music, see file names, and not have to use id3 tags.

Using third party firmware on a newer mp3 player isn't out of the question, but I really wasn't crazy about rockboxes' interface on my iriver, so I would prefer using first party firmware instead (assuming that any exists that meets my needs).

Thank You!

posted by AZNsupermarket to technology (13 answers total)

Cowan iAudio replaced my lost iRiver. Generic USB mass storage device, FM radio, microphone and line-in MP3 recording, plays OGG, FLAC, WAV, MP3, plays videos, displays jpeg (and gif i think), and text files, can act as USB host and download pictures from your camera without a computer. I have a 30G X5 and a 2G G3, they rock.
posted by zengargoyle at 3:23 PM on October 25, 2008

on my Sandisk Sansa E250, if I change the USB mode from MTP to MSC, upon USB connection it is detected like a hard drive with full access to files. Most players should have this option.
posted by spacefire at 3:25 PM on October 25, 2008

I know AZNsupermarket IRL, and he's asked me this several times, so I think I should clarify something. He means that he wants the MP3 player to browse around tracks via a file browser rather than through a tagging system. He keeps his songs in folders by artist and album, and doesn't really want anything to do with ID3 tags.

Probably could have guessed that from the post, but I want to make sure he gets the answers he wants.
posted by mccarty.tim at 3:42 PM on October 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

I have to second Cowon's iAudio players. I have the iAudio 7 and love it.
posted by wastelands at 4:55 PM on October 25, 2008

Nthing Cowon/iAudio. If I ever buy another mp3 player, that's almost certainly what it'll be. Also, depending on what you think is wrong with your iRiver, you might consider replacing its battery and/or hard drive. Somebody on eBay probably has the parts for sale, and somebody on misticriver has almost certainly already done it, and documented it, with lots of pictures.
posted by box at 5:04 PM on October 25, 2008

Just to clarify, when I'm using my mp3 player to play music, I would like to be able to browse through folders that contain my audio files, instead of using a tagging system.
posted by AZNsupermarket at 5:37 PM on October 25, 2008

My Creative Stone is an awesome product- tiny, costs the same or less than the tiny Ipod, looks great, and adds a screen, speaker, clock, and FM radio, among other features.

It does show up as a HDD, and you can browse through folders you add. Once inside the folder, it does show the song title by ID3 tag, but Im guessing if you didnt have a tag it would just show filename.
posted by drjimmy11 at 5:43 PM on October 25, 2008

A Rockboxed Sansa does what you want (aside from being Rockboxed). The default mode is ID3 tag browsing, but you can also browse by files, which is great when you have untagged music organized in folders.
posted by zippy at 7:23 PM on October 25, 2008

I've been using Rockbox on my iRiver H110 (which predates your H320 by quite some time) and I've really grown to love it. I recently bought (then returned) a Sanza View and was shocked that it half the functionality that I cared about compared to my ancient Rockbox player.

If it's the look of Rockbox that bothers you, you can change it yourself. I never liked any of the ones that come prepackaged with it, so I made my own.

Also, the Rockbox UI changed quite a bit for v2 (now v3). It's more consistent than before and, IMHO, organized and easy to use.

For me, when my H110 finally kicks the bucket. I am 100% sure I will buy something that I can immediately flash with Rockbox.
posted by turbodog at 7:39 PM on October 25, 2008

Just about any yum-cha flash player will do both of those things.
posted by pompomtom at 1:21 AM on October 26, 2008

Another vote for the Cowon iAudio. My brother replaced his iRiver with one,partly on the basis of all the positive reviews from audio freaks, partly the specs, and seems to have been happy with it.
Certainly they're what I have bookmarked when I some day eventually replace my H340 (though rockbox has prolonged it's life immeasurably).
posted by opsin at 8:22 AM on October 26, 2008

This is surely a question for a new askmefi, but do any of you rockbox users know why it skips on my iriver? I put it on awhile ago and it worked great for a few months, then all audio started to skip every 5 seconds or so when played back.
posted by mannequito at 10:44 AM on October 26, 2008

Mannequito: I'd guess it's a problem with your hard drive. Try playing the same songs in the firmware that came with the player and see if its a problem. Also, are these tracks that played well a few months ago, or are they in a new format? Larger formats like FLAC often have buffering problems, since more data has to be fed through the device at a time to get the same length of audio as in a lossy format like MP3. Also, it's not impossible that a different format than what you usually play is problematic on your particular version of firmware and/or type of player.

If that helps, try a newer version of the Rockbox firmware and see if that fixes your issue, or if you have been updating it as new versions come out, try an older build.

If the stuff above doesn't help, maybe look into replacing the hard drive. Google your model and see what drive can fit inside.
posted by mccarty.tim at 11:50 PM on October 26, 2008