non-ipod mp3 player with on-the-go playlist function

July 29, 2015 7:02 PM

I'm looking for a non-ipod, 16Gb+, nano-sized mp3 player that has the equivalent of the old ipod "on-the-go" playlist functionality, where you could add the currently playing song to the on-the-go playlist by long-pressing a single button. I'll probably buy used, and the budget would be approximately what a used nano costs: $60-ish.

Rationale: I need to process large collections of songs, pulling out appropriate tracks for later use. Apple removed the one-button on-the-go playlist function starting with 6th gen nanos. I could buy a used 5th gen, but the battery will be very old. I could approximate the one-button playlist using star ratings, but it's a bit of hoop-jumping.

I don't want to use a phone - I need something nano-sized so that I can process music while at the gym, walking around, etc. This is the same reason why I need the one-button tagging functionality.

What I really want is a 5th-gen or older nano with a new battery. But since that's not available to me, I'm investigating other brands. Googling "on-the-go" seems to hoover up too many hits.

posted by meeotch to Technology (3 answers total)

The Sansa Clip+ can tag songs for what they call a Go List, but you need to do 3 button pushes - two of the bottom button followed by one middle button push while the song is playing. This can be done by feel though. They usually have 4GB of internal memory, along with a micro SD slot, so it can easily meet your memory requirement. It's probably the best basic mp3 player on the market (yes, I have owned a couple of iPods in the past), and not very expensive. The Clip is very small, and per the name has a clip to attach to your clothes. It also has a very legible alphanumeric display. The original non plus Clip doesn't have the micro SD slot. One final big advantage is that you do not run iTunes to access it - it's drag and drop, either as a mass storage device or Windows Music Player.
posted by rfs at 10:33 PM on July 29, 2015

Came here to mention the Sansa players.
Also, you can, if so inclined, install 3rd party Rockbox software on them that adds some functionality, and an improved OTG playlist might very well be part of that, though I'm honestly feeling too lazy to go look it up.. :(
posted by Jack Karaoke at 9:29 PM on July 30, 2015

Response by poster: Thanks for the answers. (And what's the deal with MeFi never alerting me to activity on my questions? Am I missing the preference for that somewhere?)

A poster on another forum gave basically the same answer - i.e. Sansa Clip+ or Clip Zip with Rockbox: http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum/showthread.php?p=653999#post653999

One item of note is the fact that both of those models are discontinued, and as such will suffer from the same battery life issue as the 5th gen nano at this point. (It's possible to still find some new - though they're a lot more expensive than used.)
posted by meeotch at 6:00 PM on August 1, 2015