Portable MP3 Player w/ Unix Support?

oobeleck asks: "With my birthday just around the corner and my 8 mile runs needing music, I am thinking of asking for a portable mp3 player. What is the Slashdot community's experience with MP3 portables. What has the most support, what should I stay away from. I have been eye-balling the Diamond Rio 600/800 model. Any opinions on the Rio? I want something that works good with Linux/OpenBSD. Thanks for your help." Ask Slashdot last ran such an article back in April of 2000, I'm sure bigger and better MP3 players have been made since then. Which of today's players would you all recommend?

Comments

i've used the pjb-100

[ph0rk]

and various in-dash car units, and after comparing the two, i would recommend a handheld cd-mp3 player.

why? they new models are fast, light, and last upwards of 15 hours on batteries (my rio even spins down the CD while playing to save juice).

CDrs are cheap, and on the average outing 650-700MB of music will last you, even if its encoded at --alt-preset extreme!

Re:Frontier Lab's Nex II

[fajoli]

I have one as well. It's small enough to slip into a pocket during a run. And it acts just like a CF reader when its plugged in to the USB port.

The headphones weren't the greatest, but I prefer ear buds for the gym anyway.

iPod?

[gmhowell]

iPod works pretty well with BSD. Okay, okay, so it's not the flavor you mention. Still. I doubt you'll get any player that has better integration with a *nix workalike than the iPod and MacOS X.

(No, I have neither. Just stating the facts.)

Re:I would buy one of these if it supported ogg!

[wastedbrains]

OGG got pretty crappy reviews in comparison to WMA and MP3PRO so why would you want ogg just because it is open sorce you freaking hippy. Huh what where. GRRRRRRRR that was my sandwhich.

Re:ipod?

[90XDoubleSide]

"They" have figured it out, assuming they is Tex9. http://www.tex9.com/software/xtunes.php