Best iPod that isn't an iPod?

[White16valver]

So, I have an aversion to Apple products but am looking to get a decent mp3 player (or whatever the term is for non-iPods that play mp3s and other file types nowadays?).

Amazon has a sea of unknown-brand players, such as these two:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0792DY9VV/?tag=cliospnet01-21

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B071KTD3SG/?tag=cliospnet01-21

but I'm not sure I entirely believe that all the reviews on many of Amazon's product lines are actually genuine...


Has anyone got any recommendations for a player with good sound quality (lossless?), good (ideally solid-state) built-in or expandable-by-memory-card-slots file storage size, decent battery life, and a price that's not crazy (like well under 100 quid if possible) ??

Muchos grassy-arse, kind peoples!

 

[Louis]

 

[Rubicon_]

Use your phone like everyone else?

 

[welshname]

Phone + Spotify Premium = Done.

Can download the ones you want to use offline. If battery life is a worry then get yourself a power bank the same size as the MP3 player you were going to purchase if you were going to carry around two devices anyway.

 

[Goodj]

Any mobile phone since 2013 should suffice.
Just don't put a SIM in it et voila.

 

[Darren S]

Use your phone like everyone else?

Nope - I totally get where @White16valver is coming from. Although I do have an iPod in the car, there are a shitload of benefits to having one.

• They are peanuts to buy on eBay thanks to Apple pulling the plug on them.
• Can hold a ton of music that's independent of using up your own phone's memory.
• Always charged and hidden away in the glove-box - out of sight, out of mind.
• Don't have to worry about silly streaming issues - mobile signal, data usage, etc.
• Still loads of docking stations out there (again, cheap) if you want it out of the car and playing in the home.

I personally think they are great items. Though admittedly Apple's Lossless Quality is NOT totally lossless. Standard CDs have a playback quality that is superior, especially on 'busy' tracks with multiple layers and instruments going on. The algorithms for lossless clearly can't process it all and retain the fidelity.