Portable music - history (2011 edition)  #
Tuesday, 17 May 2011 06:12PM
[An updated version of this post.]


A history of portable music.

2011 - Sony NWZ-E454 Walkman - 8Gb with FM, colour display blah blah blah. I hate Sony with a passion so it is a relatively huge deal for me to buy this player. I've been burnt by iRiver, I refuse to use an iPod (they're overpriced and you can't add/remove music to them without iTunes or some kind of hacked software) which left either generic rubbish like the Olin or "Dick Smith" branded players... or Sony. So Sony it is. This player got OK reviews... I'll let you know how it goes. So far I'm happy with it except for the proprietary USB cable. It sounds good. It is easy enough to use. It sorts things properly...

2011 - Olin 4Gb MP3 player - The SanDisk hold button broke off so I bought a cheap ($20) USB stick style player from Catch-of-the-day. Technically this player is better than the SanDisk in that it sounds a little better, had more space and charges via USB, but in reality it is awful. I hate it. Almost unusable menu/controls. The background colour of the screen changes every time you press a button. Why?!! I got used to it but it wasn't long before I bit the bullet and replaced it.

2011 - Experimented using my smartphone (Samsung Galaxy S) as an MP3 player. It played non-DRM iTunes tracks natively with was nice and you could download any playing software you liked so if you didn't like what came with it, you could replace it... but playing MP3s eats up the juice on your phone, and really, it is a phone/messaging system first, and MP3 player second. It wasn't long before I decided I still needed a separate MP3 player.

2010 - The headphone socket of my iRiver broke (crackling noises) so I went back to using the SanDisk.

2008 - iRiver e100 8Gb with FM, voice recorder, video, colour screen and ability to play FLAC files
[Initial review] Plagued with firmware bugs. Crashed when it hit a file it didn't like. Very noisy buttons. Never really used the video beyond some initial experiments. Never used the voice recorder. FLAC playing was excellent, but in reality, copying such large files over USB 2.0 was too time consuming so usually converted to MP3 first anyway. Dropped many times. Eventually the headphone socket started crackling and the left ear stopped working.

2006 - SanDisk Sansa m240 MP3 1Gb with FM and voice recorder
Took normal AAA batteries which was really useful when caught out of juice. Used the voice recorder once. Screen was small but usable and accurate. The plastic on the hold button broke eventually but it still worked, and the plastic cover it came with yellowed and eventually looked revolting. Player lasted until 2011 when the hold button broke off.

2004 - Panasonic Discman SX418 with MP3
No radio, but MP3 playback from CDr. Worked fairly well for a year or so but didn't survive being dropped a few times. Lost the clip that kept the lid closed so it was kept shut with a rubber band for a while. Discovered it was scratching my CDs. It's in the bin. When it broke I went back to my 2000 player.

2000 - Panasonic Discman SL-SX279V with FM
Purchased in San Francisco's China Town for around AUS$200. Very well used over the years. The anti-skip started to go eventually. Never really played burnt CDs very well. FM was a nice bonus. Has been dropped many times. I still have it but I'm unlikely to ever use it again.

1999 - Sony Minidisc MZ-R50
Used to record many a gig and every Walken jam and gig since the very beginning. Never really used for listening to pre-recorded music though.

1999 - Aiwa Recording Walkman (tape)
Used to record many a gig and a few solo/Walken jams. I still have the box but the Walkman has gone AWOL.

late '90s? - Sony Discman
A gift. Well used and loved. Antiskip sucked. Played burnt CDs without a problem.

mid '90s - Sony Walkman (tape)
I remember when it got older it would play tapes too slow. I remember I got so angry at it I threw it against the wall. It broke. Dad fixed it. Dad rocks. I suck.