Five Best Non-iPod Digital Music Players [Hive Five]

Streaming music is great, but if you're somewhere without a data connection, like a flight or underground on the subway, some of our favorite cloud services won't do you much good. For times like those, or when you need a device that's loaded up with all of your favorite tunes and tons of playlists, it's better to have something with your music stored right on it so you can listen on the go. This week we're going to look at five of the best digital music players (that aren't the iPod, since it's clearly the king of the market) based on your nominations.

Earlier in the week, we asked you which devices you used to store your music locally and listen to it on the go. We specifically excluded the iPod because, well, it's clearly the juggernaut of the industry, and you don't need us to recommend one to you. We wanted to hear what other digital music players you think are worth the cash, and well over 200 nominations later, here's a look at the top five.

 

We expected this one, and you came through in spectacular fashion—many of you have given up the stand-alone digital music player entirely in exchange for carrying a phone that's capable of storing and playing your music collection. Considering most phones come with tons of storage these days built-in, and most Android phones have upgradable SD cards, you have the option of carrying a smartphone with 64GB of storage in your pocket and your whole music collection if you so choose. Plus, that's one less device you have to carry around—you always have your phone, so you always have your music, whether it's local or streaming. Photo by Johan Larsson.

 

The Sandisk Sansa series of mp3 players are still widely available, and according to your nominations, they're a fantastic option. They're long-lived, robust, come in different shapes and sizes depending on what you need them for, are stuffed full of storage, work with just about any desktop OS or media player you have, and, of course, the price is right. Depending on how much storage you need, you can get a Sansa Clip with 2GB of storage for around $30, or a Sansa Fuze with 16GB of storage for around $100, many of which with expandable memory for even more storage. The sheer number of options, colors, supported formats, and sizes make a Sansa player an attractive option for someone looking for a good-looking player that will stand the test of time. Don't forget you can replace the firmware with Rockbox and unlock a wealth of new features. Photo by Iwan Gabovitch.

 

Even though they're no longer in production, the Zune and Zune HD line of media players are still great options if you're looking for a simple DAP without a ton of fuss. The original Zune was a rugged, slightly ugly device, but it was robust and sturdy. The Zune HD was a different matter-slim and attractive, it was probably one of Microsoft's most underrated products. It never quite got over being called the "iPod Killer," even though it could match or beat earlier iPods feature-for-feature. Combined with the Zune Marketplace for music, it was a great combination, but the Zune player didn't even need that—you could use it with any media player, and it could be mounted like a simple USB device. The UI was sharp (again, especially on the Zune HD), and its screen was crisp and clear long before DAP buyers appreciated such things. The Zune HD's high price tag and lackluster app support were regrettable, but if you can still find one for a song (and they're still out there) you'll invest in a great media player for music and movies. Photo by Robert Nelson.

 

Creative was in the digital music player business before most of its competitors, and the Creative Zen series has been around for almost as long—a long time ago, it was known as the Creative NOMAD, one of the first DAPs on the market. Creative still makes the Zen series, ranging from the pocket-sized Zen Style series to the Android-based and wireless Zen X-FI line and Zen Touch series. Many of you have a specific passion for Creative's older players over their newer ones, noting their spectacular battery life, modding options, long life, and low price tags. These days, Creative has put their lot in with Android for their media players and Bluetooth for built-in wireless audio, even on their smaller devices. Touchscreens abound on their players, but their prices are still reasonable, with a 4GB Zen Style running you around $30, and even a brand new 16GB X-Fi3 only setting you back close to $140. Photo by Oswaldo Rubio.

 

Cowon has come a long way. Initially perceived as a department store knockoff brand (at least in North America), the company has gone on to create some seriously elegant and design-focused media players that look as good as they sound. Their most recent players, like the Cowon J3 and the iAudio 10, offer high-end features like AMOLED displays, touch-sensitive controls, and Android-based software. Their newer players come at high-end prices, but you get a lot for your money (the J3 starts around $180 for 8GB, and the iAudio 10 starts at $150.) Their earlier players however, are still available used at rock bottom prices, and are easily hackable to run Rockbox. It doesn't hurt that many of you testify to the expandable storage, FLAC support, and—perhaps most importantly—fantastic sound of Cowon's players, either. Sounds good to us. Photo by Clément Delafargue.

Now that you've had a look at the contenders, it's time to vote for an all-out winner.

Honorable mentions this week go out to Samsung, specifically for the Galaxy Player, which many of you said is not just an excellent Android-based alternative to the iPod Touch, but a stellar media player that can play music, movies, and even games without skipping a beat, and the battery life is great. Also worth noting is the Sony Walkman series of media players, which many of you praised for great format support, portability, and fantastic battery life.

Did your favorite contender not make the list? Have something to say in defense of one of the final five above?, Remember, the Hive Five contenders are based on your nominations in the call for contenders thread from earlier in the week. Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Freemake Music Box, Local Player That Pulls Music From The Internet

When I’m looking for a particular song or band, I often visit YouTube first as it is almost 100% sure that someone has uploaded matching music videos to the video hosting site before. And while it is nice to use YouTube for that, I personally prefer desktop applications over Internet services. Maybe because I find it easier to control them while I’m using the browser for other tasks.

Freemake Music Box is a well thought out music player that takes advantage of the vast amount of music on today’s Internet. It seems to use YouTube exclusively for that, but I can’t say that with 100% certainty. All the songs that I tried were from YouTube.

When you first start the program you see a search form at the top, and an attached player with playlist attached to the left part of the program window.

 

To find music, enter a band name, artist, album or song into the search form and hit the enter key or click on the search button. The program populates the interface with results that reveal the band, album and song name, and the play time on first glance. You can click on the play button to play a song right away, or use the playlist button to add it to your playlist.

One interesting option that is available to you is to switch to the 200+ albums or artists listing instead. Say you have entered Nirvana into the search form. The initial search results have listed Nirvana songs only. If you switch to albums, you see the list of Nirvana albums, while artists will display Nirvana at the top, and below that cooperation with other bands or bands that also have Nirvana in the band name.

Especially the album listing is interesting, as you find all albums of the band listed here. You can either start to play an album right away, add it to your playlist, or click on it to see the song listing.

 

The program has a few shortcomings right now. Besides not revealing the music sources, it also ships without any options. It is for instance not possible to set a quality level for music, block certain tracks from appearing in the application, or to sync playlists between devices.

The developers have big plans for their application which will resolve some of the issues just mentioned. They plan to release iPad and Android versions, enable synchronization of music and playlists, add top music charts and create a web based version of the service.

All in all a great player for Windows users that could become a lot better in the future. The player requires the Microsoft .Net Framework 4.0 to be installed on the system. The program is offered as a web-installer, and an offline installer.

Best Non-iPod Digital Music Player? [Hive Five Call For Contenders]

 When you want to take your music with you on the go, you have a couple of options—you can stream everything from a web service, but that doesn't do you much good if you're on a flight, in the subway, or somewhere else without a data connection or Wi-Fi. Sometimes it's just better to load up a device with some tunes, plug in your headphones, and go. This week we want to know which device you think is the best fit for the job.

The iPod is still the king of the digital music player market, so we're pulling it out of the running so we can get some great competitors in the lineup. If you just use your smartphone to carry your music (and who can blame you, it's a great option, one you have with you at all times), then just comment with "VOTE: MY PHONE." No need to get into model numbers or brand names. Aside from that, if there's a great music player that you rely on when you travel, whether it's old or new, we want to hear about it. Leave your vote in the comments below.

Hive Five nominations take place in the comments, where you post your favorite tool for the job. We get hundreds of comments, so to make your nomination clear, please include it at the top of your comment like so: VOTE: BEST NON-IPOD DIGITAL MUSIC PLAYER. Please don't include your vote in a reply to another commenter. Instead, make your vote and reply separate comments. If you don't follow this format, we may not count your vote. To prevent tampering with the results, votes from first-time commenters may not be counted. After you've made your nomination, let us know what makes it stand out from the competition.

About the Hive Five: The Hive Five feature series asks readers to answer the most frequently asked question we get: "Which tool is the best?" Once a week we'll put out a call for contenders looking for the best solution to a certain problem, then YOU tell us your favorite tools to get the job done. Every weekend, we'll report back with the top five recommendations and give you a chance to vote on which is best. For an example, check out last week's five best meeting minutes services.

Download More Than 35 Gigabyte Of Free SXSW Festival Music

SXSW, or South By Southwest is a large annual festival in Austin, Texas, that is bringing creative people and an ever-growing audience together. The festival features music, film and interactive performances. For the past eight years, music by the showcasing artists on the festival have been made available as public torrent files both to festival attendees and people from all over the world.

The collection has grown to one of the largest that is freely available on the internet only to be rivaled by heavyweights like Jamendo or the music section at Archive.org.

The unofficial SXSW torrents website lists all music torrents that have been released since 2005. Each year saw the release of one, two or three torrent files pointing to Gigabytes of music in total. The individual music file count starts at over 700 and goes up to 1300 in 2012.

If you already have a torrent client installed, or another program supporting the Bittorrent protocol, you can head over to the SXSW Torrents website to start downloading music right away. Keep in mind that you need more than 35 gigabyte of free storage space if you have the intention to download all of the music that is offered on the site. If you are only interested in the 2012 torrents, you end up with more than 1200 files that have a size of more than 7.5 Gigabytes on the hard drive.

If you do not have a torrent client installed try qBittorrent or uTorrent. Both clients should run out of the box on most systems.

All songs are lumped together in one main directory sorted by artist name followed by the song name. Each song is tagged with the artists name and SXSW as the album. The genre is unfortunately missing and needs to be added manually later on.

With all songs displayed in a single folder, you do not really have an option but to listen to them one by one to separate the keepers from the ones that you are not interested in. (found at Torrentfreak)

Antique Crank Phone Modded as a Music Player

Simon Jansen wanted an authentic prop to go with the decor of his workshop while he rebuilds an antique Austin 7 car. He got his hands on an old bakelite generator telephone with a hand crank and decided to mod it to play music while he worked.

 

Using an Adafruit Wave Shield mated to a barebones homemade Arduino, he was easily able to port the sound from the microcontroller hardware to the speaker on the phone. Once done, he programmed it so the music would slow down eventually, as if he had to recharge it using the hand crank on the phone. Since the hand crank only works at 60 VAC through 120 VAC he made his own opto-isolator to translate the electricity coming from the crank. In this way, he can use the original crank to trigger the Wave Shield into speeding the music back up.

Making the best of a limited user interface on the old crank phone, Simon took advantage of a technique called a hookflash, which is the act of rapidly pushing the receiver button on the phone. By using this with a supercapacitor, it causes a short power interrupt on the Arduino which triggers the Wave Shield to advance to the next track on a playlist. Also, unhooking the phone itself triggers the music to start playing.

 

This is a project with some nice tricks to make it work. Even better, Simon provides extensive documentation on his site if you want to learn more.

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Crave giveaway: Grace Digital Mondo Wi-Fi music player

Crave giveaway: Grace Digital Mondo Wi-Fi music player | Crave - CNET CNET Home Reviews Cell Phones Camcorders Digital Cameras Laptops TVs Car Tech Forums Appliances Cell Phone Accessories Components Desktops E-book Readers Games and Gear GPS Hard Drives & Storage Headphones Home Audio Home Video Internet Access Monitors MP3 Players Networking and Wi-Fi Peripherals Printers Software Tablets Web Hosting You are here: News Latest News Mobile Startups Cutting Edge Media Security Business Tech Health Tech Crave Apple Microsoft Politics & Law Gaming & Culture Blogs Video Photos RSS Download Windows Software Mac Software Mobile Apps Web Apps The Download Blog CNET TV How To Computers Home Theater Smartphones Tablets Web Marketplace Log In | Join Log In Join CNET Sign in with My profile Log out

CNET News Crave Crave giveaway: Grace Digital Mondo Wi-Fi music player by Leslie Katz March 2, 2012 12:01 AM PST Follow @lesatnews

Listen up. This week, we're giving away a portable Internet radio with a color LCD display and all the radio stations and on-demand content you can shake a wireless router at.

The Mondo: a nice little gadget to put on your nightstand or patio. It comes in a black or white finish.

(Credit:Grace Digital Audio)

Congrats to Ning Z. of Elmhurst, N.Y., for winning a Samsung LN40D550 in last week's giveaway. Ning beat out more than 2,900 other entrants to score the 40-inch flat-panel TV.

This week, we have another great prize, a portable Internet radio from Grace Digital Audio. The Mondo Wi-Fi music player features a 3.5-inch color LCD display and comes equipped with more than 18,000 Internet radio stations and endless on-demand content from providers including NPR, BBC, iHeartRadio, and CBS (disclosure: CBS is the parent company of CNET).

You'll also get access to premium free music services such as Pandora, iHeartRadio, and Dar.fm, as well as premium pay services such as SiriusXM Internet Radio and Live365 VIP. Basically, you'll have loads to listen to--and wake up to (the radio also functions as an alarm clock).

The Mondo measures 3.5 inches by 9.75 inches by 5.75 inches, weighs 6 pounds, and works with any 802.11b/g/n wireless router with an Internet connection. The product can be powered by an AC adaptor or rechargeable battery that promises up to 13 hours of play at average volume levels.

Normally, the Mondo Wi-Fi music player would cost you $179.99, but you have the chance to get one free, along with a rechargeable battery worth $39.99. How? Well, there are a few rules, so please listen up.

Register as a CNET user. Go to the top of this page and hit the Join CNET link to start the registration process. If you're already registered, there's no need to register again.Leave a comment below. You can leave whatever comment you want. If it's funny or insightful, it won't help you win, but we're trying to have fun here, so anything entertaining is appreciated.Leave only one comment. You may enter for this specific giveaway only once. If you enter more than one comment, you will be automatically disqualified.The winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive one (1) Grace Digital Audio Mondo Wi-Fi music player and one (1) Mondo battery pack with a combined retail value of approximately $220. If you are chosen, you will be notified via e-mail. The winner must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.Entries can be submitted until Monday, March 5, at 12 p.m. ET.

And here's the disclaimer that our legal department said we had to include (sorry for the caps, but rules are rules):

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. YOU HAVE NOT YET WON. MUST BE LEGAL RESIDENT OF ONE OF THE 50 UNITED STATES OR D.C., 18 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER AT DATE OF ENTRY INTO SWEEPSTAKES. VOID IN PUERTO RICO, ALL U.S. TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS AND WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. Sweepstakes ends at 12 p.m. ET on Monday, March 5, 2012. See official rules for details.

Good luck.

Leslie Katz Leslie Katz, senior editor of CNET's Crave, covers gadgets, games, and myriad other digital distractions. As a co-host of the now-retired CNET News Daily Podcast, she was sometimes known to channel Terry Gross and still uses her trained "podcast voice" to bully the speech recognition software on automated customer service lines. E-mail Leslie.

Follow @lesatnews Topics: Music Tags: Crave giveaway, Grace Digital Audio, Internet radio, Mondo

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Crave giveaway: Grace Digital Mondo Wi-Fi music player

Listen up. This week, we're giving away a portable Internet radio with a color LCD display and all the radio stations and on-demand content you can shake a wireless router at.

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About Crave

The name says it all. Crave is our blog about gorgeous gadgets and other crushworthy stuff. If you would like to contact Crave with a tip or comment, please write to: crave@cnet.com

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Apple Now Selling Low Bitrate, High Quality "Mastered for iTunes" Tracks [Music]

Apple just launched a new section of the iTunes Store called "Mastered for iTunes", which includes tracks specifically mastered to sound good at low bitrates—no matter what kind of audio equipment you're using.

We've talked about bitrate before, and it's pretty simple: the lower the bitrate, the more compressed and low-quality your music becomes. However, since it saves space, most online music stores, like iTunes, sell music in low-bitrate formats so they're quick to download and fit on your mobile devices. The problem is, many tracks these days are mastered for low-end audio equipment, like your iPod earbuds with things like bass boost added to make them sound less "thin". As a result, they sound bad when you try to play them on good speakers or headphones.

Mastered for iTunes tracks are AAC, as usual, but are mastered with a specific set of guidelines in mind, designed to sound good on any type of audio equipment. Essentially, they're mastering the tracks so that when you downconvert them to AAC, you lose the least amount of data possible. They aren't lossless, but they're designed to be a better compromise between space efficiency and audio quality. Ars Technica has a great writeup on the ins and outs of the process, and Tested does a good job of summing it up in a more concise, easy-to-understand way, for those of you interested in the process.

For the rest of you, you can check out these new Mastered for iTunes tracks in the iTunes Store right now. Right now there are about 100 albums available, from popular artists like U2, Nirvana, Metallica, Coldplay, and more, with others to be added soon. They look like they're the same price as non-Mastered for iTunes albums too, which is great. Head to the iTunes store to check it out—you should see it right on the front page.

Mastered for iTunes: how audio engineers tweak music for the iPod age | Ars Technica

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Get Beats Audio on Any Rooted Android Phone [Music]

HTC has released a number of phones sporting "Beats Audio", a branded equalizer that boosts the bass, among other things. XDA modders RockoDev and fuss132 have turned this into a flashable ZIP file that works on any phone running Gingerbread or a Gingerbread-based ROM.

While the best way to improve your music would be to use an advanced equalizer like that in PowerAMP, our favorite music player for Android, those that don't really want to go through the work of setting up an equalizer can flash the Beats Audio mod to their device instead. Just download the ZIP file and flash it like you would any other ROM with ROM Manager, ClockworkMod, or your recovery of choice. Some people are finding their music sounds better with the mod, others are having trouble seeing a difference (though you'll probably notice it more with a nice pair of headphones). The above images to the right show the difference before and after the mod has been applied on a Samsung Galaxy SL—the first image uses default audio, while the second image shows sound with the Beats mod installed. Hit the link to read more and to download the mod.

And please, guys, let's not get into a flamewar about Beats in the comments—some people love it, and that's fine for them. Let's keep it friendly.

Beats Audio for All Gingerbread Roms | XDA Developers via XDA Developers Blog

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Microsoft mulls plan for new music service (exclusive)

Microsoft mulls plan for new music service (exclusive) | Media Maverick - CNET News CNET News @import "http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/Ads/common/css/SponsoredTextLink/sponsoredTextLink.live.css"; Manage Packages With UPS My Choice Home Reviews Cell Phones Camcorders Digital Cameras Laptops TVs Car Tech Forums Appliances Cell Phone Accessories Components Desktops E-book Readers Games and Gear GPS Hard Drives & Storage Headphones Home Audio Home Video Internet Access Monitors MP3 Players Networking and Wi-Fi Peripherals Printers Software Tablets Web Hosting You are here: News Latest News Mobile Startups Cutting Edge Media Security Business Tech Health Tech Crave Apple Microsoft Politics & Law Gaming & Culture Blogs Video Photos RSS Download Windows Software Mac Software Mobile Apps Web Apps The Download Blog CNET TV How To Computers Home Theater Smartphones Tablets Web Marketplace Log In | Join Log In Join CNET Sign in with My profile Log out .mad_center {text-align:center;} .mad_center div, .mad_center table, .mad_center iframe, .mad_center a img {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;}

CNET News Media Maverick Microsoft mulls plan for new music service (exclusive) by Greg Sandoval February 17, 2012 2:58 PM PST Follow @sandoCNET

The software maker has spoken with some of the major record companies about creating a music service to serveXbox and an upcoming Windows-based phone.

Microsoft is in talks with some of the major record companies about creating a new music service, CNET has learned.

The software maker, which has a spotty record in digital music, has discussed creating a delivery service that would supply tunes to the Xbox as well as an upcoming Windows-based phone, according to sources with knowledge of the talks.

It was unclear exactly how this will differ from Microsoft'sZune Music Pass, which is the music service currently available to Xbox subscribers.

Negotiations are still in a preliminary stage and the two sides have yet to drill down into all the specifics, the sources said. Nonetheless, Microsoft has roughly outlined a service that it hopes could launch sometime this year and include streaming music as well as downloads, the sources said.

They added that the company has also mentioned the possibility of teaming with HTC and Nokia on the proposed phones. A spokeswoman for the company said, "Microsoft does not comment on rumors and speculation."

Expect the labels to work hard to make this deal happen. While Microsoft's past forays into Web music haven't met with much success (the mothballed Zune digital music players and defunct Urge music service), the record companies will welcome the chance to have a higher profile on the Xbox, with its 40 million worldwide Xbox Live subscribers, as well as on any new Windows phones.

Since Microsoft already operates the Zune Music Pass, the company already possesses music licenses. It's still unclear whether Microsoft must acquire new licenses for its service and that will depend on how Microsoft wants to do with the music.

Related storiesMicrosoft delivers Zune player's last ritesGoogle Music debuts, with downloads and sharing (live blog)Report: Microsoft shelving Zune player, not brandMicrosoft Xbox 360 Elite System (review)

What it sounds like to me is that Microsoft has an eye on upgrading its music store to better serve mobile devices. Google did much the same thing with Google Music and its Android operating system.

In addition to Google, many of the top phone makers have recently moved to augment their music features. HTC, in particular, acquired a majority stake in Dr. Dre's Beats to improve the audio capabilities of its smartphones.

In August, CNET broke the news that Research In Motion was planning to add music to its Blackberry Instant Message service.

As for Microsoft, we'll keep you posted on the company's music aspirations as details become available.

Greg Sandoval Greg Sandoval covers media and digital entertainment for CNET News. Based in New York, Sandoval is a former reporter for The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times.

Follow @sandoCNET Topics: Music Tags: music labels, Microsoft, Zune, Google Music

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About Media Maverick

In covering digital media for CNET News, Greg Sandoval has broken stories on Apple, Microsoft, YouTube, The Pirate Bay, and the digital efforts of the major music labels and Hollywood studios. Before that, in his first tour with CNET News, he covered e-commerce during the dot-com boom and bust. A dogged investigative reporter, he began his journalism career at the Los Angeles Times and followed that with a short TV stint at The E! True Hollywood Story. Later, he spent three years as a staff writer for The Washington Post. Greg is an alumnus of USC and was raised in Chatsworth, California, which is distinguishable only for being the porn capital of the world.

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