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Mac compatible mp3s?

post #1 of 16
8/29/07 at 4:33pm
Thread Starter 
I'm in the market for an MP3 mainly for travel on trains and planes. Aside from the ipod, which I'm very tempted by, does anyone know which other makes are Mac compatible? I'm not really bothered about having a radio or recorder, just storage space between 2 and 5 gig, say. If you have any MP3 experiences, too, I'd be keen for feedback on models, performance etc.
Thanks
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post #2 of 16
8/29/07 at 6:23pm
Any machine that can be used as a mass storage device (ie acts like a USB drive). The iRiver H320/H340 come to mind. Good, solid and dependable, if somewhat clunky (I had a H320 for some years but I needed more than 40 GB of storage). The Rio Karma (good luck finding one). The Cowon players. There is also a plethora of Korean market centred players that would work.
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post #3 of 16
8/30/07 at 4:37am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by skalogre View Post
Any machine that can be used as a mass storage device (ie acts like a USB drive). The iRiver H320/H340 come to mind. Good, solid and dependable, if somewhat clunky (I had a H320 for some years but I needed more than 40 GB of storage). The Rio Karma (good luck finding one). The Cowon players.

There is also a plethora of Korean market centred players that would work.

Thanks.
Is there any difference in compatibilty between an mp3 which plugs directly into a USB and one that requires a cable?
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post #4 of 16
8/30/07 at 1:41pm
Sandisk Sansa E200 series
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post #5 of 16
8/30/07 at 2:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Britalian View Post
Thanks.
Is there any difference in compatibilty between an mp3 which plugs directly into a USB and one that requires a cable?

You mean a proprietary cable? If so, I would assume it would not be Apple Mac compatible, considering that OS X is a tiny fraction of the market.

The Sansa works as a MSD? If it does, that is certainly a good suggestion!
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post #6 of 16
8/30/07 at 3:04pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tokyo Slim View Post
Sandisk Sansa E200 series


http://www.sandisk.com/Products/Item...layer_2GB.aspx
does it mention mac compatibility here?
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post #7 of 16
8/30/07 at 3:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Britalian View Post
http://www.sandisk.com/Products/Item...layer_2GB.aspx does it mention mac compatibility here?
I thought Mac's were compatible with everything! Aren't they "just suppose to work?" My bad, it looks like though the sansa is perfectly capable of being used with any mac with a USB port (hardware wise) Apple doesn't like competition, and the Sansa isn't compatible with OSX. Sorry. Just one of the painful aspects of being one of the minority 4.8% marketshare I guess. Its called boot camp + WinXP.
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post #8 of 16
8/30/07 at 3:52pm
Forgot about these! The Meizu players! http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archi...yer-review.php That site has piles of non-iPod mp3 player reviews btw. And the slick & pretty http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archi...ix2-review.php I did not mention it because I thought it was MTP/PlaysForSure only, seems I was wrong. This supports drag&drop too!
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post #9 of 16
8/30/07 at 4:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tokyo Slim View Post
I thought Mac's were compatible with everything! Aren't they "just suppose to work?"

My bad, it looks like though the sansa is perfectly capable of being used with any mac with a USB port (hardware wise) Apple doesn't like competition, and the Sansa isn't compatible with OSX. Sorry. Just one of the painful aspects of being one of the minority 4.8% marketshare I guess.

Its called boot camp + WinXP.


Apple is super compatible. Just look at this list of the latest and greatest MP3 players that are itunes on a Mac compatible.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93548

Here is a script that that makes the Sansa players work on a Mac. Not the most simple approach though.

http://www.ridesforall.com/archit/sa...nes/index.html

Supposedly some of the Creative Muvos are Apple/itunes compatible but its not official.

Although the compatibility list is incomplete the software at http://www.wentnet.com/projects/xnjb/ will allow you to transfer files from a mac to various mp3 players particularly those made by Creative.
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post #10 of 16
9/3/07 at 1:54am
Quote:
Originally Posted by DMcG View Post
Apple is super compatible. Just look at this list of the latest and greatest MP3 players that are itunes on a Mac compatible.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93548

I'm not trying to pick a fight or anything, but there are BARELY any players on that list. And we aren't talking about "third party software incompatibility fixes" we are talking about what the OS is natively compatible with. The third party fixes exist because the hardware is natively INCOMPATIBLE with the software. I cannot hook a Sony Walkman into a Mac USB port, load the driver disk, and expect any result.

The windows Plays For Sure (as big a piece a crap as it is) standard has at least what... 150 listed compatible devices? And those are just the ones that paid MS for the sticker. I'd wager that 99.9% of the thousands of MP3 players ever produced are compatible with Win XP. (I'm trying to think of one that isn't) Vista is ... um... not quite there yet evidently.
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post #11 of 16
9/3/07 at 4:03am
As long as the player doesn't change the format from MP3 when it takes songs off, then it's going to be compatible with OS X as a USB Mass Storage device on a drag-and-drop basis. I'm pretty sure this is an issue with software - iTunes doesn't support the Sansa, and Sandisk didn't make OS X software to sync with it. I highly doubt that it was the intent of Apple to purposefully not include them in the list. I'd rather just hack up iTunes to be compatible than have to switch to Windows every time I wanted to add Mp3s.
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post #12 of 16
9/3/07 at 11:42am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian SD View Post
As long as the player doesn't change the format from MP3 when it takes songs off, then it's going to be compatible with OS X as a USB Mass Storage device on a drag-and-drop basis.

Yes it is, but you have to probably have to hack together playlist files, if you use playlists. Which I generally don't. And video and pictures probably won't work, as the Sansa software converts formats. For more info, if it becomes an issue here's a good place to start reading.

Hypothetically, if one were to use a Sansa + Mac, as long as you were just listening to MP3's and not Apple's lossless files or whatever, you would probably be ok. But OSX STILL isn't as cool as Windows XP.
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post #13 of 16
9/3/07 at 5:00pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the divided feedback. As I can't be arsed to use extra conversion programs etc, I'll probably go for an i**d. Or an Archos. I believe these are compatible, and good sound etc. Too much choice.

I wouldn't go windows, however. I love my Apple set up too much.
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post #14 of 16
9/3/07 at 5:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tokyo Slim View Post
I'm not trying to pick a fight or anything, but there are BARELY any players on that list. And we aren't talking about "third party software incompatibility fixes" we are talking about what the OS is natively compatible with. The third party fixes exist because the hardware is natively INCOMPATIBLE with the software. I cannot hook a Sony Walkman into a Mac USB port, load the driver disk, and expect any result.

The windows Plays For Sure (as big a piece a crap as it is) standard has at least what... 150 listed compatible devices? And those are just the ones that paid MS for the sticker. I'd wager that 99.9% of the thousands of MP3 players ever produced are compatible with Win XP. (I'm trying to think of one that isn't) Vista is ... um... not quite there yet evidently.

I was being sarcastic. Apparently not very successfully. I guess I didn't take into account that some Apple apologists actually would point to that list as a good thing.
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post #15 of 16
9/3/07 at 7:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Britalian View Post
Thanks for the divided feedback. As I can't be arsed to use extra conversion programs etc, I'll probably go for an i**d. Or an Archos. I believe these are compatible, and good sound etc. Too much choice.

I wouldn't go windows, however. I love my Apple set up too much.

Get the iriver clix2 - it can be used on M$, Apple and Linux.

Quote:
Originally Posted by DMcG View Post
I was being sarcastic. Apparently not very successfully. I guess I didn't take into account that some Apple apologists actually would point to that list as a good thing.

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