What’s the Best ogg- and linux-compatible hard drive based portable music player?

Dear LazyWeb: What’s the best ogg- and linux-compatible hard drive based portable music player? Unlike the old days, there now seem to be a large number of portable ogg players, but most of the mainstream computer press sites give short shrift to linux compatibility issues. So what does someone “in the know” buy? I’m interested not just in compatibility, but also a player with a thoughtful physical design, user interface, and that doesn’t have little plastic-y bits that will break over time.

(By the way, the ‘official’ LazyWeb site seems to be completely overrun with spam trackbacks.)

11 comments

  1. Jochen Jan 28

    You should visit rockbox.org and look for players Rockbox supports. It’s an open source firmware for a large variety of players and it truly rocks. It plays filetypes I had never heard of before and has an interesting plugin mechanism. There is even a Doom plugin. :)

    The only downside is that most players they support are hard to get these days. But support for Ipods is coming, so the situation is improving.

    I myself have an Iriver H120 (20GB) and use it exclusively with Rockbox. It is a simple USB mass storage device on which you can put whatever you want. Exactly what I need.

  2. directhex Jan 28

    If you can still find one, the Rio Karma supports Vorbis & FLAC, with file transfer handled over ethernet by a java app

  3. Hamish Moffatt Jan 28

    I second the Rockbox suggestion. The iRiver H340 is supported and is still a current model afaik.

    The firmware will just browse the file system and the device is USB mass storage. I use rsync to keep it synchronised to my collection.

    The original iRiver firmware does not do as good a job of browsing the file system; usually you have to use their database instead. I don’t know of database tools for linux for it.

  4. David Nusinow Jan 28

    I have a Neuros II, which I bought because they have Free firmware also. It’s a decent machine, although I hear much better things about rockbox (echoing the above). While it does have some drawbacks making it a lesser option, mine has served me well for several years now.

  5. Mark Jan 28

    iRiver H3xx series, or if you can still find them somewhere (unlikely), the iRiver H1xx series.

    Apart from the above positive comments (rockbox open firmware, usb mass storage, …), I have some more:
    * excellent recording quality with use of external microphone
    * optical in and out (on my 1xx series at least, don’t know about the 3xx series) -> with the right gear, very nice for backing up non-CD optical discs in case you would need the music on them

    I mostly use mine
    * connected to a high quality PC speaker set, since these kind of players are REALLY BAD for your ears if you don’t use them VERY carefully.
    * for recording my classical guitar students

    B.T.W. Thank you for your Debian work!

  6. HE Jan 28

    I was given an iPod as an xmas present by work. It works fine with rockbox and FreeBSD, so I imagine it’ll work on Linux too. A bit more battery hungry than the original firmware, but not dramatically so.

  7. no one in particular Jan 28

    RockBox seems awesome. And according to their webpage, the newest builds support ipods fairly well. Thanks for the tip! I bought an ipod after my Rio Karma broke, but the interface is much crappier! I will install Rockbox just to spite you, annoying iPod!

  8. Erich Schubert Jan 28

    I have an iAudio X5.
    It attaches as USB mass storage (read: works perfectly with Linux), can play Ogg, has 30 GB but still a 10+ hour battery life. I’m happy so far with it, no bigger glitches.
    It has a color screen which I consider pointless, but thats okay. Could be a bit smaller, but for 30 GB and a good battery life you need that size.
    Oh, there is a X5L version, too, with extended battery life (and weight) IIRC. It can also record mp3, with a tiny built-in phone or an external plug. It can do USB-host, too, and has a radio receiver.
    Only drawback is that you need a mini adapter for the usb, charger and line-in ports that probably is easy to lose.

    Oh, and it does NOT look like an iPod.

  9. another no one Jan 28

    Incidentally, Rockbox supports the iAudio X5 as well, although in a somewhat early state (slightly less functional than iPod, but datasheets for most of the hardware i the X5 are actually available in contrast to the ipod).

  10. Toufeeq Jan 28

    The Xclef 500.
    Good luck finding one.It’s a bit bulky but is feature packed and get the job done.Plus it comes with 100GB of storage.

  11. Tom Jan 28

    A good iRiver running rockbox is easily the best ive found. I have the now famous (and hard to come by) iHP-140, but the new 3xx series with the nice colour screens look good too. Rockbox is a must however, the supplied firmware is really poor in comparison.

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