Best MP3 Players of 2010

February 10, 2010 By Nick Mokey

In the market for an MP3 or video player? We give you a list of the best on the market today.

Who needs a dedicated personal media player in 2010, when it’s harder to find a cell phone that won’t play media than one that will? You do. Besides being smaller, easier to use and cheaper than a cell phone, a good PMP offers a bigger screen for video, longer battery life, and won’t interrupt your workout with a call from the boss. Check out a few of our favorites.

Apple iPod Nano$149 for 8GB model

Of all the players in Apple’s iPod line, we think the Nano most closely identifies with what the ideal MP3 player should really be. The Shuffles sacrifices ease of use for size, the Touch goes overboard by becoming a mini computer, and the Classic is just plain old. The Nano offers a sleek and colorful design, up to 16GB of storage, and even a built-in camera, all with Apple’s intuitive and time-testing scroll wheel design.

Check out our Apple iPod Nano Review.

SanDisk Sansa Clip+$40 for 2GB model

Small and cheap are the orders of the day for SanDisk’s utilitarian Clip+. A full directional pad and bright OLED display make it easy to control, a built-in clip makes it easy to bring with you for a workout, and the 2GB version sells for just $40 (you can quadruple it to 8GB for another $30).

Check out our SanDisk Sansa Clip+ Review.

Microsoft Zune HD$200 for 16GB model

The battle between the iPod Touch and Microsoft Zune HD rages on. Ignoring apps and focusing on both devices purely as media players, we think the Zune HD wins. Besides a smaller, lighter form factor, the Zune HD uses an amazingly sharp OLED display, offers better battery life, and costs less for the same storage, too. That said, stay away if you’re looking anything like the pocket-computer functionality of Apple’s amazingly versatile Touch.

Check out our Microsoft Zune HD Review.

Archos 5 Internet Tablet$250 for 8GB model

More interested in catching up with the latest episode of The Office than rocking out with a little Rammstein? The Archos 5 stands as one of the most video-centric devices on the market thanks to an enormous five-inch screen that makes even Apple’s iPod Touch look tiny in comparison. The Google Android operating system also makes it versatile enough for Web surfing, gaming, and more.

Check out PCWorld’s Archos 5 Internet Tablet Review.

Sony Walkman E-Series$80 for 8GB model

For folks who don’t really fancy themselves Apple people but still want a capable player, Sony’s E-Series offers respectable features under a respectable price tag. It delivers 30 hours of battery life, an FM tuner, and a 2.0-inch, full-color LCD, all for under $100.

Check out Cnet’s Sony NWZ-E438F Walkman Review.

Showing 23 comments

Tomato Blog at 11:23am 2nd January 2012 Free mp3 player... Free mp3 player is a simple light weight player to play mp3 files. Besides mp3 files, it could also play other audio files: wav, wma, etc. And even able to play the sound stream in a video file. It is based on the direct show component built in windows...
Cowon baby! at 6:26am 4th January 2011 I've owned Cowon, Creative, iPod, Sony, Philips, and the Zune. I have to say my best pick will have to be the Cowon mp3 players. I've owned the Cowon iaudio 6 for 7 years and it still sound great except the battery is giving out. The sound quality will have to be Cowon all the way. Lots of features. Not to mention the playback speed some of the Cowon players offer. I tend to get bored after listening to the same songs over and over so changing the playback speed of the songs is a bit fun sometimes. =D Cowon offers drag & drop files and free of any lame softwares. This is great because you don't need to download and install any softwares if you just want a single song. =D
Cowon tops All at 12:03pm 24th December 2010 Lol, seriously, all you people? Did you seriously all forget the Cowon? Cowon tops Sony, Phillips, APPLE IPOD - BIG TIME, and Sansa, and anything else you compare it to, including Zune. Cowon has probably, if not, surely the BEST sound quality for MP3 players. Cowon S9, and even the newer model, the Cowon J3 are spectacular devices that just own. Play back videos, music, put games on it. Awesome piece of technology.
1. sswanke at 10:21am 28th August 2011 Cowon is horrible overall. Their players sound good and they are easy to use, but their support is horrible. My player was in perfect shape, but the sub-board failed and wouldn't put sound out to the headphones. They charged me $60 or so for a new sub-board and that one failed, too. Unsure of whether I wanted to pay $60 every 6 to 12 months to keep my player, I called them to ask about options and they told me I had no options, not even the $60 repeating charge. They realized the product was crap and they dropped it. When I asked if I could get some discount on a new player, since I spent $250 on my my player, plus another $60 for the repair, they flatly said, No. Your 90 day warranty expired. Screw Cowon. I will never buy another Cowon product so long as I live.
Amos at 6:02am 11th December 2010 :( why Creative isn't one of the best??? The Sound Of Perfection.
forget about it at 3:57pm 27th November 2010 samsung is the best
Buddy at 8:08pm 10th November 2010 The iPod Nano has a problem with not shutting off, and there seems to be no support for this issue. I love Apple computers and iTunes, but won't waste my money on a faulty product such as iPod Nano.
zee at 8:32pm 13th August 2010 Im very disappointed with the Sansa Clip. Everybody talks about how great it is but neglect to mention that he little suckers die for no reason. I really enjoyed mt sansa while it last and I was thinking of getting another one until I start reading on line that its a known fact that they just die. So if they do why are they been glorified as one of the best mp3 out there? I think sansa has no incentive on fixing them if people keep glorifying them. Yeah I really enjoyed my sansa clip but will not give any more money to a company that knowingly puts out a defective product.
1. bnt7061 at 7:22pm 18th October 2010 I've had had a sansa that was great until it died for nono reason. Philips were brutes held up to a lot. Ematic was unuser- friendly and havn't tried sony yet.
steelfishing at 4:41pm 19th July 2010 Does anyone know if there is a mp3 player that will stream live iheartradio? I know some have FM tuners but I'm looking to listen in on a station that's out of my state.
1. Jeff at 10:52am 20th October 2010 I don't know of any mp3 players, but any android phone will stream iheartradio, as well as Pandora, Sirius, LastFM, Slacker and others.
Anya at 3:19am 12th July 2010 I have also had problems with the IPOD from just using it to run, the headphone jack stopped working on one ear because the wires were internally messed up and since I didn't get the warranty I would have had to pay 150 dollars to just get that small problem checked out.
1. Anonymous at 4:36pm 1st August 2010 That has nothing to do with the iPod. Get better ear buds.
  1. Anonymous at 12:28pm 7th August 2010 No It's probably the jack in the IPod. I had the same problem with my Sansa 2GB, tried different headphones, always the same result.
    
    Brian at 5:10am 27th November 2010 yeah Anya is right. I had the same problem with my IPOD.The audio jack stopped the left ear bud from producing sound.
Off at 9:36pm 7th July 2010 Jack does not know what he is talking about. All you have to do is look at the IPOD specs and see that it has a solid state flash drive. And what the hell were you doing on your motorcycle to have that many vibrations? Did you strap the thing to the tank or something?
1. RJL at 9:12pm 12th October 2010 Haha. You have a point Off.
Jack at 3:06pm 6th July 2010 I am disappointed that nobody talks about the drawbacks of such devices as the iPod or Zune with their heavy interface programs and restrictive DRM and almost impossibility to get your media OFF the device and back onto your computer if say... your computer crashes for instance or you lose your external hard drive with your digital media stored on it. You don't even mention what i think is the best value in MP3 players currently on the market which is the Sansa Fuze 8gb ($50-80) which is expandable up to 24 gb with a micro sd slot( a 16gb micro sd chip can go for as little as $50 if you catch the right sale), plays videos and shows pictures, has a very simple user interface, uses simple drag and drop media transfer from your computer. Also, the fact that it is solid state makes it nigh impervious to vibration and droppage. I ride a motorcycle and i had both an 80g iPod and an 80g Zune in the past and both of them would have issues with the vibrations a motorcycle produces due to the hard drive situation. What I'm hoping for in the near future is for SONY to retake the portable media market with a large capacity solid state Walkman that will surpass both the ipod and zune in both ease of use and quality
1. jana at 12:41pm 4th September 2010 i love musix im crazy of muxic i spent more than 5000$ for mp3 n ipod players i found out somthing that best Music player is sony i love it because of the sound second is philips player for greate sound .. IPOD is ussless because the sound not givving enough base power even wehn i use 300$ worth sony high perfomance ear bud
  1. Oldmusicguy at 1:12pm 2nd December 2010 $5000 digital music players !? $300 for SONY ear buds?! Geez. You have to surf the net more for better deals and info reviews. That said, SONY is the leader for MP3 if you don't want Apple iPods for some reason. Phillips are OK but suspect regarding durability.
2. Apple hater at 12:16am 23rd September 2010 Jack you are the man. I agree totally. I hate anything that starts with an i. Ipods suck. Itunes suck. It is so hard to work with. I just do not understand everyones obsession with ipod. All I want is a simple drag and drop interface.
3. ShockeyMonkey at 11:38am 11th November 2010 I can't agree more, although i would have to say that I wish Creative would take a stronger stance with their line of players. I have had a Creative Zen for 4 years now, it plays music, videos, FM radio can sync with outlook calendar and has a built in microphone. I have had no issues with it. Most importantly there is no DRM and it can be used either by syncing with Windows media player or just drag and drop from explorer. The whole Apple thing just baffles me as you basically rent the product, it's to controlled to say you own it.
4. Chris at 3:30pm 21st December 2010 nobody talks about the drawbacks on any of the other players so why should they talk about the drawbacks on the ipod or zune HELLO every player has drawbacks the fuze is a poorly put together piece of crap,theirs a reason they are 70$