how long to mp3 players actually last

[blingbling]

say, you had a mainstream mp3 player (made by sony/apple/microsoft/dell/etc)

how long does it take for it to become unusable even if you take perfect care of it?

does the battery eventually deteriorate?
does the display burn out?
does the HD in larger mp3 players become "exhausted"?

thanks for answers

[Suka]

I can't personally speak for many makes of mp3 player but i personally have a Creative Zen Touch. I have had it for 3 years i think, possibly 4 (someone will correct me). It still works fine, the battery life has shortened but it lasted 24 hours when new and it even if it goes for 12 now i wouldn't mind. I have dropped it three times onto concrete from my pocket so thats just over 5ft, it still works perfectly. The only thing thats broken about it is the HD has come slightly lose inside so when you shake the player you can hear it move about 3-4mm, but thats only when you shake it REALLY hard.
Other than that it is still going strong and showing no signs of failing.

[jediali]

for my 14 month old sony NW-HD5:

- does the battery eventually deteriorate? still got about 20 hours in it but its repaceable for £20
- does the display burn out? i hope not, it still looks good. the backlight will suffer before the screen itself.
- does the HD in larger mp3 players become "exhausted"? - i prettty sure if its not abused it will last a long long time.

[Clivey]

I have dropped it three times onto concrete from my pocket so thats just over 5ft, it still works perfectly.

So your pocket is 5 feet from the ground? How tall are you? Lol Were you typing with the numeric pad and really mean 3 feet?

BTW: How are you getting on with your car(s depending if it's running) now?

[blingbling]

So your pocket is 5 feet from the ground? How tall are you? Lol Were you typing with the numeric pad and really mean 3 feet?

BTW: How are you getting on with your car(s depending if it's running) now?

chest pocket? perhaps?

anyways, thansk for the replies, really dispelled my doubts

[Suka]

It was my chest pocket of my winter coat, and i am just over 6ft tall. I tried to pull it out of the pocket by the headphone cable and the jack came out just as i got it out of my pocket.
As for my car Clivey it everything seems to be going backwards. I had the all the brakes on and fit the handbrake cables but they are too short, so all the brakes have come off, switched round and then i tried the cables again. The cables can only come out of the front or back of the drum, when i had them on first the cable came out the back so i thought if i swapped sides so the cable came out the front it might work. It didn't, at this rate i wont have it finished for Uni in the summer!

Anyway, back on topic. My little sister has one of the Creative MuVo flash drive things. Thats coming up to a year old and works perfectly. One of the best flash mp3 players i have had to use. My girlfriend had a small Packard Bell flash player and had to have something like 4 in a year so steer clear of those.

[IWantAnAudiRS6]

Well, the saga of iPods is a little varied.

My mum has a 3rd gen iPod with 40Gb. She has used it a handful of times, and it sits in the conservatory. The screen is starting to mess up, but the HD is fine and the battery life is very good. I think it's a 2003 one, possibly 2004.

My sister's 20Gb 3rd gen iPod is battered about every day. She has no concept of taking care of things! But it still works perfectly.

My first iPod Shuffle was used and abused. I went biking with it more times than I care to remember- particularly as it got dropped in a few puddles. It was used every morning, in the freezing cold in summer. It even got run over by a lorry, but it's still fine. The only reason I bought another was because the headphone jack was slightly dead, and sound only comes through one headphone. It took well over a year to kill it, more like two.

My latest iPod Shuffle I have taken much more care of. It's about 9 months old now. I'm not sure if it's a problem with the headphones, but if I play it at certain volumes, it starts cutting out and generally being a knob. But such is life.

My parent's Shuffles all work fine. So does my sister's. Mum's got a Nano coming in the post that she got free with her phone. I'll naturally nick it.

[Clique]

the main problem with all MP3s are the headphones mine where finished after a weeks use...

[drakkie]

I have owned a Philips HDD 020 and currently a HDD1420.

The HDD020 lasted two years. As is the case with Suka's one,the HDD came loose a bit. After time it deteriorated. The HDD crashed often,which became more often Then i dropped it and the HDD got stuck or something against the case. We phoned up Philips and with a lot of effort we eventually got it replaced by a HDD1420 at no cost. The battery of that slightly deteriorated,but that was my own fault. When brand new it lasted 6-8 hours and in the end 4. The exterior had also been damaged a bit. I dropped it a few times so 4-5 dents. But on the main buttons of it the paint faded away.

The HDD1420 i now have(since a year) does not show any signs of wear. The battery is still perfect. I can listen to it for about 30 hours (!!) without recharging. The HDD is still good and the display too. The tiny hole for the microphone is blocked by sand and irt though The exterior of it is scratched all over. The shiny coating over the black is apparently very weak. Even a coin in your pocket can severely damage it. As I was used to have my MP3 and lighter in the same pocket,it quickly got ugly

But with both,i noticed that i broke the earplugs too often I need to buy new earplugs about each month. I tried cheap and expensive ones,they all break quickly. now i have some Philips ones,which you can put behind your ear. They seem ok. They were very very cheap with a price of just 12 euro. So far they almost lasted a month

Edit: I forgot to mention both devices were used daily. I used to go out biking to school with it. Both have been soaking wet and the old one was even frozen once. The rain water on my pants was frozen,so there was ice on the mp3 as well. Both get used in cold/heat/rain/snow whatever weather you can imagine.. The new one even gets squashed in the bus and metro on a daily base

[jediali]

the main problem with all MP3s are the headphones mine where finished after a weeks use...

even when you get a £200 mp3 player you usually get bad earphones, as soon as i bought mine i replaced them because they were pants.

[Cotterik]

i have a sony nw-hd3 and after a year and a half the hard-drive became disconnected from the chipboard. So it couldnt connect to the storage to play any music. I didnt take perfect care of it but better care than other people would have.

[Waugh-terfall]

My Dad has (I think) a 4th gen Apple iPod 20GB Photo, it's about 2yrs old now, maybe more, I don't know. It's in perfect condition and works good as new. It only really gets used in the house or the car. My Dad looks after it really well so there are no problems with it.

My sister got a black 4GB iPod Nano for her birthday in May, her first one had a dodgey scrollwheel after a week so it was sent back and was swapped for another, she doesn't look after it too well but the case she has for it protects it well enough.

I'm on my second black iPod Nano 4GB, my first was stolen when we were burgled in March this year. Mine new one is now 8months old. Good as new. They both had idntical 'incase' cases, neoprene and a rubberyplasticy case with clear covers over the scrollwheel and screen. I look after it really well although it has been dropped a few times and has spent a cold night in October in a muddy puddle but still it is perfect. I'm going to sell it soon as I'm getting a bigger iPod when the new big 'un comes out.
4GB just isn't enough for me, I've run out of memory, I neeed more rooooom!!!

My battery doesn't seem to last very long though...

[sleekeywoowoo]

I have a Sony NW-A3000 like in the picture, same colour and ll, got it for christmas last year, it's still working like new and no problems whatsoever, I personally enjoy it more than an iPod. And under the year that i've had it, the screen still has no scratches on it which is good considering that it's like a glass screen pretty much. 20gb more than enough, only problem is with the software, but it's nothing big, jsut have to wait a bit for it to load every time. But one good thing is that after you load it up to your mp3 player, you can delete it off your computer and itll still stay on your mp3 next time you load songs on, and you dont need to upload every song again if you just want to add one more song ( which im not sure if its true or not but i heard the ipods do that ) Also, battery fully charged, i've slept thru a night with it playing thru my stereo and in the morning the battery still ahd two bars out of the four left for battery life.Recharges extremely quick. But if you can, should buy headphones with it, the ones that go into your ear and have that gel thing around it to keep the bass in and all. Real nice.

[kingofthering]

eh..my 2nd iPod nano survived several falls and whacks while falling off the dresser but thats with the case on. Ars Technica proved that you can drive a VW on it and it will still survive.

and sleekeywoowoo, you don't need to upload every song again for iPods to add a new song. Just drag, drop, and sync.

[blingbling]

My girlfriend had a small Packard Bell flash player and had to have something like 4 in a year so steer clear of those.

Elaborate?!

But with both,i noticed that i broke the earplugs too often

dawg, stop blasting music haha