BEWARE latest MTP MP3 players!

[Atash Hagmahani]

I am trying to give my younger son an MP3 player, because I have some audio courses for him to listen to, and wanted to copy files to the flash storage.

I have several of these. I just tried to buy another one, and just discovered to my horror that nearly all the current MP3 players have switched to Media Transfer Protocol.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Transfer_Protocol

Basically this means that they no longer work as USB drives and you can't drag and drop files (not even on Windows since MTP doesn't really use the file system). MTPFS does not work at all on my Linux system, and I would guess the equivalent package for Macintosh doesn't work either, judging from all the comments I found on the internet regarding "Macintosh-compatible MP3 players". I couldn't get anything to usably work.

This seems to be the only low-cost MP3 player left that still supports MSC (it's switchable so make sure it's in the right mode!):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BP8AY2?ie=UTF8&tag=mutuaassursur-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000BP8AY2

There are other MP3 players that still support MSC, but they have built-in screens for visual entertainment I don't particularly want my son to have (nor do I wish to pay for it), and worse, they have integrated lithium ion batteries that can not be replaced when they wear out, and furthermore, you can't just swap in a fresh battery when power is low. The sansa still uses an AAA battery that you can just swap out as needed.

[darwinslair]

Wow, am I glad everything we own is a MAC.

Keep telling you Atash, gotta get away from the crap PC and windows format.

I know exactly when you discovered the above. <smile> sorry about all of that.

Tom Kleffman

[Atash Hagmahani]

Tom, I have no regrets. It was an inconvenient waste of time, but the alternative would be to buy into corporate paradigms that make assumptions about how I want (and am allowed) to use their products.

I would never, not ever, download "pop" music using Microsoft DRM.

And my son would never want to listen to that anyway. (It's funny. He's a punky little rebel with an attitude...and yet he listens to classical music by personal choice. Sort of like Alex in "A clockwork orange", except maybe not sociopathic...).

[darwinslair]

maybe?

does he frequent milk bars?

go for a little of the ultraviolence?

somehow i dont see that

[Dame]

Sounds like a normal healthy teenager.  Fortunately, many of them outgrow it.