Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Todd Allen on August 15, 2009 at 7:30pm

I've been using Sansa E200 series players. Last year there were lots of closeout deals for refurbished players that were cheap, 2 GB players for ~$30 up to 8 GB for about ~$60. I bought 3. Lost one that fell out of my pocket on a ride. Another recently died. I'm hoping the last one will keep going for a bit as they are no longer available. There's a new model called the Fuze but it's more expensive and I don't like the design as well.

As for winter playing, almost all batteries will give significantly worse performance when really cold. Try to find a player that has 3 times the runtime that you need for your longest winter rides and you should be fine. Either that or carry you player in a shirt pocket under your coat.

Permalink Reply by Brendan on August 16, 2009 at 3:10am

As h3 mentioned, I think the moving parts in the HD are probably what caused my trouble the last 2 winters so I'm going to look for a solid state player this fall. I'll probably try to find a refurbished off-brand player like Todd describes. I'm kind of annoyed by paying a premium for the iPod name when I don't find the user interface that impressive.

I had surprising success last winter sticking a hand warmer to the back of the player on days when the temp was about 25 or below. I realized that I risked overheating it but thought it was worth a try. I didn't see any ill effects.

Thanks for the tips, guys. h3, that was me you saw at TJ's last month.

Permalink Reply by Spencer "Thunderball" Thayer! on October 11, 2009 at 1:31pm

I use a solid state Sansa Clip 8GB which is super duper small and easily mounted anywhere especially since it comes with a clip. Back in the day when I had my boom box mounded to the back of my bike I put a regular ipod next to it. Turns out that'll ruin an expensive ipod rather fast. : \ LIVE AND LEARN!

Permalink Reply by rik on January 4, 2010 at 7:25pm

I have been using a Sony Walkman nwz-s736f from 2007 i picked up second hand. This thing has great sound quality.
I have had it frozen while riding for 3 hours in 22F degrees. It was Not in my pocket; It was in a rear basket. That thing kept on playing all the time. Later at home I forgot to turn it off and found that it played all night also! That thing is unstoppable.

Permalink Reply by Matt on March 27, 2011 at 12:11pm

I ride for hours at a time in the winter, and have found that flash-memory based iPods work well - iPod nano, iPod Touch and iPhone. I like to keep an iPod classic around for the summertime, but have found that it tends to freeze up in the winter and that's not good.