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These dedicated MP3 players are sure to elevate your music-listening experience.
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Sure, you can stream music or purchase your tracks and add them to your phone, but there’s something nostalgic about having a dedicated music device. Remember those days when everyone had an iPod? Well, MP3 players are making a comeback. Smartphones are great if you want to keep your music with the rest of your digital life, but if you need a separate space for it, an MP3 player might be the way to go. Having a separate device just for music lets you enjoy your favorite songs without getting pulled into checking emails or scrolling social media. Even though phones can play music, many people find that a dedicated music player helps them focus better on the music itself.
Whether you prefer wired audio or Bluetooth audio, MP3 players can be the perfect companion for your music needs. Plus, there are several additional reasons why getting an MP3 player makes sense. Maybe you’re overwhelmed by streaming subscriptions or you prefer your music offline in playlists — in MP3 and other audio formats — instead of on a cloud. Or perhaps you own rare tracks that you can’t find on mainstream platforms or have lossless FLAC audio files you want to preserve.
The good news for music enthusiasts is that if you’re in the market for a dedicated device for storing your tunes, there’s a wide selection of MP3 players available. We’ve rounded up the best ones for you.
Read more: Best Stores for Buying Digital Music You Can Keep Forever
Yes, the products above are really the only ones I can recommend in this category with any degree of enthusiasm. They aren’t the only options. If you’re looking for a bargain basement option (under $50), a serious high-end alternative (starting at $350 and going to four figures) or some interesting workarounds, read on.
The Mighty 3 is the closest modern equivalent to the iPod Shuffle, but the catch is that it only works with Spotify Premium and Amazon Music, both of which can be synced wirelessly. We haven’t tested the Mighty 3, though we quite liked the original Mighty Vibe. The Mighty 3 includes eight hours of battery life while the Waterproof Mighty Vibe is designed to appeal to swimmers and outdoor types.
This 4GB “player in headphones” model uses Aftershockz’s patented bone-conduction technology. It’s also fully waterproof, and retails for about $150. (Note that CNET hasn’t tested these hands-on.)
If you have an old phone — or you buy a new one without service — you’ll have access to the full realm of app-based music services and any music files you care to upload. Something like the $190-ish Samsung Galaxy A03S (shown above) fits the bill nicely since you can drop in a microSD card that you’ve preloaded with tunes.
Audiophiles have long looked down on digital music because the sound quality was notably inferior for golden-eared listeners with distinguishing tastes. The development of lossless file formats (such as FLAC) and cheap ample multi-gigabyte storage have made portable high-fidelity music a reality.
At this point, there are really only two major players in the high-end portable music space: Astell & Kern and Sony (where the Walkman brand still lives on). We’ve used earlier versions of each brand, but not the current models. Astell & Kern players start at $1,000 and are strictly for true enthusiasts.
If you have hard drives full of uncompressed music audio files — and can hear the difference between those and comparatively low-resolution MP3 and AAC files — then, by all means, pair up one of those players with your wired headphones of choice.
Nearly all of the streaming music services now offer lossless or high bit-rate options; that’s nearly all the big players, from Tidal and Qobuz to Amazon and Apple. (Spotify HiFi, weirdly, remains a no-show.)
If you like what you hear, consider upgrading to a decent headphone DAC (that’s “digital to analog converter”) like the Audiofly Dragonfly or iFi Audio Go and a serious pair of wired headphones. Then you’ll have a solid audiophile option that’s good for the road, without the need for a standalone music player.
If you’ve got a digital music collection that includes one-offs and live tracks that aren’t available on the mainstream services, you can upload them to online services, where they can live alongside subscription tracks and be shared among multiple devices (including smart speakers).
YouTube Music, formerly known as Google Play Music, offers this service at no additional cost for up to 100,000 tracks.
Apple users can opt for iTunes Match, which lets you upload your own digital music to live in tandem with Apple Music tracks. Once available for $24 a year, the service now appears to be bundled in as part of an Apple Music or Apple One subscription.
If you opt for either of these options, make sure you keep a local backup of your files, just in case these services go away.
