this post was submitted on 24 Jan 2025
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Intro

For quick context: I still use a digital music player (Sony Walkman NW-A45) frequently. I am not super fond of this player for reasons.

I have looked around for a while now, and I personally cannot find any suitable solutions (both new or old). I am curious if there exists anything that I might have missed, I would love to know about it.

The Short List:

  • Handles large media libraries
  • MicroSD Support
  • Preferably no network connectivity
  • Properly handles ID3 v2.4, Vorbis tags (A45 FAIL)
  • Handles album covers in a sensible manner (cover.png, embedded) (A45 FAIL)
  • Live play queue editing (A45 FAIL)
  • Preferably Sub-$300 USD
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[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago (5 children)

Have you tried Rockbox? It's not a device, but an alternate firmware for a number of popular and obscure media players.

My only other suggestion is picking up a slightly older Android phone and just leaving it in airplane mode. I like Vinyl Music Player. I think Vinyl does all the things you want.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago (4 children)

Rockbox unfortunately is built with "dinosaurs" in mind. As a side effect, the project does not intend to properly handle modern ID3, Vorbis tags.

I could use an older Android phone, but would have to find a suitable device to de-Google and load a custom music player app onto (such as Vinyl). Neither my Pixel XL nor Pixel 5a that I own currently are suitable targets (neither have microSD support, my Pixel XL has a damaged headphone jack and needs to be repaired). If you have any recommendations for something used that has a headphone jack, microSD slot, and can bootloader unlock via adb, let me know.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

the project does not intend to properly handle modern ID3, Vorbis tags

Which tags does it not intend to support? Not doubting you, just curious!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

The explicit denial I saw is multi-genre, multi-artist in ID3 v2.4 I won't be parsed.

EDIT: The source.

Rockbox will only pick up one of a tag (RIP Vorbis) and will only parse up to 500 bytes on higher end players, 240 bytes on other players of the grouped tag (RIP ID3 v2.4).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago

Huh, interesting.

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