Ach. So I take it you can no longer buy an iPod Nano or equivalent?

[imitationleather]

About ten years ago I got me mam an iPod Nano for Christmas. She was extremely pleased with this, and shockingly it's still going a decade later (The Nano, not me mum. Although she is still alive as well). However, it's begun to fuck up a bit and I reckon the battery must be in a right old state by now. My plan was to get her the new equivalent this year, but it seems all you can get is an iPod Touch. Nah bruv. She's already got a phone. And the entire thing is a bit complicated for her and she won't venture beyond making calls and texts on it.

What mp3 players are there that are a bit like the Nano? Still not sure I'll go for whatever is out there, but it'd be nice to at least have a look. Can't believe they've taken all the fuckers off the market, there must have still been plenty of demand for them from people who just want to be able to play music and nowt else. I guess they didn't put enough iTunes shop integration in to them or something.

Disgruntled,
Newcastle upon Tyne

[doppelkorn]

There's a Sandisk one that people recommend for children, hang in...

[doppelkorn]

Sandisk Clip?

[touchingcloth]

the entire thing is a bit complicated for her and she won't venture beyond making calls and texts on it.

Does she have her entire audio collection loaded up onto her old Nano then, without any need to add new stuff to it? Because, to my mind at least, it's much easier to use a Touch than it is to load stuff onto a Nano via iTunes.

[Bazooka]

Just get a Sony Walkman, it's tiny and hard-wearing.

Creative used to be the best MP3 manufacturers, but they stopped making them a few years back. I don't understand how people use phones as an MP3 player, analogue controls only.

[Gregory Torso]

A Creative Zen was the first mp3 player I had. It was totally shit - randomly wiped all the music off it and constantly had to be reset. This was about 10 years ago, though. I miss my iPod. Not enough space for music on my phone and twats are always ringing in the middle of good songs.

[Z]

When people recommend the sansa clips, they're usually referring to them with the rockbox firmware. I gather the inbuilt OS is kinda shitty.

Neither Rockbox nor a shitty OS may be what she's looking for so I'd say just get a refurb'd Nano from a year or three ago.

[Roy*Mallard]

Yeah, as stated above Sony is always good...

Could try the NW A35 as it has gone down a bit in price...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-Resolution-Walkman-3-1-inch-Display/dp/B01NBSVZK7/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1511526791&sr=1-3&keywords=sony+walkman

I have it and it's great - and if the volume is too low (bloody EU nonsense) then you can hack it to make it louder. 16 gb onboard storage and you can stick a 200gb micro sd card to bump it up.

Alternatives

Fiio M3 - 49 quid
A little finicky, cos it's dead small, but a lovely little player and relatively cheap - 8GB on-board storage and you can add a micro sd card - i have two of these and they can each take 128 gb micro sds

https://www.amazon.co.uk/FiiO-Ultra-Portable-MP3-Player-Cyan/dp/B01AM3WRFA/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1511527102&sr=1-3&keywords=fiio+m3

Fiio x3 2nd gen - 177 quid
Absolutely belting - no onboard storage but takes a 200gb micro sd card no problem.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/FiiO-Lossless-Portable-Digital-Titanium-Black/dp/B00VR5JHVK/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1511527508&sr=1-1&keywords=fiio+x3

Cowon Plenue D - 189 quid
Smashing little player with a belting battery - up to 100 hours for regular mp3. 32GB on board and can also take a 200 gb micro sd.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cowon-Plenue-Resolution-microSD-Expansion-silver/dp/B018WNI9N6/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1511527220&sr=1-1&keywords=cowon+plenue+d

As much as i miss my old ipod classics, the above help smooth over the loss quite nicely.

[Shit Good Nose]

Whilst I would always recommend Cowon players, they're probably a bit too high-end for your mum (the fact she's been very happy with a Nano clues me into that straight away).

The Sandisk/Sansa ones really are very very good, and probably the best of the bog-standard players.  Although Rockbox does improve them immeasurably, I wouldn't say it was essential, and the official OS/firmware is no worse than any other.

After that I'd only consider Sony players, but do be aware of the volume restrictions as already mentioned (they really are stupidly quiet, but very easy to get around), and also the limited codecs compared to most other players available.

[imitationleather]

Ta for the suggestions, gents. It's a toughie because without the simple Apple brand recognition it's going to be a tough sell.

Maybe I'll just get the old dear a subscription to People's Friend or something.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Doesn't make for a particularly good Christmas present I guess, but is teaching her to play music on the phone really not an option?

[imitationleather]

Doesn't make for a particularly good Christmas present I guess, but is teaching her to play music on the phone really not an option?

Go spend Christmas with my mum then report back with your thoughts on this.