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
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.
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.
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!
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).
Huh, interesting.
I did some research and the Samsung Galaxy S9 or S9+ (but only certain models, specifically the ones with Exynos processors) seems like a good option. They’re officially supported by /e/OS, have an SD slot that supports up to 400 GB, have a headphone jack, and can be easily found for under $300.
