Some things I know about the Clip Sport after using them for a few years: --Adding files is drag/drop (or copy/paste) simple. No sync-ing apps required. Even so, keep backups of your songs off-device. It's just a good idea regardless of what you play them on. That way they'll outlive any device failure/loss or streaming license agreement. --I couldn't tell you it's Bluetooth performance. I use Audio-Technica M50x (and sometimes Sennheiser HD400s) wired over-the-ear headphones, and it drives them well with plenty of volume to spare. No file transfer over BT though, it's USB only. --Shuffle is a true randomized track selection. You won't be able to guess which track is played next if you enjoy shuffle mode. Some (maybe most) low-end music players only simulate randomized playback--they'll play the _same sequence of songs_ every time you power up the device, and over time you'll find yourself unconsciously "knowing" what song is going to follow the current one. --Related: Should you pause the playback and allow the player to time out and power itself down, your next listening session will all be tracks you heard in the last one even if in shuffle mode. To continue hearing songs that didn't come up in the last session, end your current one by pausing and then manually powering down the player by holding down the center button. --The Clip Sport supports ReplayGain. This is a volume setting within MP3 files (I don't know about other formats) that can be used to normalize its volume without re-encoding the sound data. I use a application called MP3Gain (free) to normalize the volume of newly-added tracks so one doesn't have the problem of some songs being too quiet and others too loud at a given volume setting. --Album art will be displayed *if* it's around 400x400 pixels or less. Most album art embedded within purchase-able MP3 files is 500x500 or 600x600 (and some even larger). I extract these using a free application 'MP3Tag', resize them in an image editor, then re-embed them (along with the original) using the same app. Note: if you do this, the re-sized JPG has to come first in line--should you want to preserve the original-size art you can re-add it after the smaller one and the Clip will show the first image. Whether or not other players will let you see subsequent images in the same file remains a mystery. --The LCD has a power-saving feature whose duration is user-settable. But while playing after the LCD turns off, the Clip doesn't bother updating the album art display, placing a patterned square as a placeholder when the track changes, something that becomes evident if you wake up the display by tapping a player control. Only if the track changes while the LCD is on will the album art display update itself. --The Clip Sport supports Unicode text in the player display. So (for example) songs with Japanese titles will display correctly. --One weak point in the Clip's design is...well, the clip. The ears on the movable portion that pivot on the metal pin in the back of the unit are subject to breaking off under normal wear and tear. I address this after the fact by putting a small safety pin through the pinholes on the device and using a standard badge clip to continue wearing the player attached to clothing when it's too warm for garments with adequate pocket space.
Some things I know about the Clip Sport after using them for a few years:
--Adding files is drag/drop (or copy/paste) simple. No sync-ing apps required. Even so, keep backups of your songs off-device. It's just a good idea regardless of what you play them on. That way they'll outlive any device failure/loss or streaming license agreement.
--I couldn't tell you it's Bluetooth performance. I use Audio-Technica M50x (and sometimes Sennheiser HD400s) wired over-the-ear headphones, and it drives them well with plenty of volume to spare. No file transfer over BT though, it's USB only.
--Shuffle is a true randomized track selection. You won't be able to guess which track is played next if you enjoy shuffle mode. Some (maybe most) low-end music players only simulate randomized playback--they'll play the _same sequence of songs_ every time you power up the device, and over time you'll find yourself unconsciously "knowing" what song is going to follow the current one.
--Related: Should you pause the playback and allow the player to time out and power itself down, your next listening session will all be tracks you heard in the last one even if in shuffle mode. To continue hearing songs that didn't come up in the last session, end your current one by pausing and then manually powering down the player by holding down the center button.
--The Clip Sport supports ReplayGain. This is a volume setting within MP3 files (I don't know about other formats) that can be used to normalize its volume without re-encoding the sound data. I use a application called MP3Gain (free) to normalize the volume of newly-added tracks so one doesn't have the problem of some songs being too quiet and others too loud at a given volume setting.
--Album art will be displayed *if* it's around 400x400 pixels or less. Most album art embedded within purchase-able MP3 files is 500x500 or 600x600 (and some even larger). I extract these using a free application 'MP3Tag', resize them in an image editor, then re-embed them (along with the original) using the same app. Note: if you do this, the re-sized JPG has to come first in line--should you want to preserve the original-size art you can re-add it after the smaller one and the Clip will show the first image. Whether or not other players will let you see subsequent images in the same file remains a mystery.
--The LCD has a power-saving feature whose duration is user-settable. But while playing after the LCD turns off, the Clip doesn't bother updating the album art display, placing a patterned square as a placeholder when the track changes, something that becomes evident if you wake up the display by tapping a player control. Only if the track changes while the LCD is on will the album art display update itself.
--The Clip Sport supports Unicode text in the player display. So (for example) songs with Japanese titles will display correctly.
--One weak point in the Clip's design is...well, the clip. The ears on the movable portion that pivot on the metal pin in the back of the unit are subject to breaking off under normal wear and tear. I address this after the fact by putting a small safety pin through the pinholes on the device and using a standard badge clip to continue wearing the player attached to clothing when it's too warm for garments with adequate pocket space.
Thanks
I had no idea walkmans are still a thing