It’s a Creative Zen Stone that I got as a Christmas gift in 2008. I just found it in a drawer, and it’s still holding charge. The last thing I put on it was The Life And Times Of Scrooge by Tuomas Holopainen, in 2015 – I don’t know why, at that time I definitely had a smartphone.

It has a headphone jack, which immediately makes it better than every smartphone produced in the last several years, and it can easily drive my 80-ohm Beyerdynamic. The audio quality is as good as one can expect. The only drawback is that it only holds 1GB… my old CD rips had to be compressed to hell and back.

Let me reiterate that this has been sitting untouched for a decade and was immediately ready for action. No login, no annoying software updates, expired subscription, or remote bricking by the manufacturer. Eat my shorts, Spotify Car Thing.

P.s. A Lifetime Of Adventure is a banger. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWwSVOo5K_k

  • MrsDoyle@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    8·
    22 hours ago

    I’ve got an iPod Classic 160Gb, from 2007 I think. Still runs fine, synchs and everything. I hate everything Apple about it - the weird 12-pin connection, having to use iTunes, the fact that it’s been discontinued - but otherwise it’s grand. I got it a wee Bluetooth dongle that fits into the headphone jack so I can listen on my hearing aids.

    I’m almost scared to use it, because it would be hard to replace. I’m often out of phone signal range, and it’s good to have all my music, audio books, podcasts etc still available. What else can do this? The Cloud is useless without a phone signal.