I would like an MP3 player that I can jack into my Linux OS and it be reognized as just a USB mass storage device by Gnome. I don't use iTunes and or anything else of that nature...

Is there no way in Linux to simply just drag and drop my .MP3 files from my Linux machine to my MP3 player? If you guys know of any MP3 players that work great in Linux and don't require a kernel build or anything crazy, please let me know.

You can drag and drop with any player that is "USB Mass Storage Device compliant." The newer Cowon players are for a start. A lot of the small flash-based players are too.

So you are saying if I purchase a Creative Zen Micro or something simular that us USb based, it will work in Linux with no problems?

I believe a Zen Micro will work. My sister has one and that's how it works (Windows). I, personally, have a Sandisk Sansa m240 and it does just what you're looking for.

dracolich

I have a Sansa m250 but I could never could get playlists to work. Have you been able to copy music to it incorporating a playlist? I have lots of music on my mp3 so I really need to seperate the music with playlist. ex bluegrass/ rock /easy rock

I read somewhere someone was able to do this but he had to make a file and edit it and do a ton of things just to get it to work.

Thanks Charlie

But still be careful; iPod Shuffles are sold as devices which are "flash memory keys", and which you can use as such ones, and a local seller here advertised them so that you can "just drag and drop the content in". True, you can, but in order to do so you'll need to format it with iTunes first, then from iTunes settings set some "data space" for it, and after this you can "drag and drop" data or music or whatever on it -- but it won't of course play anything dragged&dropped

Don't know if other manufacturers advertise like this as well, but at least iPod Shuffles are. I got fooled by the seller, stupid me, and thought I can make it work as a flash-drag-and-drop-player, but of course it didn't. Even though Apple's iPods work great with Amarok, way better than with iTunes, and using them under a modern Linux distribution is one click away from being as easy as using a regular drag-and-drop-key, I'd still stick with players that do not need a special program to transfer the music.

So, the message was: don't care about the ads, even if you're 99,99% sure and your friendly neighbourhood seller is 110% sure that the device works as a regular usb key that you can drag your music onto, ask if you can try it first. The only "sure mark" is if the package says "no transfer software needed at all" or something alike. If the package provides somekind of program (like iTunes or similar), consider twice. Especially if the program claims to do more than just transfer files

It is somewhat unclear what will work and what not. Sony players are known for NOT working, iPods only work after some fiddling around, Microsoft Zune won't work while cheap Noname chinese players will work.

From what I've found from a quick Google search, the Creative Zen Micro will need a special software, so it seems it won't just work out of the box.

charlescpc, my m240 reads the id3 tags of the mp3 files to build its library. If your tags include the genre it'll read that and file it accordingly, then you can select such from the Sansa's menu. I use Amarok for modifying the tags of my files.

I use an iRiver IFP-799 1 GB flash based, USB conected player. It does mp3 and ogg. On a Mandriva Free 2006 distro I use ifp driver and ifp gui software. The gui is an easy to use drag and drop interface. You can also use a command line interface if you wish. This player precedes drm features so none of that matters. You can also store data on the drive. For any type of player you should google a bit after finding out the spec's on the player. Much of that drm stuff will ruin the ability to use it on a linux system.

I've got a Samsung YP-Z5ZB (google it). It is designed to work with Window Media Player 10. But it also shows up as memory device (I think that is that most important criteria if it is likely to work in GNU/Linux).

In Windows, I tried copying an ogg file over, using drag and drop, I got a message saying the device was incompatible with that file format.

Over in Linux land oggs copy and play. I don't use play-lists, I'm not sure if they would work. Overall I'm satisfied.

jer

dracolich Thanks I will give that a try. I use Amorak most of the time anyway. I will see if I can make the genre different to use that as playlists.
Thanks Charlie

I have a sansa 240 as well, and I can not read any music files. The file folder pops up with a few folders in it that are all empty, but does not have the music files do not show anywhere. Is there a solution? not just a guess but somebody who is using this player and has a way to make it work? I have every codec I can find as well as usb mass and other readers. I am also using amarok to no avail.

I use a iRiver U10 works fine for me what wont work is the play list if I drag and drop but I can browse for the songs and they are there..

sleekmason

I have just bought a sansa e280.
I found that the solution was to change the id3 tags to id3v2.

Edit them with Amarok, make sure that you have entries for artist, album and name. This will not however save them in the correct format. You need to navigate to the directory on the command line and run id3tag -2 *.mp3. This coverts the id3tags into the version that the sansa can recognise.