It was so cool I'd run with my CD player in my backpack, but sometimes take it out to violently shake it just to see the glorious technological achievement at work.

And they didn't work at all :D 120 SECONDS ANTI-SKIP BUFFER! proceeds to skip within 5 seconds of jogging

The clip broke off mine the very first time I used it :(

I had the one later generation of iPod nano that was a little square touch screen with a clip. That thing was great, I could clip it onto my clothing anywhere and go for a run and it wouldn't move. I miss the days of iPod nanos and classics.

I do like this form factor, and have had some offbrand ones, but the color LCD with backlight drains the battery incredibly fast. The monochrome LCD on a Creative basically uses no energy and is perfectly visible out in the bright sun, even when fast forwarding through podcasts or audiobooks. Still, I'll take the physical buttons over a touchscreen that can barely work once I start sweating. Also the physical buttons let me actually CONTROL it while I'm running while still paying attention to where I'm going - no need to take my eyes off anything.

sandisk made the best mp3 players

This seems to be the new version of the clip by sandisk. You would want light but also be able to download a podcast on it and this is always a lot of fiddling with a bare bones thing like that.

So annoying, this problem had been solved long ago and now I need an expensive watch or something to get the experience that an iPod had more than 10 years ago.

I'm getting a permission denied error lmao

"You do not have permission to access this document."

My dedicated mp3 player is an old phone

Ugh, I bought one that rythmicaly squeaked when you used decent headphones.

You might as well just buy a cheap Android phone to use as a music player. A number of the MP3 players out there are pretty much that anyways, except they actually delete the cellular modem.

The cheap phones are also more likely to have a 3.5mm jack and an SD card slot too.

If it's just the battery that's the issue, put an inductive charger on the counter.

What do you have to keep walking over to check it?

I mean, just buy a bluetooth speaker and leave that on your counter. Then you dont even need to walk back to change your music. Playing music doesn't drain your battery that much.

Buy second hand

Same. I remember it generally held about 65 songs.

You did! I had the same one too and I liked that I never had to try to find the right chord. People hadn't really settled on micro USB for most things yet, so you still had 5 different flavors of usb cable floating around.

I know the pain. I had to use iTunes in a Windows VM. Now I have a Google Pixel with Graphene OS. No problems now.

Navidrome > Tailscale > Symphonium (or any other player)

They do, but they are INCREDIBLY uncomfortable. Running 10km with an unbalanced extra weight on one of my arms is torturous to me, to say nothing for the skin issues that I get from one of those bands holding the sweat against me the entire run.

Then, on top of that: slipping down the arm, tan lines, the bouncing of it, snagging it on things, how filthy and disgusting they quickly become, how they're still damp the next day getting ready for a second run...

Musicolet is the best player I've come across. Unfortunately, not on F-Droid.

AliExpress: so no screen at all it is then

RIP Zune, the best product Microsoft ever made. Mine died several years ago (the lock switch broke and it was a hassle to turn on/off) but I didn't have the heart to e-scrap it until recently.

Yeah, I have a dozen pairs and they're so much better than holding or wearing an arm band or waistband or anything. Yes, I miss just rocking my silkies, but I'm also 40, and the compression shorts provide comfort that definitely is appreciated.

I have a Pixel 9a and I've got room to spare in the sleeve. When I drive to races the other leg sleeve is for my car key. I've considered a weapon of some sort when I run through wooded areas, because I fear being attacked by bears or wildlife, which will never happen where I live, but it still goes through my mind when I'm back there.

Viable if I don't mind being locked into an ecosystem, and spending 6-7 times as much for something that is more or less guaranteed to lose software support long before it breaks.

Still need the phone with you

Might work better for you.

In my experience, once I'm dripping with sweat, a touchscreen is completely useless and non-functional.

Hang onto that Nomad... there's never been a better running audio player.

To be fair, part of this is that it’s been like 30 years since we made our own electronics

Most of the good audio gear is coming from niche channels direct from China. Moondrop and Fiio/Snowsky are probably the two biggest brands that you'd potentially find in your nearest city if there's an audio shop with a chi-fi bent.

Getting iems with removable cables also helps. I resoldered my Porta Pros with MMCX jacks so that I could replace the cable. It is shit that you can't get anything worth having unless you arguably know too much about the category, but it is out there.

Same, I had that exact mp3 player and it still is the easiest to load music player I've owned. Just plug it into any computer and it shows up like a flash drive, drag and drop in your OS file manager. No software, no bullshit. Only downside is the storage space, mine was tiny. I think I could only get like 50 or so songs on it if I remember correctly.