Exercise music gamers are usually engineered to be light-weight, waterproof, and simple to regulate whereas your focus is elsewhere.
Conveniences like a touchscreen aren’t essentially as essential since sweaty fingers and touchscreens do not combine. The most effective exercise music gamers emphasize practicality and sturdiness over bells and whistles to allow them to put up with time on the health club, drops on a run, or tosses onto the ground.
Listed below are a few of our greatest picks.
Greatest General
SanDisk Clip Sport Plus MP3 Participant
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Amazon
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Waterproof
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Holds as much as 4,000 songs
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Clips to your clothes
The SanDisk Clip Sport Plus has a battery that lasts about 20 hours on a single cost and helps each lossy and lossless audio information. It is tiny, light-weight, IPX5 waterproof, and fastens to your clothes or your gear bag with the included sturdy clip.
The buttons and display are additionally tiny and arduous to succeed in if you’re within the zone. However if you wish to set it and overlook it, you are good to go. The 16GB of onboard storage will get you round 4,000 songs, although the dearth of a MicroSD slot is a downer. In fact, if the music you loaded onto the participant is not what you are in search of, the included FM radio might need one thing you want.
It is a stable selection due to its dimension and extra options. Reviewer Erika Rawes appreciated the colour display and noticed it from a distance regardless of its small dimension. Erika took this music participant along with her on a stroll, and the clip stayed securely mounted to her clothes as she listened to an audiobook of “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.”
Show: 1.44 inches | Audio Codecs: MP3, WMA (No DRM), AAC, (DRM free iTunes) WAV, FLAC | Battery Life: 20 hours | Water Resistance: IPX5
“The SanDisk Clip Sport Plus MP3 participant has some perks, like water resistance, a sturdy design, and assist for a number of file codecs, however the lack of a MicroSD card slot is a significant shortcoming.” — Erika Rawes, Product Tester
Lifewire / Erika Rawes
Greatest Sensible Gadget
Apple iPod contact (seventh Technology)
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Walmart
The Apple iPod contact is an older-generation iPhone with out cellphone connectivity. This implies you’ll be able to hook up with the web utilizing Wi-Fi, ship messages, play video games on Apple Arcade, and use varied iOS options, however you’ll be able to’t make cellphone calls.
Other than that, you are basically getting a 4-inch iPhone that runs the total suite of App Retailer apps, together with Netflix, Fb, Twitter, and WhatsApp. That is very highly effective for a package deal costing a lot lower than a contemporary iPhone.
It is fairly massive for a exercise participant, although. Even with a 4-inch display, it is the biggest on our record. It has no SD card enlargement however is available in varied colours and storage choices as much as 256GB. General, it is a nice multi-use participant that offers you quite a lot of the identical performance as your smartphone at a fraction of the worth.
Our reviewer Jason Schneider appreciated the design and flexibility this gadget presents, noting the steel backing offered added sturdiness and that there is an array of options out there past these you get with a standard MP3 participant.
Show: 4 inches | Audio Codecs: AAC-LC, AAX, AAX+, Apple Lossless, Audible 2, Audible 3, Audible 4, Audible Enhanced Audio, FLAC, H.264, HE-AAC, Linear PCM, M-JPEG, MP3, Protected AAC | Battery Life: 40 hours | Water Resistance: N/A
“The entire again is constructed of aluminum, whereas the entrance is totally glass. This offers you a way more premium feeling than even one other smartphone at this worth degree.” — Jason Schneider, Product Tester
Lifewire / Jason Schneider
Greatest for Swimming
H20 Audio Stream Waterproof MP3 Participant
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Amazon
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Waterproof
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360-degree clip
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Tiny
The H20 Audio Stream 2 is well-named as a result of it is utterly waterproof, making it useful for swimming and water sports activities. It is small, with no display and bodily buttons for controls. It has an IPX8 certification, which implies it is waterproof as much as three meters (or about 10 toes) underwater.
That certification additionally contains the bundled earbuds, so you’ll be able to take this gadget whereas swimming. You get round 10 hours of playback for the two,000 songs it holds (through the 8GB of storage). The tiny gadget additionally has a 360-degree swivel clip, which means you’ll be able to connect it nearly anyplace.
Since there is no display on this little man and the buttons are small, it really works higher for steady play than individually deciding on songs out of your playlist. However these are completely advantageous compromises when you think about this music participant can go anyplace with you, together with the pool.
Our reviewer William Harrison famous the waterproof earbuds have been a few of the most comfy he is encountered, and when he examined the sound high quality underwater, the audio was clear and vivid. Nonetheless, William’s testing additionally discovered it did not get very loud, even at whole quantity.
Show: N/A | Audio Codecs: MP3, WMA, FLAC, APE | Battery Life: 10 hours of playtime | Water Resistance: IPX8
“The H20 Audio Stream MP3 participant is a neat gadget that makes its mark by being mild, simple to make use of, and most significantly—waterproof.” — William Harrison, Product Tester
Lifewire
Greatest Compact
Mighty Vibe Transportable Music Participant
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Amazon
The Mighty Vibe MP3 Participant means that you can stream music with out being confined to a cellphone or needing an web connection. It shops round 1,000 songs in a tiny package deal. The music is synced to the sq. gadget for offline enjoying, and a Keep Contemporary function updates your music everytime you’re linked, so you’ll be able to preserve your playlist up to date.
On the draw back, it comes with compromises. A thousand songs is not loads for a contemporary music participant, neither is the 5 hours of playtime the gadget offers on a single battery cost.
Spotify and Amazon Music are well-regarded providers, however the gadget leaves out different common streaming platforms equivalent to YouTube Music, Tidal, and Apple Music. Nonetheless, since this gadget is microscopic, clips to your clothes, works offline, and is drop- and waterproof, we really feel it nonetheless makes a stable exercise companion.
Show: N/A | Audio Codecs: Offline streaming | Battery Life: 5+ hours | Water Resistance: IPX4
Greatest Price range
AGPTEK Clip MP3 Participant
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Walmart
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Prolonged battery life
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Consists of clip, arm band, and silicon case
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Helps MicroSD enlargement
The Agptek Clip presents loads in a comparatively inexpensive package deal. It comes with an MP3 participant, earbuds, a sweat-proof silicon case, and an armband to clip the participant onto when you work out. Out of the field, it contains 8GB of storage, however you’ll be able to increase it by as much as 64GB through the MicroSD slot.
It helps lossy and lossless codecs, and a tiny display shows music lyrics. Nonetheless, the display is monotone, and our reviewer Erika famous it’s fairly difficult to see the small display from a distance.
On the plus aspect, the battery lasts as much as 30 hours, which is spectacular for an MP3 participant on this worth vary. Throughout testing, Erika acquired 14.5 hours of straight music playback earlier than working out of battery. The Agptek clip helps Bluetooth 4.0, FM radio, and e-books within the .txt format. This is a perfect selection for somebody who needs an inexpensive gadget to make use of whereas working or on the health club, because it prices lower than $30 and contains a number of equipment.
Lifewire / Erika Rawes
Show: 2 inches | Audio Codecs: MP3, WMA, APE, FLAC, WAV, AAC | Battery Life: As much as 30 hours | Water Resistance: Sweat-proof case
“The Agptek can go from quantity ranges 0 to 31, however it loses sound readability after degree 22 if you use the included earbuds. I didn’t see an equalizer in any of the menus both.” — Erika Rawes, Product Tester
Greatest Worth
Sony 8GB Walkman MP3 Participant
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Amazon
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Small with a display
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Reasonably priced worth
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35 hours of playback
The Sony Walkman NWE394/R is comparatively small, measuring solely 3.6 inches tall and fewer than two inches vast, however it nonetheless has a TFT colour display built-in, making navigating music simpler. Plus, the participant has as much as 35 hours of steady playback, and charging takes solely round two hours.
The controls take some getting used to. There is a five-way rocker for navigation and buttons for dwelling and choices. There are switches on the aspect, too, for quantity and locking the participant (so you do not interrupt a exercise). These buttons on such a small body could make this participant somewhat unwieldy. However that additionally means the participant has quite a lot of performance, so there is a trade-off.
This participant comes with earbuds that sound good, however the Walkman would not clip onto clothes simply like a few of the different fashions on this record, so this may be a better option for strolling or mild train.
Show: 1.77 inches | Audio Codecs: PCM, AAC, WMA, and MP3 | Battery Life: 35 hours | Water Resistance: N/A
Greatest Headphones
Sony Walkman 4GB Headphone
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Amazon
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No Bluetooth
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Small storage
The Sony Walkman 4GB headphones are a wearable MP3 participant, as they’ve native storage that permits you to play your music whereas leaving your cellphone at dwelling. They’re all-in-one, self-contained items with 4GB of storage. This is sufficient to maintain about 1,000 songs, and a single cost offers you roughly 12 hours of playback.
The headphones are waterproof, which means you’ll be able to take them as much as two meters deep within the pool. You’ll be able to take them in saltwater too, which is reassuring for individuals who prefer to surf or train on the seashore. On the draw back, these headphones haven’t got Bluetooth connectivity like many others. What you retailer on the headphones is what you need to select from. That is an comprehensible compromise, however we nonetheless miss it.
Show: N/A | Audio Codecs: MP3, WMA, Linear PCM, AAC | Battery Life: As much as 12 hours | Water Resistance: As much as 2 meters
Lifewire / Erika Rawes
What to Look For in a Exercise Music Participant
Water-resistance
Exercises are inclined to contain moisture in a single kind or one other. Often, that is sweat, however this could additionally embrace sports activities equivalent to swimming. Relying in your exercises, you will need to search for properties like sweat-proof, waterproof, or, one of the best, waterproof.
Bodily Controls
Touchscreens are typically troublesome to make use of if you’re figuring out and sweating. Bodily controls are important as a result of sweaty fingers can have hassle controlling a touchscreen.
Storage
This refers to what number of songs you’ll be able to carry on the gadget. The longer your exercise, the extra tunes you will hearken to. Selection is the spice of life, so by way of storage, increased is at all times higher. If the gadget has low storage, see if it helps MicroSD enlargement.
