I Help in a Possible Purchase

Perhaps someone here has an answer. I am looking for either a Boombox or a DVD player that will not only play MP3, but would have a decent display that would show both the artists name & title of the song. Needless to say, I am tired of buying & returning such items because the display for the MP3 part sucks big time. They seem to all use the same format. Your lucky to even see maybe half of the name of the artist, let alone anything else. If they can have decent displays in automobiles, why cant they have the same in portables.?
I am hoping that there is someone that has found something that would work.
Thanks................

What is your budget for this?

Budget? I guess somewhere between $100-$150... I just returned a GTX 707b that had beautiful sound, a great 7" screen for dvd movies & it played cds,dvds
in mp3 format. However, the text for the mp3 screen sucked big time. I turned around & purchased a 9" Sony DVD player that boasted all formats of mp3 as well as dvd movies. Unit was great.. except for the mp3 screen. It sucked as bad as the GTX. It goes back today. If I cannot find a boombox or a DVD player that will display as my old Ipod does or like in the automobiles, then I guess I'll just have to throw in the towel. Unfortunately, the store around here do not have any of such on display whereas one could try before the buy.......
Thanks for the input.

For that amount, you may not be able to find what you are looking for. For a little more money, one alternative would be a netbook computer with your choice of MP3 player software and DVD player software.

That's a good choice, jdc. However, I already have one. Although it has all the right features, it does not have the quality sound one would expect from a good boombox. I'm thinking of something that I can take outside & enjoy listening to, while lounging or working. Another feature that was on my want list, of which I had forgotten to mention, is an included USB port. With that one could make up a bunch of playlists on a a few small thumb drives, & be able to switch whenever you want. Ya...I know.. a Lot of wishful thinking... "If Wishes Were Horses, Beggars Would Ride"......................

How about getting a portable amplifier, and plugging the netbook into that? The sound from most netbooks is pretty good, apart from the crap speakers that they fit. If you bypass the speakers by plugging the netbook into a decent amp, I think it would do all that you want.

I agree. The speakers would be the weak link on your netbook. Portable DVD players would have better speakers, but they are not likely to have the MP3 software you are looking for.

Or portable speakers w/built in amplifiers.. eg- http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10209672-1.html

http://www.google.ca/search?q=portab...DMSRgQeO8dGHDg

I had thought about that, but didn't want to have all that excess baggage to have to handle. Well, there's no real hurry. Perhaps a good boombox will come along someday. Technology seems to be forever expanding... except for boomboxes... Ohh Yaa & hearing aids also. Another subject - another time. Thanks Guys for all the input ..........

FWIW in my real life line of work as an audio engineer I regularly use professional CD/mp3 players/decks and even those, some of which cost up to 1000 dollars, often have issues reading MP3 data so it isn't just home products... and if these can't do it reliably, it doesn't say much about the possibility of that getting better any time soon.

eg- http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i-DEN-DND4500-LIST

Ironically a 100 dollar IPOD type device does the job infinitely better than something nearly ten times the price.
Perhaps that's what you may want to look at.. an IPOD with a pair of speakers with a dock.

I guess you're right, fink. I have that equipment also. There's pros & cons with that arrangement also. I guess I'm just spoiled. Having mp3 capabilities in both vehicles & in my entertainment center & getting the type of data display I like, on those... I had thought that perhaps that that tech. had drifted into other audio home products. Oh well, maybe someday. Thanks for your input..............................

You're lucky, my 2011 model car still cuts the end off the MP3 data, even though it has a 7" Sat Nav display :rolleyes:

Yes I know, SuperSparks.. some do & some don't. I just purchased an IQ without the NAV & it's a bit short on the display also. Another nice feature on the later autos, is the USB port. Last year I bought a 16g thumb drive for one, added 6000 plus mp3's. A year later, I'm still listening to the same drive. All artists spaced to where there would be none playing twice in a row.

Yeah, I'm with you there, I love the USB port too :) I picked my car up last July, and I'm still listening to the same 16 gig stick too (podcasts in my case). I used the CD player to load the Navi maps, and I listened to one track to check that it worked, and I've never used it since :D