Media Player Recommendations

[Thornir Alekeg]

Just make sure your local library support your iPod, some use that service that works on everything but iPods.

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Is the issue the iPod or a lack of Apple computer support? My library has a service to download audiobooks, but I seem to recall the reason I cannot use it is because I use a Mac. If I were to use a Windows machine so I could run the program to download, I think I could use an iPod with it.

 

[ssampier]

I think it's because many of the services were using WMA. The iPod doesn't work with WMA. I just cheked OverDrive and it looks like they have some software that converts it to Apple format. It looks like some titles are not available, and, yes, you do need Windows.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

I'm using my Droid, but the music player is pretty mediocre; I found an app that does nice things with it (like, say, plays the tracks on an album in order), but it's still kinda meh. I'm tempted to bring my old Creative player along still, but that turns into a two-device issue, and I only have so much room in my pockets.

Brad

 

[Jubilee]

If you want an MP3 player to play audiobooks, you need to make sure it has two things - it needs to have a feature where it picks up the file it was playing when you turned it off from where you last were listenning, instead of skipping back to the beginning of the song. I can't remember the name of the feature right now, but it's hard to actually figure out which ones have it without mailing the manfuacturer. An alternative is if it has a bookmarking feature, because that will let you save your place in an audiobook.

You also want to make sure your player will support the format of audiobooks you are getting - all the libraries I'm aware of use WMA protected files, which, last I checked, the Ipod generation of players does not support.

I got a sansa clip because 99% of the time I listen to audiobooks, not music and it supports both these features (and audible.com files, but most players do that). The creative line of players also used to do both.

Alison

 

[Umbran]

Veering away slightly from your original plans, have you looked into the Kindle?

If I were looking for an e-reader and an audio player both, I'd consider that. But e-readers just aren't at a point where I'd consider buying one yet.

It might be worth looking at the SanDisk players.

This looks to have been an excellent suggestion. They handle music, books from Audible, and books from the library. They support podcasts and audiobooks as separate from music (something the Sony Walkman E and S series players apparently*fail* to do, I was surprised to discover). The prices are good, and they are expandable with a memory card if I find I have underestimated my needs.

The Clip+ is nice, and cheap, to boot - I only wonder that the 4-line screen would make navigation less than fun. The Fuze has a slightly larger screen, costs a few bucks more, but does have a longer battery life than the Clip+

 

[Merkuri]

I bought my Fuze refurbished off of eBay for less than $40 and have been perfectly happy with it for a few months now.

I would recommend some sort of screen protector or cover for it, though. I made a little cloth pocket for mine so that I don't have to worry about it bumping up against stuff and scratching. That's probably true of any MP3 player, though.

 

[Umbran]

Sandisk Sansa Fuze (8GB, black) ordered. Bought new - they were on decent sale on Amazon. Clip-on earphones also ordered, as I already know earbuds annoy the heck out of me.

So, in a few days, we'll see how well it works.

 

[Umbran]

So, the player arrived yesterday, earlier than expected. I'd read the specs, but my mental image was still of something the size of my wife's iPod classic. There Fuze is notably smaller than that - to the point of being kinda cute. The screen is large enough to easily read (though it is a little harder in bright sunlight, especially while wearing my polarized prescription sunglasses). The navigation, is fairly intuitive, though some of the specifics will take some getting used to.

This morning I slapped a couple of albums on it, and tried it out on my walk to the subway, using the included earbuds. Normally, I don't like earbuds - having something stuck in my ear like that is pretty distracting for me. The irritation was still there, but bearable for the moment. Sound quality was better than I expected out of cheap earbuds, honestly. I will be interested to compare it to the Koss clip-on cans I ordered that are still on their way.

I'll have to spend a moment this evening removing the demonstration music and video that shipped installed on the device, and getting some more music installed. I am still up-in-the-air about installing the Rhapsody software that came with the player, and I'm not sure If I'll handle media management through Windows Media Player synch, or just manually.

So, my first impression is good. We'll see if that holds up over time.

 

[IronWolf]

So, my first impression is good. We'll see if that holds up over time.

Cool! Glad to hear the report!

 

[Merkuri]

I am still up-in-the-air about installing the Rhapsody software that came with the player, and I'm not sure If I'll handle media management through Windows Media Player synch, or just manually.

I use MediaMonkey. It has a free version, but if you want all the bells and whistles it's just $20 for the full thing (more if you want upgrades to theoretical future versions). Even the free version can be pretty powerful. I ended up paying the $20 to use the advanced smart lists, but that was only after I used the free version for a month and decided I liked it enough to pay for.