portable mp3 players

[UNTIL NEXT TIME]

Howdy Everyone- I want to purchase a portable mp3 player to listen to otr while I jog. Any suggestions?- UNTIL NEXT TIME

[vgarci]

Depends on how much you want to spend but I have a friend with an IPOD and it's terrific. I personally have a low end device that has 128 megs of memory (RCA) and it does the job but the IPOD is much cooler. vince

[UNTIL NEXT TIME]

Vince- IPOD is the name brand? - UNTIL NEXT TIME

[vgarci]

Apple makes the IPOD.

[merfalen]

The question here is how much do you want to spend...

Archos make a 10GB and 20GB MP3 Jukebox. It is bascially a hard drive where you can store tons of stuff even files other than MP3s.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00007KDX5/qid=1054444669/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_5/102-2179514-1607317?v=glance&s=electronics

With a 20GB Archos MP3 you could store and listen to evry single episode of CBSRMT...

[NDTim]

I bought a little CD player that plays CDs and MP3s at Best Buy for about $50 bucks. What is nice about it - besides the price - is you can carry it around like a Walkman, but it also had the car kit so I can listen through my cassette player in the car. I just went out Saturday and bought a cheap pair of speakers that feed into the headphone slot on the CD player. I take this out by our campfires and me and the family listen around the fire.

Tim

[merfalen]

That is an excellent purchase. I forgot to mention the portable CD players that have the ability to play MP3 format are also great buys. I have a portable Sony that does that. I am so happy with it. Another handy little item to have is this little device that plugs into any headphone jack and will transmit in the 88MHz FM range. So you can plug the device into your laptop and then dial into a choice of four different freqs and you can play the sound on a bigger and louder stereo system. Or you can play the same type of setup in your car. Just a little something to consider. It is sold at Radio Shack for less than $20. Anyway enjoy your new MP3 player.

smile.gif

joey:::

[Charlie]

Let me know when you see a portable player with a 100 gig hard drive. :x

Charlie

[Lagavulin]

I picked up a Memorex CD, CD-R, CD-RW player that plays conventional CD's and the MP3s on a data disc. Also has the cassette thingie so I can play it in the car through the stereo. I picked it up at a Target in Michigan or Wisconsin on a cross country trip last year for $75 US

Works fine for me. I was looking at little portable digital MP3 players with a flash card, or built in memory, but I'm not quite prepared to spend that much on them... besides, do you REALLY need to carry the ENTIRE collection everywhere you go? hahaha...

One CD, holds about 70 episodes for about 45 hours of listening. A second CD will double that. What kind of road trips/exercise sessions/camping trips are people going on that they need more?!
:D

cheers
miles

[hamlet2003]

I just got the SONICblue Rio S30S Sport 64 MB MP3 Player for my birthday (available at Amazon.com for around $130). It is easy to use, fits in the palm of your hand (about the size of a chips ahoy cookie! )and its light enuf that I can clip it on my shorts when I'm jogging and I don't even know that its there(try doing that with a cd player or a Walkman!). It's perfect for downloading a batch of episodes or songs and the software that comes with it is easy to use.

[brian1984_2001]

I really need to get one of these. I'm going on a seven day cruise in about six weeks. I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing in the evening than sitting on our private balcony, drinking a Glenlivet on the rocks, smoking a Cuban cigar, and listening to CBSRMT.

I think I'll go with a cd/MP3 player. But I've heard that some of them don't play low bitrate MP3's. I'd hate to spend that much money and not have it do what I want it to.

[Lagavulin]

Brian -

Sounds like a wonderful way to spend a week. I went on a cruise through the Virgin Islands several years ago and absolutely loved it. Was well before the advent of MP3 players and CBSRMT online, so I had to put up with onboard entertainment (hahaha).

When are you going and where are you going? Have you been on cruises before? Perhaps we should arrange a CBSRMT cruise in a few years! smile.gif Invite the remaining talent from the productions, and perhaps re-enact an episode or two smile.gif
hehehe

cheers
Miles

[brian1984_2001]

This will be my third cruise. My wife and I have done the Bahamas twice. My father in law owns a travel agency, so we get pretty decent upgrades. This time, because of a little luck, we got the cabin portside above the bridge right at the front of the ship. It has an extra large balcony. I do suspect it will be windy.

This is our first tour of the Virgin Islands. Work has been brutal now for the last month, so I'm anxious to go. We're driving from Ohio to Florida and back also.

[Lagavulin]

Well, i broke down and purchased a digital MP3 player. I have a memorex MP3 CD player, but wanted something smaller and lighter.

I picked up a Daewoo Digital Portable Music Player (ORC-200(B)) and an very much enjoying it.

Pros:
- small size
- easy connect to computer (USB)
- drag and drop loading
- voice recording
- can use as a mini hard drive
- 10 hours on 1 AAA battery
- tempo control
- backlit display, easy to read, excellent display

Cons:
- no belt clip
- earphones have very short cord
- limitd to 64MB memory - not expandable
- fast forward/rewind is slow

To be honest, I didn't shop around at all. This was in the right price range, works with Mac, OC, and Linux systems, was small, slick looking, and came to $150 CAN.

With 64MB I can fit 6 episodes which is plenty at one time. There is a loop at the top of the player through which you can string a necklace, or safety pin to attach to clothing.

Here are links to sales and review infomation. There is precious little in English at this point, but you'll get the idea from these sites.

http://www.digimania.be/en/prod_det.asp?ProductID=358

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/come2mate/mp-ora-0010.html

cheers
Miles

[Lagavulin]

I ended up returning the Daewoo thing. Took it for a heavy duty test drive for a solid week and while I liked the size, the display, and the multiplatform connectivity (PC, Mac, and LINUX), I couldn't handle the small storage size. I thought that 6 episodes would be enough to cart around with me at any given time, but I didn't like having to hook it up every day to refresh the content.

I am considering a Pocket PC - will have some of the same storage issues, but most will use smartcards to expand as deep as your pocket book. THe advantage of that will be all the other features of those systems, but I understand that the battery life is short with extended use.

*shrug* might have to take one of those out for a week's test drive too :wink:

hehe

Cheers
Miles

[brian1984_2001]

I do believe I'm going with the CD model. Does anybody have any model numbers of players they've used? I want to make sure I get one that plays low bitrate MP3s.

Six episodes won't be enough for four days of driving and seven days of cruising. I need storage.

I do have to tell you that at $.75 a minute for online service on the ship, I won't be able to visit this site while I'm gone. I suspect I'll have a long back log of episodes to enter into my listening log.

Only 32 days away. Can you tell that I'm excited?

[vgarci]

Brian,
I don't have the exact model numbers of the CD/MP3 players we have in my family (I'll get them for you) but I have a Memorex that is very nice in that it scrolls the title of the program in the display. Unfortunately, the device seems temperamental in that I dropped it from about 1 to 1.5 feet onto a carpeted floor and then it said it couldn't read the MP3 format....not good. Could be a fluke but it could be a systemic problem with this model that you'd want to know about. My daughter has a Panasonic that doesn't have a display but it's nice in that it acts like a car cd player as it remembers where it was shut off. Therefore, you don't have to scroll through the 65 programs to pick up where you left off. Really nice feature. Both are quite good on batteries averaging over 15 hours of listening for a set of AA's and they both handle the lower bit rates just fine. Again, I'll get you model numbers of the two we use. Incidentally, my daughter has a summer job doing data entry for an insurance company. She enters claim information and gets to listen to CBSRMT programs all day via headphones. She's going through the programs at an incredible clip. She used to listen to books on tape but now says she can't imagine going back to the blandness of someone reading a book with minor voice changes. She's hooked on the dramatic effects of the RMT. ;)

[brian1984_2001]

I finally got around to buying one. I'm happy so far.

I got a Samsung CD YEPP' The upside is it has great sound, plays mp3 and cd, has great displays, and it remembers where it last left off.

The downside is it does not have a clip for the belt and is rather large and heavy.

[CBSRMTFAN]

I was considering buying one of those small mp3 players but heard that some brnads/models won't play low bitrate mp3's like most of our OTR shows. I assume the Yepp works well?

Also, how did you get 128MB or more?

Bruce

[brian1984_2001]

The Yepp' seems to work well. I put it in the tray of a stroller and took a walk with it and it didn't skip.

If you are looking for something higher end, I've heard good things about the Rio line. Problem with those is you pay dearly for memory.

[garyleefaa]

I have enjoyed everyones discussion on different devices to play the MP3 format on. I want to do most of my listening in the car since me and my wife do a lot of driving. I'm interested in any experience that anyone has with ways to adapt an MP3 or CD/MP3 player to the car radio. Also more input on how you listen to the shows. Thanks!

Gary

[Lagavulin]

Gary -

I picked up a Memorex portable CD player (CD, CD-R, CD-RW, MP3) that came with a car adapter. Works fine. There are quite a few brands out there now that come with adapters for cars with cassette players and power outlets (formerly known as cigarette lighters :wink: ).

[garyleefaa]

Lagavulin,

Thanks for the feedback!

Gary :D

[Lagavulin]

As much as my wife rolls her eyes and groans when she hears, "THE CBS RADIO MYSTERY THEATER PRESENTS...." she must love me smile.gif

For my birthday she went together with my parents to buy me a Toshiba Pocket PC e330 (http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/Toshiba_Pocket_PC_e330/4505-3128_16-20537611.html) with 256mb memory card.

Unlike a conventional MP3 player, this is a full featured computer with touch screen. It comes installed with Pocket versions of Outlook, Word, Excel, Microsoft Money, Windows Media Player, and several other titles. There are dozens of other applications available to download as well.

As an MP3 player, it is quite acceptable... you can load up play lists on the screen and the rechargable battery is lasting all day for me listening to a few episodes and performing other tasks on it as well.

I took some pics of it, but my web server is offline at the moment but I'll upload some when it's back online.

cheers
Miles

[vgarci]

Cool. Thanks for this post because I really hadn't considered such a device. Can I be so bold as to ask the approximate cost? I ask because I've been considering an IPOD (note that I did not say my wife is considering it) and I wonder how this compares.

[vgarci]

Cool. Thanks for this post because I really hadn't considered such a device. Can I be so bold as to ask the approximate cost? I ask because I've been considering an IPOD (note that I did not say my wife is considering it) and I wonder how this compares.

[Lagavulin]

It was under $500 CAN (around $350 US) including taxes and memory card - for that price I could have picked up an MP3 player with huge storage, but my Pocket PC accepts SC Cards so memory is kind of unlimited. I traded builtin storage space for versatility.

While listening to an episode, I can record my latest bank transactions, read cached pages from CNN and CBC, view family photos and videos, play a game of monopoly or scrabble, then load up the word processor and enter the listening log notes all on the same device.

Also works well as a flashlight when tromping to the outhouse in the middle of the night. hahaha