Mp3 Player

[Niloc]

I download lots of interesting radio programs which come in the MP3 format. I would like to transfer these files to a portable player so I could listen whilst fishing or whatever.

I want to copy the files off the computer to a memory stick or directly to the player, I don't want to go via a CD or tape casette, I want the player to have its own memory to store the file, or use the memory stick.

I would expect to listen using earphones or plug into an amplifier.

I might use it for music but I really don't care much, I have plenty of music players.

I am going down to BKK next week so I could call into Pantip Plaza, any ideas would be welcome. Prices too!!

[Guest Reimar]

I download lots of interesting radio programs which come in the MP3 format. I would like to transfer these files to a portable player so I could listen whilst fishing or whatever.

I want to copy the files off the computer to a memory stick or directly to the player, I don't want to go via a CD or tape casette, I want the player to have its own memory to store the file, or use the memory stick.

I would expect to listen using earphones or plug into an amplifier.

I might use it for music but I really don't care much, I have plenty of music players.

I am going down to BKK next week so I could call into Pantip Plaza, any ideas would be welcome. Prices too!!

Go to Klong Tom Market at China Town! The prices for MP3/4 player ther cheaper as for at Pantip and much more Models or Brands available. And if you look for Music and Movie CD's or DVD's, the price s there are unbeatable.

[britmaveric]

See if they have a MUVO type device. (dbls as a USB stick)

[nikster]

I download lots of interesting radio programs which come in the MP3 format. I would like to transfer these files to a portable player so I could listen whilst fishing or whatever.

I want to copy the files off the computer to a memory stick or directly to the player, I don't want to go via a CD or tape casette, I want the player to have its own memory to store the file, or use the memory stick.

I would expect to listen using earphones or plug into an amplifier.

I might use it for music but I really don't care much, I have plenty of music players.

I am going down to BKK next week so I could call into Pantip Plaza, any ideas would be welcome. Prices too!!

iPod, iPod nano, shuffle are all excellent choices

They come with iTunes which is very good to manage your mp3 files (doesnt need to be music), auto-syncs with the player and allows you to create playlist, as many as you like. Unless you are an analog geek you will definitely want it for your music as well, it's just a much better experience to have 100 CDs in your pocket or on your home stereo. I never even touch CDs anymore, except to put them in the computer and rip them to the iPod.

Some people like the USB-stick-mp3 players where you manage mp3s just like files. I find this OK as long as you don't have too many but if you have a lot of files it gets tedious quickly. For an application like yours though where you are going to listen to each radio probably not more than once I think it would be acceptable. All shapes and forms at pantip

[bino]

Our local Tesco (Lad Prao) has a huge selection, including the Muvo that Britmaveric mentioned, as well as the iPod and many more. Prices from 1000 to 10000 baht depending on name, memory size, features etc.

Maybe worth checking out at Tesco in your area?

[Macx]

Slightly off topic, but what is the best music format conversion program?

I had an iPod with iTunes. I hate the iPod, but love iTunes. Now all my files are in AAC (or is it, ACC?). What's the best/easiest conversion program to change all the files into MP3 so I can play them on my Creative Nano?

Note: if I had imported/ripped all my music to iTunes in MP3, I wouldn't have had this problem.

So far, I like the Creative Nano. Very versatile with many features. And I don't have to throw the player away when the rechargeable battery goes dead as I did with my iPod.

Thanks.

[rak sa_ngop]

I also have a lot of Thai language radio programs which I record with Audacity, edit and then output as .wav files. These files are relatively big but by converting them to .wma files in JetAudio they become about 5x smaller.

I have a cheap 2 GB mp3 player I picked up in the UK (25 GBP in Curry's) and I can have about 100 hours of speech loaded onto this.

If you load as wma. files instead of mp3 you can generally double your hours.

The only downside I find with a cheap mp3 player is that it all the tracks are loaded in alpha-numerical order (so have to rename tracks to keep them together) and then it is time consuming to go through track-by-track to find your desired track (upto 999 tracks available).

Apart from that it's great!

Hope this helps

[cdnvic]

The three I would recommend:

1. Creative Zen

2. Sandisk Sansa

3. iPod Nano

You can find half decent ones by RCA, Phillips, iRiver as well.

Forget the cheap Chinese knock off junk as you really get what you pay for.

[nikster]

So far, I like the Creative Nano. Very versatile with many features. And I don't have to throw the player away when the rechargeable battery goes dead as I did with my iPod.

Thanks.

That's a bit harsh. If you iPod battery dies within a year, you get a new iPod under warranty.

If it dies after 1 year, you have plenty of options to replace it, do a simple Google search or check this site:

http://www.ipodbatteryfaq.com/

FWIW, I have had my iPod replaced in 2002 and it's still good for 8 hours.

[higgy88]

I highly recommend Creative. I bought mine about 4 years ago and still use it, and I bought another one for my 13 year old son for his last birthday. They are not cheap, but they can take a lickin' and keep on tickin'. As an aside, my wife has a flash drive which she uses to store data, and she accidently left it in her pants pocket, and the pants got washed in the washing machine. It was discovered when the clothes were hung out to dry. After letting her flash drive dry out for a few hours, I tried it and it worked exactly as it did before the washing. With that said, I would only use an MP3 player that uses a flash drive and I would stay away from those that uses a hard drive, although I can't say what would happen to a hard drive if it got washed.

[nikster]

Slightly off topic, but what is the best music format conversion program?

I had an iPod with iTunes. I hate the iPod, but love iTunes. Now all my files are in AAC (or is it, ACC?). What's the best/easiest conversion program to change all the files into MP3 so I can play them on my Creative Nano?

You are in luck - just use iTunes!

Start iTunes, then:

1) Select all your music

2) Go to menu item Advanced

3) Select "Convert Selection to MP3"

Couldn't be easier now, could it?

Then delete all AAC files from the command line or something.

C:\music> del *.AAC /s

should do it.

[Niloc]

Thank you everyone. I found out 'iTunes' is a computer program, I thought is was a money extraction method for Apple but seems not necessarily so I have it downloading right now.

I am using Linux on the desktop so I hope it runs OK with 'Wine' or I might have to go back to good old Windows 2000....

I will go to Chinatown on Monday when I go to Little India to get my tea and see what I can find...

[Florin]

Get an iPod nano...wonderful sound quality, size and shape. For Linux there are some programs which interact with the iPod, no need to run iTunes through Wine.

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

Slightly off topic, but what is the best music format conversion program?

I had an iPod with iTunes. I hate the iPod, but love iTunes. Now all my files are in AAC (or is it, ACC?). What's the best/easiest conversion program to change all the files into MP3 so I can play them on my Creative Nano?

Note: if I had imported/ripped all my music to iTunes in MP3, I wouldn't have had this problem.

So far, I like the Creative Nano. Very versatile with many features. And I don't have to throw the player away when the rechargeable battery goes dead as I did with my iPod.

Thanks.

you can replace any Ipod battery in 15 minutes at a cost of $15 to $20 for the battery. When you buy the battery they include little plastic tools to pry the case apart. Its really easy but I notice the local shop here in Chiang Mai will replace the battery for you.

http://www.ipodbattery.com/

and there are dozens and dozens of other companies offering replacement batteries. Many of the batteries are 30% higher capacity.

[Macx]

Thanks Nikster and Cobra!

Will bring my dead ipod to BKK/CM next month when I get back to LOS.

As for now, am using Creative. Thanks for the tip Nikster! It was easy as you said

[astral]

I use my Nokia N70 phone.

[Pattayaman]

I use my Nokia 6233 phone

I use my Nokia N70 phone.

[Niloc]

Unfortunately, I don't own a phone...

[kayo]

Hi Colin,

I'm not a iPod fan, but I am a huge music listener.

Just before Christmas I treated myself to a portable mp3 player.

after some fair research, my final decision was a Sansa portable player. they come in 1GB, 2GB or 4 GB (and maybe now an 8GB) models.

Look like an iPod, but are totally not apple related in any way. Can play mp3 and also store (reduced) photo's and vdo as well.

I'm extremely happy with it. It charges off your usb port, and syncs very simply to your windows media player (and a number of other media player programs) so as your setting up your playlists you can charge it. The battery life is very decent, adn the sound quality is good. It doesn't go very (ridiculously) loud, but a pleasant volume is acheived.

Two links

the first to my model

Sandisk Sansa e200

and this is a wiki page for the product

Sandisk at Wikipedia

In various PC magazines, I have read that this product is what iPod aspires to be.

(nb: you can also buy base stations with quality sound if you so choose to "dock" your player to listen to it at home. )

I paid approx 90 dollars for the 2GB version, in a normal (fnac) store in France.

edit: it also has a radio (FM) function, though I've never used it.