Your Experiences Using A Phone As Main Mp3 Player?

[Wentworth]

I'm not one for buying gadgets per se but I'm thinking about what to replace my phone with. My present phone has taken a battering and is about to give up the ghost any day soon. I don't keep up with the phone tech but I'm interested in getting one with a large enough memory to use as an MP3 player. Now, I've never used MP3 before. I see phones advertised as having 8 or 10 Gig memory. I guess I could use that but wondered if anyone has had problems doing that? Do you have to connect the phone to your PC to download music? Do you have problems say with the ear piece port if you have to keep plugging in and out. Please take it easy with your replies - I know, I should get more tech savvy!

[snader]

I Wouldn't choose a iphone if you purely want to play Mp3 because you will be stuck with apple's iTunes. Any other smart phone will be ok i guess, considering quality of the phone first.

Edited March 16, 2010 by snader

[siamshot]

Best experiences with Nokia 5310.

Bought it for 2 aspects: should be a good mobile - and an excellent mp3 player. Happy with this one over more than a year now.

Memory with micro-SD card 16 GB. Battery life very good. Only the cam is bullshit.

Edited March 16, 2010 by siamshot

[colino]

I have the Nokia 5800 express music ,, comes with a 8gig micro sd card and a great set of head phones

8gig is plenty big enough for me but I could buy a 16gig card

My nokia is really easy to use (touch screen with short cuts to the music),

Free nokia ovi maps so it acts like a sat nav just download the country you want , also lots of free apps

To help get more music on line but all i do is transfer mine from pc to phone ,

the new nokia suite is 10 times better than the last one

colino

[Blindtigar]

I also have a Nokia 5800 express music. It is great. playing music through head set and also through the phone speakers. The battery is also very good as well as other aspects of the phone

[Wentworth]

The Nokia 5800 Music Express sounds just what I'm looking for, I had a sneaky feeling that Apple phones tie you in to itunes.. The camera bit doesn't worry too much as I only use that in emergencies and if I want my wife to translate some Thai for me. The apps thing sounds great eg the sat nav. I like the idea of all the extra bits that you get with it; I guess that's why they put the emphasis on the name 'Music Express'.

I really appreciate the replies - Many Thanks!

[colino]

I forgot to mention playing back through the phone as said by blindtigar

all new phones come with usb cable and software so its easy to add music from your PC

or you can just drag and drop the files onto the memory card,

I also have a LG cookie the sound on it is not brill and it didnt come with a memroy card and has cheap head phones ,

what ever phone you buy just make sure its got a good memory card and head phones ,or you could end up spending more money on upgrading, ask around your friends and see what they have and try them out ,,,,,colino

With nokia the camera lens is a good one, mine also has a built in dictionery that translates and says the word

Iv seen my phone on sale here in Big c for 9000 baht but shop around for the best prices ,

As i said before make sure they include all the bits in the box and not try to add on the card as extra ,colino

Edited March 16, 2010 by colino

[BuckBee]

I use a HTC Touch Pro with Pocket Player. Works great, better than many MP3 player when you set it up with HTC equalizer & good headphones.

constant plugging/unplugging could lead to problems but bluetooth headphones is another option.

Some of the Nokia range & Sony Ericssons are good in terms of MP3 playback/user friendliness & all devices mentioned have memory card slots that can support probably up to 16GB storage cards.

[tominbkk]

While I'm not the hugest fan of itunes, I am use to it and it does an ok job....As a music player, the iphone totally rocks. Nokia does a good job, and the Sony Walkman phones aren't half bad either, but iphone kicks them all.

[crev]

I will go for HTC phones because of the other useful features and its Windows so its easy to sync it with your PC.

[Wentworth]

For those who have the Nokia 5800 Music Express.

I really like the look of this one. Apparently you can buy the standard phone or a package that includes 'Comes with Music' (CWM) - free downloads for a certain period. Does anyone know if the CWM is available in Thailand and if you can download just Thai music - if so what sort of price do they go for?

[Somtamnication]

My Iphone is a great mp3 player, but as others have said, you are stuck with Itunes. The days of copying and pasting mp3s over to a "drive" are over with it though. On my HTC G1 I could do that and I sorely miss it.

What I do not like about the Iphone player is (in this case, Itunes) it does compilations on its own and I cannot place certain mp3s in their own folders. Itunes does a great job screwing any orderly added files.

[Spoonman]

I use my N97 as my mp3 player, 32gb onboard memory holds a heaps of tunes, I use a bluetooth stereo headset so there's no dam_n wires and transfer music via bluetooth from my PC, battery life is about 9hrs whilst playing music.

[Gary A]

I am a fan of audio books and use a Nokia E51. It got wet last Songkran so I bought a Nokia 5130 Xpress music. It has a 3.5 mm audio jack while the E51 has the smaller jack. The 5130 plays most music formats very well. Dragging and dropping files from my computer to the phone memory card is very easy. Unfortunately the 5130 WON'T play Audible book format files. I got the E51 repaired and the 5130 is now just a backup. Both phones can use either Nokia Suite or simple drag and drop to add files to the phone memory cards. I use a Radio Shack adapter so I can use my Sony 3.5 mm ear buds with the E51. I can't tell any difference in sound quality between the phones.

[TheWalkingMan]

I am a fan of audio books and use a Nokia E51. It got wet last Songkran so I bought a Nokia 5130 Xpress music. It has a 3.5 mm audio jack while the E51 has the smaller jack. The 5130 plays most music formats very well. Dragging and dropping files from my computer to the phone memory card is very easy. Unfortunately the 5130 WON'T play Audible book format files. I got the E51 repaired and the 5130 is now just a backup. Both phones can use either Nokia Suite or simple drag and drop to add files to the phone memory cards. I use a Radio Shack adapter so I can use my Sony 3.5 mm ear buds with the E51. I can't tell any difference in sound quality between the phones.

Can't play Audible book format files? First time I ever heard of those files. I did a little looking around and the suggestion is to burn the .AA files to a cd and then rip the cd using www.freerip.com or something similar. Or to re-record the files per the instructions here (http://www.jakeludington.com/ask_jake/20050607_unlocking_audible_books_legally.html).

The other option is using Format Factory. (http://www.brothersoft.com/download-formatfactory-98431.html) I don't have any .AA files so I cannot test this. Once you have the mp3 file, you will need to spend time splitting the file into chapters. Try audacity, it is freeware and can split files (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/)

What a pain, just go here (http://www.archive.org/) you can find mp3 audio books, old time radio and more! All free to download.

Happy listening!

TheWalkingMan

[Gary A]

I am a fan of audio books and use a Nokia E51. It got wet last Songkran so I bought a Nokia 5130 Xpress music. It has a 3.5 mm audio jack while the E51 has the smaller jack. The 5130 plays most music formats very well. Dragging and dropping files from my computer to the phone memory card is very easy. Unfortunately the 5130 WON'T play Audible book format files. I got the E51 repaired and the 5130 is now just a backup. Both phones can use either Nokia Suite or simple drag and drop to add files to the phone memory cards. I use a Radio Shack adapter so I can use my Sony 3.5 mm ear buds with the E51. I can't tell any difference in sound quality between the phones.

Can't play Audible book format files? First time I ever heard of those files. I did a little looking around and the suggestion is to burn the .AA files to a cd and then rip the cd using www.freerip.com or something similar. Or to re-record the files per the instructions here (http://www.jakeludington.com/ask_jake/20050607_unlocking_audible_books_legally.html).

The other option is using Format Factory. (http://www.brothersoft.com/download-formatfactory-98431.html) I don't have any .AA files so I cannot test this. Once you have the mp3 file, you will need to spend time splitting the file into chapters. Try audacity, it is freeware and can split files (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/)

What a pain, just go here (http://www.archive.org/) you can find mp3 audio books, old time radio and more! All free to download.

Happy listening!

TheWalkingMan

Thanks for the link. I have downloaded MANY books from LibriVox. I also buy two books a month from Audible. I think they have over 30,000 selections. The monthly membership fee for the two book deal is $22.95. The Audible format plays on my computer, E51 Nokia, Garmin GPS and a little Creative Zen Stone so it is not worth the hassle to do the conversions.

[mshoichi]

My Iphone is a great mp3 player, but as others have said, you are stuck with Itunes. The days of copying and pasting mp3s over to a "drive" are over with it though. On my HTC G1 I could do that and I sorely miss it.

What I do not like about the Iphone player is (in this case, Itunes) it does compilations on its own and I cannot place certain mp3s in their own folders. Itunes does a great job screwing any orderly added files.

I think it's a great idea, albeit I love gadgets. Over the years I've used a HTC Wing (eh), 5800 Express (was great), a BlackBerry Pearl (horrid), with multiple iPhones in-between. I've been on two iPhones for the past two years, with a few sporadic moments when I've tried other phones.

Re: Being stuck with iTunes

You can't download music through iTunes (unless it's free), but you can use your own music. You can rip your own CD's and add them to your library through iTunes or just drag and drop them into your primary folder (if you specific it, next item). The bigger frustration I find is that when copying them onto your computer, it automatically categorizes them if you retrieve titles and tracks through the internet.

Re: Compilations

Under Preferences, General there's an option to change the location of the media folder. By default, iTunes organizes your music. I prefer my own methods so have changed the location. It seems to work fine on the latest iTunes version.

The only hardship I'd find is, that if I didn't use my phone to send emails and take pictures, is the cost. You'll receive EDGE but a good portion of the cost seems to be the 3G bands, which are effectively useless for the time being. Might consider the legit China version, though I haven't looked at the prices. Or, you may want to try the 3G 8GB version.

If not, I'd recommend the Nokia. 8GB should be fine, sans video.

Edited April 11, 2010 by mshoichi

[zzdocxx]

Thanks for the info.

I used to catch the reruns of the old radio shows on public radio.

I especially enjoyed "Duffy's Tavern" and "Fibber McGee and Molly", those were funny!

Not sure where to find those nowadays.

[bifftastic]

I used a Nokia N82, great phone till it died on me! replaced it with a borrowed N95 which was similar but the camera lens wasn't as good, indoor shots were poor.

Played music very well, both the same really, put an 8gig micro card in it and nokia music let me make up playlists of all my MP3 files then transfer them over to the phone so you get the flexibility to make up your lists on the computer where you can see everything properly then transfer them over.

Recently got a Samsung i8910 and the Samsung software they gave me didn't work for the transfers, it said it did but the files weren't there. Oddly enough, seeing as the OS on the Samsung is licensed from Nokia, I tried PC suite and that did work!

Plays fine, the 8gig card still has something like 6gig left on it and I've got about 2 days of music on there so far!

Headphone socket is ok on the Samsung but it has a cover over it and is a bit fiddly, so I reckon I'll go for the bluetooth headphone option.

itunes is a pain in the arse, unless you buy it from the istore you can't listen to it? I know some people swear by their iphones but I'm happy with mine, I was happy with my Nokia too till it turned into a brick!

Whatever you go for it doesn't have to be a bang up to date smartphone, as long as it can take a fairly large microSD card and it has some kind of playlist function you're good to go.

oh and thanks to the poster who gave the link for mp3s

[britmaveric]

Battery life is bad when you use mp3 options on most phones.

[bifftastic]

Battery life is bad when you use mp3 options on most phones.

good point, I get about 4 hours out of mine, luckily when I was on a long 'plane journey it was a Boeing 777 and it had power points.

The alternative is to have another fully charged battery. I've never had a dedicated MP3 player so I don't know what the average battery life is

[britmaveric]

Battery life is bad when you use mp3 options on most phones.

good point, I get about 4 hours out of mine, luckily when I was on a long 'plane journey it was a Boeing 777 and it had power points.

The alternative is to have another fully charged battery. I've never had a dedicated MP3 player so I don't know what the average battery life is

^pretty good my apple nano runs forever on one charge. Lucky to get a full day out of my iphone, but I am using apps, phone, browsing ect which puts an incredible drain on battery.

[mshoichi]

Re: iTunes and the iPhone

Yes, you can load mp3s, videos, podcasts, and movies without having to purchase or download them through iTunes. The bulk of my content is "non-iTunes"...actually I don't think I've purchased anything from iTunes.

The battery life on my 3GS is horrible. Like britmaveric said, I'm lucky to get a full day on my phone (though I run apps, email, and am on the internet a lot). The big downside is that there's no removable battery, so I still lug my Blackberry around when I travel for work. It's good for 6 or so hours of videos, I'd guess at least double for listening to music.

I suppose at the end of the day, if I were looking at another phone I'd consider 1) battery life 2) software 3) wifi. I don't care for being tied to iTunes (or really a single computer) to manage my information, since I use my phone to transfer files and am on multiple computers sometimes. The setup, while easy, can be a bit daunting for a non-technical person...it's easier just to get something that works from the get go.

[mshoichi]

Re: iTunes and the iPhone

Yes, you can load mp3s, videos, podcasts, and movies without having to purchase or download them through iTunes. The bulk of my content is "non-iTunes"...actually I don't think I've purchased anything from iTunes.

The battery life on my 3GS is horrible. Like britmaveric said, I'm lucky to get a full day on my phone (though I run apps, email, and am on the internet a lot). The big downside is that there's no removable battery, so I still lug my Blackberry around when I travel for work. It's good for 6 or so hours of videos, I'd guess at least double for listening to music.

I suppose at the end of the day, if I were looking at another phone I'd consider 1) battery life 2) software 3) wifi. I don't care for being tied to iTunes (or really a single computer) to manage my information, since I use my phone to transfer files and am on multiple computers sometimes. The setup, while easy, can be a bit daunting for a non-technical person...it's easier just to get something that works from the get go.

Whoops, sorry getting a bit off-topic. I get about 6 hours of watching videos, perhaps 2x that listening to music on airplane mode. I've never tried to do either for an extended amount of time with my phone on (ie it's usually when I'm on a plane).

[TheWalkingMan]

Thanks for the info.

I used to catch the reruns of the old radio shows on public radio.

I especially enjoyed "Duffy's Tavern" and "Fibber McGee and Molly", those were funny!

Not sure where to find those nowadays.

Public Radio rocks... I used to listen to so many audio dramas, mysteries etc way back in the early 80's.

And here is the link for some Fibber McGee and Molly... you can listen online or download to listen at your leisure.

http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=fi...diatype%3Aaudio

Enjoy.

[JSixpack]

Battery life is bad when you use mp3 options on most phones.

Exactly. And when I need my phone, I really need it.

Best is to get a dedicated MP3 player. Me, I got a Sony Walkman w/ a pair of Sennheisers; it's compact and sounds fantastic. No ITunes, just drag 'n' drop!

[sarahsbloke]

I'm using the Samsung Candy/corby, works great, my only mp3 player now.

Too lazy to drag around anything else.

[nikster]

Battery life is bad when you use mp3 options on most phones.

Exactly. And when I need my phone, I really need it.

Best is to get a dedicated MP3 player. Me, I got a Sony Walkman w/ a pair of Sennheisers; it's compact and sounds fantastic. No ITunes, just drag 'n' drop!

LOL

Lots of "experts" that are convinced that files and folders are better than a database (iTunes). I don't think so. iTunes is great, and contrary to popular belief you are not in any way tied to Apple with it, you can load any music you want into iTunes. Drag and drop files onto iTunes and not only will it import them, it will also sort them and let you search for them in a very convenient matter.

Anyway. The iPhone is a perfect mp3 player, it was built by a bunch of perfectionists and they did everything right. The iPhone also has no problems with battery life when playing music. I'd say it's one of the few things that doesn't affect battery life very much, unlike other things like web surfing or push or email which all drain the battery pretty quickly.

But... but. I would still recommend a dedicated separate mp3 player. Example I want to hook up my mp3 player to my car, my computer, my stereo at home, but not my phone. I need my phone on me so I can't leave it in the car or on the stereo, so I end up switching it around all the time. Then it's on the car, and it rings, and you have to take it off etc.

In day to day life, I find even a perfect mp3 player on the phone is worse than a dedicated mp3 player that does nothing else. Get an iPod.

[tominbkk]

What I do not like about the Iphone player is (in this case, Itunes) it does compilations on its own and I cannot place certain mp3s in their own folders. Itunes does a great job screwing any orderly added files.

Hmmmm, that's strange. I manually manage my MP3s and vids, so I can arrange things how I want. I thought that was one of the good things about iTunes, that you can easily make playlists, or organize any set of songs under different categories or such so that they are easy to find and play.

[tominbkk]

Battery life is bad when you use mp3 options on most phones.

good point, I get about 4 hours out of mine, luckily when I was on a long 'plane journey it was a Boeing 777 and it had power points.

The alternative is to have another fully charged battery. I've never had a dedicated MP3 player so I don't know what the average battery life is

My iPhone has 20 hours + if you are just using the audio player. Trouble is with the iPhone it's a gaming device, a reader, and a dozen other things, so playing with it so much can zap the batteries in 6-7 hours. But just listening to music, it will last a long long time.