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Betsy
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| Posted: July 23 2009 at 10:21pm | IP Logged
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I have purposely tried to make my self technologically illiterate over the past 10 years or so...so please bear with my question here.
I would like an MP3 player and docking station to download books onto for my DS to listen to.
I know nothing, I mean nothing about these gadgets. I know so little that I hope that I am asking for the right thing!!! The only thing I feel qualified in choosing is the color!!
::What brand do I want (I am assuming a "generic" one would be find for me as I don't want any other options(??))
::What size memory is good for storing books on it?
::What kind of docking station would be good here, I don't need a Bose system...just books on tape here.
Anything else to consider? Thanks so much for humoring me!
Betsy
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mom2mpr
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| Posted: July 24 2009 at 6:12am | IP Logged
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I just got an MP3 player for Mom's Day. I love it.
I have a Philips from WalMart. It holds 2000 songs--I can't remember the megabites or whatever  . It will do video but, gosh, how could I see anything on that tiny screen? I just asked for it for books and homilies.
I use it mostly in the car-with the cassette thingy-- and at home with my earphones. I really don't appear to need a docking station with speakers. It is mostly for me. Though I do get books from Storynory and the kids listen to them in the car on the speakers with the cassette thingy-ma-bob.
I am enjoying mine. Still trying to figure out how to get things on it.
Check out the posts with "what to put on my Ipod" when you get it. A lot of neat places and things to listen too.
Anne
PS nice to know I am not the only one "behind the times" as ds says with a smile.
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MaryM
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| Posted: July 24 2009 at 11:14am | IP Logged
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I am pretty technologically illiterate, too, when it comes to the MP3 players and any personal devices, so am not much help. But when I was reading through posts my daughter saw this thread title and said, "What's that one about?" She was interested and had these thoughts to share:
For audio books you should only need a 2-4GB memory (unless you are planning on storing over ten audio books at one time). A MP3 player for storing audio books will cost about $50 depending on how much memory it has.
I think this one would be good for your needs.
A Philips GoGear ViBE 4GB is $45 at Walmart and can hold charge for about 15 hours (25 hours at the most). It would store about 20 audio books.
I have found that iPods last longer than a MP3 player from Philips or Sony. You can get refurbished iPods for a pretty good price on apple.com. A refurbished iPod Shuffle 2GB is only $59 and can hold up to 10 audio books. You could also go a little higher than that and get a refurbished iPod Nano for $99 it would hold 40 audio books which I am guessing you wouldn't need. In my opinion iPods have more quality for your money.
As far as a docking station, it depends on if you want it to just play your audio or if you also want it to charge the MP3 player. You can get a little portable speaker that just plays your audio for $20-30. If you also want it to charge your MP3 player then it would cost you closer to $50. Most of the docks that charge are made for iPods though. Otherwise it can just recharge from the computer.
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Mary M. in Denver
Our Domestic Church
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Betsy
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| Posted: July 24 2009 at 12:13pm | IP Logged
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Mary & and your DD,
This is *exactly* what I was looking for. Any other input would be welcome as well...but this gets me running in the right direction.
THANKS!!!!!!
Betsy
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Maggie
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| Posted: July 28 2009 at 9:20pm | IP Logged
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Sorry this is late!
I, too, am very "illiterate" when it comes to new technology. HOWEVER...we went through the same purchase decision a year and a half ago.
We purchased a SANDISK SANSA MP3 player. At the time, it was 1 gig for 35 dollars....now it is $27 dollars on Amazon
It is plenty for us. I believe 1 Gig holds more than 24 hours worth of material...
It is VERY easy to use for us...we love it.
No bells and whistles.  That's the way we like it.
God Bless,
Maggie
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Wife to dh (12 years) Mama to dd (10) ds (8), dd (1), ds (nb) and to Philip Mary (5/26/09), Lucy Joy (12/6/09), and Margaret Mary (3/6/10) who entered Heaven before we had a chance to hold them.
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anitamarie
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| Posted: July 28 2009 at 9:37pm | IP Logged
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I love my IPod. NEVER would have bought it for myself. Was a gift from dh. I didn't even know I needed one.
My docking station was about $80 and it came with different "surrounds" for the port so that different MP3 players could fit, so that may be something to look for if you go for a generic.
You will be so glad you own this.
Anita
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Ladybird3
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| Posted: July 29 2009 at 6:12am | IP Logged
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My dh and I each have an ipod and they are wonderful, but what I wanted to mention is a site booksfree.com it's kind of like netflix for audiobooks. You can get a monthly subscription (no contract so cancel any time) and you'll have an audio book sent to you. What we do is quickly transfer the book onto our computer and send it back to get the next one and do the same because dh has an hour drive to and from work and blows through these...just finished Chronicles of Narnia and now he's on a bit of a C.S. Lewis kick with Mere christianity and a couple of other facinating works by Lewis...it works well for us. :)
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Betsy
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| Posted: July 29 2009 at 7:04pm | IP Logged
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Ladybird3 wrote:
| My dh and I each have an ipod and they are wonderful, but what I wanted to mention is a site booksfree.com it's kind of like netflix for audiobooks. You can get a monthly subscription (no contract so cancel any time) and you'll have an audio book sent to you. What we do is quickly transfer the book onto our computer and send it back to get the next one and do the same because dh has an hour drive to and from work and blows through these...just finished Chronicles of Narnia and now he's on a bit of a C.S. Lewis kick with Mere christianity and a couple of other facinating works by Lewis...it works well for us. :) |
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I need to check into this...sounds great!!!!
Betsy
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Betsy
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| Posted: July 29 2009 at 7:06pm | IP Logged
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I have a follow up question. I might have an opportunity to get an ipod touch 8Gb for free. I don't want the internet portion of this, so I am wondering if this would be doable to use as a mp3 player or would drive me crazy with all the extra stuff. Thanks for any help...
Betsy
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Waverley
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| Posted: July 29 2009 at 9:09pm | IP Logged
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If you plan on using audio downloads primarily from your library (they are free), you need to check with your library system and see what MP3 players are compatible with their system.
Ipods are NOT compatible with our library audio book download system. It would be a shame if you purchased a device you couldn't use with the system you want. Someone once told me I could use the ipod with the system if I did a bunch of things like downloading and zipping. Because I too am technologically challenged I had no idea what they were even saying!
Good luck!
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Waverley
wife to Dh for 19 years, dd (16), dd (11), dd (8), ds (6), dd (4), dd (9-13-1996)
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Amanda
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| Posted: Aug 01 2009 at 5:50pm | IP Logged
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Waverley wrote:
| If you plan on using audio downloads primarily from your library (they are free), you need to check with your library system and see what MP3 players are compatible with their system. |
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I logged on to say this very thing. I have an Ipod, which I love, for music and purchased audiobooks. I also got a little Sansa (also mentioned above) for my library audiobooks. It doesn't have a lot of the features that make the Ipod so easy to use for a number of things, but it's fine as a library audio workhorse!
My library's audiobooks site (Netlibrary--don't know how many others there may be) has a spot where they list all the devices they have tested and found to be compatible with their licenses. I bought and returned two others from Best Buy before I got my Sansa--so save yourself the trouble and look into this first, if your library has audiobooks for download!
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St. Margaret Clitherow Homeschool
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Karen T
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| Posted: Aug 11 2009 at 4:39pm | IP Logged
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If your library uses Overdrive for their audiobooks there are more and more books available for iPod. I think Overdrive is actually more common than Netlibrary.
I have used tons of audiobooks over the last couple years on my Creative Zen Micro - I use them while knitting, sewing, cooking, and exercising.
My dh also has a Creative Micro and we've been very happy with them - several years old. Ds has been through 3 iPods already - each have died after about a year and a half, but he still likes them better. My younger kids have Creative Zen Muvos, which are tiny, use AAA batteries and work more like a Shuffle - no navigation menus, just advance through the titles until you find what you want. No bookmarking either. But they were cheap - $20 refurbished.
I have heard a lot of good reviews on those Sansa Clips. Also, half.com and woot often sell these for lower than regular retail.
One last thing - you mentioned needing a docking station for your kids to listen to the audiobooks. If you only plan to use it at home, you can play all audiobooks right from your computer - no player needed. Also, any basic set of computer speakers can be plugged into the headphone jack of most players.
hth,
Karen T
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Betsy
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| Posted: Aug 11 2009 at 5:39pm | IP Logged
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Karen T wrote:
Also, any basic set of computer speakers can be plugged into the headphone jack of most players.
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I didn't know that...thanks!
Also, I have used our computer to listen to books...however with the location of our computer isn't not feasible to do often.
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: MP3 Player
