mp3 player?

[Bob]

What's a good one?

[vviola]

iPod? Zune? I think those two are the most popular.

[odd_wanderer]

MP3s? Why listen to those when you can:

The sound quality would be superior, I'm sure.

[Bob]

But I already have one of those.  And big red wagon to carry the 8-track tapes around in.

[thalbergmad]

My God, the man has still got an 8 track.

Stunned into silence.

Thal

[Bob]

That was a joke.  I've seen an 8-track once upon a time.  I still have my cassette tapes and walkman.

I'm still wondering what people like/dislike for mp3 players.

[retrouvailles]

Get an iPod. Don't get it because it has the best features around (it is not the best), or for the larger storage options than others (160 GB max), but get it for the amazing customer service they have compared to other companies. If you have a problem, you report it online and they send you a prepaid box to send it back. I had a problem once, I sent it in, and I had it back within two weeks, for no charge (under their free 90 day plan, which can be extended to 2-4 years for almost nothing). And besides, iPods these days are dirt cheap, compared to back in the day when they were $400+.

[Bob]

Aren't ipods tied to Apple?  Where you can't load your own stuff on it?

[retrouvailles]

Aren't ipods tied to Apple?  Where you can't load your own stuff on it?

Yeah, they're Apple. But what do you mean "where you can't load your own stuff on it"? I have never bought anything from iTunes, and there are almost 10,000 songs on my iPod, and it is all "my own stuff".

[Bob]

I heard ipods could only play things from the itunes store. 

There are too many options.  It's confusing.

[vviola]

ipods can play any mp3 file.

[ihatepop]

Yep. If it weren't so the iPod would not have reached the status it holds in the world's markets today. 

There are various types of iPods. It really depends on what specs you're looking for. If you're considering buying an iPod take a look at this page:

https://www.apple.com/ipod/compare-ipod-models/

[oxy60]

Everybody is responding as if they know how Bob will use the player. For example we don't know if the MP3 tracks will be from download or from a CD. I don't have a dedicated MP3 player but I have no difficulty playing any tracks in any format. 

[retrouvailles]

Just get an iPod, and download foobar2000 to go along with it. If you have something that iPods can't play, such as non ALAC lossless files (flac, ape, etc), you can convert it to mp3. With that combo, you can play absolutely anything with your iPod, even things that weren't purchased from the iTunes store.

[Bob]

It's for portable audio.  My CDs, not downloading anything.

Yeah I was thinking there is probably a way to convert something to an mp3. 

What's foobar2000?   

I have read a lot of people just don't like iTune software, that it's a pain to use since it doesn't have a file structure format.  I'm not sure exactly what that means.

[retrouvailles]

foobar2000 is a media player, but it also converts audio, and can be used on pretty much anything. Anyways, about iTunes, I am not sure what they meant by that comment, but you can just download iTunes for free to see how it is. I would do that first. Also, there are third party softwares that you can use instead of iTunes to sync your iPod and/or manage your music library.

[Bob]

I think some people wanted to drag and drop files into their mp3 player and iTunes won't function that way.  There was something with the file structure I read comments about.

[oxy60]

Bob, you mentioned putting your cd's onto that mp3 player. Do you know how to turn any CD into mp3 files? This is an important step.

Yes there is a difference between all those formats. After a little investigation I found out that those iTunes tracks are very low-fi and they can't be restored to their original fidelity. They seem to be compressed into the least number of bits that will still sound OK over those iPod players. 

Keep in mind that a minimal quality recording is done at about 11 megs a minute. Mp3 gets you down to about 1 meg a minute and do you know how many minutes iTunes gets to a meg?

I'm not sure I want to know..

[Bob]

Yeah.  You just set the settings and rip the CD. 

Yes, I remember the 10MB/min a thing.  I think that's the full quality audio, like a wav file.  So a 5 minutes "song" would be about 50MB.  Ouch... In 1GB, only about 20 full quality songs would fit.    Which means 'buy a player with a lot of size' or rip it down a little.  If I'm listening outside, etc, on the move, the highest quality might not matter so much.  But yes, good point on that.


Figuring again, a standard 80 min CD would be... about 160MB.  6.25 standard CDs in 1GB.



I think I'll take some headphones and go visit some stores to hear these things live.  Keeping in mind that's probably a little rigged in the stores.


I would put things on the mp3 player and then delete that stuff later.  It would always be a copy of things.

[oxy60]

Great idea! I have a "public domain" converter for wav to mp3 where I can decide on the eventual quality vs file size by adjusting the compression rate. It's in the Goldwave package which comes PD and pro (paid). Good luck!

[retrouvailles]

Great idea! I have a "public domain" converter for wav to mp3 where I can decide on the eventual quality vs file size by adjusting the compression rate. It's in the Goldwave package which comes PD and pro (paid). Good luck!

foobar2000 can convert anything to anything for free, including WAV to mp3. Don't waste your money on any sort of shareware or whatever.