1st time buyer needs help finding a MP3 and dock?

by monkeymind400 May 22, 2008 7:44AM PDT

I'm in the market for my first MP3 player and have been reading about them, but am still confused. I want to be able to listen to audiobooks and podcasts while in bed WITHOUT headphones. I guess I need one that is DRM compatible. (See http://www.overdrive.com/resources/drc/#compatible
which is my digital library.)

I don't want lots of equipment, just a MP3 player and one dock next to my bed to listen to the stuff. All the docks I've seen are for Ipods which aren't compatible for the audiobooks. My perfect system would be inexpensive and . . .

MP3 player:

Easy to use and compatible with audiobook downloads from libraries

Voice recorder

Large enough capacity for books and podcasts (Would 2 GB's be enough? I have no need for 40,000 songs)

Video (can MP3 player be hooked up to TV's? If not, I don't care about this feature)

The Dock should have:

Clock w/ alarm
AM/FM radio
CD Player
Speakers
Charges the MP3 player
Large display for older people whose eyesight is going
Compatible with the MP3 player, of course.

Can anyone give me a recommendation for an MP3 player and dock? I've looked at Walmart and they have very inexpensive "docks"(?)that have most of the features I want, but I can't tell if they are only compatible with only ipods or if they can be used with all MP3 players.

Any other useful info I may not be considering would be helpful, too.

Thanks everyone! I'm 47 yrs. old and am having trouble keeping up with all the technology.

Discussion is locked

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slim pickings

by ktreb May 22, 2008 11:25AM PDT

The problem with most true docks that will charge the mp3 player is that they are made for iPods. They connect with the bottom proprietary 30-pin connection on the iPod. When they say they work with other mp3 players, they work by connecting with the headphone jack, which won't charge them.

If you're not going to go with iPod, you need to go with the next most popular players and then try to find something that is made for them.

Microsoft has the Zune and has a growing number of accessories for it. But it looks like it isn't compatible with Overdrive. There is a "made for Sansa" program for SanDisk Sansa players, but I have yet to see a decent player/dock/speaker, etc combo. You could go with the Archos Gen 5 series players. A dock is available for it, but it's not the kind of dock you're looking for.

I did find something on SanDisk's website that might work, but doesn't come anywhere near to having everything you want.

http://www.sandisk.com/Products/Item(2066)-iM510-Altec_inMotion_iM510_Mobile_Audio.aspx

If you go with a Sony walkman player, you could go with something like this:

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&categoryId=8198552921644515824

But again, it is rather lacking in all of the features you want. You may have to make some compromises or build your system piecemeal, which isn't necessarily a bad way to go.

Good luck in your search!

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go with SanDisk

by JonTitor May 22, 2008 12:22PM PDT

The Sansa line has some decent MP3 players
For you I'd suggest the Sansa View, minimum is 8GB but still pretty cheap
Video wise it actually has video out pins so you can grab a Video Out cable from eBay to easily hook upto a TV, shouldn't be too expensive either
as for the dock the Altec Lansing speakers have excellent audio quality
http://sandisk.com/sansa/#/accessories-2/
I have the iM510, but the iM413 has the stuff you want save a CD player and display (you use the players display which at 2.4" is just a bit shorter than an iPod Classic screen)

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Too Expensive

by monkeymind400 May 23, 2008 1:43AM PDT

Thanks for the info. I looked at those you suggested, but they are more expensive than I was hoping to pay. I was at CVS yesterday and saw a couple dock clock radio/CD/MP3 units (I think one was a Timex) for about $30.00. I've also seen some off brand clocks radio/cd/mp3 units at Walmart for < $40. I just don't know if they can be used with any MP3 player. I am assuming they can be hooked up to the MP3 player with a usb-like wire? Are the Creative products (Zen or Stone)ok? What size MP3 player would I need to save one movie to? It would not be a problem for me to use it to play one movie, then delete it and download another. The same with audiobooks. And I would only need to keep 2-3 hrs of podcasts on it at a time.

I could forego the dock charging the unit as long as I can charge it it some way (connect to pc?) and the charge would last 3-4 hours. The displays on the MP3 player itself will be too small on any of them. I'll still have to use my reading glasses-I was hoping for the dock to display the title of what it playing, but I can live without that. I'd like to keep it under $100 for everything. I also don't need great sounding speakers since it won't be used much for music.

Are the cheap clock/radio/MP3 units I'm seeing compatible with all MP3 players?

I'm just worried that I'll buy an inexpensive MP3 player only to find I have to spend a fortune on a compatible dock or won't be able to get the accessories for it.

Thanks ktreb and JonTiter

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Compatible with iTunes?

by monkeymind400 May 23, 2008 2:00AM PDT

I also forgot to mention that I use Itunes for my podcasts. Is that a consideration when selecting an MP3 player?

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podcasts

by ktreb May 23, 2008 1:57PM PDT

Almost all audio podcasts downloaded through iTunes are in mp3 format, so you shouldn't have a problem with compatibility. A few are in AAC - some podcasts will also offer an mp3 version. If one or some of your podcasts are only in AAC, you may want to purchase a player that supports these. Sony walkman and Creative Zen do. You could also convert them to mp3 within iTunes.

The only downside (and not really much of one) to going through iTunes is that bookmarking features don't transfer over to non-iPods. All podcasts d/l through iTunes automatically bookmark where you stop listening, whether it's through iTunes or an iPod. You can listen to a different podcast, watch a movie, listen to music, and then go back to the podcast you were initially listening to and take up where you left off. It's not really that big of a deal if you tend to listen straight through or if when you stop listening to the podcast you shut off your player. Using other software won't recover the bookmarking ability, so it's not really a big deal to continue using iTunes. Some (many?) players have some bookmarking ability, but they handle it differently from iPods.

It seems that you've lowered your expectations for a dock. Since you've done that, you can pretty much get anything that meets your budget. Just keep in mind that you will more than likely be connecting through a headphone port, NOT a usb/mini usb port. All mp3 players will come with a cable to connect to your pc for transfer and charging. You may want to pick up a generic AC adapter. I got something from WalMart that can charge two devices at the same time.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5750794

1st time buyer needs help finding a MP3 and dock?

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