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General discussion

what mp3player do u recommend for a newbie?

Oct 11, 2008 3:36PM PDT

Hello,
I plan on giving my friend an mp3 player as a present. He does much farming work and bought these earmuffs which can connect with an mp3 player via stereo headphone jack.

He doesn't need videos / movies on the mp3 player. He just wants audio capability. He plans on listening to speeches and other spoken word stuff (audio books, etc) and maybe some classical music. He doesn't need radio stuff capability.

Because he's a computer newbie / mp3 player newbie / electronics newbie, I want the mp3 player and loading and unloading audio files onto it as user-friendly / simple / easy as possible for him. I don't want to see him getting frustrated trying to figure out how to load his mp3 player with audio files.

As a full-time student on a tight budget and because of the good price a few-months-old gadget goes for, I was planning on getting an mp3 player from a place like ebay or craigslist.


If you can give your suggestions for perhaps older models (1 year old or so... or whatever is not the newest generation), I'd appreciate it. Or if there are newer models that have a good price, please let me know, too. (My guess is that newer models demand a high price.)

It can be any brand.

The gift-recipient uses Windows XP.

Thank you.

Discussion is locked

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Additional stuff from original poster
Oct 11, 2008 3:39PM PDT

I don't think he will be needing to buy music. The stuff he will be listening to are all out of copyright. So no need to connect to iTunes or Rhapsody or Napster. He won't need a player that listen to DRM music. He will need a player that can play simple mp3 files.

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Ipod Shuffle
Oct 12, 2008 2:49AM PDT

Hey try using an Ipod Shuffle. There small easy to use and super cheap. If your looking for music you can obviouly use the software that comes with the ipod. Each song is ussualy a dollar each but after a while it adds up so I recomend Limewire.

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We want to be able to control our listening order
Oct 13, 2008 3:43AM PDT

We want to be able to control our listening order. Therefore, an mp3 player like an iPod shuffle, which can only randomize order of songs, is not what we want.

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Even the shuffle can....
Oct 13, 2008 3:45AM PDT

Play in the playlist's order.

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Playlists on Shuffle
Oct 13, 2008 3:57AM PDT

But to create a playlist on the shuffle, you need to do that on the computer right? And you can only create one playlist at a time, right?

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For a price....
Oct 13, 2008 7:41AM PDT

Look at the cost for the player that can create playlists on the player. Then compare to the shuffle which can play the playlist or the random.

I'm unsure what you are looking for but whatever it is, you should be able to find it (unless you also want it with a FM transmitter!)
Bob

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cubefresh.com
Oct 14, 2008 8:49PM PDT

I bought a great mp3 mp4 player from a website called www.cubefresh.com the price was realy good and the player is great

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SanDisk Sansa slotMusic player
Oct 15, 2008 2:29PM PDT

Just reviewed by CNET, the SanDisk Sansa slotMusic player. It is $20, but it doesn't have any onboard memory. You'll need to get a microSD card, but they come fairly cheap these days. It doesn't need software, it's strictly drag and drop through windows explorer. You can also get microSD cards with content on them for the price of a new CD , but may only have one cd's worth of music on them. However, there should be plenty of space to put more content. Click on the link below for the review for further explaination. People who are more technically inclined and those who have more experience with mp3 players seem baffled by this device. But I think it is a compelling product for newbies and offered at a pretty good price by a well known company.

http://reviews.cnet.com/mp3-players/sandisk-sansa-slotmusic-player/4505-6490_7-33342036.html?tag=txt%3bpage

and SanDisk's press release

http://www.sandisk.com/Corporate/PressRoom/PressReleases/PressRelease.aspx?ID=4401

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Thanks on Sansa slotMusic
Oct 15, 2008 3:10PM PDT

Thanks k3treb for telling us about Sansa Slot Express. will look into it.

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Creative Labs ZEN
Oct 17, 2008 9:48PM PDT

Personally, I had a Sansa C150 fail on me earlier this year. And I never really liked the way it transferred music from my pc to it. So went out and got a Creative Labs Zen player (2gb). It probably will do more than what you want for a simple mp3 player, but Its music transferring ability with windows media player 10 & 11 is excellent. I also love how it will take read SD cards, and not the expensive SD micro cards.