Best MP3 Player

[Scott]

I am looking for a good MP3 player. My primary use will be to download sermons and audio lectures (eg. seminary lectures from Covenant Seminary), and audio books for listening to in the car. I don't plan to be doing any of [video=youtube;UxPrq3a_WUM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxPrq3a_WUM&eurl=[/video]. So, I will need something that works with a car adapter. What do you guys recommend? Ipod? Something else?

Scott

 

[SpiritAndTruth]

The original is still the best. There are cheaper alternatives, but I would go with a 2 gig nano. This will handily store all your podcasts, and audiobooks, but will also allow you other nice functionality that is unobtrusive, but there if you need it (like keeping photos, contacts, calendar, etc.).

For the car hookup, without spending a lot of $, or ripping your dashboard apart, I STRONGLY recommend this product from Monster. It's plug 'n play, well made, and reliable. What's key is that it also CHARGES your iPod while playing... Perfect for listening to sermons, where audiophile, digital quality is not necessary...

 

[Scott]

Thanks! How many hours of lecture time would 2 gig hold?

 

[SpiritAndTruth]

I'm not exactly sure, Scott.

You can set the iPod to to download new sermons automatically, and you can also set your iPod to delete the ones you've already listened to (but it will still be kept on your computer's hard drive on iTunes-- so you will have a permanent, ongoing archive, and you can drag 'n drop other sermons back onto it, if needed).

Because of that functionality, I can't imagine you would need more than a 2 gig, which can be had for very little $ now, but they have a 4 and 8 gig also available.

I have the 30 gig video iPod, and I have 3 two-hour movies on it, virtually all the music I've ever loved, pictures of my family, all the email addresses I have in my Outlook express folder, and the following podcasts (three months of each, with sermons broken down by the half hour for most):

1) Renewing Your Mind, with RC Sproul
2) Grace To You, John MacArthur
3) Desiring God Radio, with John Piper
4) Truth For Life, with Alaister Begg
5) Christ Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church Sermons, C. Matthew McMahon
6) The Wild Boar Newscast, C. Matthew McMahon
7) FBC Boynton Podcast, (my church's sermons)

Nearly all of them upload daily, so I never have a shortage of good stuff to listen to in the car, on the way to and from work. I also subscribe to some goofy video podcasts, and I have it set to KEEP THEM ALL in my iPod.

The crazy thing is-- I haven't even used HALF of the harddrive in my iPod-- I could DOUBLE what I already have, and still have room!!!!

Kinda hard to lose-- at least, that's how I feel about it.

Get ready, though-- when you hear about 2 to 4 sermons a day, like I do, you will REALLY be alien to this world!!!

Alex

 

[rmwilliamsjr]

for $30 you can get a small 1 gig flash mp3 player with a usb connection.
for $45 you can get a 2 gig with voice recorder and FM radio.
as to how much it will hold, the entire covenant seminary worldwide directory at:
covenantseminary.inmotionhosting.com
is only 5.1G

it is small enough to clip to my hat when i go walking.
i'm listening to CH523 for two weeks, the whole class only takes up 300M, roughly 1/3 the capacity of the player. Put 7 Tim Keller sermons on it this morning for something different today.
since my main computer is my storage and i burn cd's or dvd's, i don't see any reason for anything but a 1 or 2 gig flash drive mp3 player.

figuring all my kids have had their ipods stolen or broken, i figure cheaper is better in this case. i actually paid more for the noise cancelling headphones than the player.

 

[SpiritAndTruth]

This is very true, and very compelling-- it should weigh heavily in your decision-making process. I would also mention that you can get a "hat-clip" styled new iPod Shuffle, which is even cheaper than a nano (but I prefer the visual interface of the nano, and the extra storage capacity), while only being about 25% more expensive than the "no-name, here today, gone tomorrow" brand...

Again, this really boils down to how you define "value". "Value", that is, in terms of what you get for the money... "Value" in terms of what you want from a reliability standpoint... "Value" in terms of how much you would appreciate the simplicity, ease, and elegance. And, it is also a matter of personal taste, and what, exactly, you will be using it for-- and for how long you plan to use it.

So-- personal taste is a huge factor here. As for myself, I have NEVER regretted spending a little more to get the very best quality, but have OFTEN regretted cutting corners on price, and getting something sub-par.

Just my

 

[Swampguy]

I have been real please with my 1 gig sandisk. It does everything I want and has fm. The ear phones were a little to big for my ears but I had an old set of walkman earphones. I got it for $59 at Best Buys.

 

[wsw201]

Is there any real significant difference or advantage between the Apple IPOD and a MP3 player like Rio or Sandisk?

 

[SpiritAndTruth]

I happen to think so, but that's simply In my humble opinion. As stated above, ultimately it's a matter of taste.

Having said that, I will add, "Once you go Apple, you'll never go back"!

 

[wsw201]

I happen to think so, but that's simply In my humble opinion. As stated above, ultimately it's a matter of taste.

Having said that, I will add, "Once you go Apple, you'll never go back"!

Alex Berry? Is that code for STEVE JOBS!!

Considering the proprietory applications that Apple has, can you use a Sandisk on the Itunes web site and an IPOD on say Napster?

 

[SpiritAndTruth]

OK, you got me!!!!! Steve Jobs here...

Hope you guys are all buying as many Apple products as your discretionary income will allow...

Hey, I'm just impressed with the quality. I have to be really stoked about what I bought to recommend something publicly. I don't do it often.

Buy what you want.

I'm happy with what I got.

 

[KenPierce]

Ipod is the way to go. For an extra $50, I would upgrade to the 4 Gig. You would be surprised how quick you will fill it up, and it's better to be a little ahead of the curve.

Apple has the best interface, and for ease of use, Itunes is Tops.

And, this from no apple fan, in general!

Be careful in buying a car adapter, as many of the ones that actually hold the Ipod that are on store shelves won't fit the new nano. I got a Kensington adapter from Amazon, and it is pretty good. None of them are perfect --I think the tape deck adapters are better, generally.

 

[rmwilliamsjr]

i should add that i don't use M$ windoze, i use linux, and therefore require an interface that i can interact with. the ipod and some other interfaces(mostly in disk drive systems rather than flash) are unreadable file systems to me. i need to be able to mount the file system. most flash drives and flash mp3 are vfat. when you consider that the new windows will be another $100, i'd suspect more people will be joining linux. getting a propriety system in your mp3 player will lock you into an operating system that can interact with it, if you are going to load music from your computer and through it the net. my kids are all computer aware and i know they have to run to their brother who runs OS-X to get particularly stubborn sound files onto their ipods.

 

[jfschultz]

Thanks! How many hours of lecture time would 2 gig hold?

Max McLean's recording of the ESV Bible after converting to 32Kbit AAC file takes a bit over 1 Gig. The spoken word does not need the high bit rate used for music. This makes a big difference is the size of the audio files.

As for the connection to the car, a direct connection to an audio input is best it the car audio system has it

There are several systems that use a magnetic signal connection with a cassette tape shell in the tape player. As I recall Griffin has one that responds to the tape player motions to enable a skip-repeat function from the car's controls. (Handy if these are available on the steering wheel, but this apparently does not work with all cars.)

An FM transmitter connection has many variables such as the availability of unused space on the FM band where you live and the distance to the car's FM antenna. So this arrangement may work well for some and be a disaster for others.

If you are willing pay the $$$$ there are systems that integrate an iPod with the car's audio system for full control and even title display. The next car you buy may well have an iPod connection as part of the audio system.

 

[polemic_turtle]

i should add that i don't use M$ windoze, i use linux, and therefore require an interface that i can interact with. the ipod and some other interfaces(mostly in disk drive systems rather than flash) are unreadable file systems to me. i need to be able to mount the file system. most flash drives and flash mp3 are vfat. when you consider that the new windows will be another $100, i'd suspect more people will be joining linux. getting a propriety system in your mp3 player will lock you into an operating system that can interact with it, if you are going to load music from your computer and through it the net. my kids are all computer aware and i know they have to run to their brother who runs OS-X to get particularly stubborn sound files onto their ipods.

Check out Amarok; it worked excellently with my iPod on Suse 10.1.

I had the Sandisk 1.0GB player for about half a month and loved it as compared with the literally dozens of CDs I had from burning a new one every morning before work. However, it ran out of space quickly, so I traded it in for a 30GB iPod video. I bless God for this little machine! I have every sermon or lecture I could ever want, so I've got all the variety you could wish for. I recommend the 30GB iPod if you can afford it.

 

[SpiritAndTruth]

I traded it in for a 30GB iPod video. I bless God for this little machine! I have every sermon or lecture I could ever want, so I've got all the variety you could wish for. I recommend the 30GB iPod if you can afford it.

 

[Scott]

I went with the 30GB iPod. It is easy to use, which is nice. I have some seminary lectures on church history (from Covenant's cool web site) and some college (Teaching Company) lectures on WWII.