BS: MP3 Players and Audio Books - Advice?

Subject: BS: MP3 Players and Audio Books - Advice?
From: Maryrrf
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 09:55 PM

It's getting very hard to drag myself to the gym, especially since a problem with my shoulder has made it difficult for me to attend my regular class recently. I may have to stick to mostly cardio and a little bit of weight lifting that doesnt involve the shoulder...anyhow I was thinking that if I had a good book to listen to I might actually look forward to my time on the excercise bike and the treadmill, and thus go more regularly and stay on the machines for longer. They do have televisions you can watch while you walk or bike but that just makes me want to leave all the sooner. My first thought was to get a portable CD player and check out some audio books from the library, but then I thought maybe I should embrace the present century and get an MP3 player. I don't know anything about them, and there seem to be a great variety of them, and a pretty wide price range. My first question is about MP3 players - would the cheaper ones probably work okay for listening to audio books and sometimes music at the gym or is there a reason to spend more money on a pricier one? Are there special features I should look for and does anybody have a particular brand or model that they recommend? And, for audio books - in poking around the internet there seem to be some sites with a pretty wide ranging selection of books. Most seem to be subscription based - between 7:00 and 11:00 a month or so.   Can anybody recommend a good website for downloading books? Thanks in advance!

Subject: RE: BS: MP3 Players and Audio Books - Advice?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 10:04 PM

GOGOGO!

I use my player extensively in workouts-- sometimes up to 3 hours per day.

MUST have a player that knows where you were in the file when you shut it off, and MUST have one that works in a simple folder system. I've been very happy with my Samsung YP T8, and you can get them used on Ebay for about $30.

For what you want, you only really need a half a gig.

It doesn't hurt to have a voice recorder on the unit; you can use it for notes on what your pace, etc. were when it's not convenient to stop and use a pencil.

I use beats-per-minute rated music for my workouts. It really pushes the motivation. But I also use podcasts (both musical and spoken word), oldtime radio episodes, and audiobooks.

I like the audiobooksforfree.com site for books. You get to choose (and pay affordably) what sound quality you want and you can get them in zip files to make it simpler. It works on PaypPal.

GOGOGO!

Some runners I know prefer headphones to earbuds for workouts and runs. Shop around and you will find what you like.

GOGOGO!!!

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: MP3 Players and Audio Books - Advice?
From: Thompson
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 02:54 AM

If it's audiobooksforfree.com why do you need PayPal? My interpretation of "forfree" doesn't include paying!

Subject: RE: BS: MP3 Players and Audio Books - Advice?
From: Maryrrf
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 09:52 AM

It looks like with the audiobooksforfree site you pay according to the quality you want - you can get low (but presumably audible) quality for free, or choose to pay a more and get high quality - the higher the quality the more it costs but doesn't seem excessive. They did have some recommendations about MP3 players for audio books on the site - it seems that not all of them work for audio books so you have to be careful when choosing. Some don't allow you to return to the point you left off. I'm glad I enquired before just running out and purchasing and MP3 player.

Subject: RE: BS: MP3 Players and Audio Books - Advice?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 10:51 AM

Yes, some of the books audiobooksforfree has available are old material that has been digitized, and some of the sound quality that is "free" is great, but some iof it is not. You shop around.... there are sound samples to hear the different versions. The free sound is not too bad on some of the books, and (pssst) the cheapest paid rate stuff has sound I can hardly tell the diff from the expensive-rate stuff.

The newer material there has shorter files, too, which is a help navigating around the player.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: MP3 Players and Audio Books - Advice?
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 09:17 AM

Ohfergoodnesssakes!

Doesn't your local public library provide access to MP3 audiobooks? Many, if not most, do. They may even provide you with a player and they'll show you how to download the stuff from home if you ask them. NetLibrary has thousands of books you can "check out."

Go ask them. After all, your taxes pay for it -- why not use it? And if they don't have these audiobooks, get insistent about it.

Sheesh.

Subject: RE: BS: MP3 Players and Audio Books - Advice?
From: Maryrrf
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 09:57 AM

As a matter of fact my local library doesn't have books on MP3 format - they have books on CD. Thanks for the sarcasm.

Subject: RE: BS: MP3 Players and Audio Books - Advice?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 10:58 AM

Doesn't your local public library provide access to MP3 audiobooks? Many, if not most, do.

Tell me which small towns do, and we'll consider it for our retirement plans, but our present small town of choice is not one of them. Maybe big-city Mudcatters can find MP3 resources at their libraries, but I doubt small-town and rural Catters can. One reason would be that they are so affordable as a commodity that a library doesn't have to fund them. Books on tape, there may be a few.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: MP3 Players and Audio Books - Advice?
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 03:38 PM

The Idaho Commission for Libraries has a contract with OCLC to provide ebooks (OCLC owns Net Library) to public libraries in Idaho. The money for this comes from grant from the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA); such money is available to all of the States and is usually administered by the State Library. Individual libraries can apply to their State Library for a grant for ebook money, among other things.

The state library in Maine, for instanace, runs Marvel, which includes Net Library in its index (I can't go further than that since I'm not in Maine).

I'm not being sarcastic and I'm sorry it came across as such. I get frustrated when people feel have to buy what should be available to them via their public library.

And not just the large ones have ebooks, either. The Portneuf District Library and the Aberdeen Public Library both had ebooks for the public long before the Idaho Commission for Libraries wrote the contract. Neither is large and neither is wealthy, but their patrons asked for the service and so it was supplied.

Ask your local library.

Subject: RE: BS: MP3 Players and Audio Books - Advice?
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 09:12 PM

Something we have learned: iPods and MP3 players do not necessarily play each others' audio books.

Subject: RE: BS: MP3 Players and Audio Books - Advice?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 02 Apr 09 - 09:00 AM

Hey, I found a GREAT new source for audiobooks I want to pass along.

LibriVox : free audiobooks
      LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain and release the audio files back onto the net. Our goal is to make all public domain books available as free audio books.

LibriVox Objective
    To make all books in the public domain available, for free, in audio format on the internet.

Our Fundamental Principles
    * Librivox is a non-commercial, non-profit and ad-free project
    * Librivox donates its recordings to the public domain
    * Librivox is powered by volunteers
    * Librivox maintains a loose and open structure
    * Librivox welcomes all volunteers from across the globe, in all languages


One thing that makes this site VERY different is that all the books play on all MP3 players. A lot of the commefcial sites are going to a copy-right-controlling file format that will not play on older players without significant user-time to modify the sound files. LibriVox ONLY offers material that is already in the public domain.


User-friendly tip-- It's helpful to sample the best-quality version of the first chapter before committing hard-drive memory to the full-zip version and getting excited about the chance to hear your favorite author's work read-- the readers' performance quality is variable. The good news is that once you find a reader you like, you can search up all the works they have read and, sometimes, find authors you might never have considered, too.

The site is easily searched using a variety or combination of search parameters. And I think Catters will agree that there is nothing like zooming through the dark night, in your car, hearing an unmet friend read to you-- just a fellow human bean who loves the same books you do, speaking to you across time and distance. A lot like hearing Mudcatter CDs. You may know the song, but after you hear it, you'll know the Catter, too, at least a little bit.

It's a heartful project, this LibriVox.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: MP3 Players and Audio Books - Advice?
From: Rapparee
Date: 02 Apr 09 - 09:19 AM

Net Library has been giving libraries and people big trouble since they changed their download method earlier this year. I've got a BIG complaint in about it, as do others.

Audible.com allows you to buy books, download them to your computer. No, it's not free, but you can get some of the newest ones there for about what you'd pay for a hardback AND you get to keep it forever and ever or until you erase it, whichever comes first.

Subject: RE: BS: MP3 Players and Audio Books - Advice?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 02 Apr 09 - 09:36 AM

My issue with them is not that it costs money, but that once I pay, I cannot put it on my player. I do use it for newly-published books, and I am not trying to get something for nothing, but if I can't play it on the players I have, it's not a book but a waste of the membership fee or an abuse of my time (and copyright law) to make it work.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: MP3 Players and Audio Books - Advice?
From: Nancy King
Date: 02 Apr 09 - 10:20 AM

I'm really surprised that the Richmond Public Library doesn't provide access to MP3 books. Sounds like they need a bit of a nudge.

Here in Montgomery County, MD, the library is buying fewer and fewer CD books and getting more and more e-books through NetLibrary and others. Saves the local library the expense of maintaining the tapes and CDs -- and they are high-maintenance items. The only wrinkle is that NetLibrary books are not compatible with IPod -- you have to have some other kind of MP3 player. I actually bought one for this purpose, but I haven't used it yet. Montgomery County has also recently started buying "Playaway" books -- these are little MP3 players pre-loaded with one book, and you can borrow them just like a print book. I have tried these, and they're fine. You have to supply your own earbuds or 'phones, which is no problem (unless you forget and return the buds to the library with the Playaway, as I did the first time...). Anyhow, seems to me if the Richmond Library got a few requests for e-books, they'd probably come around. Worth a try, anyhow.

I'm so addicted to audio books I'll try 'em in any format! The MP3 option is good because they're so portable -- just make sure you have a pocket!

Nancy

Subject: RE: BS: MP3 Players and Audio Books - Advice?
From: robomatic
Date: 02 Apr 09 - 10:50 AM

I've been very happy with the Sandisk Sansa series of mp3 players. They cost much less than iPODs, include an audiobook section that has the feature of restarting where one leaves or 'turns off'.

There are several lines of Sansas: My favorite is the cheapest, the Sandisk Clip which comes in an 8 GB size at Walmart for less than $80. It is all plastic, extremely light, and although I hate earbuds, the earbuds that come with it are high in quality. It charges off a USB port. If I'm at work and have to go to a meeting when Fresh Air comes on the radio, I can record it!

The down side of this brand: Is not as high quality as the iPOD. It will not play videos. The Clip is so light its battery has about an 8 hour life per charge in my experience.

There is an upmarket version called The Fuze. It has a longer battery life per charge and is more 'nano-like'.

They are PC machines and are marketed as being MAC compatible. That marketing is optimistic.
They are a WAY better value.

Subject: RE: BS: MP3 Players and Audio Books - Advice?
From: Bill D
Date: 02 Apr 09 - 02:28 PM

I see that I 'could' have the entire "Critique of Pure Reason" by Kant read to me. Looks like it would take a couple of days.

Maybe some Lewis Carroll first...

Subject: RE: BS: MP3 Players and Audio Books - Advice?
From: Naemanson
Date: 02 Apr 09 - 03:34 PM

MP3 player - For what you want almost any player will do.

Audiobooks - I have not been happy with everything I find on Lbrivox though some of their stuff is OK. If you want to try some classic (as in "older") literature check out Gutenberg.org. As a teacher I mine a lot of stuff off that site.

Podcasts - Be careful. Once hooked you may decide you need a much better player. I love them. I currently have 1132 podcasts on my computer with more coming in every day as the computer downloads my (FREE!) subscriptions.

Some examples:

Science: Scientific American, Mr. Science, Quirks and Quarks, Dinosaurs Before they were Fuels, Naked Archaeology, NASACast: Solar System Video (Need video player),

The intricacies of grammar and vocabulary I need to know for my job: Grammar Grater, Grammar Girl, Hot for Words, Pod-dictionary

Entertainment: Classic Tales Podcast, Vinyl Cafe Stories, Legacy of Laughs Old Time radio, PRI: Selected Shorts,

Music: Folkways Collection, Great Books Chapter a Day,

History: The History of Rome, British History 101, Mat's today in History,

Language: Learn Japanese with Beb and Alex, The Japanese Learner

I even watch the mating behaviors of the modern young people with podcasts like Sex is Fun and Swingercast. My interest here is purely scientific... uh, I only read the articles?

Subject: RE: BS: MP3 Players and Audio Books - Advice?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 02 Apr 09 - 06:11 PM

My girlfriend uses BBC audio podcasts in the gym usually from Radio 4 or the World Service. These should be available anywhere.

I don't listen to MP3s much but have an MP3 CD player rather than an iPodulike.