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Which MP3 player would you recommend? | ||
Tags: MP3-Player | Gadget | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| Rikyu-san Diglot Senior Member Denmark Joined 5520 days ago 213 posts - 413 votes  Speaks: Danish*, English Studies: German, French | Message 1 of 55 12 October 2009 at 7:18pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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In the near future I will embark on my language odyssey and I would like to buy a suitable MP3 player to take along with me.
Question is: which one? * How much storage capacity would you say is needed? (Can one live with only 1Gb or is 4, 8 or 16Gb the lower limit?) * Is a screen on the device a must or just neat? I can imagine browsing through tons of files without a screen and that can steal valuable time and thus a screen might be preferable. * Battery capacity is probably not an issue but if you know something about this I am willing to listen. * Price range - as cheap as possible as I am going to buy five! So if you know that handy little gadget that is every aspiring polyglots' wet dream, feel free to add it below! Requirements: I would like to spend more time learning languages than spending time downloading audio files back and forth. So memory size matters. However, it is OK if I have to do an occasional change in the stored files, for instance if I change which language I study, need to add more or different content or music/songs in the target language. To begin with I would like to keep my Pimsleurs close at hand. I have no idea how many Gb or fractions thereof a full Pimsleur program is (90 lessons) so if you know that, please let me know as this will give me something to steer after. Later on I would like to add the FSI programs, but I also know that Assimil and other programs have files. Today I bought Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" as an audiobook file (25 mb) and I imagine that I would like to add more audiobooks in my target languages as I go along. I plan to create an online library (password protected) so that I can access all my language files from anywhere in the world. Still, portability and instant access to follow a cue on the spur of the moment is also nice. So to me it is a question of finding the right balance on a daily basis between accessability, ease of use and time spent on moving files back and forth vs. time spent listening, learning and growing. Edited by Rikyu-san on 12 October 2009 at 7:20pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| mpete16 Diglot Groupie Germany Joined 5514 days ago 98 posts - 114 votes Speaks: Tagalog, English* Studies: German | Message 2 of 55 12 October 2009 at 7:38pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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If you're gonna buy 5 of them, I'd say get the cheapest you can find. My mom bought a
Thompson MP3 player last year for AU$15. Find something like that. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| Leopejo Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Italy Joined 6101 days ago 675 posts - 724 votes Speaks: Italian*, Finnish*, English Studies: French, Russian | Message 3 of 55 12 October 2009 at 7:45pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
This is entirely up to you. The old rule of 1 Mb = 1 minute is more or less valid in audiobooks and audio language course material. So 1 Gb would be about 17 hours, 4 Gb four times that. Often the material you find online is even less than 1 Mb a minute, so you can cram more hours into it (and suffer for its bad quality). My record is an audiobook which is 4 Mb every 35 minutes. But it's almost impossible to listen to - especially on a player.
I'd say a must. You need to organize your stuff in folders and easily access them.
This might be an issue instead. Especially the smallest ones can have disappointingly low playback time. Finding a place to recharge isn't always easy. Often battery capacity or playback time is not indicated in the package.
For what reason, if I may ask? Other points: * easy to use! I'd stay away from some flashy ones made for music only. I prefer folders and files to playlists and albums. * My earphones cost more than my player (around 20 € each). I find "sport earphones" the best for me and my ears. * Be sure that the max. volume is enough. Some audio material is at a low volume, which makes it difficult to hear with a player.
A full Pimsleur program is 45 hours - but do you want to keep all 90 lessons at the same time in your player? Unfortunately I can't say how big original Pimsleur mp3 files are - I'd guess that CD rips are for some languages one lesson = 10 - 15 Mb, for others 25 - 30 Mb. Edited by Leopejo on 12 October 2009 at 7:50pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| Woodpecker Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5803 days ago 351 posts - 590 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written), Arabic (Egyptian) Studies: Arabic (classical) | Message 4 of 55 12 October 2009 at 7:47pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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I think the real question is WHY are you going to buy five? Why not buy one quality mp3 player with a decent display and a good-sized memory instead?
That being said, for language study, I've been using a little 2-gig Sony that I got free with some Linguaphone books on eBay, and I'm very happy with it. Panasonic also makes nice cheaper-end stuff in my experience. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| Rikyu-san Diglot Senior Member Denmark Joined 5520 days ago 213 posts - 413 votes Speaks: Danish*, English Studies: German, French | Message 5 of 55 12 October 2009 at 7:56pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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Thanks to both of you (it became three while I was writing my reply).
I will buy five in time because my wife and our kids will be equipped with one, too. Leopejo, it is probably not necessary to have all 90 lessons available at any given time but it will be a function of how fast I progress and when I dabble, how far back I have to go to catch up. Further, I don't want to spend every day rearranging content but would like to do it at greater intervals, for instance monthly. The Pimsleur files might easily take up 10 Gb alone. That makes it worthwhile to be more selective, especially when other material is added. Thinking about it, I might need to get used to shuffling back and forth between my cloud computer library and my mp3 player and only have material on the mp3 player that reflects an educated guess. Even with only 1 Gb there should be enough to keep me enterntained! This also makes the cheap player that mpete16 recommends an option - if it has a screen, that is. Good options - screen, cheap players, folders and files, ear phones, volume control and cloud computing. I might add the ability to make bookmarks on the fly so that I can easily continue from where I left off. Anything else? :-) Edited by Rikyu-san on 12 October 2009 at 7:57pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| Leopejo Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Italy Joined 6101 days ago 675 posts - 724 votes Speaks: Italian*, Finnish*, English Studies: French, Russian | Message 6 of 55 12 October 2009 at 7:59pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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Cheap players have all you need.
Remember that you have to recharge your player's battery very often, and the easiest way is to just plug them on the computer's USB. And while you are recharging it, adding and removing files - as long as it's a basic player that accepts folders and files - is really fast and effortless. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| Rikyu-san Diglot Senior Member Denmark Joined 5520 days ago 213 posts - 413 votes Speaks: Danish*, English Studies: German, French | Message 7 of 55 12 October 2009 at 8:01pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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Woodpecker, thank you for your post. I will check them out. You are of course right that it would be wiser to buy one with decent memory space rather than buying five but as I have explained in my previous post, I would like to equip my wife and our kids with something that works for them, too. I will probably be the most enthusiastic and demanding but a decent memory, screen, volume level, bookmark feature and reasonable price seems to be what I will be going for.
In Denmark we have an iPod nano priced at 1100-1300 Dkr. (about 220-260 $) apiece with a cool screen and easy navigation. But 1300 x 5 is... well, a lot of money. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6901 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 8 of 55 12 October 2009 at 8:01pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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My player (DMTECH MP382) was fairly cheap (~350 SEK/35€) when I bought it (in February 2008). 2 Gb storage capacity, internal battery (rechargeable via USB), small screen for navigating and displaying file name/duration/repeats/etc. No program installments to open the player as external drive (as I remember Iriver used to require). Recording function (mic or line-in). The device can be used as a flash drive/memory stick as well. Nothing fancy, but good enough for me who mainly want to study languages.
http://www.prisjakt.nu/bilder/bild.php?p=273552&type=standar d&size=800&.jpg I'm quite sure that it's now outdated and can't be found in stores, but I'm happy with this one. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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