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Recommendation -- MP3 player with rewind | ||
Tags: MP3-Player | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| JWC Groupie United States Joined 6894 days ago 69 posts - 107 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 1 of 5 19 July 2010 at 8:35pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have a good product recommendation that would go well with language courses that have a fast set of audio drills.
Most inexpensive portable mp3 players do not have a satisfactory rewind function for a "study mode"--that is, a setting in which one can rewind audio at the touch of a thumb to go back just a few seconds. The typical IPOD, Sansa Fuze, etc. with a round dial for rewinding will wait a few seconds, then start rewinding. Let go too soon, and it skips to the very beginning of the file. It is cumbersome to use for a fast set of drills in which you may have to repeat a sentence several times before it starts to sink in. I was thrilled, therefore, to discover that Walmart carries a new Sony model dictaphone with a great rewind function that handles mp3 files. I bought one for about $60.00 (the price may have dropped since then). The model is ICD-PX820. If I set it in "Easy Mode", I can stop and start instantly with the play button. The rewind and fast forward buttons--which are sturdy and stick out of the device in a way that is easy to understand and punch without looking at the device. In this mode the rewind and fastforward keys are set automatically to a 3 second interval--just touch left or right button and it instantly drops back or jumps ahead 3 seconds and the audio starts playing without a pause. Hold the keys down longer, and the rewinding/fast forwarding starts to speed up (very easy to zip through to the middle of the file just by holding it down). There is no need to convert files if they are already in mp3 format; i.e., one can simply "click and drag" from a computer if files are already in mp3 format. Because the device is also a dictaphone, it can record, divide sound files into tracks, etc. My purpose in using it, however, is almost exclusively to play back foreign language audio files. As a disclaimer, I have no financial interest in Sony. I'm putting this info into a post because this is the first device since some older models of the IRiver that I have found that will do a 3 second interval. This makes it easy to use with a rapid dialogue sequence from FSI, for example, while the typical IPod type of rewind function is not good for fast and frequent rewinding. I believe Samsung currently has a model with a 10 second interval study mode, but I find 3 seconds is better for the average type of sentence in an FSI language course. IRiver used to make an excellent mp3 player that could skip back at 3, 10, or 30 second intervals (a variable setting), but I think newer models may lack this feature. I held back for several years in buying a new mp3 player because my old IRiver had this function, but the buttons finally started to wear out and I spent a few months trying to find an adequate rewind function before settling on the Sony. One caveat--if you buy the Sony, get the model ICD PX-820 or higher. There is an earlier model for about half the price with a different model number, which does not allow you to transfer files in mp3 format. The ICD PX-820, in contrast, allows for speedy transfer with a USB cable, so it takes me about 30 seconds to transfer to my player an entire unit of French FSI files (the French FSI course is divided into 24 units, so this is like saying it takes 30 seconds to transfer 2 units of FSI Spanish to the mp3 player/dictaphone). --JWC 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Javi Senior Member Spain Joined 5777 days ago 419 posts - 548 votes Speaks: Spanish* | Message 2 of 5 19 July 2010 at 11:00pm | IP Logged | ||
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I used to own an MP3 player with an A->B selection feature that was great to work with
the Assimil dialogues, but the battery died a very long time ago. I have missed that in modern Ipods and Nokia phones. I use audacity on the computer sometimes, but talking about portable devices, this Sony is awesome. Thanks for bringing it here. Edited by Javi on 19 July 2010 at 11:02pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6235 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 3 of 5 19 July 2010 at 11:25pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'd like to add that if you've already invested in an mp3 player (including some Sansa and iPod models), using the open source rockbox gives much nicer rewind behavior. On my Sansa with rockbox, tapping the 'back' button brings me to the start of track, but holding it down (even for under a second) starts rewinding (first by a second, and gradually faster and faster as you hold it down longer).
2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| johntm93 Senior Member United States Joined 5123 days ago 587 posts - 746 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish | Message 4 of 5 20 July 2010 at 4:55am | IP Logged | ||
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| JWC Groupie United States Joined 6894 days ago 69 posts - 107 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 5 of 5 29 July 2010 at 6:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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Just one update on the Sony ICD-PX820 dictaphone/mp3 player. Javi wrote above about an A->B feature. I had read in my manual that the Sony has this function and I noticed a button marked A-B, but I had never bothered to try it.
After Javi's post, I tried the button out on the Sony dictaphone and found it's very easy to use. While the mp3 is playing, you press the A-B button once (for the beginning of a loop) then press the same button a second time at the end of the loop. At that point, it repeats the segment endlessly. To stop it, simply press the play button again, and the player automatically continues with the rest of the mp3 track that follows the repeating loop. Using this feature, I've been experimenting with some of the FSI French translation exercises where a sentence (let's say, in Unit 16) is full of ellisions and hard to distinguish. I used the A-B key when that happened, did a 3 second loop, and about the 10th time I heard the sentence I could clearly distinguish it in its entirety and repeat it back accurately (though more slowly). My old IRiver had a function like this but I believe I had to switch modes to use it, so what is nice about the Sony is the extra button that is dedicated to this function--I can use the feature as I go with only one button (without having to scroll through the menu). Javi, thanks for pointing that feature and inspiring me to try it--I think I'll end up using it quite a bit for FSI drills. I have also thought it may be useful for going sentence by sentence through an audiobook (doing a loop for each sentence, until I can hear and distinguish the phonemes clearly), so I may try that with one of the Harry Potter French audiobooks. Thanks also to Volte about the info on a patch--I may try that on my Sanza Fuze later. --JWC 1 person has voted this message useful |
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