New gadget
Even though I'm a computer professional and a serious geek, I'm not a gadget freak. I believe in function, not technology. My cell phone just makes phone calls, I've never owned a Palm, I listen to the radio, etc.
Anyway, I'm a runner and I listen to music while I'm running. For a very long time, that has just been a small portable FM radio. I've heard a lot about MP3 players but didn't get it for one simple reason, I thought you had to either buy the music (per song) or steal it, neither of which appealed to me.
Last week I was on Yahoo and happened across their music site. I was astounded to learn that you could download music for $5 a month AND transfer it to your MP3 player. Not on a per song basis but as much as you want for $5 a month. I know I'm probably the last person on the planet to realize this so be gentle, I've always admitted to being something of a dinosaur.
That started me on the hunt for an MP3 player. I only want this to use while I'm running so it has to be small and have a good way to clip it on the wasteband of my shorts. I have had to carry my radio for a while because the belt clip is weak and that is a serious PITA. After buying one that didn't work right and taking it back, I found this one.
MP3 player
The first thing that attracted me to it was the large metal clip integrated into the body. No spring to wear out, just a big curved piece of metal kind of like an old ink pen. The second nice thing was the size, it's really only about as big as my thumb. Of course the screen is tiny but I don't want to watch TV on it, I just want it to play my music. The thing would have to be 5' x 5' for me to be able to read it without my glasses anyway (which I don't wear while I'm running). It also has a battery that charges while it's plugged into the USB port, another cool feature preemtping the need for AAA batteries or yet another device (an external charger) to keep up with.
I discovered something else which, once again, I know I'm the last person on the planet to discover and that is that I can "rip" my CDs and transfer them to my player using Windows Media Player. I have drug my entire CD collection into my computer room and am ripping them one by one. I just grab any good running songs as they go by and sync them to my player.
There are only a few gripes I have about this thing. The randomizer seems rather poorly done. Sometimes I get the same song twice in a row, some songs I never seem to hear but others play every 10th song or so. I need to dig into the menus a little and see if I can fix that I guess. The buttons are really, really tiny as you would expect but I'm getting used to them.
I've used it for about a week now and really like it. I went for a 7 miles run last Friday before I bought it, using my radio and probably got 2 decent songs the whole time, now I get nothing but good music. The only problem is that people look at me weird when I start singing as I run by...
Anyway, I'm a runner and I listen to music while I'm running. For a very long time, that has just been a small portable FM radio. I've heard a lot about MP3 players but didn't get it for one simple reason, I thought you had to either buy the music (per song) or steal it, neither of which appealed to me.
Last week I was on Yahoo and happened across their music site. I was astounded to learn that you could download music for $5 a month AND transfer it to your MP3 player. Not on a per song basis but as much as you want for $5 a month. I know I'm probably the last person on the planet to realize this so be gentle, I've always admitted to being something of a dinosaur.
That started me on the hunt for an MP3 player. I only want this to use while I'm running so it has to be small and have a good way to clip it on the wasteband of my shorts. I have had to carry my radio for a while because the belt clip is weak and that is a serious PITA. After buying one that didn't work right and taking it back, I found this one.
MP3 player
The first thing that attracted me to it was the large metal clip integrated into the body. No spring to wear out, just a big curved piece of metal kind of like an old ink pen. The second nice thing was the size, it's really only about as big as my thumb. Of course the screen is tiny but I don't want to watch TV on it, I just want it to play my music. The thing would have to be 5' x 5' for me to be able to read it without my glasses anyway (which I don't wear while I'm running). It also has a battery that charges while it's plugged into the USB port, another cool feature preemtping the need for AAA batteries or yet another device (an external charger) to keep up with.
I discovered something else which, once again, I know I'm the last person on the planet to discover and that is that I can "rip" my CDs and transfer them to my player using Windows Media Player. I have drug my entire CD collection into my computer room and am ripping them one by one. I just grab any good running songs as they go by and sync them to my player.
There are only a few gripes I have about this thing. The randomizer seems rather poorly done. Sometimes I get the same song twice in a row, some songs I never seem to hear but others play every 10th song or so. I need to dig into the menus a little and see if I can fix that I guess. The buttons are really, really tiny as you would expect but I'm getting used to them.
I've used it for about a week now and really like it. I went for a 7 miles run last Friday before I bought it, using my radio and probably got 2 decent songs the whole time, now I get nothing but good music. The only problem is that people look at me weird when I start singing as I run by...
posted by Big Ed at 8:11 AM
2 Comments:
Well, scratch another MP3 player. I got the gym on Tuesday and it wouldn't play, says "No Data" when I browse into a folder. I got it home and everything seems to be there when I browse it with my computer. The book says to reformat it so I offloaded all my music files, upgraded the firmware, reformatted and reloaded.
So, I get to the gym on Wednesday and only the first three songs are playing. I check it again and that's all that's there, the first three songs. So I spent an hour on the treadmill listening to the same three songs over and over.
I'm taking it back to Fry's on Saturday. Anyone got any suggestions on a good MP3 player with a strong belt clip that I can use for running?
I figured out the problem with my player. It's somewhat strange but workable. The physical design of this thing is so perfect for what I need that I decided to keep it.
If anyone is interested in what was wrong just let me know and I'll elaborate.
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