Kind of OT - MP3 Players
God Bless Texas
In particular, I don't download "free" music, so what do I need to look
for in a player to allow me to purchase music (song-by-song basis) that
I can load into the player?
m.h.
You'll want the Ipod. Or Dell's version. I don't know if any of the
players allow you to go online and purchase via the player itself --
pretty certain all of them require some sort of PC and 'net
connection.
But I could be wrong.
God Bless Texas
> You'll want the Ipod. Or Dell's version. I don't know if any of the
> players allow you to go online and purchase via the player itself --
> pretty certain all of them require some sort of PC and 'net
> connection.
Sorry, more info (I hate feeling guilty about taking "work time" to post, so
I tend to be overly brief).
If you're going to recommend a machine, it should be:
1. Birthday present for active 12yo - must be flash type, not HDD.
2. 128MB storage
3. Reasonably inexpensive - I'm finding some stuff in the $80 - $100 range
that looks OK.
But, my question was better phrased as this:
What are the online sources that provide a legal copy of a file which could
be (quasi-legally?) transferred to a player?
Are there any, or is everyone running scared from that right now?
I know about the computer and Internet connection requirement, and I don't
care whose software I use (prefer low-ad content).
TIA.
Matthew Weigel
"God Bless Texas" <no.how...@no.where.com> wrote:
> 1. Birthday present for active 12yo - must be flash type, not HDD.
> 2. 128MB storage
> 3. Reasonably inexpensive - I'm finding some stuff in the $80 - $100 range
> that looks OK.
>
> But, my question was better phrased as this:
>
> What are the online sources that provide a legal copy of a file which could
> be (quasi-legally?) transferred to a player?
The iTunes Music Store, music from which only works with the iPod and
iPod mini. The mini uses a 4GB microdrive rather than a hard drive, but
it *is* more expensive.
Napster.com, BuyMusic.com, and maybe one other I'm not thinking of work
with a wider range of players (iRock, Creative and Rio are the companies
to look at, I believe), but are restricted to Windows (this may not
affect her, but if it does, it's a deal-ender). Check with their
websites for precise lists of what works with each.
--
Matthew Weigel
the email address is real
the contents of the post are not
Apes-Ma
> In particular, I don't download "free" music, so what do I need to look
> for in a player to allow me to purchase music (song-by-song basis) that
> I can load into the player?
The Austin American-Statesman did a big comparison article on
MP3 players a couple weeks ago. You could call and ask about
it and get the back issue for a small fee, or hit one of the
public library branches and check Consumer Reports.
There are different kinds of MP3 players - some use hard
drives, some use flash cards. The price range and the number
of songs that can be stored vary dramatically. The Apple iPod
recently came under fire because the rechargeable battery
craps out after a year or so of frequent use, and is not
replaceable. Apple's policy was that when the battery dies,
you go out and buy a brand new iPod. This turned into a
public relations nightmare, but their alternative solution
(send it to us and we'll replace the battery for $50 fee)
isn't much of an improvement.
God Bless Texas
> God Bless Texas wrote:
>
> > In particular, I don't download "free" music, so what do I need to look
> > for in a player to allow me to purchase music (song-by-song basis) that
> > I can load into the player?
>
> The Austin American-Statesman did a big comparison article on
> MP3 players a couple weeks ago. You could call and ask about
> it and get the back issue for a small fee, or hit one of the
> public library branches and check Consumer Reports.
Thanks, it was a good article, but didn't adress my specific question -
which players are compatible with the "buy" sites currently on the 'net?
The Wal-Mart site has a link to a Microsoft site that has a link to all
DRM-compatible (at least compatible with M$'s implementation) players, which
is exactly what I needed.
If anyone else is interested, the Rio "Cali" looks likely, albeit a bit high
for my budget.
Thanks all.
[extremely useful but non-pertinent material cut]
Tony
> The iTunes Music Store, music from which only works with the iPod and
> iPod mini. The mini uses a 4GB microdrive rather than a hard drive, but
> it *is* more expensive.
Not so anymore if you know what you're doing. There is a little tool
out there called PlayFair(http://playfair.sourceforge.net/) that'll
remove the copy protection from music dl'ed from ITMS. I use it to
unprotect files then convert them to MP3 to use on my wife's Rio
Chiba(a great little flash memory MP3 player, 256MB+SDD expansion)
she uses when jogging. I do believe this falls under Fair Use. I bought
the tune and want to listen to it on something other than my iPod or in
iTunes. I'm sure PlayFair will get cracked down on fairly shortly. Get
it while you can, it works like a charm.
Tony
--
If you're not pissed off at the world
then you're just not paying attention.
--Kasey Chambers
Tony to...@nowhere.nu http://www.nnin.net
chanel guzzi
Hundreds if not thousands of free legal mp3s of mainstream and
underground acts at amazon.com in their music section under downloads.
Epitonic.com has thousands of free legal mp3s of independent label
artists.
Jason Perez
Matthew Weigel <nos...@idempot.net> wrote:
>In article <yKkbc.11015$Tx6....@fe2.texas.rr.com>,
> "God Bless Texas" <no.how...@no.where.com> wrote:
>
>> 1. Birthday present for active 12yo - must be flash type, not HDD.
>> 2. 128MB storage
>> 3. Reasonably inexpensive - I'm finding some stuff in the $80 - $100 range
>> that looks OK.
>>
>> But, my question was better phrased as this:
>>
>> What are the online sources that provide a legal copy of a file which could
>> be (quasi-legally?) transferred to a player?
>
>The iTunes Music Store, music from which only works with the iPod and
>iPod mini. The mini uses a 4GB microdrive rather than a hard drive, but
>it *is* more expensive.
You can always burn the songs purchased from iTunes Music Store
(AAC format) to a normal music CD (AIFF, not MP3) then rip the songs
back to MP3. Now you can put the music onto any MP3 player.
I have an iRiver 256mb Flash player. Very small, batteries last
forever and it sounds great.
-Jason
--
Jason Perez | "Frodo Lives!" "Gig 'em!"
Austin, TX
Jason Perez
Seems like a big improvement to me. Was $300, now $50.
You can also buy the battery yourself on the web and
do the install, though it's not trivial.
Matthew Weigel
jas...@norton.sps.mot.com (Jason Perez) wrote:
> You can always burn the songs purchased from iTunes Music Store
> (AAC format) to a normal music CD (AIFF, not MP3) then rip the songs
> back to MP3. Now you can put the music onto any MP3 player.
Yes, of course. That's probably not very interesting to a 12 year old,
though, and the OP is asking about what *would* interest such a one.