MP3 player questions,please advise

titewad_2

My daughter is wanting an mp3 player from santa,however I know virtually nothing about them.I have managed to pick up little bits from other posts dotted round the board but unsure of a few things still. For instance,
1,does a hard disk version jump or skip if she's running? 2,Are the flash memory ones available with fm radio built into the body and not the headphones?
3,do you have to download music onto them or can she "copy" her existing cds collection into it?
4,presumably usb2.0 is best but do you need anything extra on your pc to be able to use this as opposed to usb1.1?
advice much appreciated

peter_the_piper

Just been there, same problem.
1) as far as I know the hard drive versions shouldn't skip but the life of the hard drive may well be shortened by the movement. also consider the life of the batteries and replacement costs. EG i-pod costs somewhere near £65. to replace and can need a new one after as little as 6 months.
2)yes
3)the flash memory is recognised as an extra drive and therefore tunes can be drag and dropped from the main hard drive to the player. Copy(rip) the cd onto your computer and convert from wave to either MP3 or WMA if the player supports it. Wma files take up only 1/2 the space of mp3 so more tunes per megabyte. Make sure the player is able to use additional flash drives to extend the usage.
4)Usb 2 is quicker but will only enable transfer at the rate of your computers usb ports.

I've used this firm once and were pretty good, e-mail info.
http://www.hiwayhifi.com/site/sectionhome.asp?section=7&cat=73

backflip

1. A hard disc version CAN be damaged it can also cause skips etc if used while running.

2. Not entirely sure about this but I'm more than fairly confident I've seen what you want, I'll see what I can find.

3. She doesn't have to download FROM THE INTERNET but if she uses her existing CDs she'd need to rip them first....change the file format to something like mp3 which is a compressed file format which will obviously take up far less room. Ripping is far easier than it sounds & there are many free programmes, I use Freerip which is simple to use.
http://www.mgshareware.com/frmmain.shtml

4. USB 2 is only best because of the speed, if you get a flash memory player I don't think usb2 is that vital because the memory is so much smaller but it will take that bit longer to load. I updated to usb2 but I bought a hard drive player (Iriver) which is 40Gb and I've loaded about 8 Gb of music onto it so I needed the speed.
If you want to update you'll need to buy a usb2 card and install it with the drivers, not too difficult.

backflip

Sorry about that Peter, our posts must have crossed otherwise I'd have left it.

sra

you might have already seen the thread

peter_the_piper

No probs Backflip, done it myself before now. I think I'll need a new hard disk soon, I have to have copies on hard disk in normal form( 1 cd player won't play anything else), Wav for the others, Mp3 for the car stereo, Wma for the daughters mp3 player. It gets very confusing. None of these are downloaded, I have no problems with making copies of our own disks-I have no intention of paying for 4 disks.

titewad_2

Thanks for the replies and help guys,certainly makes things a bit clearer.I think I'll get her a 512mb flash type one.Am I hoping for too much to find a decent quality,512mb with integrated fm radio and an lcd or digital display for £80? Any links appreciated,reputable companies only though please.

dollybird

Try mp3players.co.uk

titewad_2

1. A hard disc version CAN be damaged it can also cause skips etc if used while running.

2. Not entirely sure about this but I'm more than fairly confident I've seen what you want, I'll see what I can find.

3. She doesn't have to download FROM THE INTERNET but if she uses  her existing CDs  she'd need to rip them first....change the file format to something like mp3 which is a compressed  file format which will obviously take up far less room. Ripping is far easier than it sounds & there are  many free programmes, I use Freerip which is simple to use.
http://www.mgshareware.com/frmmain.shtml

4. USB 2 is only best because of the speed, if you get a flash memory player I don't think usb2 is that vital because the memory is  so much smaller but it will  take that bit longer to load. I updated to usb2 but I bought a hard drive player (Iriver) which is 40Gb and I've loaded about 8 Gb of music onto it so I needed the speed.
If you want to update you'll need to buy a usb2 card and install it with the drivers, not too  difficult.

Re: point 4,,,Does this mean I can still buy her an mp3 player that only lists the spec as usb2 and it will still connect to my pc, but only transfer at 1.1,or is the connection on the usb2 a different size?

peter_the_piper

Usb1.1 is indistinguishable from Usb2 in size or shape. a usb2/mp3 will only download at the speed of the usb port you attach it to.

titewad_2

thanks for clarifying that for me peter