Advice on best cheap MP3 / speakers / headphones / itunes info

gallygirl

Em, where do I start? I know absolutely nothing about these so please bear with me .

OH would like an MP3 simply to lisen to language CD's he already has (MP3 compatible). He would like headphones rather than buds, but smallish ones for travel.

I have decided to join the digital age as old hi-fi has bit the dust. I have researched all by myself that it is possible to load existing CD's onto itunes (don't laugh, I didn't know this ).

So, a few questions:
Can 2 of us share an itunes account?

Can you recommend an MP3 for OH, doesn't need to be very high storage as he is not really a music lover.

Similarly, decent sound quality headphones - ones which are good at blocking out background noise as he will use while travelling.

And for me - I am not a massive music lover so don't need room for tens of thousands of tracks, on the other hand I will keep it a long time, and would probably like to download audio books. Realistically, I will use it with speakers rather than on its own - is it best to buy all together?

And OH would may want his on the speakers as well.

Neither of us are bothered about brands so don't need it be an ipod. Are there any advantages to ipods - are they really the best (ducks)?

Looking to pay around £200 for all.

Not expecting someone to answer all the above - but any tips of what to look for or an easy to use website guide would be appreciated.

Thanks.

jayme1

Sounds like a SanDisk Clip Zip could be prefect for both of you, it comes with 4GB of storagebut has a microSD card slot so you can add more storage if you ever run out (a 32 GB card can be bought for about £12), it supports a lot of audio formats, including MP3, AAC and importantly for you Audible for audiobooks, it works just like a USB thumb drive you just copy any audio files onto it and it will sort and organise them itself, eve has a colour screen for displaying album art.
An iPod nano starts at £129 new so that would rule them out.

All mp3 players only come with really basic in ear headphones/buds, so you would have to buy some headphones that would suit your OH, there are loads to choose from including foldable ones ideal for travelling. (possibly something like these or these, I can't say I know what they sound like though)

You can share an iTunes account to buy music together perfectly well but you wouldn't necessarily need iTunes account (or iTunes at all) if you are not using an iPod, you can buy music from other stores which may be cheaper (eg Amazon mp3)
iTunes can import CDs in one click, as can Windows Media Player both will add song information to the music by looking up online, and both can import in a selection of formats that can be used on the Clip Zip, but MP3 or AAC is the one you want to choose.

For speakers almost all of them (incl iPod speakers) come with a AUX input (looks like a headphone port) you can connect any MP3 player to this using a cable like this and have music play through them, the only disadvantage to using a non iPod in an iPod speaker dock is that you have no remote control fuction so you would have to get up to change song.
Again there are load to choose from at all budgets, you will most likely want a mains powered one if you are going to keep it at home possible suggestions are this one, this one and this one, I have the first one and can say sound quality is very good for the size, it might not be as room filling as the two more expensive ones though, you just plug in which MP3 player you want to play from so you can both use the same speaker dock.

So to sum up a SanDisk Clip Zips each, a set of headphones for your OH a speaker dock and the 3.5mm cable, is what you need iTunes or WMP can import any CDs you have and you put the music on the Clip Zip like you would a USB thumb drive, and any music you buy from iTunes, 7 digital or Amazon mp3 will work as will Audible audiobooks, (but audioboks from other places if they have DRM will most likely not work)

Using the examples above with the Logitech speaker dock comes to about £150ish well under the £200 budget, there are also other retailers than Amazon.

gallygirl

Wow, thanks so much for that wonderfully detailed reply which I managed to follow all the way through :T. Off to investigate, much appreciated, wish there was a bigger thanks button

Norman-B

I'm pleased I found this! The reply (thank you) helped me as I have been unsure what to do. My grandson, 13, managed to get water in his ipod touch and I wanted to but him a replacement. I'm unwilling to pay for another touch and thought about getting him a Samsung but I was unsure if this would be compatible with the itune account where he has his music stored.

Would the Samsung orthe SandDisk be able to download from his itunes on his laptop?

jenniewb

If you can by-pass the itunes thing, I'd advise you to because when buying a download on itunes, they can suddenly vanish from your account during an update. This is due to apple basicly renting out their music to you (its on a lease) and when time runs out or the song is updated, you can lose your track and have to repurchase it.

If you buy from any other site, as far as I know (and as far as I have experienced) you get to keep the song for good. (Just make sure you back-up all your data!).

You can though, purchase from most sites and transfer them to be in your itunes account without risking losing them, but unless your also possessed with how the ipod works (yes, I am sucked in and fully hold my hands up to that!) there are so many cheaper alternatives which cost far less for the same space and many of the same features.

gallygirl

Another question please - the SanDisk doesn't have a photo saving option, is that right?

jayme1

jenniewb wrote: »

If you can by-pass the itunes thing, I'd advise you to because when buying a download on itunes, they can suddenly vanish from your account during an update. This is due to apple basicly renting out their music to you (its on a lease) and when time runs out or the song is updated, you can lose your track and have to repurchase it.

If you buy from any other site, as far as I know (and as far as I have experienced) you get to keep the song for good. (Just make sure you back-up all your data!).

You can though, purchase from most sites and transfer them to be in your itunes account without risking losing them, but unless your also possessed with how the ipod works (yes, I am sucked in and fully hold my hands up to that!) there are so many cheaper alternatives which cost far less for the same space and many of the same features.

Unfortunately what you say is true for all digital music retailers, you only licence the music from them meaning you do not own the music, buying from iTunes is the same as buying from any other digital music store, you download the DRM free music file so even if it is removed from the store, as long as you have the local copy backed up you can still play the songs.
The files are downloaded (on Windows) to My Music>iTunes>iTunes Media>Music, if you want to back them up.

The important thing to look out for is to buy DRM free music (all of the popular ones are 7digital, iTunes, Amazon ect.) then the file it downloads keep it safe and you can use it forever.

I would say the main reason not to buy from iTunes is the fact they are rarely the cheapest, something like Tunechecker is good to save precious pennies.

jayme1

gallygirl wrote: »

Another question please - the SanDisk doesn't have a photo saving option, is that right?

No it doesn't have a photo viewer on it so you can't use it to view your snaps on it, but you can use it like a USB drive to transfer the photos between computers if you have space free on it.

gallygirl

So, bought the SanDisk & speakers........ spent hours downloading music onto laptop, then transferred onto SanDisk. Decided I'd sooner have more playlists, which meant SanDisk full - had already ordered a memory card so waiting on that. So, in the meantime I 'just' had to delete a load of albums and then load playlists, right?

So. did it all how I thought it should be done. It showed up on the FDrive when connected to computer as empty. Synched playlists, shows up as worked on Windows Media Player and shows names of playlist, went to play.

SanDisk refreshes media when disconnected so obviously processing something.

When I scroll through SanDisk the playlists are not on there (except one I had put on earlier but thought I had deleted), but the music is on there, as individual songs or Albums as per its original source.

Have tried three times with same results.

Help please!!!!!!

Apart from that I like it!

Juzza12

I have the previous model (Sansa Clip) guessing yours isn't too different so go to Music and then Folders and playlists should be there.

gallygirl

Juzza12 wrote: »

I have the previous model (Sansa Clip) guessing yours isn't too different so go to Music and then Folders and playlists should be there.

Nope - still the same - shows the individual artists but not playlists