Which mP3 player should I get?

I belong to a book club online. What should I buy to play these downloaded books? I guess I want to play them on an I-pod or MP3 portable player -something small that I cam take in the car or anywhere. I’m now copying them onto CD’s and it took me 18 CD’s for 1 book! The book club is Audible. I am completely illiterate about this. Thanks for your help.

Thanks for the question Marie!

First I’ll explain to everyone else what Audible is. Audible is an online service where you basically buy the audio versions of popular books in mP3 format. Usually the authors themselves read the books or hired actors do it.

Now as for your answer Marie. Your definitely going to want to invest in an mP3 player. Firstly they are going to be able to hold much more information then all those discs and they will be small and easy to put in your pocket.

Ipods are very nice. Their design is great and the interface is very intuitive. But you will be paying for the iPod and Apple brand. An alternative to the iPod (if you don’t want to shell out that much money) is the SanDisk Sansa player. The 4GB version will probably allow you to keep alot of books on there and it costs much less then an iPod.

The interface and design on the Sansas are also very nice indeed.

Of course there are many cheaper mP3 players as well. You may not need the big screen the Sansa series offers but I think they’re a nice compromise between price and functionality.

The Fake Geek

Appended Sept 04/07:

You asked what format the books on tape are in. I’m attaching a
memo from the book club.

Ah I was wondering if they did that. Okay their using something called DRM (Digital Rights Management.) Basically it’s a technology to restrict your ability to copy the files and share them with others. (Which makes sense because Audible wants people to each buy a book not buy one book and share with everyone else.)

So they use a format called Audible audio (.aa) this file type allows for some cool features but sadly can’t be universally playable with every type of mP3.

However they list at their site is a good resource (as the memo said) and it seems as if they support many types of mP3 players. You will have to download support software for that device however to “upgrade” it to play the .aa files. And I see the list includes the iPod, the Sansa and all my other favorite mP3 players. Basically most cheap no-name mP3 players are not supported.

The Fake Geek