GameBanshee Forums

Hello All!

I'm not sure if this is really apprapriate for a Tech Support forum, but I'm clueless, so I thought I'd give it a go...

My girlfriend is looking into MP3 players, and I was wondering if you guys had any suggestions... Good brands / things to look for / things to watch out for.

What she really wants (in a general way):
Storage: 128mb or more
An LCD Display which displays the title of the mp3 (or reads titles from a customizable playlist, if applicable)
USB interface (of course)

What would be cool IMO:
A way to transmit to her car radio... She's not thinking that far ahead right now, but it might be a good idea to plan ahead. I've seen product spec for transmitters to the FM radio; has anyone done this? Is it a reliable interface?

I'm not really a music person, so I've never really looked into this before.

And we live in San Antonio, TX... So we'd be either ordering online, or going to Best Buy (shudder). The nearest hardware stores of any real selection are in Houston, a couple hours away...

I just bought an mp3player (30 GB, that's a bit much, but I'll try to explain->)

If you want to be prepared for the future I'd advise you to have more than just 128 MB. I think 512 is more than enough for the average purse/person.
(An mp3CD-album is about 60-120 MB)

The size of the player influences the price (extremely). People want smaller players, and are willing to pay for it, and producers know that. That's why you can buy players that are only 5 cm larger with at least four times as much memory at the same price as the smaller one. You pay a lot for size.
Small size can be convenient during sports or activities. I find it inconvenient to have earplugs in when excersizing, and the risk of damage is greater.
(Often mp3players aren't insured for damage while excersizing. They'll say the player is intended for 'normal' use only.)

Also, take a look at the Signal-to-Noise Ratio. The higher the better. 0db is noise (=distortion) only, 40db is comparable to an old tapeplayer. 98db is excelent.

There are some mp3-players with radio. A friend of mine has that. Not a very good radio, but still. (Almost) all players have USB. So no worries about that.

LCD's usually aren't that big on the small sized players, so don't be surprized if there's only 2 lignes of text.

I don't know much more about small memory players. This is about all the info I can give you. Good luck

Hmm

O.k., it sounds like she should just go for more memory, and pay attention to the signal to noise ratio... Got it...

Be careful while excercizing... Are you just talking about dropping (or tripping), or does violent motion actually screw with it? Most of the players that I'm seeing in the under a gig range seem to have flash storage, which I thought could handle being moved around...

When I asked about the radio, I wasn't asking about a receiver, but a transmitter. Upon looking around, though, it looks like that's an add-on in most cases, so I'll leave it at that.

Thanks for the info, ik911...

Just be sure not to buy too much memory. It'll save you money!

Shaking doesn't affect the player, but strange things can just happen while excersizing... Just a little warning.

Glad to be of service,

Cool

Thanks!

We'll start out on our quest tomorrow.

I appreciate your advice, ik911...

Wish us luck!