Best MP3 Player - weather, FM - AAA battery

[Almost There]

A thought about MP3 players as it relates to hiking. I personally know of three people who have had close encounters with rattlers on the trail while using them. Two almost stepped on one and one person actually stepped on one while jamming to tunes, luckily didn't get bit as rattlers aren't quick to bite people. I used to carry one all the time...but after hearing this I have decided that if I do take mine it will be strictly for camp. I carrry a small samsung with an FM tuner and alarm. Regardless...be careful if you're gonna hike while bopping down the trail.

[RobK]

Anyone using a Sony MP3 player? I hear there is one that runs on a AAA?!

I'll be picking one up in about a month.

Can I load files from ITunes to any of these devices?

Thanks,
Rob

[hikerjohnd]

Can I load files from ITunes to any of these devices?

No - no itunes on anything but an ipod unless the device says it is compatible. I made the mistake of converting my whole library - now I'm stuck - though there are options. I copied my entire library onto a separate hard drive and hooked it to another computer without itunes. It played the songs that I had copied from CD's but not the songs I purchased form itunes. There is conversion software available - lots of it - do a google search on 'convert itunes music' and you will be inundated with advice - but the more I read the more I become confused and know that for now, Steve Jobs will have at least one customer for a while longer (although I have been very happy with my 3G 20GB iPod - I've had it for almost 3 years now and once I changed the battery with an aftermarket replacement it has been fine, but still too heavy for backpacking)

[Uncle Silly]

No - no itunes on anything but an ipod unless the device says it is compatible. I made the mistake of converting my whole library - now I'm stuck - though there are options.

Not quite true! You ARE right that the stuff you bought from Apple (the ITunes Store) won't work (as well as any songs stored in M4A/AAC format). Any MP3s in your ITunes library, however, will work fine.

ITunes can export songs to any hard drive folder. Most (all?) of these USB MP3 players will be recognized by the operating system as a removable hard drive. Windows will give it a drive letter. Macs put an icon on the desktop to indicate it's available. You just tell ITunes to export the songs to that location. (I'm not an ITunes guru -- maybe just select the songs you want to copy, and drag them to a folder window on the device?)

Alternately, you can just find where ITunes keeps the actual song files on your system hard drive, and copy them to the device from there (or use the device's software to copy them for you).

Caveat: This just puts the songs on the device; it doesn't tell the device they're there. Some devices need you to use the software that comes with it to tell the device about the song files so it can play them. And make sure they're MP3 files, or that the device can play whatever they are (ITunes seems to like M4A files; Windows Media likes WMA files). If you're ripping your own CDs to fill your library, you can tell ITunes to make MP3s by default instead of using the AAC/M4A encoding. This will help with non-Apple devices.

Does any ITunes-user know if ITunes will let you export songs to MP3? I think it'll let you burn an MP3-disc... I'm wondering if that's a way to convert your M4A/AAC files to MP3 for use with this player...

I copied my entire library onto a separate hard drive and hooked it to another computer without itunes. It played the songs that I had copied from CD's but not the songs I purchased form itunes. There is conversion software available - lots of it - do a google search on 'convert itunes music' and you will be inundated with advice - but the more I read the more I become confused and know that for now, Steve Jobs will have at least one customer for a while longer (although I have been very happy with my 3G 20GB iPod - I've had it for almost 3 years now and once I changed the battery with an aftermarket replacement it has been fine, but still too heavy for backpacking)

Oy. Yeah, that's a whole 'nother discussion. You're right about it being too heavy for backpacking. Feel free to PM me with questions about moving your library and I'll try to help.

[judypudy]

hymn-project.org/jhymndoc will convert itunes purchased songs to mp3 as long as you haven't upgraded to itunes 6.0

[MedicineMan]

no mention of ipod?
also, anyone have an mp3 player that is waterproof?

[RobK]

Hi Med Man - My wife has the IShuffle and the kids have the Pods - BUT - If I'm out for a solo 4 or 6 day hike, I'm going to need a player that I can swap out the batteries, enable me to use it all week.
Rob

[hikerjohnd]

If I'm out for a solo 4 or 6 day hike, I'm going to need a player that I can swap out the batteries, enable me to use it all week.
Rob

Agreed - if apple comes out with an ipod in any form that runs on AAA batts, I'll buy in a hearbeat. I love my ipod, but it stays home on hiking trips because the charging equipment weighs more than the ipod.

[MOWGLI]

Agreed - if apple comes out with an ipod in any form that runs on AAA batts, I'll buy in a hearbeat. I love my ipod, but it stays home on hiking trips because the charging equipment weighs more than the ipod.

Please explain why AAA batteries are so important. Are you sitting on a pile of em? I don't get it.

[ed bell]

Please explain why AAA batteries are so important. Are you sitting on a pile of em? I don't get it.

I don't have an I Pod, but my Dell MP3 player is only rechargable. There is no option to use batteries to power it. I'm guessing that people want the function and capacity of thier favorite player with the ability to power it with removable batteries.

[ed bell]

Oh, and AAA batteries are the smallest and lightest for that application.

[RobK]

Folks, if you are going to listen to music over 4, 5 or 7 days, and have no way to "recharge", you have a player that can swap out batteries to keep playing music. Ipods have a built in battery - no use on the trail once the batteries are dead.

AAA, lightest - then it's just a matter of which player has the best options and will play the longest per battery.

[Footslogger]

Oh, and AAA batteries are the smallest and lightest for that application.

========================================
AAA's are the lightest but my IRiver runs on a single AA cell. All things considered I would suggest going that route. Even if you do carry an extra battery as a back-up you'd be ahead of the game. With the newer AA Lithium batteries I can go several weeks, listening to music on and off during the day, before I have to replace the battery. Whenever I'm in town or at a hostel I can generally pick up another AA (either Alkaline or Lithium) so I never carry more than one spare with me.

'Slogger

[Bjorkin]

Please explain why AAA batteries are so important. Are you sitting on a pile of em? I don't get it.

Personally, I like having my battery powered gear (headlamp and MP3 player) to use the same size battery (AAA) so my spare battery(ies) are interchangeable.

[Belew]

There is a lot of info on mp3 players at http://reviews.cnet.com I've been reading the reviews on WAV players there. Do any of you have the Cowon iAudio U2 player?

[hikerjohnd]

Please explain why AAA batteries are so important. Are you sitting on a pile of em? I don't get it.

For me, yes I am sitting on a pile of em. I have 12-4pks of lithiums. On the other hand, they are lighter than AA and ounces count. All of my electronics have to run on AAA - I am not going to carry three of four different kinds of spare batts - the weight adds up too quickly. If my headlamp dies, I know the batts from my GPS and my MP3 player will work in a pinch.

[RobK]

Thanks to ALL!

I'm looking at getting the best deal I can on....

the Sansa M250 or 260!!!

I'm checking out a couple on Ebay... Some stores have nice rebates -
We'll see -

Thanks to everyone who responded.
Hey, maybe we should keep this thread updated with all the new players that we buy or learn about.

Thanks again - Rob

[Uncle Silly]

btw, for those who like DIY electronics, you can make a USB battery charger for your MP3 player. mount it in an altoids tin or something similar. works with iPods, iRivers, or just about any other USB-enabled player. the parts will cost you like $5 (if that) and you can run it on any battery you like. AAA, 9v, whatever (the differences will be in how much charge it will give vs how much they weigh / easy they are to find).

do a google search on "altoids usb ipod charger" -- pics and schematics are all over the place.

[NINpigNIN]

Agreed - if apple comes out with an ipod in any form that runs on AAA batts, I'll buy in a hearbeat. I love my ipod, but it stays home on hiking trips because the charging equipment weighs more than the ipod.

Apple makes an adaptor for the iPod shuffle that allows it to run on AAA batteries (link), and Belkin makes a battery adapter for regular iPods (link), but that one uses 4 AA batteries so the weight would probably be a bit much.

Also, there are a few products available I've found on Amazon that will allow you to use solar power to recharge your iPod, iPod shuffle or iPod nano.

For the issue of converting music bought from iTMS to mp3, why not just burn the songs to a plain old regular audio CD and then use that to rip them back in mp3 format. I^H (err, I mean "some guy I know" in case Apple is watching this...) have done this successfully several times in the past.

[hiker5]

I can't vouch for the quality of the product, but it seems like a good deal. Today on http://www.woot.com you can pic up the iRiver T10 512MB MP3 Player w/FM Tuner and Voice Recorder for $50 + $5 shipping - $10 mail in rebate = $45 total. I thought the battery life of 45 hrs on one AA battery was pretty good.


If you haven't heard of woot.com before, they offer one product per day until their inventory it gone and then the post a new item the next day (midnight). Hence the slogan, "One day, one deal".