Suggestions please.

[cinderella217]

Okay - I'm asking for advice. I have had HDD-based mp3 players for years - starting with a PJB100 bought many years ago. I love being able to have large volumes of music to listen to and the ability to change type of music with my mood.
Here's my dilemma. My roommate is currently using one of my old PJB (upgraded with a 20Gig drive). She loves it for its simplicity but she is afraid of it. "What will happen if I drop it?" "What will happen if it gets bumped?" "What happens if it gets too cold?" "Is it safe in my locker at work?" Bottom line is I'm tired of both reassuring her that it will be fine and listening to her complain about the crappy cd player in her car that won't play CDRs (I have a long standing rule about no original CDs leaving the house since all the CDs here are mine ).
I've been thinking about this for a while and suddenly (duh) realized that a flash player would be perfect for her. Problem is I don't know anything about them since I've never had one.
She doesn't need much music - her music likes/dislikes are pretty narrow - and her commute is only 75 minutes each way. So...
Can someone make a reccommendation of a flash player that is simple to use? I'll be doing the loading of music so that isn't an issue. I just need to find something that will be easy for her to use in her car.
Thanks in advance.

[keegan010]

any 256mb flash player would work for that 75 minute drive, if you encode at 128k. but before getting an iriver, look around. there are many other brands like mpio that are cheaper and still have good quality. does she also need it to be able to be a flash drive for transferring data? that might be another thing to consider, but that will make it a little more expensive. but if she is going to be uploading music than you probably want it to be drag and drop so she doesnt have to hassle with software.

[cinderella217]

No data will be transferred. I'm just looking for simple. I've been happiest with my iRiver when compared to the three others that I have. I know there are lots of types out there and I'll keep looking into it.

[seadzz]

cindi,

go with a ifp-1XX series unit. would be the lowest cost offering and is a proven product, The ifp-3XX is also good but may cost a little more since it is a newer design.

sdz

[cinderella217]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm gonna ask another probably stupid question. Can any/all of these players be played using a tape adapter in the car? I would assume you can but you know what they say about assuming....

[seadzz]

Yes you can providing the player (ifp or equl) has a audio out connection. You do not want to use the headphone out since the sound quality for the headphone connection is designed for earphones and not designed to connect to car adaptors.

sdz

[coreman]

Originally Posted by seadzz

Yes you can providing the player (ifp or equl) has a audio out connection. You do not want to use the headphone out since the sound quality for the headphone connection is designed for earphones and not designed to connect to car adaptors.

sdz

seadzz is absolutely correct and that would be preferred.

However if it doesn't have a line-out as some cheapos don't have, you can always use the heaphone plug, which all of them have. However you will likely have to change the EQ settings on the car or set the player to "flat" eq, otherwise the sound won't be right.

[cinderella217]

Thanks for all your comments. I ended up with a 390 (for price purposes). Now I have to learn all about it before I hand it over.


Anyway, thanks again.

L.