Requesting Portable Media Player Recommendations for Audiobooks?
2If you listen to many audiobooks, you probably know that the Sansa Clip line of portable media players was just great up through the Clip Zip or Clip Zip +.
After that, the line took a severe step backwards with the Jam and Sport models, and anything older is crazy expensive on ebay.
Anyone on here have any good recommendations for a player that is still in production? No, “ur fone” is not a helpful answer.
I’ve been using the AGPTEK A12. The form factor is great, but one thing that kills me is that it doesn’t have a dedicated audiobook mode. This is a problem because I can be halfway through an hour-long track and accidentally hit the control panel and then I skip the rest of the track and it takes several minutes to get back to where I was. And the control lock is too easy to accidentally disable.
With the Sansa Clip, the control lock was a slider switch that locked into position. Even without it, an accidental bump to the “forward” button didn’t skip the rest of the playing track. It just fast forwarded a teensy bit. I’d really, really like to have that feature back.
There are several serious audiobook listeners here. Any recommendations?
- 4 comments, 6 replies
- Comment
This household uses iPod nano 6th gen ($35-50) and 7th gen ($70-80). But perhaps you’re only looking for non-Apple products
I throw a fire tablet in a fanny pack and am ready to go. These are the headphones I use.
Yes, I am a fashion maven.
@sammydog01 Those make your nose look big.
Before smartphones i used to use an ipod.
Let me ask: why not use a smartphone?
If you dont want to use your real phone as yoir player, possibly get an old, unactivated Android phone. Setup the phone as a wifi device. No need to activate it for phone calls …
Load a player and your books via wifi or via data cable.
As for player SW, if you decide try doing this, i like
Listen Audiobook Player
Smart Audiobook Player
Both of these are Android apps.
If phones really wont do, why not just pick up a older Sansa device you like from ebay and use that?
@f00l
Reasons not to use a smartphone:
Battery life
size
durability
You can’t work touchscreens by feel
I also generally hate touchscreens
It doesn’t have a clip
A refurbished clip tends to go for almost $70 on ebay. These things were $20-$30 brand new a decade ago. I would not expect a used one bought today to last very long.
@Limewater
I understand the “can’t work a touchscreen without looking at it” problem.
Once in a while I still use my old clickwheel iPod (that can be operated by feel) because there are still some fav books loaded onto it.
I won’t use modern iPods because “touchscreen, so what’s the point of using one”? I’d just use a phone instead.
Re phones as Audiobook players: if you want to try that using my usual way:
If battery life is a prob them get an older or newer phone which still had extended battery cases up for purchase on Amazon or eBay. Any iphone , any samsung S phone, or Samsung note phone manufactured in the last 3-4 years ought to do. Just check Amazon or eBay for the availability of extended battery cases for what phone you are thinking of trying out.
Re touchscreen as an issue:.
I use one of the bluetooth LG Tone + headsets. Love these things. Keep several pairs ready to go. In case one runs out of battery I just swap.
(These headphones can be purchased re-furb for about $30 or so from Amazon, eBay, or Newegg. Don’t get knockoffs! The imitators tend to be garbage.)
The controls on the headsets operate the audiobook player perfectly. Vol up and down, play/pause, jump fwd/back (by the minute- or second-duration jump control set up in the player SW).
I really don’t want anything other than a smartphone for this purpose anymore. I listen to audiobooks or podcasts many hours each and every day day (sometimes 8 hours or more), and have been doing this for the last 25-30 years at least.
This phone audiobook setup (have used both iOS and Android) has worked out for me ever since I found and started using LG tone+ headsets.
Android and iOS devices both make good players.
For various personal reasons, I don’t listen to Audiobooks on my main phone for calling and texting. Carry an extra phone for that. But that’s me. I’m weird about devices.
I own - from digital download sources such as audible and Google play - and from cassette, and from my cds-ripped-to-mp3 - more than 10,000 audiobooks. So I am really into it. I wish my library were twice as large.
Not saying my solution will work for you. Just telling you about it in case you want to play with some of the ideas I mentioned.
On eBay you can still purchase old clickwheel iPods. (No touchscreen)
that means having to use iTunes to sync audiobooks from a computer.
As players they are really good, but they have no Bluetooth.
How about a Clip+?
https://pigeonsshop.com/products/sandisk-sansa-clip-4-gb-mp3-player-red-discontinued-by-manufacturer?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google Shopping&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI05fCw-LP4gIVl47ICh08BgHkEAQYBCABEgJUHPD_BwE
@cinoclav I haven’t seen one that cheap in a while. I might jump on that. Thanks!
@Limewater I take absolutely no responsibility for the legitimacy of that website. I’ve never heard of it before. But, it might be worth a shot. Just be sure to use a credit card that will reimburse you if you don’t get your product!
@cinoclav @Limewater Sounds kind of scammy like that morningsave.com