MP3 player for audiobooks - Recommend

[chrisb]

The Best Buy branded Insignia Video (NS-DV4G) supports Audible out of the box.

[Whatatay]

Originally Posted by chrisb

The Best Buy branded Insignia Video (NS-DV4G) supports Audible out of the box.

No one is talking about Audible. Many support that because they get a kickback from Audible who charges their customers. Netlibrary AudioBooks are free.

[chrisb]

My bad. Insignia intends to add bookmarking to non-Audible books in a future firmware upgrade.

[randy]

it's good link for mp3 bookmarks,good pause functionality
www.telrex.com/audio_bookmarks.htm

[thither]

Originally Posted by Whatatay

1. AA battery

2. Displays elasped time in HH:MM:SS (and doesn't reboot and start over 4 hours into the audio book like the Iriver T10).

3. Resume function

4. Bookmarks (optional)

(5 - plays DRM'ed wma files from NetLibrary - you didn't state this in your list but it's one of your trickier requirements)

You might look into the late, lamented Rio Chiba line if you can live with a AAA battery instead of AA (it gets 15-20 hours off the AAA, towards the low end on rechargables). It has 256 or 512 MB of Flash built-in but you can add a 1GB SD card to it. Its bookmark/resume features were the best I've used, and I'm fairly sure it did the HH:MM:SS thing.

Only thing I'm not sure about is whether it will play back DRMed wma files like the ones from NetLibrary (anyone know what flavor of DRM that is)? I do know there were some later firmware updates that enabled wma though. Other than that, the main drawbacks are that the model is discontinued, along with the rest of Rio, and that you needed to use really atrocious software to get music on and off the player.

Anyways, I haven't looked but I imagine they're dirt cheap on eBay these days.

I've pretty much given up on NetLibrary as being too much of a pain in the ass to listen to even on my PC, let alone a DAP, although the idea behind it is excellent. Hopefully someone over there will get a clue and make something usable some day.

[IpaqMan]

Total recorder basically can record whatever is playing on your PC, so if your PC can play your Audible.com or your Netlibrary books, TR will record them to whatever format you choose. This is typically in realtime but some players will play faster for TR. The program Goldwave Sound editor will transcode Audible.com files much faster than real-time. I always recode Netlibrary books because most players do not handle the WMA DRM files as well as I would like (proper elapsed time, proper bookmarking and resume).

[wolper]

Thanks for this discussion, it's very helpful and answered a number of my questions that weren't available anywhere else. I've been very happy with my Creative MuVO N200 for listening to audiobooks and podcasts. It resumes with no problem even if you take out the battery or update your music, but does not have bookmarking. It shows elapsed time in the HH:MM:SS format and it has a progressive fast forward with audio that makes finding your spot fairly easily (I think that came with a firmward update). It runs on a AAA battery and is a very small device--perfect and convenient for traveling. My problem is that the 512MB is no longer large enough for me, so I'm updating (plus the fancy new screens are so colorful).

This discussion helped me narrow down my choices of MP3 players for audiobooks--Zen V Plus, Sansa e270, are the front runners, but does anyone know if the Samsung YP-T9 has any resume or bookmarking features?

Thanks again!

[IpaqMan]

Listening to audiobooks and speech has been my main use of DAPs. Support for Audible.com, bookmarking, resume, tactile controls are important for this type of listening In addition, features like play on power-on, fast booting, and a sleep timer are very helpful.

I have run across six vendors that provide most of these features: Creative, Rio, Motorola (clone of Rio), Apple, Insignia, and Iaudio. Insignia is new and is missing bookmarking (other features may be missing, too). Iaudio is missing Audible.com support. Rio and Motorola no longer make players, but you can still find models for sale. Some FYE stores are selling new Motorola 256mb players and new Rio CE2100 players. Apple does not support WMA DRM (Netlibrary books) and uses touch controls.

The Creative Zen V Plus provides Audible.com support, bookmarking, resume, tactile controls, play on power-on if playing at shut down, and a snooze timer. The bookmarks show track name details unlike the Rio/Motorola bookmarks which show nothing but a sequence number. Unfortunately, the Zen bookmarking function does not save the playlist, so if you are listening to multiple tracks of an audio book, resuming the bookmarked track will get you only one track. You can change tracks, FF/RW, change volume, pause/play, power on/off, hold on/off without looking at the screen.

Zen V Plus pros:

1) Scratch resistant screen and body
2) Large capacity options (up to 8gb)
3) Very small and light
4) Easy to use one-handed
5) Uses standard mini-USB cable
6) Excellent sound quality, no detectable background hiss/noise
7) Custom EQ function

Zen V Plus cons:

1) Non user-replaceable battery
2) MTP device (Windows XP only)
3) Can only be charged by a Windows XP USB port or Zen adapter
4) Oled display is hard to see in sunlight
5) Not plug and play UMS device

My personal audio book players are the Apple Ipod, Iaudio 5, Rio Carbon, and Zen V Plus. I like the Ipod for its very fast startup, the Iaudio 5 for its jogswitches, play on power-on, and easy to blind navigate menu, the Rio Carbon for its tactile controls and small size, and the new Zen V Plus for its functionality, easy to read screen, and very small size.

BTW, having multiple players is one expensive way to work-around the lack of a bookmark function. :)

[IpaqMan]

Originally Posted by wolper

Thanks for this discussion, it's very helpful and answered a number of my questions that weren't available anywhere else. I've been very happy with my Creative MuVO N200 for listening to audiobooks and podcasts. It resumes with no problem even if you take out the battery or update your music, but does not have bookmarking. It shows elapsed time in the HH:MM:SS format and it has a progressive fast forward with audio that makes finding your spot fairly easily (I think that came with a firmward update). It runs on a AAA battery and is a very small device--perfect and convenient for traveling. My problem is that the 512MB is no longer large enough for me, so I'm updating (plus the fancy new screens are so colorful).

This discussion helped me narrow down my choices of MP3 players for audiobooks--Zen V Plus, Sansa e270, are the front runners, but does anyone know if the Samsung YP-T9 has any resume or bookmarking features?

Thanks again!

I used to have an N200, too. I moved on for similar reasons to yours. My eyes are older and I need brighter colorful screens.

I have owned the Sansa e260 and it was returned after a couple of weeks for a new Apple Ipod Video. The Sansa was noisy. There was no Audible.com support, no bookmarking, no sleep timer, and an unwanted power-on volume reset to mid-volume "feature". The video function was awkward and the video file sizes were very large. And it used a proprietary connector that was not widely available. The record button was annoying in that a brief press would interrupt the music and go to voice recording. The Zen V Plus record button requires a long press to activate recording.

[wolper]

IpaqMan, thanks for all your advice and information. The Zen V Plus sounds just about perfect. The only thing that makes me hesitant is the thumbstick seems like it would be difficult to use (I have pretty big hands/fingers). What has your experience been? It's the main reason I'm trying to find out about the Samsung YP-T9, its controls seem very well design. Thanks again.

[JamesDax]

FYI... The iRiver Clix now supports audible.com audio books with the latest firmware release(2.01).

WMP11+Urge+Audible.com= Flawless support for your music, video, picture, and audio book needs for your Clix. Sorry if that sounds like an ad. Just expressing my love for my Clix. :-)

[IpaqMan]

Originally Posted by wolper

IpaqMan, thanks for all your advice and information. The Zen V Plus sounds just about perfect. The only thing that makes me hesitant is the thumbstick seems like it would be difficult to use (I have pretty big hands/fingers). What has your experience been? It's the main reason I'm trying to find out about the Samsung YP-T9, its controls seem very well design. Thanks again.

I have normal sized hands but I have no problem operating the joystick with my fingers or thumbs. I normally use my fingertip/nail to move the joystick. I can even use my thumbtip/nail to operate it. Creative really recessed the joystick to avoid accidental operation.

So far I am trying to access how well the Zen V Plus as an audiobook player. I do have three issues with it which could be fixed by firmware changes, but I don't know if Creative will do them.

1) Power-on resume to track position works if you power-off while playing but not paused.

2) Bookmark does not save the current playlist. It only saves the current track / position. Rio and Iaudio save both.

3) Rewind does not seamlessly move backwards over a track gap. In other words, you cannot rewind twenty seconds backwards if you are currently ten seconds into a new track. You have jump to the beginning of the previous track and fast forward to the last ten seconds. The Rio Carbon and Iaudio 5 treats a series of tracks like seamless content. The Apple Ipod does not even when tracks are set as gapless.

[IpaqMan]

Originally Posted by JamesDax

FYI... The iRiver Clix now supports audible.com audio books with the latest firmware release(2.01).

WMP11+Urge+Audible.com= Flawless support for your music, video, picture, and audio book needs for your Clix. Sorry if that sounds like an ad. Just expressing my love for my Clix. :-)

I just saw that. Some questions I have about the Clix are:

1) Does it support a shut off mode where you can store your Clix for a week without losing all power?

2) Does it support multiple bookmarks (playlist and track position)?

3) Does it rewind past the beginning of a track into the end of the previous track?

4) Does it always resume where it stopped/paused?

5) Are there other chargers than a Win XP USB port?

[JamesDax]

Originally Posted by IpaqMan

I just saw that. Some questions I have about the Clix are:

1) Does it support a shut off mode where you can store your Clix for a week without losing all power?

2) Does it support multiple bookmarks (playlist and track position)?

3) Does it rewind past the beginning of a track into the end of the previous track?

4) Does it always resume where it stopped/paused?

5) Are there other chargers than a Win XP USB port?

To answer your questions..

1) Yes. You can adjust the timers for both sleep mode and auto power off.

2) Yes. And you can search by bookmark or chapter.

3) Yes. You can ff, rw, and adjust playback speed

4) Yes and No. Sometimes it does, other times it starts at the beginning of the next chapter. Not sure why.

5) Yes. iRiver has just released an official wall AC charger for the clix.

Hope the helps. The Clix is the best 2 and 4GB flash device on the market IMHO.

[IpaqMan]

Thanks for the answers about the Clix. But I need more details.

Concerning rewind, if you are track 2 of an album and you hold down Rewind, does it go to the beginning of the track and then go to the previous track starting at the end of the track. Most players go back to the beginning of a track and stop there no matter how long you press rewind.

Concerning bookmarks, I am looking for a feature where you have loaded an album/playlist and are playing a middle track and save the bookmark. At some later time, you restore the bookmark which reloads the album/playlist and resumes at the track position stopped at previously. This is for mp3 audiobooks.

Yes, I agree that the Clix is one of the best 4gb flash players, but I am prioritizing on audiobook features.

[JamesDax]

Ok, I did some experimenting and here is what i found. Concerning the rewind function, if you just press rewind it will go to the begining of the chapter and stop. However if you press and hold rewind it will continue to rewind until you release. For the bookmark function, it does resume where you left the bookmark.

BTW, another nice feature is that the Clix will show the book cover like it shows album art.

[wolper]

Thanks for all your help. I'm still deciding between the Zen and the Samsung. If I end up with the T9 I'll report back about it's features in regard to audiobooks. Thanks again.

[IpaqMan]

Originally Posted by laura_de_leon

I'm currently using a Motorola M25 player, and would like to move up to something better. Although I do listen to music at times, my primary use is to listen to audiobooks.

I'd like recommendations as to what DAPs to look at.

Most of the books I listen to are downloaded from my library via netlibrary.com. These are protected WMF files (After 21 days, they go poof and disappear. Or at least the license to play them does). My current player has problems with bookmarks and resuming playback-- it skips back up to 30 minutes near the end of a long book. I'd really like for this not to happen.

Some books are from audible.com. I'd need the player to support the Audible format.

I need bookmarks, since I've been known to bounce between books or between books and music, and I'd hate to lose my place every time.

Sound quality is of secondary importance-- If I could get functioning resume and bookmarks, I'd take a lower quality of sound.

Any suggestions?

Laura

I just found a brand new Motorola M25 at a local FYE music store for $29.95 with firmware version 1.11 (the latest). I grabbed it and have been testing it out. IMHO, it and probably the Rio Forge are among the best DAPs for audiobooks. Only the Rio Carbon is comparable.

Why? They are among the few that provide:

1) Audible.com and Netlibrary support.

2) Multiple bookmarks with restoration of playlist, track, and track position.

3) Always resume track position after powering up.

4) Treat a playlist / album of tracks as seamless content when rewinding and fast forwarding. In other words, not stopping when trying to rewind past the beginning of a track. Ipods and Zens stop at track start.

5) EQ to fix poor voice quality

6) Controls designed to prevent accidental track changes. In other words, volume control and track control should be separated and not together as in some joysticks. The option of locking all but volume control is a big plus.

7) No look access to controls especially volume and bookmarking.


If you eliminate Audible.com support, then the Iaudio are comparable with the Iaudio 5 being my favorite. The Iaudio 5 has nice jogswitches and a record button that when held down automatically saves one bookmark per track overwriting any previous bookmark for that track. There are twenty bookmarks. The bookmarks are labeled by track title. They also save the playlist.

On the plus side compared to the Rio and Motorola, there is a sleep timer and an optional resume PLAY after power-on, no need to press play.

On the minus side, the Iaudio 5 only has 1GB or 2GB and a hard to read screen. And it is no longer generally sold.


Regarding the Zen V Plus, I am planning to return it as it misses on a few points:

1) Does not always resume to the last position

2) Does not rewind past a track split, will stop rewinding at track start

3) Bookmarks do not save the playlist/album


I am considering another Iaudio or the Iriver Clix if it provides good audiobook support (as mentioned above).

[IpaqMan]

Originally Posted by JamesDax

Ok, I did some experimenting and here is what i found. Concerning the rewind function, if you just press rewind it will go to the begining of the chapter and stop. However if you press and hold rewind it will continue to rewind until you release. For the bookmark function, it does resume where you left the bookmark.

BTW, another nice feature is that the Clix will show the book cover like it shows album art.

Thanks for the additional information.

When you stated that if you hold the rewind button, it will keep going. Do you mean that it will keep rewinding into the previous track? I think that's what you mean.

How many bookmarks does the Clix support and does it save the whole playlist playing so that you can restore the whole audiobook at a later time?

[JamesDax]

Originally Posted by IpaqMan

Thanks for the additional information.

When you stated that if you hold the rewind button, it will keep going. Do you mean that it will keep rewinding into the previous track? I think that's what you mean.

How many bookmarks does the Clix support and does it save the whole playlist playing so that you can restore the whole audiobook at a later time?

Yes it will rewind into the previous track and beyond. Now about these playlist. I'm sort of new at the whole audio book thing(and really liking it too) so my expreince is limited. Right now I only have one audiobook that I got form audible.com. There is no playlist. The book came in 2 parts because of it's length. One is a little over 7hours long the other is over 8. This is how they appear on my Clix.

music/audio book/Eragon(unabridged), Part 1 & Eragon(unabridged), Part 2. I guess that sort of a playlist for this one book. Anyway, you can set the the player to search the book by section(chapter) or bookmark. When it's set to search by section the the time line shows where all the chapters begin. You can ff or rw to any chapter, and ff or rw within the chapter. Same with search by bookmarks. When you are set to search by bookmark the book always starts at the last bookmark set. When set to search by chapter it book appears to start at the nearest chapter. If you were at the begining of the chapter it starts at the begining. If you were near the end of the chapter it starts at the next chapter but you can use the timeline to rw to were you left off which is what I do if I forget to bookmark. The timeline show HH:MM:SS on the right to show lenght of book and HH:MM:SS on the left to show elapsed time. As to how many bookmarks it supports that I don't know. The release notes for firmware 2.01 haven't been published online yet. Anyway, I hope that answer you questions.

Now I have a question. The playlist you talk about. Are you saying that the audio books you are use to are set up by chapter the way a music playlist is setup?? I ask this because I know that audible.com supports 4 formats. The clix can support 3 of them and the one I use is format 4. I think I prefer this one.

Edit:

Opps...seems the format has to do with the audio compression(4 is CD, 3 is FM radio, 2 is AM radio..can't imagine what 1 must be. lol) and not how the book is setup. So I guess i'm still confused about what audiobook playlist are.