mp3 Players With Bluetooth For A Blind User?

[elara]

Hi All,

I'm looking for an mp3 player with built-in bluetooth, but I have some rather odd requirements to go along with that. You see, I'm visually impaired. I have some sight, (Using a Cowon iAudio 7 at the moment.) but I really need a player that has a black, or dark, background with white menus/text. I'd probably also be better off not trying to use a touch screen, though I think I could if I could get one that didn't have tons of apps/gadgets, or one that you could take most of those off of.

I'm using an iAudio 7 at the moment, because I read a lot of audiobooks on my player, and you can't beat the battery life on the I7 for that purpose! Plus, I'd like at least 16GB of storage space on my player, but I'm ok with either HD or flash. Again, since I read audiobooks a lot, both a resume and a bookmark feature would be very helpful.

Like I said, I know these are some odd needs, but I thought I'd throw the question out there and see if anyone had any thoughts on something that might work for me.

Thanks!

[CrowdAds]

[a_tumiwa]

Cowon S9 has bluetooth and external buttons (play/pause/FF/backward), the problem is... that external buttons only work when u are in music player screen.
Sony X1000 can use external buttons when u are outside of music screen, but sony x1000 doesnt have bluetooth feature.
u can also consider Samsung R0 that will release soon, it has tactile-buttons and bluetooth
all 3 of them have 32gb capacity

[dfkt]

The S9 and X1000 are probably not for a blind/visually impaired user, since they're touchscreens.

A good choice would perhaps be any decent Rockboxed player, since those even support voice navigation and other useful features.

http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/BlindUsersIndex

[Dreamnine]

The problem is Bluetooth - not many brands do that anymore, just Samsung, one or two older Sonys and the S9.

The P3 does have BT and a dark background/white text as default:

[dfkt]

Right, Bluetooth... would be very useful if the original poster said what he/she actually wants to use Bluetooth for.

[MarantzManiac]

Look on Ebay for Samsung yp-T10 ~$25 (only 4GB in the USA) or a Sony A820 series (4, 8, or 16gb). You can almost always find them there!

The Samsung is very flexible on screen colors. Both have built in Bluetooth, excellent sound quality & tactile controls.

Good luck & let us know what you decide....

[a_tumiwa]

Originally Posted by dfkt

The S9 and X1000 are probably not for a blind/visually impaired user, since they're touchscreens.

A good choice would perhaps be any decent Rockboxed player, since those even support voice navigation and other useful features.

http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/BlindUsersIndex

WOW! so my old archos jukebox is the only player that can do it?? not bad... not bad...

[JK98]

Many who ask for bluetooth don't realize that using it might cut battery life in half. When people realize this, many decide against using blutooth.

[elara]

Thanks for all the replies! I knew that, if I asked here, I could get some good suggestions.:-)

To answer the question of what I want bluetooth for...I mainly want to be able to link my player to my SBH-600 BT headphones. I do a lot of riding on both public transportation and on transportation for the disabled. I'd like to be able to listen while I ride, without wires, and with the ability to control my player, i.e. play/pause, volume and track forward/back, with just the use of my BT headset. That way, I wouldn't have a headphone wire snaking into my purse, and I wouldn't have to dig around in my purse just to skip a track or pause my player. I also wouldn't have to carry my player in my hand so that I could do this more easily, but when you can't see who might be eyeing your cool little player...Well, you get the idea. *GRIN*

I'd pretty much only use it on the bus or maybe at work every now and then. When at home, I'd used good old-fashioned wired to help save battery life.:-) Shoot, I love my little I 7 so much that I tried to find a mini-usb bluetooth adapter to plug into it for the times that I wanted BT, but couldn't find one after days of research. So, I figured I'd need to look for a player with BT built in.

[Olley]

You definitely want a Samsung then. The Samsung P2 may be a better option as it has external volume +/- as well as play/pause which the P3 doesn't have. After being turned on another press of the Power/Play/Pause button will start the music playing with no need to dig down into the menu structure. If the headphones have been previously paired the P2 will try and connect again when turned on.

[dfkt]

The S9 might work as well, if pairing headphones is the only Bluetooth requirement - it has even more tactile buttons than the P2, and the font in the file lists is adjustable to really large sizes on the fly. With Claw's UI installed it can auto-resume the last played track.

[Olley]

The S9 would have been my recommendation too, except that it's bluetooth isn't as reliable as that on my Samsung's has been. You'll find more complaints about the S9's bluetooth in the S9 forum. I think Samsung has simply been at it longer and knows the technology better than anyone else.

[Dreamnine]

Originally Posted by JK98

Many who ask for bluetooth don't realize that using it might cut battery life in half. When people realize this, many decide against using blutooth.

Have you done a poll or something?

[elara]

It's good to know that, if I go with an S9, that I can get resume. Both resume and bookmarking are important to me, since I read a lot of mp3 audiobooks. Resume comes in handy when you just want to pick up right where you left off, typically in the middle of an mp3 which is 1 full audiobook CD. Bookmarking helps if you want to switch to music and then go back to where you left off in your book. Thanks for letting me know what I could install on the S9.

[elara]

Hi All,

Just a quick update. I ordered a Samsung P3 from BestBuy.com yesterday. I'll get it some time between the 17th and the 24th. It looks like a great player, for the most part. I'm going to see if I can use it, especially the touch screen. If I can't use it very well, then I'll return it to Best Buy and get something else.

The only thing I really don't like is that the P3 doesn't do audio bookmarks. Like I said, since I read lots of audiobooks, I need to be able to bookmark my place in a book so that I can then listen to music and return to my book when I want.

The Sony A820 series looks great, but they're really hard to find! I definitely appreciate the help I'm getting here. Thanks again!

[MarantzManiac]

Good choice on the P3! Don't forget to checkout the other Sammie YP-T10 even as a backup player. I'll let you in on a a little hidden secret, they are a gem & a steal, butttt don't tell anybody!

[dfkt]

Not so sure if the P3 is a good choice for a blind user... I mean, eye-candy bling and all is nice, and Bluetooth phones sure are trendy and whatnot - but the P3 probably doesn't have enough tactile buttons, which might be even a problem for users with average eyesight.

[Dreamnine]

Well, if the OP was happy with an i7, I'm sure a P3 will be OK.

[Olley]

The P2 and P3 both had features that would appeal to anyone with vision problems. TTS for one. Icon locations that weren't easily moved is another, since as long as they always do what one expects all they need to do is remain in the same spot. The Widgets on the P3 seem like they would complicate things, but they can all be disabled/dragged off the screen.

The S9's zooming text is just one more indication that someone at those companies is aware that it's customers won't all be 20-20.

[sassafras]

Why did no one suggest the Sony Walkman NWZ-A829? It has bluetooth, tactile controls and a very high contrast menu and home screen.

Just my opinion.