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MP3 Player audio book question.

Discussion in 'Trucking Electronics, Gadgets and Software Forum' started by Kansas, Nov 27, 2010.

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  1. Nov 27, 2010 #1
    Kansas

    Kansas Road Train Member

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    Need some advice. I am doing a little Christmas shopping for a family member. They would like to get a MP3 player, to download audio books for listening while they are out walking.

    Apple being my first choice, it would seem that Ipod has this kinda screwed up. According to everything I have read in order to put audio books onto an ipod (downloaded from NON iTunes sites) they will have to first download the audio book to the computer, then burn it to disk, and finally transfer it to the iPod.

    Or, I can purchase a non iPod brand MP3 player and skip the middle CD step. Brand recommendations, that work with audio book files? Apparently spoken word files are a whole lot different than music.

    There are tons of "public domain" sites where audio books are free to download and legally own with out purchase. Anybody have any experience with this? Should I skip the iPod thing all together and go with a different brand or what? This gift is for an older family member, and I am thinking the constant burning of CD's might be a little bit of a deterrent to them.
     
    Kansas, Nov 27, 2010
    Kansas, Nov 27, 2010
    #1
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  3. Nov 28, 2010 #2
    statikuz

    statikuz Medium Load Member

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    I'm not so sure about this. Probably for really old books like Crime & Punishment, Moby Dick, etc. but certainly not current ones.

    As long as you can download your audiobooks in some reasonable format (aac, mp3, etc) you won't have a problem putting them on an iPod or any other MP3 player.

    This also depends on the computer literacy of your family member - if they aren't so much, you might be just as well off getting them an iPod and they can buy their audiobooks off the iTunes store and not have to mess with it at all. Old books are cheap (Pride and Prejudice $3, Peter Pan $4, etc.) while current bestsellers are more "book price" (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo $18 ).

    It takes a little effort to get MP3 audiobooks to behave properly in iTunes, have them sync properly and show up under "Books" and whatnot, but you would probably have equal problems with any other MP3 player as well. If you don't think this is something they would be doing themselves, I would just go with the above and forget about it. Can't have everything in life for free (and easy)!

    Edit: you could also look into Audible - they have a different sort of pricing plan, i.e. you get to download X books per month for a monthly subscription price - compatible with most MP3 players.
     
    statikuz, Nov 28, 2010
    statikuz, Nov 28, 2010
    #2
  4. Nov 28, 2010 #3
    Merlin1477024

    Merlin1477024 Light Load Member

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    Is it essential that the media be books?

    What about podcasts?
    There are tons of them for free.
    Try npr.org (National Public Radio) and search podcasts

    There's podcastdirectory.com for a million more.

    Merlin
     
    Merlin1477024, Nov 28, 2010
    Merlin1477024, Nov 28, 2010
    #3
  5. Nov 28, 2010 #4
    Kansas

    Kansas Road Train Member

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    I am quite sure, and that's why I included and am asking about the "public domain" audio books. So we didnt have to have a discussion of legal not legal... By definition "public domain" ='s free.

    http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/about

    Yes, she wants audio books. Odd you should mention Podcasts though. I read somewhere during my research that I should select and save them as "podcast" when downloading them onto my computer through iTunes. Not sure if this is or isnt an option with non iPod MP3 players?
     
    Kansas, Nov 28, 2010
    Kansas, Nov 28, 2010
    #4
  7. Nov 28, 2010 #5
    gone fishing

    gone fishing Bobtail Member

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    i have 96 g of recent audiobooks downloaded from various places make your own music folders and put them into specific playlists it works great i run teams with my wife and it helps out at night when im up running ups
     
    gone fishing, Nov 28, 2010
    gone fishing, Nov 28, 2010
    #5
  8. Nov 28, 2010 #6
    wsyrob

    wsyrob Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

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    Check out Audible.com. For $15.00 per month you get one book per month. These are high quality audio books. The narrator makes a huge difference in how enjoyable an audio book is. Many of the free ones are read by volunteers and are simply not very good.

    The audible content downloads easily into Itunes or any mainstream mp3 player using a program you download off their site.

    Audiobooks can be tricky because they have to be listened to in an exact order and are very long with lots of files.
     
    wsyrob, Nov 28, 2010
    wsyrob, Nov 28, 2010
    #6
    Kansas Thanks this.
  9. Dec 29, 2010 #7
    Vodila

    Vodila Bobtail Member

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    i use my radio deck that has usb input. and many many audiobooks i getting from russia or from piratesbay free. they are not from commercial companies. just many peoples like to buy paper book read it in voice and download their own voice to some places
     
    Vodila, Dec 29, 2010
    Vodila, Dec 29, 2010
    #7
  10. Dec 29, 2010 #8
    Roadmedic

    Roadmedic Road Train Member

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    I have over 200 audio books. I have yet to find one that can be tricky to listen to.

    I have them all in mp3 format and load them on my sony walman and play through the aux port on the radio.
     
    Roadmedic, Dec 29, 2010
    Roadmedic, Dec 29, 2010
    #8
  11. Dec 29, 2010 #9
    wsyrob

    wsyrob Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

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    I have had to rename and number the files on some MP3 books that I have downloaded to get them to play in the correct order. Its easy to do with a batch file renamer.
     
    wsyrob, Dec 29, 2010
    wsyrob, Dec 29, 2010
    #9
  12. Dec 29, 2010 #10
    Roadmedic

    Roadmedic Road Train Member

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    I do not download.

    I buy the books and then convert them to mp3.
     
    Roadmedic, Dec 29, 2010
    Roadmedic, Dec 29, 2010
    #10
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