[Hidden-tech] iPod shuffle - talking books?/Aware!

[michaelbix]

Sansa - or Sylvania, other reliable brands - make good little ones at Walgreens which I've also purchased (for a friend during a hospital recovery, so she could listen to music and stories).  

In any case the only real choices are size of memory storage... and screen or not.

Memory: 2 GB (gigabyte) 4 GB, 8 GB or 16 GB.   The price doesn't necessarily double with each doubling of memory, but if you like audiobooks rather than music I'd recommend purchase more memory.  Books take up a lot of storage.  Go for 8 GB or 16 GB (or even 32 GB if available... I'm not sure if you'll find that without going online).  

What you are searching for is... "mp3 player 16GB" (or 32 GB) - nothing else, not a phone etc.  

The biggest additional convenience for you is if the player has a small screen to show you the tracks, to simplify your searching for where you are or where you want to go.   

The Shuffle does not have that.  Look at each description.  For $60 you should be able to find a 16 or 32 GB player with a small screen, wall charger adapter, USB cable, software disk and headphones jack.   That's about all you'll need.

I'm not sure if Amazon is selling audible books, although after their cutting off of Julian Assange and Wikileaks, I'm not sure if you're dealing with them or not.  Of course Apple (iTunes) also just cut Assange's organisation off as well (they just pulled the application for iPhone which allows people to read Wikileaks on their iPhones).   Everyone's seemingly afraid of the government - Apple, Amazon, VISA, Mastercard - so they are willing to be the handmaidens for censorship, pure and simple except (predictably) Michael Moore who's offered to host Wikileaks if all else fails.   

Which it hardly will need since Wikileaks now has (at last count) 1426 mirror/alternative sites feeding it out to the journalistic world - http://213.251.145.96/Mirrors.html

Good luck finding a player.

Alternate sources for audiobooks? ... 

http://www.audible.com 
http://www.librivox.com (free)  
http://www.recordedbooks.com  
http://www.barnesandnoble.com  
http://www.booksonaudio.net  
http://www.newfiction.com (free downloads of new authors)  
http://www.playtime-books.com  
http://www.freeclassicbooks.com (free)  
http://www.emusic.com/audiobooks 
http://www.weread4you.com  
http://www.booksshouldbefree.com (free)  
http://www.bestaudiobooks.com  etc.

See as well as the Audio Book Project connected to the Gutenberg Project (on line library of as much published library material as possible) which is a compilation of both Librivox with human readers (above) and computer-generated voiced readers for expediency of access for the blind and those with dyslexia, etc.  - http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:The_Audio_Books_Project

Michael 

---------
On  23 December 10, at 3:33 PM, Robin MacRostie wrote:

> thank you Michaelbix.   i will take that to heart. 
> 
> For I am a Mac user and person and not interested in using my brain cells to sort and unscramble technologies that require negotiators, medators and fixes for the mediators. Is the Sansa really as good and as compatible with a Mac?   How is it for music?
> 
> is there more than one grade or Sansa?  Or is the hardware /software the same but different features?
> =
> If you do  what you've always done, you'll get what you've always have gotten."  
> 					 TONY ROBBINS
> 
> Robin MacRostie 
> Choreo  G R A P H I C  Design
> 
> where YOU're the show & tell
> 
> 413-549-6403 • 413.461.6655
> choreographicdesign.com
> 
> On Dec 23, 2010, at 3:02 PM, michaelbix wrote:
> 
>> I'm more concerned, Robin, that you are taking the survey because of the promise of the Shuffle.   The Shuffle, by the way, is a little $55 postage-stamp-size mp3 player (of which I have a couple - I lend out them to musicians, to listen to temp mixes upon)... it's not one of those iPhone-looking things.
>> 
>> If it's books you want (and I suspect not), and you have a Mac or PC, you can download an small app which allows you to order Kindle books directly - and read or listen directly.  
>> 
>> More importantly, any mp3 player not just the Shuffle (including good ones like Sansa you can buy at Staples, Brooks, Walgreens or other chain outlet) will play the audiobooks you can download through iTunes to a PC or Mac... and other Internet sources of audiobooks.  
>> 
>> And please read the fine print on your survey.  Most of those then lead you off in a labyrinthine journey of "coupons" you have to sign up for - dinners at Applebees, digital processing somewhere else, etc. before you get even close to that Shuffle.
>> 
>> Best regards,
>> 
>> Michael Cerulli Billingsley
>> 
>> 
>> = Straight Arrow Recordings =
>> Location Recording - Sound Design - FX/Sound Solutions
>> B100 The Cotton Mill, Brattleboro, Vermont
>> office 802-254-3975 ~ studio 802-254-2504
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On  23 December 10, at 1:13 PM, Robin MacRostie wrote:
>> 
>>>   ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area.
>>>   ** If you did, we all thank you.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> I'm considering moving into the iPod technology finally.    THere  is an offer of a free iPod Shuffle for taking a survey.    I'm leery of those to begin with, but I would risk that if I knew that I could download and listen to talking books.
>>> 
>>> Could I ?
>>> 
>>> thanks
>>> Robin
>>> A bit of fragrance clings to the hand that gives the flowers.
>>> 			Chinese Proverb
>>> 
>>> Robin MacRostie 
>>> Choreo  G R A P H I C  Design
>>> 
>>> where YOU're the show & tell
>>> 
>>> 413-549-6403 • 413.461.6655
>>> choreographicdesign.com
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
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> 

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