MP3 player for jogger (1 Viewer)

[Brett Jason]

My wife wants an MP3 player that she can use when she runs. Anyone have any recommendations?

 

[Arthur Legardo]

I have an iRiver Slim X that has an incredible 8 minute buffer for shock protection. It looks like a regular CD player, but quite a bit thinner and lighter and it plays regular CDs as well as CD-Rs/CD-RWs burnt with MP3s.
Going way back, I also have a Rio 500 solid state memory MP3 player that works great for jogging or any activity where it may get jarred quite often.

 

[Chris PC]

Hey fellow GTA'r where'd you pick up the iRiver Slim X ? I'm looking for a portable audio solution with CDRW and MP3 but I don't want it to be able to skip at all when exercising etc

 

[Josh Hay]

Brett, my girlfriend and I both have Creative Nomad II mp3 players. We use them while jogging, and I couldn't get by without mine for bus rides. It's a solid-state player, and has features like voice recording, expandable Smartmedia memory, and WMA support.

I'm not sure if they make them anymore, but I know they have a "Nomad II C" player, as well as an "MG" version. I've been very happy with mine, and got it for around $100. Might wanna check eBay if you can't find it in stores.

 

[Jay H]

Believe it or not, I use a Sony portable CD player with that 45-sec g-shock protection on it while bike commuting to work and it's great. I have a MTB with a rear rack and panniers that I use to bike off-road, and these aren't paved or flat off-road trails either. When I put the CD in my back pocket or in my panniers, it doesn't skip. When I tie it to the rack itself, it will skip but considering that the terrain I'm biking on is hardpack dirt with lots of baby-head rocks on it, I think that it is a very good quality the newer portable CD players so don't limit yourself to pure MP3 players out there, if you're a jogger, you will have much less shock to deal with and if you and your girlfriend wear bike jerseys, you can slide it in the rear pocket and be hands free. I considered MP3 players and stuff, but decided to save time and money by going with this inexpensive port. CD player and it has turned out good. I am also a fast rider, I easily bike 5000 miles a year as a commuter and also a mountain biker and I am also a bike tourer and also do tons of centuries and I've had the CD player for a couple weeks now after giving up on FM where reception is horrible and when you do get reception, the stations always play too many commercials.
Here's my thread on this:
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...ght=mp3+player
Here's another one on MP3 players:
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...ght=mp3+player
Jay

 

[Brett Jason]

I went with IRiver SlimX IMP-350. $139 + $10 shipping 2nd day air. Cnet gave it a great review and user ratings were 94% positive. Need to get some type of belt probably to hold it.

Thanks for the replies

 

[Zen Butler]

I went with IRiver SlimX IMP-350

It's a good choice. Of course not the storage of a jukebox style. I love my SLim X , It goes with me everywhere.You got a good price too.

 

[Arthur Legardo]

Chris PC I actually bought mine from a company in Quebec, one that is listed on the iRiver website. However, I did come across it at the Pacific Mall in Markham (Steeles and Kennedy) for a little bit less $269 plus taxes, plus 2% if you pay with credit card. If you are not familiar with that mall, the most of the computer stores are bunched up in the north end of the mall, but this store, Canada Computers (or something like that) has a small add in their window for the Slim X. Don't go there if you want customer service/questions answered, but they do have a good price, just do your research beforehand.

 

[TomMadden]

Apple's iPod

It's easy to use, comes in three sizes - 5Gb, 10Gb, and 20Gb, and features fast firewire transfers (my 5Gb iPod takes less than 10 minutes to fill all of it). Apple will be selling a Windows version of the device soon as well (announced today) for the non-mac folks.

For the jogger, the 10 and 20 Gb versions include a handy remote. I haven't seen it yet, though.

 

[Chris PC]

I know that mall. Not super familiar with those stores, but I've bought a few things there. At least I know the place. I'll check their website for into on the IRiver SlimX IMP-350 MP3 disc player.

I have been waiting for these things to come down to reasonable prices, and for the major manufacturers to come out with some decent models. I bought a Rio SP something and it wouldn't play MP3's very easily. It took 2 minutes to load all the songs into it before it started or something like that. It skipped so easily it was pathetic.

Where can I learn more about the IRiver SlimX IMP-350? I visited the website, but what about reviews etc? Anybody else have experience with it?

What are its features? Why don't I buy a Panasonic or Sony MP3 disc player?

 

[Arthur Legardo]

MP3.com, Link Removed and I believe C:Net wrote a review each on the SlimX and all gave the player high marks.
I looked at the Sony MP3 discman and I was almost going to buy it, but I found out that the remote's LCD display only displayed the track number, folder number and track time. The SlimX's remote is able to display the ID3 information (track name, artist, album, etc), has a couple of visualizations that you can choose between, shows the bit rate of the track and you can also have it display the lyrics of the song (only if your enter those yourself)!
What's really nice is the 8 minute anti-shock buffer. This buffer is only used when a regular CD is inserted in the player. CDs burned with MP3s are loaded into internal memory and played through memory.
If you do buy this player, make sure that is has, or else download and install, the latest firmware version (2.02). It really "cleans up" the interface on the remote and includes some bug fixes.

 

[Chris PC]

Cool. So really, how is the 8 minute shock protection different between MP3 and CD ? I'm not quite sure I understand. I thought all formats took the data and stored it in memory and played it from there. If the CD skips, the memory feeding CPU has to simply get the bitstream going and filling up the memory again without missing any data.

Anyways, that player sounds pretty good.

 

[Arthur Legardo]

ChrisPC, from the manual:
I don't know. :b
Did I mention that the SlimX has a built-in FM tuner?

 

[Chris PC]

cool....I guess the specs are interesting and how it works might be neat to know, but failing that, I'll simply ask you the obvious....
How well does it work? Does it ever skip? If so, when does it skip? How easy is it to make it skip?
thanks

 

[Arthur Legardo]

I've never made it skip. I had it loose in my knapsack while on a bus tour in Europe recently. Of course, I was listening exclusively to a CD that I burned full of MP3 so the 8 minute buffer was was in use. From what I've read the CD is never constantly spinning, the player loads 8 minutes worth of songs in memory and stops the disc. When the memory "nears empty" it starts the CD again and reloads. Neat.

My previous CD player was a Sony 808 model, a few years old. It had shock protection, I believe 45 seconds or so, and simply walking with it in a "fanny pack" case caused it to constantly skip. With the SlimX in the same "fanny pack" case, again, it never skipped. Running up stairs never made it skip, this thing is incredible.

 

[Chris PC]

Cool. Thats exactly what I want. Perhaps I'll pay a visit to Pacific Mall or something. Maybe I can find it around somewhere else.

 

[Arthur Legardo]

The name of the store at Pacific Mall is Canada Compters, their website says that the SlimX is now $245!
I bought mine through MP3PlayerStore.com, they're in Quebec and they have the SlimX for $229!

 

[Chris PC]

Yep, I've been to Canada Computers. Guess I could go there as its not far away.