The consensus here seems to be to scrap the MP3 player altogether in favor of the CDRW format portable player.
Having recently purchased an MP3 portable player myself, I strongly disagree with this approach.
Until recently, I pretty much went the CD route with everything. I have the multi-disk home player, car CD player, and the portable CD player for biking and whatnot. I’ve spent a small fortune on CD’s.
With the advent of the MP3 and the various methods of transferring music over the net, and the ease of ripping CD’s I already own into the computer, I’ve been slowly changing the way I listen to music.
At first I kept the two kind of separate, I listened to CD’s through the main stereo and car, and only listened to MP3’s when sitting at the computer through headphones or the speakers I have for the comp.
I tried to burn CD’s with music I like from the comp and transfer them around from the home system, car, portable, etc… This got to be a major pain. It takes time to burn the things, it doesn’t always work out as planned (Want some coaster’s? Please!!), and the burn order only seems good for about a week or two.
Then I started expanding the reach of the MP3. I hooked up a cheezy, yet effective, audio line from the comp to the main home stereo, and soon upgraded that to the highest I could. It was too damn easy to use. I bought some programs that sort and order songs on the comp, bought a couple of players that allow me to change and enhance MP3’s sound on the comp and home system. I really liked it.
I still tried to burn CD’s for the car and the portable, but it was tedious and boring. So, one rainy afternoon, I said, ‘Screw this.”. I went out and purchased an MP3 player. I haven’t looked back since.
By sheer luck, I ended up with an RCA Lyra player with a 64 meg card. I say luck because I had no idea what I should get. It turns out I bought a player that a fully upgradeable. It will allow new software to be added down the road, and the card system means I’m not stuck with one level of memory.
That was the last time I burned a CD. The ease of transferring songs to the player is incredible. What once took about a half hour of converting, sorting, and burning songs, now takes about 5-10 minutes all told.
The card is fast. On a typical day, I insert the card in the reader, erase what’s on it, about a minute, and pick out songs I feel like for the car or bike ride. I’ll add about fifteen or so normal length songs. I click the songs, then click start, and about five minutes later I’m ready to roll.
It’s really that fast and easy. There’s no skipping, the player is lighter than any portable I’ve ever used, and outside of data, I don’t need or have a shit-load of unmarked CD’s laying around.
The downside to date? The tape converter for the car stinks. The sound is not all that great.
So, don’t dismiss the MP3 player altogether and wait for it to get better. From what I’ve seen and experienced, it’s pretty damn good where it is now.
My .02+ cents.
