When working out in the gym, people listen to music on headphones. I’m going to be working out regularly soon, and I need music. What do most people use, a walkman right? Cause a cd player would skip, and doesn’t attach as well to gym shorts.
So what kind and brand is best and most practical? Keep in mind I don’t own a walkman or cd player yet.
I would go for an MP3 player ahead of a CD player or cassette player if I were you. You can buy them reasonably cheap these days and they never skip as they have no moving parts like a CD player. The MP3 player I have came with a clip to attach to clothing and weighs next to nothing so it is ideal for working out with.
That’s what I figured, and I’ve been looking on ebay for used ones. I know they sell that one now IPOD random that costs 100 and plays the songs in random order. What’s up with those things?
I used my 40 gb iPod for a while but decided it was too heavy to lug around and bought an iPod Shuffle.
Wow, people are getting spoiled now. That iPod is just too heavy. 
I use my iPod, love it to death. I have a “workout” playlist I keep on shuffle.
Spoiled it right. I got tired of carrying my wife’s iPod 30GB in the car – so now I have a Shuffle.
The deal is they work perfectly for me. YMMV, but as a user, I’ll say you can’t go wrong.
I use a 30gb ipod… I tuck it into the front of my shorts. Works great for me. Personally, I don’t understand how Apple got away with that Shuffle design. Throw a single line lcd screen on that thing and its perfect.
I got a SanDisk 1-GB player at Circuit City for about $170 minus a $20 rebate, to use while I work out. I’ve had it for about a month and I love it. One of the main features I wanted is the armband, because I don’t have a waist yet. Yeah, it’s not as much storage, but the gym is the ONLY place I use it, and it’s nice to have a choice of 20 CDs for my tunes instead of just one.
I use Frontier Labs’ Nex Ia player.
It’s very small, very light, and the memory is expandable simply by buying a bigger compact flash card (CF card prices are falling, very fast). You can make it whatever capacity you want! Also, it has no moving parts (unless you use a microdrive instead of a CF card…it takes both), so it doesn’t skip. A pair of AA batteries lasts up to 17 hours, so you’re covered there.
Well, I’m quite fond of my Rio Forge Sport. It’s light, palm sized, fits nicely in my hand when jogging. It comes with an arm band, but I can get used to the feeling of it on my arm.
Single AAA lasts ages, it seems. The internal drive is 512MB, and I have an additional memory card that adds another 256MB. Really for going to the gym and the occasional long flights, it’s more than enough. I can hold several audio books and a dozen or so CD, and then some.
General Questions is for questions with factual answers. IMHO is for opinions and polls.
Off to IMHO.
DrMatrix - GQ Moderator
iPod - it’s wonderful. Although I’d be fine with a shuffle in the gym.
I have to go against the flow on this one.
I used to use one of the Nike players – I was very pleased with it. It straps on my arm, uses a single rechargable AAA battery, has a robust battery cover (essential, since you are always going to be removing it to xfer music).
Then I bought a Philips MP3-capable CD player for fifty bucks and realized the following:
[ul][li]It is so thin and flimsy that when in its belt pouch I barely notice its presence.[/li][li]Since it is playing MP3s, the CD actually turns only a few seconds out of each minute, nullifying any skip problems.[/li][li]I can store several full albums on one CD (Did you know that the Broadway version of the Who’s Tommy lasts ten miles?)[/li][li]If I want a different set of albums, I grab another mix disc and scoot. No twenty minutes of messin’ around trying to get some new tunes loaded for a gym trip.[/li][li]Audio books fit conveniently on a single CD or on two CDs. (working on a Clive Cussler tale now).[/li]Best of all: If I bust it, who cares? I’ll just buy another, with more features and lighter for $35. Sure there are multi-gig MP3 players around, but they are too pricy and genteel for my gym activities.[/ul]
I use an iPod. I have a Workout playlist of songs I like with a strong, brisk beat, and a more selective High Motivation playlist for the days that I’m having a hard time getting my butt going.
I just put it on the shelfy-thing on the treadmill when I run. About five times I’ve accidentally tugged on the headphone cord, felt the sharp jerk on my earphones which was followed by a sickeningly abrupt cessation of musical sounds, and watched, paralyzed with horror, as CLUNK my iPod fell onto the treadmill, ZIP traveled to the end of the belt at 7.2 MPH, and CLUNK fell off the end of the treadmill onto the floor. But it keeps ticking. (Fingers crossed)
As I shift to running outside more for the summer, I need to get one of those sport cases. The belt clip on my iSkin got broken the second time I dropped it.
Seconded. I have a 256 that I got for about $70 from Newegg and I love it to death. No software to install, very light. 256 mb is enough to keep me amused for a one hour run and when that bores me, it has radio built in.
I really like the design of the armband and controls, too. Very easy to use while running.
If you decide to get an MP3 player I will throw the one I use into your list of options to consider. It only weighs 43g with the battery so it certainly won’t hinder your exercises and like I said in my previous post it comes with a clip to attach it to your shorts or whatever. It isn’t as fancy as an iPOD but it is a damn sight cheaper and smaller.
Most people use MP3 players now. I use an Iriver 128MB player. 128MB is about the smallest you can buy nowadays but it is still 34 songs or so. I have no idea which brand is the best, my Iriver is good but there are other brands like rio, Dell, Creative labs or Sony.
you can probably use a CD player with really good anti-skip technology (60 second anti-skip or something like that) if you want. Depends on what you do. It shouldn’t give you problems for running or biking with good anti-skip abilities.
Another vote for the iPod here. That’s the main reason I bought one was for the gym. Where I work out, they play the most atrocious music, I kid you not. Last night, I pulled out my earbuds to talk to a friend and it turns out they were playing the soundtrack to “The Karate Kid”. :eek:
The iPod is a hard drive, complete with that pin thingy that reads it. That means vibrations can do bad things to it. I had one I ran to for about three months everyday, and in the middle of the second month I noticed that it’d started to skip a little, and by the end of the third month entire sections of songs would be skipped over. I’m not entirely sure if it was the running that caused it, but that was pretty much all I used it for. To be fair, no one else I know has had this problem, though it’s something you should consider/research a little to be sure.
CD players I find too bulky to allow any sort of serious work in the gym, but if you have the requisite compatible hardware, an MD player isn’t such a bad idea. As Wesley suggests, these days most people carry an mp3 player, and you might be ridiculed for being not hip enough if you lug a CD player around, as thin as they may be right now.
I do not know much about skipping, but I would assume a flashmedia MP3 player (those with 1GB or less of memory) as opposed to a hard disk MP3 player would not ever skip. Mine has never skipped and I drop mine all the time.