# MP3 Player for Audio Books **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 30, 2014, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-player-for-audio-books/687326 "2014-04-30T01:12:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-player-for-audio-books/687326/1 "2014-04-30T01:12:50Z")
I like audio books. A lot. I have a long drive time and they are far better than the yammering of the radio or the repetition of CDs. Also, they have opened me up to a lot of fine literature that I never really paid attention to. This thread is not about whether audio books are a valid form of reading. I have an iPod Nano (5th Gen). iPod !!!SUCKS!!! as an audio book player. Sure they can play them and automatically separates them into the book folder. That’s it. And it will always go back to the place you stopped listening before as long as you don’t lose your place because there is no way to visually see where you are in the book. But that’s not my problem. My problem is: When I’m driving down the road enjoying whatever story I’m into, I _MAY_ get distracted at points. At which I say, Wait, what did he just say??? There is NO WAY to casually rewind the damn thing just a few minutes or seconds like you can with music recordings. You have to go all the way back to the beginning of whatever “Chapter” your in to which COULD be only a few minutes, but is more likely to be 15 or 20 minutes - even 30 or 40 depending on how the book is formatted. Where, oh where can I find a player that will let me rewind, just a little like that, and for good measure show me exactly where I am in the book??? The reviews I’ve seen, as well as the spec sheets on models I’ve researched are inconclusive. Please help. ---
**Author:** ![Julius\_Henry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8797f3/32.png) [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-player-for-audio-books/687326/2 "2014-04-30T01:58:13Z")
Some of the higher priced iPods do just what you want, showing you where you are in the book by time (not by chapter, unfortunately) and with a 15 second rewind button I find useful for exactly the same reasons you do. What it doesn’t do is let you know how much time is left in a chapter. I find it annoying when I stop at what seems like a good place, only to start it up later, hear two or three sentences, and find out it’s the end of the chapter. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-player-for-audio-books/687326/3 "2014-04-30T02:03:49Z")
There are also some iphone/android phone apps for audiobooks which will do the same. I use _Smart Audiobook Player_ on 'droid. ---
**Author:** ![zombywoof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/9e8a1a/32.png) [@zombywoof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombywoof)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-player-for-audio-books/687326/4 "2014-04-30T02:14:02Z")
I’ve listened to literally thousands of hours of audiobooks and podcasts on iPod Shuffles (often in the car, where a simpler interface is appreciated) - to rewind a few seconds/minutes I just hold down the rewind button. ---
**Author:** ![Barking\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Barking\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barking_Dog)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-player-for-audio-books/687326/5 "2014-04-30T02:18:07Z")
I’ve had two ipod touches, a 2nd gen. and a 5th gen. and I’ve been quite happy with their funtionality with audiobooks. I also had a sony walkman mp3 player some years ago that I was very happy with as well. The only problem I ever had was sometimes I couldn’t get the tracks to load onto the player in the right order. But that’s more a problem with the Windows software than the player itself. Like I said I haven’t owned one in years so I don’t know if the quality is the same with the new models or what, so caveat emptor and all that. I do know, however, that they are considerably cheaper than a brand new itouch, so there’s that. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-player-for-audio-books/687326/6 "2014-04-30T02:56:44Z")
SanDisk players work well with audio books. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-player-for-audio-books/687326/7 "2014-04-30T07:43:30Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > SanDisk players work well with audio books. I use a Sansa Clip for audiobooks, podcasts, and music. It’s tiny, which I like, and lets you rewind or fastforward by holding the button down. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-player-for-audio-books/687326/8 "2014-04-30T08:31:16Z")
[Rockbox](http://www.rockbox.org/), free replacement firmware for many MP3 players. I use it on a Sansa Clip for exactly the reasons the OP mentions. It’s very configurable, and I have set it up so that a single click of a cursor button jumps back ten seconds, for the “woah, I missed that bit” moments. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-player-for-audio-books/687326/9 "2014-04-30T12:10:12Z")
I use the free version of [audiobookcutter](http://www.audiobookcutter.com/) to simply slice my MP3s into 10 minute chunks. I convert my Audible books to one giant MP3 first. The cutter simply numbers the tracks. I then burn them to both CDs for in the car or one of my MP3 players for other purposes. It makes life easier if, like me, you jump around between books. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-player-for-audio-books/687326/10 "2014-04-30T15:41:22Z")
Since this is a hardware question, moved to IMHO (from Cafe Society). ---
**Author:** ![Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-player-for-audio-books/687326/11 "2014-04-30T17:59:09Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > I then burn them to both CDs for in the car or one of my MP3 players for other purposes. It makes life easier if, like me, you jump around between books. That’s what I’ve been doing a lot. It’s a good method, but a lot of work. Also, if I burn on my older Macbook Pro CD burner, it will occasionally garble out towards the end of the disk. If I use the better equipment I have at work, I have better luck. The real problem with this method is the landfill issue. Sure they’re cheap, but you burn them, listen to them once and trash them. I’m not saving physical copies when I have them archived on hard disk. I have read about the Sansa Clip, so I guess I’ll try and check them out. I’m not spending any more money on an overpriced Apple product. I love my Macs, but jeeze, do I hate Apple. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-player-for-audio-books/687326/12 "2014-04-30T20:41:28Z")
I use my iphone