# Reccomend a phone/MP3-Player **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 20, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reccomend-a-phone-mp3-player/503668 "2009-07-20T20:17:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Septima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Septima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Septima)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reccomend-a-phone-mp3-player/503668/1 "2009-07-20T20:17:36Z")
Not sure of the forum, but since it deals with entertainment… I will be doing a lot of travelling by train in the coming two years, and since I can’t read on trains due to transport sickness, I want to be able to listen to audiobooks and other media. My current MP3-player is a 1GB music-only USB-stick. It still does what I want it to do (live in in the pocket of my work clothes without being in the way), but I guess I’ll be needing a larger sibling for it, seeing as I don’t want to drag a cd-player and a bunch of CD-cases around. My phone is also getting on in years. It can probably last another year or two (or more - it’s a resilient little thing). It also does what I want as far as phones go, and it has few nifty features I’ll be sorry to see go. Should I just break out the cash and buy an IPhone? Is there another phone that combines phone/media just as well or better (spesifically, one that has that audiobook-library thing, and keeps track of where you’d got to etc.)? Or should I skip the phone altogether, and just get an MP3-player? In which case, should I pick up an IPod, or something else? ---
**Author:** ![Made\_in\_Macau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@Made\_in\_Macau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Made_in_Macau)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reccomend-a-phone-mp3-player/503668/2 "2009-07-21T00:06:15Z")
I had this dilemma - got a Nokia 5800 -sorted! Really good unit for music and sexy touch screen. MiM ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reccomend-a-phone-mp3-player/503668/3 "2009-07-21T01:43:54Z")
I don’t like merging my phone and mp3 player, because I don’t want to kill the battery of my phone when I’m playing my music. I can get a nice eight gig Sansa for $50, after all. Plus, there are times I want music and no phone at all. Actually, most of the time I want music, I want no phone at all. (I live in a concrete house. I do _not_ get a signal at home, which means the phone drains at night unless I plug it in.) ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reccomend-a-phone-mp3-player/503668/4 "2009-07-21T01:53:32Z")
I refuse to carry more than one device. I just got an iPhone a couple weeks ago, it’s okay, it certainly does the web better than my old BlackJack. I think ATT really didn’t give much choice in the pricepoint, probably thanks to Apple’s stranglehold. It would have been nice to have more choices. I originally wanted to get the new Jack as a simple upgrade from my old one, but for the extra $100, I decided the enhanced web experience was worth it, since I’d end up putting a different browser on the Jack, and spending more money on an external SDHC card, too. So, my opinion is not necessarily to get an iPhone, I think iTunes is ridiculous and have already found a way to circumvent it, but IMHO, a single device is the way to go!