Basically work has decided to start implementing all sorts of rules recently all at once. My office has officially banned all usage of cell phones while at your desk, and has banned all headphones or wireless headsets while sitting at your desk. Since my job is sitting for long hours typing documents I use to pass the time by listening to podcasts and audiobooks on my phone but now I can’t do that, nor can I use an mp3 player since that would violate the headphones rule. Apparently somebody was using a bluetooth headset to talk on their phone all day and didn’t get any work done which is what caused this sudden series of changes.
The one work-around is they still allow you to use a radio at your desk provided it’s on low volume. So I was wondering if there are any mp3 players with built-in speakers that I can use to listen to my audiobooks. I looked online and there’s a bunch of cheap Chinese made ones but those don’t seem to support Audible at all. I also don’t want to attach separate speakers to an mp3 player as I prefer an all-in-one unit so I don’t have to charge each separately. Also can’t use bluetooth since I can’t use a phone to set it up and want something I can transport in my pockets.
Are tablets allowed? You can get an Amazon Fire HD for pretty cheap. They have speakers, and you can get a sound boost app that will give you all the volume you need without an external speaker.
I think your choices are drastically reduced by the “not plugging into separate speakers” part. You can find cheap mp3 players from someone like SanDisk easily enough, and then plug them into whatever quality speakers you’re looking for. But if you only look at mp3 players that have their own speakers, you’re going to end up with some pretty terrible speakers, I think.
On the flipside, if you want to go old-school, you could get a modern boombox (search Amazon; they’re like $60 - $70) which probably have okay-ish speakers and can play mp3 CDs. Of course, that means your “mp3 player” will be shitty, being a collection of 700mb CDs that you have to manually burn yourself.
The reason why I say no external speakers is because I need to be able to carry it in my pockets as I will have to bring it in and out of work with me as I can’t leave it at work.
I’ll take external speakers if they’re small enough and then I can pair them with a cheap MP3 player.