Replacing Failing Equipment

My MP3 player started going out on me the other night, not on dates, it was about to fail... I seem to go through one about every 1.5 to 2 years. I can hear at least one person groaning about me living off grid with all these gadgets... yup I do live off grid and yup, I do like my gadgets. I have given up quite a lot of modern conveniences, such as TV, landline phones, cell phones, smart phones, full size desktop computer, most appliances that people can't seem to live without like a flush toilet, OK a toilet isn't considered an appliance, but you get the idea... I fell in love with the fact that I could listen to podcasts and audiobooks while doing other things, like working (on the job as well as doing chores)... so groan if you must, but please do it quietly. :)

The part that seems to fail on me is where the earbuds plug into the unit, it seems to develop a short, it will at first seem like the earbuds are not working anymore, if I move the earbud wire the sound will get better and worse. When I get out another earbud that I know works and it still does the same thing, that's when I know it's the player with the problem. I would normally take something like this apart to see if I can fix it, but this particular player doesn't have screws or any obvious way to disassemble it, it's not meant to be fixed.

They don't make the one I really like anymore, it was made by Coby, was fairly inexpensive and did everything I needed it to do, including having 16 GB of space, more than enough for the little bit of music I play, but more importantly, the audiobooks and podcasts I enjoy. I can listen while doing other things, I don't really have time to dedicate to reading anymore, with the audiobooks and podcasts, I get my books, interviews and such and can still do the things I need to do.

So since I can't get my old standby anymore, I went with Sony this time, it apparently has all the features my Coby had, but it has a ton more battery time, my Coby had 8 hours playing time, of course that goes down with time, I probably had to recharge it every couple of days with moderate use, with heavy use, nearly every day, yes I listen to it that much :)

I want to thank those of you who make your Amazon purchases through my blog, your support helped me to pay for this replacement MP3 player.

Here is the one I purchased

Product Features

• Digital music, video & photo player with FM radio
• It has 2-Inch QVGA (320x240) highbrightness, color LCD
• Rechargeable battery with up to 50 hours audio playback
• Formats Supported Audio: MP3 / WMA / AAC-LC / L-PCM, Video: MP4 / WMV, Photo: JPEG, Text: Lyric (.lrc)

Technical Details

• Brand Name: Sony
• Model: NWZE465BLK
• Digital Storage Capacity: 16 GB
• Color Name: Black
• Battery Average Life: 50 Hours
• Display: LCD
• Display Size: 2 inches
• Weight: 0.20 pounds

The 50 hours of audio playback was what really sold me, that and the 16GB size, that might not seem like much to you tablet and smart phone users out there, but I didn't want or need all the bells and whistles, I just needed something that would play music, audiobooks and podcasts.

Another thing that was important to me is the ability to create folders, I put different music and whole albums in different folders, each audiobook get it's own folder since there are usually multiple files for one audiobook, I don't want those files getting mixed up with the music or other audio files. Bookmarking is also important, if I'm listening to a song, it doesn't matter where it picks up again, but if I'm listening to an audiobook or podcast, if I stop the player, I need it to pick up right where I stopped, I believe most players will do that now. I still have a working MP3 player that wouldn't do folders or bookmarking, it worked for me but the limitations were really hard, I had to rename each and every file with a number in the beginning of the file name to put them in numerical order so they would play in the order I needed, again with music it didn't matter, but for audiobooks and podcasts, it made a huge difference. That old player still works but the battery is low, it doesn't last more than an hour. When I first got it though, it was the bees knees. :)

So I'm sitting here now, charging up this player, I have high hopes for it, I've read really good reviews, it charges fully at about 3 hours, I'll let it fully charge up, copy some Coast to Coast and some Chuck Missler to it and give it a run for its money. I'll probably put some music on it too, after all that's what it was made for.

I'll post an update in a few days and let everyone know how well it works.





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Wretha,

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