Topic Title

I know almost nothing about mp3 players.
My wife asked for one this Christmas.
Recommendations?

Also, can you copy a cd to your hard drive and convert it to mp3 for the player? I have Windows XP and Nero.

Thanks.

There a few basic types of mp3 players, smaller flash based ones usually sell for less than $100 and will hold 30 or so songs, they are great for joggers, or other exercise activities because they have fewer moving parts. This one has a stopwatch and a fm tuner included http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6855102171

Next are the hard drive based ones, they can hold a *ton* of music, and are consequently usually a little bit larger and heavier. This one is one of my favorites as far as bang for buck http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6855102206
It also has a fm transmitter. This is what the original Apple Ipods were. Most of these are around $200 or less, depending on how large a hard drive you get.

The latest is the large flash based unit like the new Ipod Nano
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6855101432
It is a combination of small size, and larger capacity, various models also include the ability to watch video.

It really depends on how she intends to use it. There are accessories for all of these that allow one to plug them into your car and listen to audio books, etc.

As far getting your music into one, yes, you can "rip" a CD onto the unit, and/or you can subscribe to one of the music services, Itunes, Napster, Yahoo music, etc.

Ok, I am confused here. There is a Rio Forge 512 and a Rio se510 Sport.
Both have 512 mb of storage but the forge holds 16 hours and the se510 only holds 8. Can anybody find the reason.
Below is a link to their website.
The models are on the left.

Thanks.

http://www.digitalnetworksna.com/shop/_templates/item_main_Rio.asp?model=266

Your answer is at the bottom of each page where the ** is explained.
One stores 64kbps wma files and the other stores 128kbps mp3 files.
Also, the Rio Forge has expadable memory.

Hello,

I'll just comment on the bit rates of MP3's: like anything, the more the better! My Scion xA's stereo plays MP3 disks, and I can burn about 70 320bps songs on a 5" (CD-R), and they sound only a bit less good than the CD originals. 256bps is about as low as I can tolerate (given the normal algorythyms they use). 128 is noticeably lower quality, and anything less is pretty "swimmy" and a lot gets masked out and you simply do not hear many of the details.

Don't compromise -- go for the best quality MP3's you can get. Life's too short to mess up your listening experience, just so you can cram more songs on the player...