I have been thinking of getting a MP3 player to take along some music and talking books for when the radio signal isn't good at camp or when riding a rail trail.
What little I have been told is that IPODs have hard drives that supposedly don't like being rattled around on a bike, while a flash player doesn't care how much it gets rattled around. Your opinions and suggestions would be appreciated

I recommend a portable CD player powered by AA rechargeables that can also play mp3 format. Will play audio books or music that come in CD format for free from the library as well as any mp3 or CD music you might have obtained from wherever. Cost $30 or $40. Carry it in a $2 fanny pack or small over the shoulder bag; will never skip from rattles and work through rainstorms as well.

First stupid question(s) if it plays CD/mp3 , how much MP3 playtime can be burned onto a CD? is it the same amount of audio time as a regular CD?

MP3's are about a meg per min so if you had an mp3 player that played mp3's that would be roughly 700 min of music. So 11 hours? Roughly.....

The issue is for a CD/MP3 player to play MP3's it has to load the directory structure of the MP3's, some times it can take up to 2 min to start playing a MP3/CD....newer players might be better or if you don't fill it up with mp3's that would help too....ok ok probably to much info....

Ipod....the New Nano is flash based. No moving parts...I use mine biking and running...works fine no issues...I like it and is pretty easy to use.....

I have the small model 2 gig...right now it is full...it has 303 songs on it.....22 hours of music...I use it to listen to the Fredcast as well as the Spokesman podcast both very good cycling podcast in my opinion....

i dont see why you would want to go with a cd player that plays mp3s unless you are really worried about losing something vaulable or hurting an expensive player on the trail..

There are tons of very very cheap mp3 players that will let you do what you want. Get a flash one becuase yes you are not suppose to run with the hard drive ones...even tho a lot of people do. I would look for a flash one that lets you use memory sticks like SD or something...those are real nice cause they are easy to use, dont really have any closed media format and let you upgrade/downgrade your size if u dont like what u have.

You can get some for real cheap.

A CD player? Is that a joke? They're heavy, prone to skipping, and they're heavy.

As for the original iPod question, therer are some peopel who say that the hard disks skip in the original models. I've personally never had a problem (even we running), but if you're worried about it pick up an iPod Nano or the new Shuffle -- both have flash-based memory.

I've been using a hard drive player (Rio Carbon) while I ride for two years. I have a "belt clip" and clip it to the waist of my shorts or tights. No problems. However, I wouldn't attach it directly to my bike.

That said, I'm thinking about replacing it with an 8GB iPod Nano (flash) player.

I have a creative labs flash player (zen nano) $50 for 512mb at newegg.com a few months ago. My wife has a different type that she bought at best buy for $50 and holds 1 gb. Cheap and no skipping. I tend to destroy everything when cycling. At least this way the item destroyed will only cost $50.
Head to best buy, circuit city, or newegg.com

new i pod shuffle, 77 bucks. also, I think the IPod Nanos are flash memory ; you can get up to 8 GB ones i believe.

Yup, Nano's and Shuffles are flash, only the Video iPods are HD based.

Any small, flash-based MP3 player should be okay for you.

I will recommend either a Creative or SanDisk, especially since I hate Apple's iTunes.

I despise apple because you have to put up with all their proprietary BS and you pay too much for the brand

cd player really is a poor investment all things considered

i've killed the hard drive on a juke box before, it's not difficult to do so steer clear of those

go with a flash based mp3 player (1-4 gb) -- there are a number of nice models to choose from, many under $100

flash based players are best for exercise activities as they have no moving parts. the new ipod shuffle can be thrown against a wall (I did) and you just pick it up off the floor and it works like new.

smallest and most mem you can get. The new IPOD shuffles are nice and small, but I picked up a Samsung 1gb last xmas and wear it on a lanyard around my neck.

CD players are a joke........

Also you can compress the songs, to fit 3-4 times more songs on 1GB then advertised. You loss a bit of sound quality and bass but nothing to complain about. I'd rather have 400 song on my 1gb then 130 songs. It makes a differance when you're on a all day ride.

How many audio books have you seen lately in MP3 format at the library? Audio books is what the OP wanted to listen to. Heavy? Are you cycling in the TDF? Talk about telling jokes! Skipping? Whatchu talkin' How dang rough is your ride?

iPod Shuffle. Through rain and wind and sleet and snow, mine has ****in rocked through them all.

And I'm not exactly a gentle person with my belongings, either.

640 or 700 MB. 10 or 11 hours of music at 128 kbs (CD quality. Old Time Radio programs are usually at 32 kbs so 40 hours of old radio shows can be burned on to a disc. Rerecordable discs work fine but Non rewrite disks are so cheap (about 1 or 2 cents per disc on sale) it is hardly worth burning at the slower speed of rewritable disks.

My Phillips CD player starts playing within seconds. No matter how many folders I burn on to the disk. And I can play in order, in a specific folder or shuffle as I wish. No sense programming any specific sequence. I can burn a another CD with different tunes in any order I want whenever. I suppose if I was cycling on the road for weeks at a time with no access to my computer, carrying a giant music library at all times would be an advantage. But I don't feel the need to carry with me at all times my 200+ GB mp3 music/OTR collection. Plus lately I have really enjoyed listening to recorded books from the library. Even on cassette tapes on (shudder) old low tech Walkmans when that is the only format available.

Most if not all hard disk based players employ the practice of spinning up the drive, reading the data to memory and spinning back down. They do this primarily for power consumption but obviously it also serves to lessen the risk to the drive.

I've been bashing and banging around mp3 players since the Rio300. For cycling, really for any sport activity, you want to go with a flash based player. The smaller, the better. The iPod shuffle is a great example, there are plenty of other alternatives. You don't need a display, you don't need a ton of memory.

For cycling (commuting, long rides), I use a shuffle (the older stick of gum sized one). 512 mb, plenty of tunes for a 6-8 hr ride. I have it velcro'd to the side of my helmet, easy, convenient and out of the way.

I too have drop my ipod while riding and it still worked fine. Great thing is I have over 400 songs on it and still have room for more.

My library has the most horrid collection of books on cd. My plan was to borrow it, rip it, and encode it.
Yes, I know copyright infringement. You can always pay and download them in mp3 format at a legal online site that I forgot the name of.

The second generation iPods are flash drives. The older ones are hard drives. Just get the kind with flash and you will be all set.

i have both types of mp3 players: HD and flash.
for bike rides, i just take the flash as it is lighter and smaller.
I have the iRiver u10 which is 1gb in size with a color screen and capable of photos/videos/FM radio/audio recorder... not that you'll need all of those things for exercising.
I think iRiver also has a 512kb version as well as the new 2gb version.

it can be had relatavely cheaply at eBay

Audible.com, had a subscription with them for years, $10/month for two books.

Once I got high-speed interweb, I got tons of books off the alt.binaries newsgroups.

Doesn't your library participate in an inter library loan program? If not, too bad. Mine gets me all kinds of CDs and hardbacks. Plan to read L.A. Noir by James Ellroy and Cat Chasers by Elmore Leonard this weekend, both obtained through InterLibrary loan. And return to listening to some Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich when I bike commute again on Monday.

And yes I rip all the CD audio books into mp3 format just in case I don't finish before the due date; but that hasn't happened yet. I'm ripping The Green Mile by Stephen King as I'm reading BF right now.