Listen up! Save bucks on books.
Written: Aug 21 '00 (Updated Aug 21 '00)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Small, lightweight, versatile, simple to use.
Cons: Sound quality could be better.
|
|
|
| cdwilli1's Full Review: Audible Mobile Player |
I now own two Audible players - the first one I bought just as it first came out about 3 years ago, the second I bought when the new memory upgrade version was launched.
The product allows you to listen to recorded voices - I am told music does not work as the rapid change in frequencies does not work with the compression technology that the audible uses (this is not your Fathers MP3). Recorded voices implies the reading of text or similar reporting, and this is the real purpose of the Audible - as such it presents an alternative to listening to "Books on Tape" or talk radio. It is certainly not an alternative to music radio.
The unit has simple controls on the front forward and reverse are the two I use the most; these controls have a very nice feature: the longer you press them the faster the playback progresses. This is not achieved by hearing the actual recording but via a voice which speaks out time sequences: 1 second, 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 30 seconds, etc. a very simple mechanism but quite effective.
The unit can be plugged in to a cassette player with the cassette converter that is supplied with the unit. This is used by plugging the wire from the converter in to the Audible player, putting the cassette in to a cassette deck and pressing play on both the Audible and the cassette deck. I found this to be the only effective method of using this unit besides headphones (which are illegal to wear whilst driving here in California). The alternate method of actually tuning the Audible to the car radio was a complete failure I could never get a sound out the unit via this method. Either way you find useful, it is a common mistake to forget to turn the unit off when leaving the car. The unit does turn itself off after the memory is exhausted and I have found the battery life sufficient to be able to continue to listen to the Audible for another hour or so after this occurs.
The charger base also acts as the connection to the computer the only thing I do not like about this is the need to press the button on the base when initiating an update of the Audible it just makes no sense to me to have to do this as the computer and the Audible are happily talking to each other and having to use the button seems to be a redundant step.
The software interface to the Audible is OK, but I do not find it intuitive; and fortunately it is much better today than it was when the product was introduced.
The price of a typical Book-On-Tape is in the $20-50 region whereas an Audible equivalent sells for $9-14, a major saving. Plus when you leave the tape in the sun it is destroyed, not true of the audible you cannot actually damage or lose any tape with the Audible, as there is none. But lose the file? No problem, just download a new copy. Audible keep track of all your purchases, and so downloading a replacement is free.
The sound does leave something to desire, however. The deeper or higher the voice the less likely the Audible will reproduce it well. I have Audible files of Women narrating novels that are difficult to understand and one recording I have of a Detective novel is narrated by a very deep male voice and it is pretty close to impossible to understand what he is saying.
For many of the recorded books I do own, Audible is superb. It helps turn a dull commute in to one that can educate or entertain and it is so robust in comparison to tape that it is a very worthwhile investment. While the sound quality is not perfect, it is good enough most of the time. For a couple of hundred dollars the unit will pay for itself in money saved from the purchases of recorded books - not too bad at all.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
cdwilli1
|
|
Location: San Diego, California
Reviews written: 55
Trusted by: 26 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.