Dumb Question

[NIS]

You guys have been pretty tolerant when I have asked stupid questions before, so....

My wife wants to take a train the next time we go back East to see our son. I will need music to do this and would like to copy a few CDs on something, hopefully not too expensive. What do you suggest? This has probably been covered somewhere on the forum but I know so little about the subject that I don't know what to search for.

I do appreciate your help. Thanks.

[Matthew]

First recourse: Usually, cell phones have MP3 capabilities that don't sound too bad. Does your cell phone have that ability?

[NIS]

First recourse: Usually, cell phones have MP3 capabilities that don't sound too bad. Does your cell phone have that ability?

Thanks for the response, Matthew, but I don't have a cell phone.

[kh1958]

An ipod nano or ipod shuffle would work.

[Quincy]

Relatedly...Unless things have changed be aware that the cross country cars that Amtrak uses have very few electrical outlets to plug things into. If you're traveling coach the small section of seating downstairs has an outlet near the back. This area is typically reserved for people who may have trouble going up & down the stairs but is available to anyone and as there's no thru traffic (only half the car has seating downstairs) it can be easier to sleep down there as well. If you're upstairs in coach there's typically a plug towards the front of the car roughly halfway between the front & the stairs. The time I took the Empire Builder I had the only outlet for a large part of the car, and thus was very popular with people wanting to recharge things. It's possible there are outlets in the observation car and snack area as well.

[NIS]

I never thought about needing a plug-in. Thanks for the responses.

[Chuck Nessa]

Not certain from your first post if you want stuff for an mp3 player or a portable cd player - or are you open to any possibility?

[John L]

The iPod shuffle will hold 20 albums or so, takes up no room, and costs about $45.

[NIS]

Not certain from your first post if you want stuff for an mp3 player or a portable cd player - or are you open to any possibility?

I am open. Just looking for an inexpensive, convenient way to take some music on the road.

I do have an old sony discman (or something like that) but the headphones shot crap.

[Aggie87]

Not certain from your first post if you want stuff for an mp3 player or a portable cd player - or are you open to any possibility?

I am open. Just looking for an inexpensive, convenient way to take some music on the road.

I do have an old sony discman (or something like that) but the headphones shot crap.

If your discman plays CDs still, perhaps all you need to do is purchase some new headphones, which can be had for very cheap at Best Buy or probably Target or somewhere like that.

Might be your cheapest option, if you are willing to carry the CDs you want to listen to with you.

[papsrus]

A dumb question in the dumb question thread, but you don't by chance have a laptop, do you? If so, some headphones and problem solved.

[NIS]

Again, thanks for all comments. This forum is a good group of folks.

No laptop. An inexpensive set of headphones with the disc player I already have is probably the way to go but there is some appeal to not toting CDs around.

[Niko]

with an mp3 player or ipod you don't only get around carrying cds, but the device itself is luch lighter than your discman, too...

[Guest Bill Barton]

My vote would go to a mp3 player too. The cheapie one that I have (think it was around $30 when I bought it) is 1x2" and weighs practically nothing, a SanDisk sansa. Still works fine two+ years later even after a couple of pavement dives.

Edited January 7, 2010 by Bill Barton

[Chuck Nessa]

You can easily burn many classic sessions 2 to a cdr. Lots of Prestige sessions fit this way.

[alocispepraluger102]

you can find an rca pearl mp3(2 gig) player at walmart for about $30. one aaa battery lasts at least 40 hours.

changing the program involves plugging into a usb drive(it is read as another drive) and you can change programs the way you move things in and out of any other drive.

the thing is about the shape and size of a round cigarette lighter and is very durable. i recommend it highly, with your headphones, of course.

i record with a free format called mp3 pro which makes 64k sound every bit as ggood as 128, and effectively doubles the capacity. 2 gigs is a great variety of music.

[Shrdlu]

NIS, you can get an excellent cellphone with music free with an airtime contract. They are not just "ok" for sound, as someone said, they are great. Also, get some over-the-ear headphones, not those bassless, tiny earbud things.

My Sony Ericsson W 810i phone is great, but I recently got a Nokia 5800 (free) and that sounds great too. Both take a 3.5 mm phone jack, so you can use any headphones you like with them. (With Sony Ericcson, the W stands for "Walkman", in case you didn't know.)

There is no need for an expensive Ipod when the phones are so good. And the phone memory card can always be upgraded, if necessary. Mine are 8 GB, which allows for tons of music.

Hope this helps.

I also have a phone jack connection to my car hifi, so I can plug the phone into it and groove at high volume levels, which is great cos I have a very hostile neighbor, who goes to bed at like 9:00 pm.

Oh, also, get a spare phone battery on eBay - at a fraction of the phone shop price.