CD - MP3 - WMA Players

w hole

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Hello All

I am about to lash out for one of these toys, and wonder if anyone has any advice to offer regarding Manufacturers/Models/Suppliers.

I want to have the WMA format because I have a lot of files which arrived that way, and I don't realy want to loose quality and time converting them all.

It will be used mainly whilst walking the dogs, driving the car, via one of these cassette converters, and in hotel rooms on business trips.

I don't want to spend a fortune on it, but don't want anything too crapy either.

Any thoughts.?

Regards

W. Hole
 

PoloMint

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Do you mean one that plays MP3s and WMAs from a CD? Or one of the small solid state mp3 (and other format) players?

If it is the little solid state players then the iRiver 500 has an excellent reputation http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000UJFDS/ref=br_lf_ce_0/026-0815244-4383640 but at £155 is at the higher end of the price range.

This one is more reasonably priced http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=58827 and doesn’t lack all that many of the features of the 500

This 128MB model at £77 also has a good reputation. http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=61991 there is a 256MB version also, but I am not sure of the price (but it is probably cheaper than the one above)

I don’t know that much about the portable CD players that play mp3/wma this one http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005TZJ4/ref=br_lf_ce_10/026-0815244-4383640 is popular but has a reputation for being very flimsy and falling to bits, so probably not a good buy.

The Sony ones have a good reputation, however they don’t play wma (perhaps some do now, but I have never seen one that does) so are not what you want.

Something like this iRiver one http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000UJFCY/ref=br_lf_ce_9/026-0815244-4383640 might be just right for you, but at £75 it’s not the cheapest and nearing the price of the little players. However you would fit a lot more tracks onto one CD than 128MB, if size is not an issue.
 

w hole

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Hello PM

Thanks for the input.

Its the CD Player type that I want, and I will look at the links you have shown.

If anyone has had any experience with these machines or knows of any value sources please let me know.

Regards

W. H.
 

PaulR

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Lidl and/or Aldi occasionally have the CD payers that understand MP3 format CDs for around £45. Not too sure if they understand other formats though.

BTW, is there a program available that willconvert WMAs into MP3s? I know it's supposed to be a secure format but?...

PaulR
 

PoloMint

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WMAs are only secure or copy protected if they have been encoded that way.

In windows media player this option is under tools > options > copy music > tick box for copy protect music.

If that is not ticked then the music will play on any wma player anywhere, if it is ticked it will only play on your machine unless you migrate the licence.

As far as I know its only Windows Media Player that copy protects wmas, well none of the other rippers I have seen have got the option to.

Easy CD-DA extractor has a converter that does WMA to MP3, as long as the WMA is not protected.
 
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