A reader, Diane, asked me about mp3's with bookmarking and what mp3 player I use. Here is my response...
Latest Response:
Hi, again!
OK, here's what I'd suggest to make it hopefully as simple as possible (I'm assuming you use Windows not Mac):
1. Get the Creative Zen
2. Plug it into your computer and it will show up as another hard drive. Like maybe an e: drive.
3. Put your Audio Book CD in your computer's CD player.
4. Open Windows Media Player
*5. Go to Tools -> Options. Click on the "Copy Music" tab.
*6. Click the "Change..." button and locate your Creative Zen player, like I said it might be your e: drive or something like that. If there are already folders on your Creative Zen like "Audio Books" or "Music" or some like that, click on that (you could probably create your own folder too). Click 'OK'.
*7. Make sure "Copy Proctect Music" is NOT checked. (see my explanation below)
*8. On the "Audio Quality" slider, slide it down to about 64 Kbps**.
*9. click OK.
10. Click "Copy from CD" on the left hand side. The tracks for you Audio Book CD should appear in the main window.
11. Click "Copy Music".
12. When it's done with that CD, eject it and put in the next and repeat from step 11 until you've copied all your CD's.
The Creative Zen player might even come with its own CD ripping software. So you can use that and follow their instructions if you like.
Regarding, copy protected WMA's. If your player plays protected WMA's then yes it will also play unprotected WMA's (at least, I've never heard of a device ONLY playing protected WMA's). I prefer unprotected because that way I can transfer them to another mp3 player (like my wife's) and listen to them on her player. If I rip an CD as a copy-protected WMA, generally speaking, I can only play it on the device I ripped it too.
Let me know how it goes!
*These steps you'll probably only have to do the first time.
** 64 Kbps is pretty low quality for music, but it's fine for spoke word and it saves you A LOT of space on your MP3 player.
Initial Response:
Hi, Diane.
First of all, you have to admit audiotogo is even better now that they've gone to 1st class shipping. I get my CD's sooooo fast now!
OK, as far as what mp3 player I use...I'm might be a little too geek. I have an old iRiver H340 (link) and I'm running the Open Source Operating System called RockBox (link) instead of the firmware that comes with the iRiver. RockBox supports bookmarks (the original iRiver does not). The only thing is, it takes a little work to get the RockBox operating system running, and oh, it voids your warranty ;) But the instructions on the RockBox website are really good at stepping you through it.
As far as ripping your CD's to mp3's, it's not really your mp3 player that does the work, but the "Jukebox" software on your computer like iTunes or Windows Media Player. As you probably know, there are a lot of music formats: AAC, MP3, WMA, WAV. AAC's only play on Apple. WMA is Window's preferred format (but a lot of mp3 players can play them). WAV's are universal but are 10 times bigger than the rest. That leaves MP3 as the lingua franca of portable audio. iTunes CAN convert to mp3, but you specifically have to tell it to in the options. Windows Media Player used to be able to, but now you have to download what's called a codex. I actually use Napster's Jukebox to rip my MP3's, but you'd have to download that, install it and then download the mp3 codex.
You might have already seen this, but I found a couple sites that list mp3 players with bookmarking:
cnet
andrewdavidson.com
So I guess in the end, unless you want to look for an iRiver H340 on ebay and flash the firmware like I did, I'd suggest buying an mp3 player that supports bookmarking and then if your mp3, player doesn't come with its own CD ripping software, using iTunes/Windows Media Player/Napster to rip your CD's to MP3.
Your steps to listening to you audio books on your mp3 player might be:
1. Insert the CD's into your computer and rip them to mp3.
2. Plug your mp3 player into your computer.
3. Copy the mp3's onto your player.
4. Remove player and enjoy.
I hope that helps. Feel free to ask me to clarify anything.