MP3 Players for audio books - 7 steps behind the horizon

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TOP 10 MP3 PLAYERS FOR AUDIO BOOKS
Creative Zen 2/4/8 GB by Creative We're hard-pressed to find anything not to like about the Creative Zen. Watch video It's a great option for anyone looking for a great-sounding, pocketable MP3 player with an excellent, vide... See specs...
iRiver Clix 2 Gen by iRiver February 2008. Great for audiobooks! The re-designed iRiver... See specs...
Cowon iAudio 7 by Cowon July 2007. The Cowon iAudio 7 is one of the most versatile MP3 players available. It plays music, video, and photos; has unbeatable sound quality; records line-in, voice, and FM; supports OGG and... See specs...
iAudio G3 2 GB MP3 Player w/FM & Voice Recor... by Cowon Cowon has made it again. Another exceptional product by that hidden gem of a company. Fantastic sound quality, excellent battery performance and everything you need for listening to audio books. See specs...
COWON D2 by COWON Take your media everywhere with the versatile Cowon D2 4GB Portable Media Player. Featuring a 2.5-inch LCD touchscreen, wide video and audio file format support, audio recording via internal mic... See specs...
iRiver T10 1 GB MP3 Player by iRiver iRiver T10 MP3 Flash Music Player is no ordinary player. It's a lifestyle. Amazingly small, you'd hardly know it's there but you'll appreciate its features and performance. The ultra-portable T10 from iRiver delivers exceptional sound quality in a unique, sport-ready design. The T10 is PlaysForSure verified to support subscripti... See specs...
SanDisk Sansa M260 4GB MP3 Player by SanDisk The 4 GB Sansa M260 will hold approximately 64 hours of CD-quality MP3 tracks (encoded at 128kps) or 128 hours of WMA tracks (at 64kbps). It's compatible with MP3, WMA, secure WMA, and Audible audio file formats. The digital FM radio allows you to access local radio stations, as well as preset up to 20 of your favorite stations.... See specs...
Creative Zen Micro Photo 8 GB MP3 Player Bla... by Creative The micro-sized, coolly styled Zen Micro Photo digital audio player/photo viewer enables you to watch slide shows of your favorite digital images on its stunning, high-intensity 1.5-inch OLED screen while listening to an MP3 or WMA soundtrack. This 8 GB player in black can hold up to 10,000 JPEG images or 4,000 songs. It's also ... See specs...
Sandisk SDMX4-4096 Sansa e260 4 GB MP3 Playe... by SanDisk Enjoy skipless music playback, photo slideshows, and videos with the sleek, easily-pocketable SanDisk Sansa e260 flash memory digital audio player with 4 GB of storage. It features MP3 and WMA playback and is also compatible with secure PlaysForSure WMA files downloaded from online music stores and subscription services (like MT... See specs...
iAudio X5L 20 GB Multimedia Player by Cowon The iAudio X5L 20 GB Multimedia Player Black combines an MP3 player, video player, FM radio, voice recorder, and digital photo album in one tidy package with a smooth aluminum finish. With its capacity for up to 5,000 songs, 2,000 folders, or 10,000 files, and a lithium-ion battery that provided up to 35 continuous hours of play... See specs...
iRiver H10 20 GB MP3 Player/Recorder by iRiver The iRiver 20 GB model H10 is the perfect portable digital player/recorder for true music and audio enthusiasts. Hardly bigger than a deck of cards, its 1.8-inch hard drive has space for over 5,000 songs (128 kbps MP3, 4 minutes per song) or more than 330 hours of music. Yet the whole player measures just 2.4 x 4 inches (W x H) ... See specs...
COWON A2 by Cowon Why Cowon A2? In addition to a wide range of audio, video, and still image compatibility, Cowon A2 also offers an FM radio, and unique in-line audio and video recording. Well, Archos 604 features in-line video recording too, but it requires an additional expensive docking station. C... See specs...
Samsung YP-K3JQB 2GB Ultra Slim MP3 Player by Samsung The Samsung K3 Slim 2GB MP3 Player lives up to its name. It's the slimmest subscription-enabled MP3 Player on the market. The OLED display has a light emitting touch-pad, for easier control. Samsung's proprietary DNSe (Digital Natural Sound engine) technology lessens distortion at high volume & gives you natural, accurate sound.... See specs...

FIRST, SOME BANALITIES...
MP3 and portable media players gain more and more popularity in the entertainment market. The number of different models grows every day, and you can easily get lost in this variety if you don't have some guidance. Most of the Mp3 players' manufacturers plan their product for the purpose of listening to music. In the past couple of years, however, more and more MP3 players are used for listening to audio books. As you have guessed already, audio books have some very different needs. Therefore, if you are buying a player specifically for audio books, consider seven special requirements listed below before making you final choice. When you've done with the requirements, check out our list of the Top 10 MP3 Players for Audio Books
1. MID-TRACK RESUME
Unlike audio book files, music MP3 tracks are small and are not related to each other in any special way. If you switched the player off, it's not a big deal where the player starts next time you turn it on again. Not for the audio books. Imagine that a book you've downloaded consists of MP3 tracks an hour long each. If you have been listening for half an hour and then switched the player off, would you like to continue from the exact point you left off, or from the beginning of that long file after an interruption?
2. PLAY ORDER
Some players can only play tracks in the order they had been downloaded. If your player doesn't support alphabetical ordering, you will have a scrambled book.
3. BOOKMARKING
You need this functionality if you accidentally hit a wrong button and loose your spot. Even better, if you can bookmark several files simultaneously - great for switching between books and some music.
4. AUDIO FORMATS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS
This is especially important for the listeners planning to use downloadable services such as audible.com, OverDrive or NetLibrary . Before buying an MP3 player, be sure to confirm it's approved by the service you are going to use. The files you download may be WMA-DRM protected. If you are going to listen to protected files, your player must support DRM standard as well. Take a look at our Technical Specifications . You'll see which players support audible and/or DRM formats. Check out OverDrive requirements for DRM protection. In order to help you make the right decision, we have prepared a list of mp3 players that support audio book requirements well. Read reviews and customer opinions and make the right choice for yourself.
5. VOLUME
This may be a problem. Some MP3 players have limitation of the high volume, which may make it impossible to listen to the book in some noisy places such as the subway or airplane.
6. SUFFICIENT AMOUNT OF MEMORY.
If you don't have enough memory, you'll need to load and delete files several times while listening to one book. An average mp3 audio book, recorded with high quality, takes more than 1Gb of memory when downloaded to a player. We recommend that you buy a player with at least 2Gb of memory or with as much as you can afford. Remember, however, that players with micro hard drives, though with ten times as much memory, are much less reliable than the ones on flash cards. They consume more battery power too.
7. PLAY MODES
The player should support REWIND/FF modes in case you missed something and need to listen to it again
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