Headphones

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I'm getting a little spending cash this weekend (comissions finally coming in!) and for that hour and a half (each way!) train ride, I've decided to finally get some headphones.

So, if anyone has some advice on a good product, I'd be very willing to listen.

A few comments;

1) I don't have any MP3's nor the desire to download a bunch of them, so a standard CD-player, AM-FM radio would be best.

2) Do they make them with rechargable batteries like Cell-Phones and Palm Pilots have? Three hours a day will be a big drain on the batteries, and if I could plug it in over night or such, that would be handy.

3) Something basic and light would be ideal. I'll be using it on the train and on my 1 mile walk from the train to work ... plus workouts occasionally.

Thanks in advance!

 

Not very popular, but my favorite: the Minidisc. Portable Minidisc are small, light, and probably the best choice if you do not want an MP3 player. You can buy empty minidiscs and record songs from cds onto it. All you need is a cd player, preferably something in which you can put a glass fibre wire, for the best quality. The glass fibre wire (I hope that is the correct term) is often included with the minidisc player and recording your own minidiscs is as easy as recording a music tape.

Besides being small and light, it never skips, like some CD players do (although they make some very good portable CD players nowadays). No matter how hard you shake it, it never skips.

Minidisc players often use normal alkaline batteries, but some minidisc players can charge the batteries itself, if you plug it into the normal electricity thingie in the wall, which are in every house. If you use it daily for about three hours, you would probably need to reload every two or three days, but this can be done at night.

My advice would be Sony, but that is because I like Sony products. There are also minidisc players from other well known brands, which probably cost about the same price.

 

Thanks Mesmero. Mini-disk is so far the #1 contender. A bit more shopping first though.

 

They are all the same, just get the first one you see that isnt 2 dollars at the junk yard.

 

My first portable cassette player was eight pounds sterling (I can't find the pound symbol on this keyboard). Not a thing wrong with it, until I dropped it. Here endith the first lesson, and my first cassette player.

Don't buy anything you can't afford to drop on its head or get boosted on the first day you get it.

I still use cassettes as no matter what the original music format is, it will still be easily transferred to cassette. If a cassette tape is stolen, no biggie. If one of my CDs is stolen, I will resent it to my dying day (or the thief's dying day if I catch them first).

The headphone speaker quality goes from crap to really bad. It is pointless buy hifi equipment to play through such puny speakers.

Look for Dolby and look for some sort of Bass boost mechanism (XBS) and a few preset channels for the radio. Then turn it up LOUD. NO LOUDER.

I have an old Panasonic cassette/radio that I never have any problems with. The battery life is never as great as reported, as cassette playing takes more energy than listening to the radio and rechargeable batteries always hold less juice than regular ones. The recharger and four batteries (two, and two spare) should cost less than thirty dollars.

Panasonic
The first one has the radio.

If you think that a 250 pound Mp3 player might help you make a more personal style statement , you should try out a few posing pouches first. They are far more effective, not nearly as expensive, and are much harder for thieves to steal when you are wearing them out and about.

Sorry, but 250 pounds for the same sound, and a sign saying steal me is a laughable option in my book.

 

I like the ones that hook around your ears, very comfy...but make sure you get the kind that are adjustable in the back.

 

I have some really nice JVC headphones. They're the HA-G55 model. As for rechargable batteries, any sony CD player will have either a built in one or comes with two rechargable AA cells. Since you don't have MP3, an MP3 CD player seems unneccessary. They don't cost any more than a regular CD player and you can burn about 5 or 6 hours of music on one cd. I had a MiniDisc player, but it was always giving me trouble with the Software, so I would actually warn against a sony MD. The software is horrendous. I can't tell you about TDK or Sharp (they make MD players too) because I've never had one.

You can buy a AM/FM CD player for pretty cheap now. I wouldn't go cheap on the headphones though. They are what determine the sound quality. Also, a C-Train can get pretty noisy, especially during rush hour, so you'll either want noise-cancellers or one's that can go loud. Noise-cancellers are VERY expensive, so it's up to you. Sony's website is a good place to shop.