Tablets, eReaders, Media Players

[Tarana]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

I've never had anything like an iPod. Is there a good reason to consider the Clip Jam instead of using a phone?

I use nanos. The advantage of the small portable players is that they don't use as much power, so play much, much longer than your phone does. Plus, if it drops to the concrete, replacement is less costly. Most people I know who use the small portable players are using them at home - they use their phone away from home OR they don't have a smart phone.

[jmontano]

Originally Posted by Tarana

I use nanos. The advantage of the small portable players is that they don't use as much power, so play much, much longer than your phone does. Plus, if it drops to the concrete, replacement is less costly. Most people I know who use the small portable players are using them at home - they use their phone away from home OR they don't have a smart phone.

Interesting. Do you know of any cheap and good portable player that supports bluetooth headsets?

[sufue]

The 16 GB SanDisk Clip Sport Plus has bluetooth, the 4 and 8 GB Clip Sports do not.

There are also a number of off-brand players that look remarkably similar to the Clip Sport for sale on Amazon. Search on something like "mp3 clip player bluetooth" and they pop right up.

Most, including the 16 GB Clip Sport Plus, have about 3.5 to 4 stars, not great, not bad. Prices seem to be clustered around about $30, with the Clip Sport Plus at more like $60.

I myself haven't used anything this small with bluetooth, and I'd wonder a bit about battery life with the bluetooth radio on. Maybe someone else has actual experience?

I keep thinking about giving one of the off-brand ones a try, but I'm still working though several original Clip and Clip Plus players that I bought off Woot back when Woot was the site of choice for SanDisk/Sansa to unload their extra inventory. Amazingly, out of 7 or 8 units I bought, only two have died over many years - both finally gave up the ghost due to too much sweat at the gym .

Originally Posted by jmontano

Interesting. Do you know of any cheap and good portable player that supports bluetooth headsets?

[jmontano]

Thanks!

[Alohamora]

Originally Posted by sufue

I keep thinking about giving one of the off-brand ones a try, but I'm still working though several original Clip and Clip Plus players that I bought off Woot back when Woot was the site of choice for SanDisk/Sansa to unload their extra inventory. Amazingly, out of 7 or 8 units I bought, only two have died over many years - both finally gave up the ghost due to too much sweat at the gym .

Woot! I had a bunch of those Clips as well, I'm not sure if they still hold a charge. I switched to using phones instead, navigating through the phone screen to pick music is so much easier. Not to mention being able to connect to WiFi and download from Audible or Overdrive directly to the phone.

[cfrizz]

I also switched to two Samsung phones to operate as my mp3 players. But it's also great to be able to put my books on them and also have two choices of back up phones if something happens to my Note 2.

[tubemonkey]

The Black Friday thread has been unstickied. Please resume posting all hardware deals in this thread.

tm

[cc_in_oh]

Best Buy today has a WD 8TB USB drive for $130. That's the lowest per-TB price I've seen, less than $17 - it will be interesting to see how low they can go in 2019.It may be time to start thinking about backing up some of my video content...

[GtrsRGr8]

I don't know if the price comparison site Nextag did price comparisons on ebooks (I rather think not), but I'm sure that many of us, in addition to myself, have used it, Google Shopping, et al. to help us find the best buys on tablets, eReaders, media players, and other gizmos that we love to use to read, and otherwise get the most out of, ebooks.

Nextag, however, very well may be the most recent of websites, that we have come to know and love (for this MobileReader, the relationship has to have started very shortly after Nextag was started, way back in 1999), that has "bit the dust." If this is, indeed, the case, the demise of our friend has come in the last three or four days or so.

I went to Nextag's website just a little while ago, looking for a good deal on a particular laser printer that I've had my eye on for some time. No Nextag. Just the dirge that we so often have seen for our cyber loved ones who have departed:

This site can’t be reached nextag.com’s server IP address could not be found.
Try running Windows Network Diagnostics.
DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN

Hard news about what has happened is difficult to come by. Check that--news of any kind about the fate of Nextag is hard to come by. Somehow, I ended up at this website which keeps tabs on just such news; ominously, it had precious little information that it had been able to gather; everything apparently is hush-hush for now.

We will get through this together. Keep a stiff upper lip.

[Ricky D'Angelo]

Best Buy currently has Altec Lansing - Baby Boom Portable Bluetooth Speakers for $9.99.

[Tarana]

Woot.com has brand new kindle Voyage for $129. Includes Amazon 1 year warranty.

[GtrsRGr8]

Disclaimer: Apple products are not my forte.

Target currently has an Apple Sale going on. My local ad shows four products in the sale.

Let me mention just one. It's the Apple iPad 9.7" Wi-Fi Only (2018 Model, 6th Generation). I don't know if this is a good deal or not (refer to paragraph #1--I'm just trying to be helpful, okay?)--they (Target) don't discount as heavily as, say, Walmart, to begin with (but ask yourself: do I really want to buy anything from Walmart?).

Three colors are available. Sadly, none of them are Gators (University of Florida) Green, Orange, or Blue.

Here, once again, is the link for the Target webpage that comes up for me, in my local area. YMMV. Here is the generic link for Target.

[cc_in_oh]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Disclaimer: Apple products are not my forte.

Target currently has an Apple Sale going on. My local ad shows four products in the sale.

Let me mention just one. It's the Apple iPad 9.7" Wi-Fi Only (2018 Model, 6th Generation). I don't know if this is a good deal or not (refer to paragraph #1--I'm just trying to be helpful, okay?)--they (Target) don't discount as heavily as, say, Walmart, to begin with (but ask yourself: do I really want to buy anything from Walmart?)....

I must be missing something - why wouldn't I want to buy the same product at a lower price at Walmart?

[Deskisamess]

Apple controls their prices, regardless of retailer. Any sales or price reductions are controlled by Apple. The 32gb basic iPad is on sale at Target & Best But for $249. Walmart actually shows it $329, which is the regular price.

In many cases, (not for Apple devices) Walmart items may not be the exact same as the same item sold at other retailers. Sweepers are one example...Walmart price may be lower, but the item itself won't be the same as the same one sold at Target. Manufacturers make cheaper models for Walmart, that may be made with cheaper components, some options may be missing, etc.

It's been a couple of years since I did any research on this topic. We generally avoid Walmart unless we can't find something anywhere else.

It's not unusual for a brand to control prices this way, Jockey and Levi's do the same thing.

[ottdmk]

The Kobo Aura H2O Edition 2 is on sale for $20 off this week at Kobo Canada, BestBuy Canada & Chapters-Indigo.