If Amazon made an ipod touch sized fire, would you buy it?

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by jj2me

1. Friends and relatives with old de-commissioned phones wasting away, who would be happy to give them to you.
2. Cheap new phones (I bought a new Nokia 520 for $40 and a new ZTE Awe for $28, both with 4.0" screens, micro SD card slots, and removable batteries).
3. Cheap used two-year-old phones on eBay and Craigslist.

I am by no means an expert, but the battery life on old phones is poor. I thought our old LG tracfone (possibly the 306) would work for that, but that phone sucks so bad, and the battery life is just terrible. So, no.

I do have a Nokia 520 and love it as a phone. Maybe something like that would serve as a media player.

But what I require is a clip. No clip, and it's useless to me. That's why we have multiple Sansa clip zips in the house.

[jj2me]

Originally Posted by booklover6

I am by no means an expert, but the battery life on old phones is poor. I thought our old LG tracfone (possibly the 306) would work for that, but that phone sucks so bad, and the battery life is just terrible. So, no.

Right. But phones with removable batteries can work. I have three decommissioned cell phones that have removable batteries. And I plan to attempt to replace the non-user-replaceable battery of my current Moto X when I move to my next cell phone, giving me yet another media player.

Originally Posted by booklover6

I do have a Nokia 520 and love it as a phone. Maybe something like that would serve as a media player.

I do exactly this (I don't have a cell contract for the 520). It's also a good standalone GPS. But as tubemonkey pointed out, such cheap phones as this have their limitations, and the 520 stutters badly on long video podcasts, like the "All About Android" podcast, which is over an hour in length. I have to watch such video on my higher-end cell phone or a decommissioned cell phone.

Originally Posted by booklover6

But what I require is a clip. No clip, and it's useless to me. That's why we have multiple Sansa clip zips in the house.

Agreed. I have Clips and Clip+s. They get used a lot because of their small size and ability to play protected WMA (some OverDrive audiobooks are only available in that format). (I just finished an Agatha Christie audiobook today on a battered old Clip.) But I was responding to the thread's subject, which was about a different type of media (including video) player: "... an iPod Touch sized Fire ... sized so that all the standard apps would work ok". Those types are basically phones without a cellular radio.

My point is why lust for a Fire media player, when you will probably be able to get this first gen Fire phone next year for under $200 outright (it's a big flop as a phone IMO, and prices should drop precipitously)?

If one can replace the battery of your old cell phone, either because it's removable or because you're handy, you'll soon have a spate of usable media players, like I have. What am I missing?

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by jj2me

My point is why lust for a Fire media player, when you will probably be able to get this first gen Fire phone next year for under $200 outright (it's a big flop as a phone IMO, and prices should drop precipitously)?

If Amazon can't move the inventory it's sitting on, they can always drop the price and rebrand it as the Fire Mini. I'd get one.

[Jessica Lares]

Most likely these unsold Fire Phones will get destroyed. If people weren't returning them, it would be another story.

[Glorfindel]

@jj2me: I don't have a smart phone, nor will I likely ever get one, few if any of my relatives do either. So, for me, 'Fire Player' would be perfect. Though I agree, it probably will not happen.

[booklover6]

I would (maybe) get the Fire Phone if it was $99 and I could use it with AT&T GoPhone.

jj2me, I wasn't actually referring to the Sansa clip when I said I needed a clip. I need a media player with a clip, such as the one the Sansa Clip Zip has. Maybe the SGP has a case with a clip on it, no idea. But any device that might replace my Sansa Clip Zip, needs to have a clip, to meet my personal requirements Or a good case with a clip.

By the way, just noticed that Amazon has the Nokia 520 Windows phone for $39.99, which is what I paid for a refurb from the AT&T site. Looks like this is a new one, too!

It's a great phone if you are like me and don't want to pay smart phone charges. (I pay $25 a month for unlimited texting & 250 minutes talk).

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by booklover6

jj2me, I wasn't actually referring to the Sansa clip when I said I needed a clip. I need a media player with a clip, such as the one the Sansa Clip Zip has. Maybe the SGP has a case with a clip on it, no idea. But any device that might replace my Sansa Clip Zip, needs to have a clip, to meet my personal requirements Or a good case with a clip.

Make your own clip



---------- PLUS ----------

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Make your own clip

Too funny! I just ordered a clip case for my 520, which cost me .01. Since I used no rush shipping, I won't get to test it out right away. If the clip works well, I can try out the Windows Music streaming thing this phone has. Maybe I'll even put Overdrive on it and use it for audio books!

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by booklover6

Too funny! I just ordered a clip case for my 520, which cost me .01. Since I used no rush shipping, I won't get to test it out right away. If the clip works well, I can try out the Windows Music streaming thing this phone has. Maybe I'll even put Overdrive on it and use it for audio books!

Does your Windows phone support OverDrive WMA audiobooks like the Clips do?

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Does your Windows phone support OverDrive WMA audiobooks like the Clips do?

I can't tell from the app page. When it downloads the app, I'll test it. I just updated to win 8.1 and it's doing lots of updating or intalling or whatever. So I have to wait.

No, it doesn't.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by booklover6

I can't tell from the app page. When it downloads the app, I'll test it. I just updated to win 8.1 and it's doing lots of updating or intalling or whatever. So I have to wait.

No, it doesn't.

I know you can't do it from the OverDrive app; but can you sideload OverDrive WMA audiobooks? The reason I ask is that WMA is a Windows format and you have a Windows phone.

[booklover6]

I see.....yes it is working. It is on the phone. But I'll be damned if I know how to find it or make it play.

Well maybe it will work for someone more experienced. I finally found it but I got a message about not having rights. Probably because I copied and pasted it.

ETA no. I tried a second WMA book. The overdrive console on my desktop was happy to transfer it. I put it in the default location. I found it on my phone. But again, it won't play. It says it doesn't have the rights. Maybe because the pnone is not connected to the internet?

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by booklover6

I see.....yes it is working. It is on the phone. But I'll be damned if I know how to find it or make it play.

Well maybe it will work for someone more experienced. I finally found it but I got a message about not having rights. Probably because I copied and pasted it.

ETA no. I tried a second WMA book. The overdrive console on my desktop was happy to transfer it. I put it in the default location. I found it on my phone. But again, it won't play. It says it doesn't have the rights. Maybe because the pnone is not connected to the internet?

It's looking like it won't work; drat!

[booklover6]

It's no good. Unless it's my limited windows phone experience. I mainly use it for calls and texting...go figure!

Well back to the topic, no, I guess I wouldn't. Like jj2me says, just get a used android phone and use it instead. For cheap people that's the way to go.

[jj2me]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

If Amazon can't move the inventory it's sitting on, they can always drop the price and rebrand it as the Fire Mini. I'd get one.

Yes, I can see how this might make sense especially for a company like Amazon with their razor-and-blades model for device and content.

After reading the responses on this thread, I think my imagined scenario of scads of cheap decommissioned and worthwhile smartphones might be a little early. In the future when we see old decommisioned smartphones with 2-3 GB of RAM and removable batteries like LG G3s and Samsung Galaxy S4s and S5s and Galaxy Note 3s and 4s, we'll be at a great point for reading (high pixels/inch) and video watching (high RAM) and everything else except perhaps future games, which may need even more RAM and processing power.

If one needs protected WMA decoding, for the present at least (who knows if we'll need it in the future for OverDrive?), after these many years of smartphones and none of them supporting protected WMA (thanks booklover6, for testing it on Windows Phone!), it might be wise to own an MP3 player or two that can play OverDrive WMA audiobooks.