Could someone help me figure this out?

[septentrion]

Hi! I can help a little with the speaker. I use the X-mini with my MP3 player. It's small and enough for one person to listen to audiobooks. Or so I think.

Link at amazon.com: color red: http://www.amazon.com/X-Mini-XAM4-R-...eywords=x+mini

You can choose between several colours.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

As long as the laptop has a USB port (pretty much all do) you can get an inexpensive wireless mouse (or could use a wired one I suppose) and use that instead of the track pad. That's what I usually do with my laptop.



I believe this is the type of system Tubemonkey was talking about earlier...
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Toshiba-Sa...-Home/46784947

Since most laptops also have bluetooth, you could get a bluetooth mouse such as a Logitech and use that instead of taking up a USB port. I have one for my Surface Pro 2 because it only has one USB port.

[juniemarie]

septentrion Thats a cute little speaker and the price is right. Thanks I think I will get one

AnemicOak Followed your directions and its better now…thanks

This Fire 7 is working pretty good but it stops sometimes and can't find my wi-fi network. That confuses me because I check my iMac and its clearly on the wifi and never cuts out. So is this just because the Fire is not very powerful.
Except for the speaker problem, which may be solved with septentrion's cute little speaker suggestion this is the only other issue Im having.
What tablet would be a step up from the Fire 7 that wouldn't break the bank.
Ive really gotten into the tablet idea which is a surprise for me…at least this one is easy enough for me so maybe one that wouldn't cut out of the wifi would be perfection

[juniemarie]

JSWolf This isn't a laptop its a tablet and I don't know if it has bluetooth. My iMac has bluetooth but wouldn't I have to keep the Mac on all night if I wanted to use bluetooth speakers on this Fire tablet?? I will apologize in advance for my ignorance of all things having to do with computers.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by juniemarie

This Fire 7 is working pretty good but it stops sometimes and can't find my wi-fi network. That confuses me because I check my iMac and its clearly on the wifi and never cuts out. So is this just because the Fire is not very powerful.
Except for the speaker problem, which may be solved with septentrion's cute little speaker suggestion this is the only other issue Im having.
What tablet would be a step up from the Fire 7 that wouldn't break the bank.
Ive really gotten into the tablet idea which is a surprise for me…at least this one is easy enough for me so maybe one that wouldn't cut out of the wifi would be perfection

I don't have a Fire, but can't you just download the book to the tablet and not need to use wifi at all?

If you are not getting a strong wifi signal, the problem may be the placement of your router.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by juniemarie

JSWolf This isn't a laptop its a tablet and I don't know if it has bluetooth. My iMac has bluetooth but wouldn't I have to keep the Mac on all night if I wanted to use bluetooth speakers on this Fire tablet?? I will apologize in advance for my ignorance of all things having to do with computers.

Your Fire has bluetooth.

No, you don't need your Mac at all. Just use the Fire's bluetooth.

Settings --> Wireless --> Bluetooth

[juniemarie]

Catlady I haven't tried downloading them but I expect I can Guess Im just in the pattern of listening in my browser which is what I do on the Mac. I started doing that because if I got part way through the book and didn't like it I could delete it from my bookshelf and not have it sitting there taking up space for several days.
I will try the downloading and see how it goes.
The router placement has not been an issue with the Mac its very strong so I figured it had something to do with the Fire.

Thanks tube monkey for teaching me something new!

[issybird]

juniemarie, the tablet has Bluetooth, so you'll be able to connect Bluetooth speakers to the Fire without involving your Mac.

As for the wonky WiFi, are you downloading your audiobooks to the OverDrive app? If so, then the connectivity at least won't bother you while you're listening, as Catlady said. I don't know a reason why it's flaky, though. Is it flaky even when you're close to your router?

I'm pleased you've been bitten by the tablet bug! They are nice; easy to use, versatile and portable.

ETA: tubemonkey beat me to it!

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by juniemarie

Sound is kind of tinny and not quite loud enough. I put it in a glass bowl which helps a little.
I want to get some really small inexpensive speakers to use with it.
Recommendations for speakers?

I use this bluetooth speaker for my devices. It's small and the sound quality is great. I got this model because it was on sale. There are others that would work just as well. This model is no longer available.

Wireless is great to have because you don't have to worry about wires getting in the way, plus you can take the speaker from room to room to continue listening to your book or music. The downside is short battery life requiring you to charge an additional device.

[juniemarie]

I think I understand the bluetooth thing now but on the Fire when I look at the bluetooth settings it says its turned off. Is that how it should be when Im listening to an audiobook at night in my browser or should it be turned on?

[juniemarie]

issybird I just checked, when Im sitting next to my router I have all 5 wireless bands showing but when I go into the bedroom it starts to get wonky goes down to 3 then 2 then back to 4 then back to 2 Come on this is a 500SF tiny apartment that does not make sense to me. When the Macs in the bedroom the bars remain stable.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by juniemarie

I think I understand the bluetooth thing now but on the Fire when I look at the bluetooth settings it says its turned off. Is that how it should be when Im listening to an audiobook at night in my browser or should it be turned on?

Bluetooth is turned on when you want to listen to sound from a bluetooth speaker. Otherwise, keep it turned off.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by juniemarie

issybird I just checked, when Im sitting next to my router I have all 5 wireless bands showing but when I go into the bedroom it starts to get wonky goes down to 3 then 2 then back to 4 then back to 2 Come on this is a 500SF tiny apartment that does not make sense to me. When the Macs in the bedroom the bars remain stable.

I had that problem in my house, so I moved everything (computer, modem, router) to the bedroom. Strong signal now.

Another option would be a wi-fi extender. I have no experience with those. Maybe someone else could shed some additional light here.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Another option would be a wi-fi extender. I have no experience with those. Maybe someone else could shed some additional light here.

I have a wifi extender because it was easier to get that than to try to relocate my router, which turned out to be in the worst possible place to get a signal in my bedroom.

I have this one from Netgear. You just plug it into an outlet between where your router is and where you want to be able to get a wifi signal on your tablet, enter the password for your network, and that's it. You can try different outlets to see what location works best.

[juniemarie]

Guys thanks again for this helpful info. I may have resolved the problem by moving the wifi. Lets see if it lasts