MP3 player

I am going to get an MP3 player, partially as a voice recorder for Kyoko, so when she sees a doctor or someone, she can record what they are saying in case she needs to remember what they said. Since she only needs to record it for things which are important, that means she would never need to record me with it. Hey, wait a minute! Anyway, therefore, prerequisites for an MP3 player are:

• Voice recorder
• Light-weight
• Stylish

If possible:

• Direct line-in recording
• FM tuner
• Ability to adjust speed of recording during playback

MPIO seems to have some MP3 players which meet these criteria. There is a slight question about their quality, so I will need to confirm that before purchasing. I am interested in their PMP media player, so even though it weighs about 40 g (less than 2 oz), it can also display digital pictures and video. Amazing! However, they have another model which is also worn as a pendant. The pendant only comes in blue, orange, and purple, so I would need to figure out which color would be fit Kyoko.

Anyway, ideally, the MP3 player could also act as a storage device. There was a good article on CNET how you can use a USB flash memory device so that you can take your info from PC to PC. And ideally, this also means your mail when you are not using just a web-based mail system. This would be great if I can take all my work and Lotus Notes data from PC to PC on a USB storage device, but unfortunately, I don't think Lotus Notes would support that the data folder is in two different directories. My archives are too big to carry on a USB flash memory device.

The direct line-in recording would be ideal on my overseas flights to Japan. American Airlines plays Japan pop but they no longer provide a listing of the songs, so I have no idea what the songs are. If I could record them, then it would be a moot point.

Ooops, was this MP3 player/USB flash memory device for me or Kyoko...? Hmmmmm... Sorry Kyoko, I need this for "work". Isn't this like in the movies when a cop commandeers a civilian's car to chase some bad guys...? Yeah, this is similar, I think.

Anyway, the light-weight is necessary so that if I, I mean she, uses this for listening to music for exercising, she would almost not even be able to tell she has it. And it has to be light and small enough so that she can always take it with her.

But by the way, thinking about the number of devices one carries, it would seem to me that a phone should also be able to suffice. That is, there should be phones which play mp3 files. Plus, what would be a better recording device than a phone? And since one is always carrying around one's phone, then she would always have it with her. They should allow files to be stored on the memory card, so can they be used as storage devices? Not the phones we have, but perhaps there is one out there which can. So the phone should also theoretically allow direct line-in recording. So really, the only advantage of a mp3 player is if it is small enough to have during exercising while a phone would be bigger. Of course, having one's phone is not a bad idea either, in case there is an emergency phone call or in my case, if I am jogging around the neighborhood in 100F Dallas temperature and am not able to get back home. It hasn't happened yet, but I could've used it back in my first year of cross-country in high school, and our first day of practice was about 14 miles. There were only two of us who participated in the afternoon practice session, and there was only one of us who made it back... I'll give you a hint, it wasn't me. Fortunately, he came back for me, but I am sure I would have made it back eventually... Maybe the next day after a good night's rest on someone's lawn.

Storage could be another consideration about MP3 players vs phones since there are MP3 players with 20GB and more capacity. However, to meet the light-weight criteria, it would have to be a flash player.

Secondly, couldn't an organizer be used for the large storage MP3 player? Yes, there are only 4GB organizers now, but no reason that cannot be expanded. Anyway, it should be a high-capacity hard drive for all types of multimedia, including video plus organizer, combined with a phone, camera, digital videocamera, too. Of course, the phone should be bluetooth enabled because organizers are too bulky, and small organizers have too small of a screen. This really shouldn't be that far away, so the only thing they would need to do next is to have a nice looking bluetooth headset. The current ones are too geeky looking. Not that there is anything wrong with being geeky-looking, but hey...