Does anyone know of a cheap(sub $50) MP3 player that has a wall charger.

October 20, 2009 10:16 AM

I need to setup an mp3 player for our phone system to play recordings on hold, but i need it to have a wall charger since it will be on all the time, and there is no USB connection nearby. Does anyone know of a cheap(sub $50) player that has that functionality. It would be really nice if it had a screen and not like an ipod shuffle.
posted by Mesach to technology (7 comments total)

There exist wall chargers with a USB port just to supply power to devices. Like these.

As far as baby players, the Sansa Clip series is pretty solid, and has a screen (if you hunt around, I'm pretty sure you can beat the Amazon price.) I'm at work now so can't verify that it will play while charging - be sure to check that before getting a player.
posted by Wulfhere at 10:27 AM on October 20

I didn't think about it not playing while its charging.

I was looking at the clip and it looks like a good solution, but i was concerned about charging it... now i have to wonder if it plays while it charges too. I know players like the shuffle, will not play while charging as they use the same socket, but the clip has a charger accessory that can be bought seperately

Anyone know if it plays while it charges??
posted by Mesach at 10:33 AM on October 20

You can't listen to a Clip while charging from a PC, but you can listen to it while charging from a wall charger with a USB plug. It behaves differenctly depending on what's happening at the data pins.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 11:01 AM on October 20

I listen to my Clip+ often while it is charging, although as le morte stated, not while plugged into a computer. Any generic Mini USB wall charger should do the trick.

First warning: I have random times where the device shuts off for an unknown reason. Haven't been able to nail this down, but it is very rare. Turns right back on without missing a beat.

Heavier warning: I had to replace my Clip+ in the first two weeks of owning it, as it was completely unresponsive, and when I plugged it in to charge it got insanely hot within the first 5 minutes. Just be careful with a consumer grade product that's not really meant to be run while plugged in for any extended period of time.
posted by shinynewnick at 11:42 AM on October 20

"First warning: I have random times where the device shuts off for an unknown reason. Haven't been able to nail this down, but it is very rare. Turns right back on without missing a beat."

Did it restart by itself? or did it require you to notice that it was off and started up right away?

I did this at my last company we switched from an old tape recorder that was faulty(and they wanted $350 to replace it) for the phone system, to a simple mp3 player and it worked perfectly. I tried to use a radio, but its in the server room and our offices are slightly outside of the suburban metro area so the radio stations didn't come in that well.

I think I will be buying a clip+ since it seems like it would be a perfect solution.
posted by Mesach at 2:40 PM on October 20

Can you run winamp on one of the servers? I used that when the cd player died on my old phone system. It worked great, and made it easy to change files.
posted by Climber at 3:02 PM on October 20

I listen to long form audio (mp3's of talk radio shows) that run 3+ hours per file. So I'll be going about my daily business, have one headphone in, and it will randomly go silent. I'll look down at the screen, and it's going through the "Goodbye" motions. Like I said, this has been infrequent, but I do have to manually turn it back on and restart it. Because I don't lock the device (I think holding down the Home button does this), I haven't ruled out user error where I might have accidentally pressed the power button - you have to hold it down for a second to turn it off.

I got my Clip+ for $50 locally at Best Buy, which was at the time even cheaper than online by $10. Checking out Amazon, the 4 GB model is already down to $39.
posted by shinynewnick at 7:17 AM on October 22