SanDisk Sansa Clip

[Josh Greninger]

for 1oz, seems like a pretty good multi-use item.

audio books, music, voice recording (journal), FM radio

anyone use this while hiking/camping?
thanks!

[Aaron Armstrong]

Yes, works great to listen to audiobooks at night in the tent. Very small.

[Josh Greninger]

Do the FM radio and voice recording functions work well?

[Snap lok]

My first post. :)

Yes the FM and the voice memo features work we, though you need to be able to pick up an FM station signal which might be an issue with all FM radios on the trail.

[EndoftheTrail]

No for me — although this is really a matter of personal preference.

[Josh Greninger]

So you choose not to bring music with you?

[Josh Greninger]

I'm deaf in one ear, so I'm curious.. Could I cut off the right earphone and have it still work?

[Steve Small]

I love my Clip that I use for audiobooks. Much lighter than a paperback. I've never actually used the other functions, so I'll have to give them a shot at some point.

[Adam Kramer]

i bet some ULers here do it anyway. also have a kidney removed, maybe a testicle. all just redundencies.

[drowning in spam]

I'm deaf in one ear, so I'm curious.. Could I cut off the right earphone and have it still work?

I have a set of headphones with one side that is going out. The other side still works.

[Josh Greninger]

I wonder if the sansaclip has a setting that will allow you to change it from "stereo" to "mono" so you dont lose parts of the song that would otherwise be played in the severed earphone.

[Dale Wambaugh]

Me too. There is a company selling one-ear headphones with both channels active in one ear: http://www.scansound.com/1-Bud.htm. The cheaper ones are junk– don't bother.

I have clipped the right side off most of my earbud style phones. If you are listening to stereo you will miss any stereo effects. Some recordings will leave you without half the tracks– the later Beatles recordings are the perfect example. I like an FM radio with a mono/stereo switch for just that reason. My laptop sound is all mixed to the left channel. A more sophisticated MP3 player may have an EQ panel with balance controls too.

If you rip your own MP3's, just rip them in mono.

Sony and Radio Shack have made stereo/mono adapters. All you are really doing is coupling both channels together on one "sleeve" of the 3.5mm plug.

Sennhiezer and other pro/performance audio products make some one-ear monitor headphones. Compare the sleeve on the jack to one that works with your particular audio device. If you look at a 3.5mm audio jack you will see that there are seperate "wiper" contacts for each channel that line up with the divided sleeves on the plug.

[EndoftheTrail]

"So you choose not to bring music with you?"

Correct. There is a different kind of music out there in the wilds — and I want to tune in to that one since it is so beautiful and I hear it so rarely! The urban music is nice too, of course, but I can listen to that all the rest of the times.

[Josh Greninger]

"Me too. There is a company selling one-ear headphones with both channels active in one ear: http://www.scansound.com/1-Bud.htm. The cheaper ones are junk– don't bother."

Which cheaper ones? Do you have experience with these? How are they? Thanks!!!!

[Bob Gross]

For some people, they want to download nature sounds from the web before they leave on their trip, and then they play the sounds if they don't get enough real action on the trip.

One web site is Wildebeat.

–B.G.–

[EndoftheTrail]

Exactly, Bob — which is why this is always a personal preference.

[Josh Greninger]

I thought the nature sounds clip was a sarcastic comment.

For me, I am going to start recording my Brazilian Jiu Jitsu lessons so that I can play them and visualize and meditate on the techniques while laying in my hammock beneath the stars.

I also like music! ;-)

[EndoftheTrail]

nm

[Daniel Fosse]

I'm kind of an audio snob so take or leave this advise.

Even with one ear, you can still hear stereo. Just like with one eye you still have depth perception. For that reason don't rip your music to mono if you plan on using the same MP3 files on a stereo at home, in the car…

Merging stereo channels can cause sound cancellation or introduce noise to the music. If you rip it that way you can't undo it.

For 1 speaker headphones, however, a merged L/R option would likely be the best plan. You may be able to make your own. You just have to twist the positive leads together and solder them back to one ear-bud.

The worst option is listening to one channel of stereo…… uuug! Many 60-70s bands put entire instruments in indivdual channels. Even modern recordings may place parts of the drum kit or most of an instrument in one channel. Hearing half music is maddening.

[John S.]

Wouldn't most mp3 players be able to switch from stereo to mono in a software setting? The analog radios have that feature.

[Franco Darioli]

No, usually the Mono output is reserved for the FM radio output , that is to reduce noise/interferences in weak reception areas.
Franco

[Daniel Fosse]

Also mind your bitrate when ripping. You can maximize your content. For my car and normal use I useally go for a high bitrate 256-320kbps MP3. I have a descerning ear and these bit-rates produce large files.

For trips and camping I have a lot of my go-to CDs ripped at 96-128kbps WMA (Windows Media Audio). WMA seems to sound better at low bitrates. For spoken voice 64k seems fine. I have tries music at 64k and it was not tollerable. At 96k you can squeeze about 23 hours of music on 1GB of storage.

[j lan]

I would not heed the advice above. Music at or below 128kbps is going to sound tinny and digital. An 8gb clip is only $50 and weighs the same. Why not really enjoy the music if you are going through all the trouble of bringing it.

[Dale Wambaugh]

Josh asked, ""Me too. There is a company selling one-ear headphones with both channels active in one ear: http://www.scansound.com/1-Bud.htm. The cheaper ones are junk– don't bother."

Which cheaper ones? Do you have experience with these? How are they? Thanks!!!!"

I've owned a couple of their models and the cheaper ones break easily and sound terrible. I have managed to break them all

I now use a radio with a mono switch (Sony SRF-S84) to get around it. Once you have a mono source, you can clip one earbud and things will still work. Cut the right side if they are identical– it is a minor point, but some mono setups favor the left channel. A better MP3 rig may have left/right balance controls which will do the trick too.

[Daniel Fosse]

"I would not heed the advice above. Music at or below 128kbps is going to sound tinny and digital. "

I feel ya James. My problem is that I can never decide between fidelity or variety. Sure I can get 100+ albums on 8GB at a decent bitrate but I can get 300 on the same storage at a low bitrate.

The truth is that I generally side with quality now that storage is cheap. But the times I have cramed 300 albums on a player was very fun to play on random.

I guess my comment is aimed at the restriction of 1-2GB. In that case I would go low bitrate because at 224kbps or higer you may only get 12-14 CD per GB.

I am not a minimalist where my music collection is concerned. I have thousands of CD and records.

[Author]

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