My MP3 and Me

Finally, finally, finally- I got my MP3 player on October 16th. And- finally, finally, finally- I was able to download audiobooks from Overdrive. This is what I've learned in the process:

• Some MP3 player manufacturers assume that you already know how to use an MP3 player. The instruction book that came with the player was more of an "Okay, this is how to get started, now figure it out for yourself" book.
• It's a big, big mistake to listen to big, big books on this player. It's better to start out with small books and leave Pillars of the Earth until later. Not only does it take forever for big tomes to download, it takes much longer to listen to a book than to read it. And....
• If you doze off while reading a book, it's easy to find where you left off. If you doze off while listening to an audiobook, you have to flip back and listen multiple times to find where you dozed off.
• Some audiobook narrators should market their voices as sleep aids.
• Dozing off while listening to books where characters are being maimed, dying by various means, being abused, etc. when you are in doze-mode is injurious to your dream state.
• My cats and my housemate are envious of the player- though I think one of my cats just wants the earphones.
• I wondered how JPL got these in bulk for -what I found out- was $20 under list price. These have to have been seconds. The ear buds are weird. The earbuds I got and a colleague got have one side a foot longer than the other. One of my staff noticed the same thing with her MP3. I ended up getting another set of earphones to use with it.
• But, I like my MP3. I'll use it. It'll be great for long trips. BUT...
• I have to develop restraint. While I used to be able to watch TV and do homework as a teen, I can't multitask as well as I used to. Watching TV, skimming the newspaper, AND listening to an audiobook isn't working for me.

MP3 Playa?--#22 Audiobooks

This and being able to download videos to a portable device would be what I would like. (I think we've already established in my last post that my cousin is to remain in the dark about this? Agreed?) Did I locate a title that I might want to try out and download once I have my player? Why, yes, I did. There was a collection of Twilight Zone radio dramas featured. Way kewl. When I was commuting to college, I would tune in to this show on the drive back at night over mostly unlit country roads. Very spooky- just the setting for my very own TZ episode. The collection is trying to load onto Overdrive right now and is taking its own sweet time, I might add.

I don't suppose that I can get that MP3 player soon- like before this current storm (on track to visit Jacksonville) hits?