MP3 Player Without Monthly Fees

I too, have an iPod Touch, although I haven't yet used mine in Europe. The biggest drawback is that it relies on a wireless internet connection instead of cell service, which means no wifi=no internet. However, so many places offer wifi these days that it's not a big deal and there are many features (called apps) that can be used offline, including walking tours, audio guides, and maps. We had free wifi at our Vegas hotel and it was so convenient to look up restaurants, send emails back home, check hours, etc. Yes, there is a bit of a learning curve, but apple products are generally user friendly so you shouldn't have too much trouble.

Stand-alone MP3 player have been around long before smart phones became trendy:) Go to Amazon.com and do a search for "MP3 Players", there are a zillion different models that don't have any sort of surcharges. I suppose the most popular models are the IPOD nano, or shuffle.

What you want is an Apple Ipod Touch. Stores & plays music and is a portable wi-fi platform. You can access the internet, do email, etc. No contracts. No fees. You may have to pay in some wi-fi locations & you'll have to pay for downloaded material such as music - but you only buy what you want. The only things it can't do are to make phone calls or to take photos.

If you give us more information, and clarify some of what you said, we can give you better suggestions. What do you want the mp3 player to do? What kind of "travel stuff" do you want to download? Do you mean audio, maps, books, what?

I want to download the Rick Steves walking tours and museum tours primarily. I'd say more if I knew more about what these devices can do. Do they carry something like Books on Tape; I guess that would be Books on MP3? That would be good. The RS travel books would be a plus. I understand there is a fee to download some books. I admit my ignorance, but I think I'm ready to move up in electronic sophistication and have a lighter, better way to carry my travel info. Carrying several travel books adds too much weight to my carry-on bag.

Think of an mp3 player like an old cassette tape only it holds a lot more. Whatever type of material you could have put on a cassette tape, you can put on an mp3 player....... If you're not interested in "surfing the net" on your device or checking email, then look into one of the basic ipods. These are mp3 players. YOu can download music, audiobooks, or anything else you are able to "listen" to. Some stuff you have to pay for, and some is free. Some libraries now allow you to download material for free.................... The reason I'm suggesting an Ipod is when because it's probably the most user friendly.....None have monthly contracts.

Swan, being a fan of ipod products, I would recommend any one of them. The lowest priced ipod touch starts at $199. We had Rick Steves podcasts and maps downloaded on it for our upcoming trip to Italy. Check out Apples itunes store. In the search box in the upper right hand corner, type in rick steves. You will see what is available. I believe you will first have to install itunes to see whats available. Easily uninstalled if you think this is not something you will use. Good luck!

Several of Rick Steves' walking tours are available for the IPod or IPhone. Just type "ipod" in the search box above and then click on "Rick Steves meets the IPhone" and you'll find the info. If there's a Costco near you, you can currently get the 8 Gb IPod Touch for $173.99.

I'll second the vote for the iTouch. I got one for Christmas last year and now I'm surgically attached to it. You can download music, audio books, and podcasts to it, but you can also get internet and email access anywhere that has wifi, and you can download apps to it. There's lots of travel apps, translators, maps, guidebooks, things like that. You can also download different book readers (Borders, Kindle) and then purchase digital books to put on it. There's no contract with an iTouch, but if you need internet access, you do have to find a place with wifi. Check when you get apps to see if it's one that will need an internet connection or if you can use it without one. Things like books won't need an internet connection (once you've downloaded the book), apps like downloading the New York Times or checking the weather will.

Thanks a lot everybody. I see there is a place on the homepage of this website to get the info for getting started......IPod sounds like what I want. Now I will need to find a teenager for a tutorial. Just kidding. Once I decide to do something I can usually figure out how to do it. Just another of life's challenges.

Not being a fan of overpriced Apple products, unless you need to connect with the Internet while on the go, I would recommend any much cheaper MP3 players. You can download anything you need ahead of time and transfer it to the MP3 player. We have adequate capacity and usefulness in ones that cost $40 Canadian.

Yeah, we have Sony mp3 players. Much cheaper than IPods and you don't have to use iTunes! I don't like being a slave to proprietary software! Any other non-Apple product would work for me, too. ; )

I've ordered an IPod from Amazon. It looks like it will do what I want. Internet access will be a plus. Wifi connection is so common now, that I think I will have enough technology to hold me for a couple of years. I'll load the RS programs and anything else that looks like it would be handy. My last trip to Europe (England and France) I found Wifi in hotels, libraries, and bars/cafes. I only paid a small charge at the Leveque in Paris......Thanks again, everybody, for all your help.

Hi Swan, I just went through the same search you just completed. Since my wife already had an IPod, but we didn't want to share it to listen to the RS audio tours, I bought a MP3 player for $42 at Fryes. Several friends offered to lend us their IPods, but we discovered that if we tried to download anything onto it from a computer other than the one it was "registered" to, we would wipe out everything our friends had on it. The MP3 proved to be both more versatile and more economical.

Yes, and thanks for asking. I ordered the Apple iPod Touch 3G. I browsed the electronics department at Target today and noticed lots of accessories to go with all the devices. I definitely want my gizmo to be used with Wifi.