How can I listen to music whilst swimming?

SirDigby

Posts: 1,004   +906
TechSpot Elite
Hey guys, I am going on holiday in early June and am looking for a way to listen to music while I'm in the pool as I plan to spend a lot of time doing so.
The way I can see it is that I have two options:
  • Buy a waterproof case and waterproof headphones
  • buy a waterproof MP3 player all-in-one.
Obviously each option has it's flaws - otherwise I wouldn't be there.
Even if I buy a waterproof case how can I be sure that even though there is a waterproof case, where it contacts with waterproof earphones will be waterproof as 'waterproof' to some sellers just means rain-proof.
The problem with the all in ones like the Sony Waterproof Walkman is that they are very expensive for very little space, the 4GB alone being £50 and 8GB is £80.

Does anyone have experience in the matter, anything they can recommend, preferably I'd like to use my phone in a case for my 32GB MicroSD card, but whatever works I guess.

Cheers guys.
 
:big grin: My wife JUST purchase a waterproofed iPad Shuffle from waterfi.com

website is very descriptive and the device is AS Advertised - - she's very happy with it
 
I would just get the waterproof walkman or the shuffle from the site jobeard mentioned. Do you think you need more than 4GB of music on it? That is a lot of time with mp3s. How long do you swim.
 
I would just get the waterproof walkman or the shuffle from the site jobeard mentioned. Do you think you need more than 4GB of music on it? That is a lot of time with mp3s. How long do you swim.
4GB is about 500 songs for MP3s which is my current playlist from my library of 4000, I always convert from .flac to lossless MP3 as I can't hear the quality drop and the file sizes decreases somewhat, I'm probably over-exaggerating the amount I'll need, but I'd rather have loads and skip songs than not have enough.
 
You mean 320kbps mp3? Thats still lossy, just pretty damn good lossy. Although, there should be a pretty significant file size drop. Say ~30 megs down to more like 5 depending on the type of music (per song).

The only reason I kind of pushed a true waterproof device is the Sony one and the iPod Shuffle are pretty small and designed for water. I'd probably be worried all the time if I had a smartphone in a waterproof case.. Phones with water damage are more expensive to replace than buying the players that are designed for use in water.. Plus the phone could be pretty big depending on what phone you have.
 
You mean 320kbps mp3? Thats still lossy, just pretty damn good lossy. Although, there should be a pretty significant file size drop. Say ~30 megs down to more like 5 depending on the type of music (per song).
I assumed it was 320kbps because it was the highest quality you could achieve through the settings I was using, turns out it's only 240kbps, but I can do more through other settings. It usually cuts to 1/3 of the source file, but it depends on the quality of the flac. as has no set kbps.

The only reason I kind of pushed a true waterproof device is the Sony one and the iPod Shuffle are pretty small and designed for water. I'd probably be worried all the time if I had a smartphone in a waterproof case.. Phones with water damage are more expensive to replace than buying the players that are designed for use in water.. Plus the phone could be pretty big depending on what phone you have.

Aye, fair enough. I'll probably go with the Sony. I'll keep an eye out on reviews for cheaper makes though.
 
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