If you are shopping for a new MP3 player for listening to spoken word in general, or especially old time radio shows, here are five tips that you should keep in mind. These tips might not be necessary if you are buying an MP3 player to listen just to music, but they're a must if you are an old time radio fan.

1. Look for a player that has a good graphic equalizer feature.

A graphic equalizer lets you fine tune the sound that you hear, much more than just a bass button or a treble selector. Instead of just being able to adjust the bass (deep sounds) or the treble (high frequency sounds) you have much more control. Usually, there will be five or more sliders. The slider to the right will adjust the very high frequencies and the slider to the left will adjust the very low-level bass sounds. The three or more sliders in the middle will adjust various aspects of the midrange.

Imagine you were listening to an old time radio show that had a bit too much hiss. To get rid of this with a graphic equalizer all you would do as lower the slider on the right (that's the high frequency one) and you'll notice the hiss either vanishes completely or is greatly reduced.

The great thing with graphic equalizers is that they really can improve the listening experience, which is particularly useful with old radio shows. Rather than just settle for poor sound quality you can actually do something about it if you have a good graphic equalizer.

2. Get a player that can act as a virtual hard drive

Many players (not the iPod I'm afraid) will act as an additional hard drive when you plug them into your USB port. This is very convenient if you have many shows to copy over. All you need to do is copy the folders from your normal hard drive and then paste them straight onto your player. No need to mess around with third-party software such as iTunes or Windows Media Player. It makes it so quick and easy that you can copy hundreds of files in just a matter of minutes.

Regrettably, if you happen to love iPods, you need to use iTunes all the time. For some people this is fine, but for most people it is much quicker and easier just to quickly select files from one folder and paste them into another folder. If you choose your player right you'll be able to do exactly that.

3. Make sure your player remembers where you are

Some players have a frustrating habit of returning you to the start of the file if you happen to switch the device off when you're halfway through listening to a show.

This is not good as it means that when you switch your MP3 player on next time, you will need to try finding the exact point that you were listening to.

It's also worth checking to see if the player you are thinking about getting has a bookmarking feature. Some MP3 players let you place a bookmark and you can then return to that point in the recording when you need. This is very useful if, for example, you want to break off listening to an old time radio show or audiobook and listen to some music for a while. If you've set a bookmark you can quickly return to the exact point you were at. This could be later the same day, a few days later or even many months later. It's a neat feature that's well worth having.

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