I depend on an under-pillow speaker and radio to get to sleep. I'm going to France and don't have a long wave radio with a sleep button. I want to download books or podcasts to play on an iPod which will turn off after say 30 minutes. Do any of them have this facility please?

I'm not aware of any of the standard iPods that have a sleep feature, but if you got an iPod touch, then there are lots of sleep related apps that will play for a bit and switch off, have white noise/nature sounds/soothing music to help you sleep.

The current 7th gen ipod nano has a sleep option in the clock settings.

I have the current 5th gen iPod Touch and I adore it, its very thin and light and contains my entire music library (64GB model). I listen to it before bed and can confirm that it does have a built in sleep function through the clock app. You simply input how many minutes you want and then set it to 'stop playing' after the time. The iPod will then soon switch itself to standby when it realises no music is playing.

As the iPod Touch can connect to wifi, you also have access to live internet radio and stations around the world (I recommend the TuneIn radio app for this) or music streaming services such as Spotify.

Any mp3 player that can run Rockbox should suffice.

For most people that would now mean the Clip Zip.
There is an extremely similar older Clip+ that does not do colour album art and the FM radio is not as high quality (or RDS I think).
Buy the 4GB or 8GB model and you can add a 64GB card later.

Quite simple really, forget the Ipod and get the Sony NWZE474 8GB WALKMAN, with sleep function and superb quality audio.

http://www.sony.co.uk/product/nws-e-series/nwz-e474

Thanks for all the very helpful suggestions. Must admit the iPod nano appeals but I'll check out the others.

Just be aware that EU Ipods are volume limited at quite a low volume, I know about damage ear drums etc. but mine is just to quiet for me especially when listening to books/podcasts whilst mowing the lawn, walking near heavy traffic etc.

Surely there is a 'non EU setting' like on the Clips.

Saying that, the Clips have a more powerful amplifier anyway.
I doubt they would have such a cult following if they went cheap like most small mp3 players.

No there is'nt and there's no 'hack' either

If you want an unrestricted ipod buy one online from the US.

Just re-read about iPod touch. The sleep function has to switch off the machine even if the music is still playing.

My shuffle was quiet when I first tried it, then noticed a setting in iTunes for "disable EU volume limit" (or something like that). Disable the restriction, hey presto, full volume available

And your laptop headphones now plays fine?
Seems US ones are 25% louder, though still with a low power amp.

It is strange that the multi national Sandisks allow an unlock and iPods do not.
Maybe it because they are locked into only working with iTunes rather than drag and drop(copy and paste).

Not necessarily. The good thing about the iPod Touch is that features can be added on through apps in the appstore.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/musi...320583424?mt=8

There are many alternatives too, the one I'm currently using lets you specify how many songs you want to play before the iPod sleeps rather then setting a length of time.

For features a user might as well go the whole hog and buy a smartphone.