I want to leave my phone at home or not have it on me most of the time. Most calls I get are meaningless spam and I rarely need to answer my phone for real calls outside my home (though it does happen on ocassion). One thing I do want and am accustomed to is having music, however.
I was looking at Amazon and Aliexpress for devices that can play mp3/mp4s, some can do that and even have ebook readers which is great. I don’t see any connectivity on them or microphones save for the one that is included on the earbuds or Bluetooth.
And that is one question I have: can Bluetooth compromised your privacy? I know Bluetooth hacking is real but how bad is it?
I guess if it has a microphone it is ok if I dont have any connectivity. What do you guys recommend?
With a wired earbud set i think I can keep my Bluetooth turned off. That does usually mean it is off and hackers/corporations can’t get to it, right?
Ideally, yes, that is exactly what it means. If you were talking about some complex Android powered device, there is a chance that the radio chip is still in some way powered up, but In a smaller discrete device like a DAP (aka MP3 player), off should me off.
Also one thing. I remember seeing a video with Edward Snowden who said that the first thing he does when he gets a new phone is open it and remove the microphone, and if he needs to make a call he has an attachment to it that has the needed microphone.
I have soldering tools and stuff. I am willing to take a risk in busting up a 40$ DAP if it means physically removing the microphone from it and eliminating any chance of it being used.
Many/most DAP don’t have a microphone (mine doesn’t), so while removing a mic is an option, better to just buy a different device.