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 cant 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.