the $20 phone can do Acapela TTS, includes a 4GB memory card and works with cards of up to 32GB--easily enough for scads of pre-loaded books. Plus, the WiFi is great.

Either way, this is a terrible story.

I still did the same activity I always do, with no loss of strength

What activity do you always do?

I have completely stopped drinking sweet drinks (including fruit juices and artificially sweetened drinks).

Just want to point out, I think this is the big thing that everyone seems to miss. You can cut out soda all you want, but fruit juice can be just as bad for you and you should cut back on it, too. It is chock full of calories and sugars and sometimes acids -- Orange Juice has the same effect on your teeth as Coke, for example.

Linear tapes are impossible to edit.

How do you figure? Hollywood made much of its money doing exactly that.