Cheap wireless earbuds OK?

I am going to purchase a cheap set of wireless earbuds ($15.99). I don't need anything high end as I only listen to audio books when I walk. Unfamiliar as I am with the wireless earbud world, these will work when I leave the house and walk half a mile away? Appreciate thoughts. Thanks so much.
20H2-19042

Also will they pair with an mp3 player or do I listen to the book on my laptop thru these earbuds? See, I don't know much about this technology. Thanks.

The term you'll need to check when you are buying them is "Bluetooth" [which is a particular short-range variant of wireless].

You will need to pair them with a device that has Bluetooth [such as a computer or smartphone] that you have with you on your walks. Blueooth is even shorter range than normal wireless and is not going to reach from your home to your walking route.
- If an mp3 player has Bluetooth then that would be fine but I have never noticed an mp3 player with Bluetooth. I've never even thought about this question before, because I always use mine with my smartphone, so I might be wrong.

Is your laptop light enough to take with you? Does it have Bluetooth capability? Your user manual should tell you.
Do you have a smartphone? Does it have Bluetooth capability? Your user manual should tell you.

We are in different countries but I'd hazard the guess that market conditions are broadly similar.
- There are some excellent cheap Bluetooth earphones available.
- There are some awful yet expensive Bluetooth earphones available.
For my first pair, I just looked around Amazon & read user reviews.
Perhaps another American will join this thread and be able to suggest a good brand for you that is available there.

Once you have checked which Bluetooth devices you have, you'll want to decide whether you want separate earbuds or ones that are connected to each other.
You'll also want to decide on other characteristics but I found that my first pair taught me enough to be able to make a more informed decision for my second pair. I'd have just kept going round in circles if I'd tried to be too clever the first time around.
Like you, I normally just listen to audio books.
I think going for your $15.99 ones is a decent decision as long as you are not going to be disappointed later on when you decide you want better ones in a year or so.
So, the key consideration now is to check which Bluetooth devices you have.

All the best,
Denis

I think these articles contain good advice. They are written by the [UK] Consumers Association [normally called "Which" because that's the name of their magazine].
Whilst many brand names will be different for you, the considerations explained in the articles will be valid.
The best cheap headphones to rival Apple’s AirPods - Which
Wired vs wireless headphones: which should you choose? - Which

I used wired earphones for ages [with my mp3 player & later with my smartphone] and I switched to Bluetooth ones because I became fed up with the wires bouncing around as I walked.

Best of luck,
Denis

patriceltic said:

I just tried to pair my mp3 player to win10 laptop - it says it found device and is now connected but I have no idea what the device is. It doesn't come up with the name of my mp3 player but an obscure name of something??

I once had some Bluetooth earphones that were named something unintelligible when connected. Their user manual explained that this was the correct name.

Is it perhaps shown in File explorer as a connected drive so you could browse it and confirm what it is by seeing the contents that you know are on it?
Or perhaps it is shown in Windows media player as a device you can sync music with that would also let you browse it?

Perhaps you can look in
Settings, Devices, Bluetooth
for the obscure name then turn the mp3 player off and check that that name disappears.

Denis

patriceltic said:

Turning off mp3 player does not turn off Bluetooth device with unknown name.
I probably should delete it as I don't know what it is.

I agree. It's either an unknown device of your own or it's somebody else's device.

Does the user interface of the mp3 say anything about what it's paired with?

Denis

patriceltic said:

I am going to purchase a cheap set of wireless earbuds ($15.99). I don't need anything high end as I only listen to audio books when I walk. Unfamiliar as I am with the wireless earbud world, these will work when I leave the house and walk half a mile away? Appreciate thoughts. Thanks so much.
20H2-19042

Also will they pair with an mp3 player or do I listen to the book on my laptop thru these earbuds? See, I don't know much about this technology. Thanks.

SoundPEATS has some cheap and good ones, I own a pair myself - SOUNDPEATS | TrueWireless Earbuds for iPhone, Android, Mac and Windows

Generally, bluetooth has an approximate range of 10m.