MP3 Players

Ron Eggers

SPFG, Supreme Picture Framing God
Forum Donor
Joined
Jul 6, 2001
Posts
16,932
Loc
Wisconsin
Originally posted by fttom:
Charles, I'm asking forgiveness to start with. I'm borrowing your thread, since you've got all the techies on here, and they'll see this. I've got a question.

I think that I want an MP3 player, but I'm not sure what one really is, what it does, how do I put music on it, where do I get this music, etc. If I do want one, what kind do I want, what features to I need/want, etc.

What's a good price range?

Ok, Folks, Help!

Thanks, Charles. I now return this thread to you.
You need a new thread for this, fttom.

I'll tell you what I know about MP3 players, which isn't much. An MP3 is a compressed audio format. Depending on the degree of compression, the sound can be very close to CD quality or it can sound like an old AM radio. You get MP3 files by downloading them from the internet (remember Napster?) Or you can use one of the various software utilities, such as EZ CD Creator, to convert individual tracks or entire CDs to MP3 format on your hard drive.

MP3 players may have built-in memory to store music files. They may have replaceable or expandable memory cards (like a digital camera.)These may be very compact and have no moving parts. Typically, these connect to your computer with a USB cable to load the songs.

My favorite flavor is a portable CD player that will play conventional CDs or CDs that are recorded in MP3 format. I have one of these in my car and I can put about 5 hours of music on one CD, with no loss of quality that I can detect.

Depending on the player, you may have a LCD readout that will show you the name of the song, the artist, the length or other information about the track. There will probably be fast forward and rewind controls, a repeat function and maybe a search function, which is useful if you have 70 or more songs stored.

Questions?
 
Oh yeah, prices.

I bought The Digital Diva a full-featured Memorex CD/MP3 player for her birthday with headphones, an AC adapter, a cassette adapter for the car and a cigarette lighter adapter for under $60. It appears to be a better player than one I bought a few years ago for $185.

The fully digital MP3 players (that don't play CDs) can cost from about $60 to several hundred.
 
I stayed up all night thinking about this.

If you want to know everything there is to know about MP3, ask a teen. The Digital Diva earned her name by downloading every song that's ever been recorded - including quite a few that never should have been recorded. (With a dial-up connection, it can take 10 minutes or more to download a song.) Some of these sites are legal and contain the songs that nobody would buy. Others are of questionable legality, and there is considerable controversy with the music industry. I have mixed feelings. On one hand, I am appalled that a commercial CD costs $15 or more. On the other hand, I hear people whine about the cost of framing without understanding what's involved.

The higher compression ratios are useful for narrative files where sound quality is not such an issue. There are sites where you can download speeches, stories and, probably, books.

If you do a Google search for "MP3," you'll find a dazzling array of sites and downloadable file-sharing utilities. Make sure your virus definitions are up-to-date.
 
Mr. Eggers, as usual, you come through like a champ! You told me what I needed to know. What I want to do is to be able to take some of the CD's that I've got, and move tracks from them to a portable media. I've only got radio/cassette in my truck, but, as I understand it, I can take the little MP3 players with me, and play what I want in the truck. "Himself the Elf" listens to the radio, but the commericals make me crazier than I already am. I like my music when I'm in the truck, and I want specific things. It's a PIA to have to get it on a cassette, in the quality that I want. We have the equipment to do that, but, all of a sudden, I realized that I'd probably be much better off with the MP3. Thanks to both you, Ron, and The Digital Diva!

I am making the rash assumption that I can play my cd's on the 'puter, and record them on the MP3???
 
Yes, if you have a CD player in your computer and the appropriate utility (like EZ CD Creator) you can convert tracks from your CDs to MP3 files and store them on your hard drive. Then, if you have an MP3 player with memory-type storage, you load the songs using a USB cable. If you use the CD/MP3 player, you burn the MP3 files to a CD. The former is more compact, gets better battery life and has no moving parts. The latter gives you the flexibility of playing regular CDs and also carrying a variety of MP3 mixes on CDs which you can change without having to go back to your computer. With 45 seconds or more of skip protection, you can use this type in a vehicle without the CDs skipping.

In either case, you can listen to the music with headphones or use a cassette adapter to play them through the cassette stereo in your truck.
 
Thanks, again, Ron! Sounds like what I needed to know. I spend a lot of time in that truck, and I'm about to wear out my fave cassette tapes. I've got some new cd's that I would love to get to tape, but we just haven't had the time to transfer them. "Himself the Elf" gave me a boxed set of The Eagles, and I've got a brand new Paul Simon cd on order. I wanted a way to get these into the truck with me, and suddenly realized that MP3 was probably the way to go.
Have we told you lately how much we appreciate your help? If not, we should have. Thanks!
 
Back
Top