Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Getting The Most From MP3 Players

By Anne Harvester


The ability to take your music with you wherever you go is nothing new. Portable record players came out in the 1920s, and battery-operated transistor radios about 35 years later. However, MP3 players today offer choice: you can load up the music you want to hear. You can plug these into speakers (even in the car) or listen on headphones for privacy.

Because of the wide variety of music available, it is easy to create your own list of music based on your personal choices. You might decide you want one song off of each album you own or you might want to load the entire album. It is completely up to you.

There are numerous makes and models of MP3 players to choose from. The amount of memory also varies, and this is a significant issue: the more memory you have, the larger your playlist can be. The good news is that MP3 files are relatively small, so even a player that does not have a lot of memory can provide you with a large playlist. You can determine the order in which these play, though by default they'll play in the order in which they are loaded.

The appearance of MP3 players also vary a great deal. Some people prefer a very small player that can be carried in a shirt pocket, while others prefer a larger one that has a bigger display and is therefore easier to read.

You may not know it, but even your cell phone can probably play an mp3 file. You simply upload it and play it back through the phone's own speakers or by using headphones. MP3 files are also playable on any PC or Macintosh desktop computer and laptop. On PC, clicking on an MP3 file will bring up Windows Media Player, while the Mac uses Quicktime.

Things to think about when choosing an MP3 are cost, features and compatibility. In terms of price, it's possible to get an .MP3 player for as little as $20, or you can spend well in excess of $250. It depends on what you want where it concerns features and memory. If you want to be able to play music in different file formats, you will need to spend a little more - or get some different software that is compatible with .wav and .wma formats.

You will want to know in advance what features you are going to get with the purchase price and which of these cost extra. A necessity is a USB cable, which is plugged into the appropriate port of a laptop or PC and allows you to transfer music files back and forth.

After that you need to make sure there are headphones included as well. Without headphones you will not have the ability to listen to your music. Many times a small inexpensive pair will be included.

Then the choice of whether or not you need a set of speakers will be considered. If you plan to share your music with others, it is a good idea to purchase speakers. If your item is battery operated, be sure to purchase extra batteries as well. Buy the higher quality ones in order to avoid having to constantly change the batteries.




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