Tommy Bland asked:




The modern stereo headphone set is a compact tool that allows you to get the most from your iPod or MP3 player. While traditional headphones provide clarity and response from home-systems, they are not designed for use with portable audio devices. To maximize the quality of sound from a digital audio player, you want headphones / earbuds that are made to be used with devices that put out less wattage than a home system. With the popularity in recent years of the iPod, portable headphones have become a niche-market unto themselves with different manufacturers pouring much money into research & development and marketing.

As with most advances in audio technology, these new earpieces provide for more and more of the experience of being in a concert hall without the inconvenience of interrupting your daily routine. Some of the most popular brands for the earpieces today are Etymotic Research, Panasonic, Shure, SkullCandy, Sony, and Ultimate Ears.

Earpieces for the serious audiophile

Most of our parents’ and grandparents’ portable audio devices had their own poor little sound amplifiers built in to make the sound loud enough for our hearing. Now days, you can get really high quality portable audio devices that don’t mess with poor little sound amplifiers. Instead you can provide your own little cool head phone amp to turn your high quality little portable stereo system into a booming sound experience. The head phone amp is the latest in audiophile gadgets. They are a bit more to haul around than your old headphones and earpieces, but they provide a sound experience to make it all worthwhile.

Accessories for the serious audiophile

To get the most of your portable audio experience, you need a good portable audio accessory kit. You’ll find that you are soon looking forward to all of those times that were once boring when you have a good accessory kit.

Even if you aren’t taking your portable audio device along everywhere you go, you may want to take your earphones. A long airplane flight will be greatly enhanced when you have a pocket-sized earphone kit to plug in and watch the in-flight movie.

Your accessories should include cable clips. These keep your headphone cables all nicely organized so you are free in movement to do other things while you enjoy your own little concert hall experience. All audiophiles have had experiences where our cords hung on something and got ripped away, often taking other things with them.

A good accessory kit will also include replacement accessories to make sure a small malfunction or accessory loss doesn’t ruin an entire day. You’ll want a spare ear phone, spare jacks, spare ear pads, and spare cables. This is especially important if you’ve invested in a very expensive sound system and you don’t want to be stuck with anything less than the best.

What goes in must be hygienic

Remember you are putting these headphones or earpieces in your ear for quite a while. You can get wax buildup and other things building up on them. Over time things can start growing cultures on your valuable sound device if you don’t take due time for cleaning. If you love your audio, you must also keep your headphones and earpieces cleaned regularly with some cleaning solution or alcohol.

Frederick

RudeandOffensive asked:

Just a random overview of the mp3 players I own, what I think about them, how I use them, etc. Don’t use any of these anymore. Gave my ipod touch away, stopped using the sansa clip and fuze, the zen vision M was too bulky to bother with anymore, and most importantly, I got a zune and then later an iphone, which is now the only mp3 player I use (since I always have it on me anyway). And no, you can’t have them.

Samuel

Anna Rowe asked:




In looking to download music to a MP3 player the process is relatively easy once you learn the basics. First, you’ll need to have all your connecting cables or docks, software and the music you want to download in place.

As not all portable devices are created equally, you may need your manual to tell you where to begin. This is especially true if you’re a total newbie to a particular media player or to MP3 players in general. However, most portable devices usually work in the same manner, so in order to download music to MP3 players you should follow the same, or at least similar, steps.

Hopefully your MP3 player can hook up to your computer using a USB connection; this would be the easiest way to download music to a MP3 player. Just transfer music files as you would other files and documents to a removable disk drive and copy and paste.

To have organized playlists here’s a useful tip; before downloading music onto your MP3 player you can create the folders beforehand and just sequence the music into the folders while you’re on your computer. This will save you valuable time in the long run because you’ll be able to locate the songs you want to listen to very quickly.

The accompanying software is important because some computers will need them to recognize your MP3 player when you insert it as a USB drive. If you don’t have the software – for example, you’re using a different computer to download music or you were so excited to buy your MP3 player that you don’t remember where you put your software CD – you can probably search for it online. Once your MP3 player is recognized, downloading music will be easy.

Creative Zen players work in this manner, but will ask the user to employ Creative Media Explorer to ease up the transfer of files from your computer to your MP3 player. Creative MediaSource Organizer, meanwhile, helps you organize your files on your computer before downloading the music onto your MP3 player. You can get these two devices by pressing the “Import Media” link.

iPod does it a bit differently but similar, of course, with iTunes, which is downloaded from the iPod website. iTunes is supposed to be the most popular method in managing your music files, but can also be a pain in the neck if you let it.

iTunes is your online music manager – it organizes all your music files in folders according to artist, album and other categories, lets you create and edit playlists, and even works as a music store by offering particular files for download. Next, you sync your iPod into your computer and all the music on iTunes automatically transfers into your iPod.

Interestingly, your computer reads your iPod as a removable disk drive connected through USB, which is exactly what it is, of course. If you find that you can’t play particular songs on your MP3 player, it’s most likely that it’s DRM-protected. Digital Rights Management has a whole slew of limits and limited accesses, such as allowing certain files to play on iPods but not on Creative Zen players or RCA Lyras, and so on.

The simplest way around this is to download music only from the sites that are compatible with your portable device to ensure that you won’t be wasting money buying downloadable music that you don’t actually work on your MP3 player. More complicated methods could involve illegal activity, or breaking copy-right infringement laws, so tread carefully.

As stated before, getting music into a portable device follows a general procedure. And once you start to download music to a MP3 player you’ll be amazed at how easy the entire process really is.

Dawn

Samantha B asked:


I received a COPY 4G MP3 player as a gift and I am wondering if it is compatible with any of the music subscription services out there. I have done a little research but haven’t found definitive answers. Anyone have a COBY player and subscribe to a music download service?

BRET

Blazin_Frizzard asked:


Any good suggestions for reliable mp3 players (not Ipod, that thing is too buggy) that are relatively cheap (100-200 )?? I’ve had my ipod mini for 4 years now, and today it died in my hands. Battery kept on flatlining so i tried to install a new battery but ended up ripping the audio sound part of the chip off, everything works fine except theirs no sound. On a side note do you have any suggestions for my old ipod?

MOISES

Jonathan asked:


wen i put the cd in it doesnt read and just says “open tray”. with my sansa mp3 players it will read the folders however it will say “no songs found”. why is this?

JONATHON

Double DD asked:


Are there MP3 players out there that play movies versus downloading music?

OMAR

Vikram kuamr asked:


One problem that MP3 manufacturers face in this highly competitive music player business is that the MP3 designs are relatively easy to duplicate. For this reason, MP3 players are getting smaller and smaller so their features naturally get simpler and simpler. But again, competitors and brand pirates could easy copy and reproduce players. To survive the onslaught of cheaper versions of their designs (from the manufacturers of cheap MP3 players), manufacturers of the higher end MP3 players have to turn to contract manufacturing to avoid being swamped by big players like Apple and Sony.

Contract manufacturing is a business model used in many industries and is now applicable in MP3 manufacturing. It works when the MP3 player manufacturer selects a manufacturing company that has the resources to make MP3 players for the client company in the most cost-effective manner. The MP3 player manufacturer chooses a manufacturing company based on factors such as labor, manufacturing processes to be used, material costs and tooling which in the final analysis will all influence pricing of the MP3 players to be produced. Manufacturers of MP3 players resort to contract manufacturing because it is often a more viable way to mass produce MP3 players (especially the cheap MP3 players) because they need not worry about how to maintain factories of their own. The manufacturing company they contact will worry about sustaining factories while the manufacturers of MP3 players just worry mostly about keeping product standards on par with what they desired and what consumers actually want.

However, contract manufacturing alone would not guarantee the survival of MP3 players in a highly competitive market. There are other tactics that an MP3 player manufacturer resorts to in order for the company to remain competitive and not be subdued by the bigger players.

For one, the MP3 players’ manufacturer has to make sure his/her products are different from those offered by competitors. This is called product differentiation. Another tactic is for the MP3 players to meet consumer demands when it comes to ease of music transfer, form factor, battery life, and pricing of the product (which is one aspect that cheap MP3 players have the upper hand.) A third tactic is for the manufacturer to identify definite distribution channels by which the MP3 players could be distributed at a cheaper but is focused on maximum effectiveness.

Understand that marketing is a big determinant of what brand of MP3 players a consumer will buy. A superlative product that has been poorly marketed stands little chance of surviving and will probably be relegated to the shelves of oblivion. A so-so product that has been marketed well will probably survive much longer. Marketing is one reason why the Apple iPod experienced such great demand and why it is likely that future products from Apple will be met with just as much enthusiasm as the original iPod did, upon its introduction to the market.



GERALD

Anthony Coleman asked:


What’s hot for 2009 in mp3 devices? If you go by name recognition alone it would be anything from Apple’s iPod series. Face it Steve Job and team have done a great job equating the iPod with all things mp3. There is more to the mp3 landscape, however.

Did you know there are mp3 players that do not require any connectivity to the Internet to function? Did you know there are combination CD mp3 players? Did you know there are many models that are extremely affordable and easy to use? If not, keep reading we think you’ll find something that’s a perfect fit.

Apple iPod – We’ll bring this up first because we know it’s what you’ll probably think of first. From the iPod Shuffle to the iPod Touch you’ll find an option from $49 to around $400. Price and unit will depend entirely on what you want it to do. The 1 GB unit will allow you to house more than 200 songs, while the larger 32 GB units allow video, movies and certain PDA qualities that make it a function that goes beyond what you might think of an mp3 device.

Sony MP3 – The 21st Century finds Sony selling an entirely new Walkman. At the time of this review a 2 GB Walkman could be purchased for around $40. This included an FM receiver and a record function for radio shows you want to record digitally for later playback. Like the iPod you can also feature larger units with a video display. Available units provide up to 8 GB of storage.

Phillips MP3 – Like the Sony the top end player is an 8 GB video and audio mp3 device. Also like Sony this provides an FM receiver. Their top end unit (SA6185) provides built in speakers allowing you to share your video and music without ear buds.

Coby MP3 – This company has always been about providing affordable electronics. They provide a 2 GB mp3 player for around $27. This unit is based on a USB plug built in. No cords needed. On the top end Coby provides a wide screen video playback unit that comes in models up to 16 GB of storage.

Creative MP3 – How’s this for tantalizing? A 2 GB mp3 player for more than $20 less than a 1 GB iPod Shuffle? Creative has provided this with the Zen Stone. This also features speakers and an FM receiver. PC World reviewed Creative’s top model, the Zen X-Fi and said, “…beyond question a better all-around digital music player than any of Apple’s current iPods.” The 32 GB unit sells for less than $300 and comes with the ability to use certain Internet functions in a wireless atmosphere.

RCA MP3 – RCA has long been known for their electronics and commitment to audio. The 2 GB Pearl is an unusual offering. This mp3 player provides the least expensive unit and it comes with the ability to expand your playlist through an onboard slot for an expansion card. The downside is the unit is powered by a single AAA battery. This will need replacing about every 15 hours. For the sports enthusiast RCA provides the Jet Stream. This provides wireless earphones, a stopwatch, calorie counter and pedometer.

Zune MP3 – So, you’re thinking 32 GB may not be enough for the music and videos you want to play on your portable mp3 player. Zune from Microsoft offers up to 120 of space for around $250. They also offer units for less die hard fans with 4 GB at the lower end.

Sandisk MP3 – This company has taken a hard look at how some people listen to music and concluded that there were some who would love an mp3 player, but who either did not have a computer or the expertise needed to download music. That’s the premise behind SlotMusic. This product allows you to simply plug a pre-loaded card into the mp3 player with music – much like a CD. It is the only mp3 player reviewed that offers a completely offline way to gain mp3 music. However, they also provide units that do require Internet connectivity with up to 32 GB of space for around $250.

Buying Your MP3 Player

Online shopping has become a great way to purchase electronics. When looking for your new mp3 player you might consider sites like http://www.bizrate.com, http://www.mysimon.com http://www.allmp3-players.com or http://www.amazon.com.



WENDELL

nata_n2004 asked:


I have a Sandisk mp3 player and would like to put new songs on there other than the cds i already own. Where is the best place to get music online legally that has a wide variety of music selection? I have heard that itunes are not compatible with regular mp3 players.

CAREY