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

David Liu asked:


A digital audio player (DAP), more commonly referred to as an MP3 player, is a consumer electronics device that stores, organizes and plays audio files. Some DAPs are also referred to as portable media players as they have image-viewing and/or video-playing support. MP3 players are now regularly built into mobile phones, making them the most common form of digital audio player. In short, an MP3 player is a portable device that plays digital music files–although many MP3 players can do much more than that. They evolved from the portable cassette and CD players that we carried around in the 1980s and ’90s. Instead of bulky cassettes or scratch-prone compact discs, most MP3 players play files stored directly on the device. Aside from a pair of headphones, there is nothing extra you need to carry to enjoy your music collection.

An MP3 is a digital audio file compressed with a standard defined by the Motion Pictures Experts Group (MPEG). MPEG was formed to develop techniques for dealing with digital video; since most video also contains audio, MP3 was developed as an audio extension of that work. Officially known as “MPEG-1, Layer 3″, MP3 is a lossy compression algorithm that uses psychoacoustic modeling to reduce the size of audio files by up to 90%.

Psychoacoustics takes advantage of deficiencies in the human hearing system to throw away digital bits corresponding to sounds that cannot be heard. The human ear cannot hear soft sounds in the presence of loud sounds having a similar frequency; for example, a voice conversation becomes inaudible when a jet flies low overhead. This effect is known as auditory masking, and done correctly the discarded sounds will not be missed.

MP3 is a lossy algorithm in the sense that the original bits cannot be recreated from the compressed bits. In terms of hearing, however, MP3 is lossless because the human ear cannot distinguish between a CD recording and a properly encoded MP3 version of it. MP3s achieve this transparency at a bit rate of approximately 256 kilobits per second, or roughly one sixth of the 1.4 megabits per second required by the compact disc format.

MP3s can be recorded at lower bit rates, saving even more space, but audible differences begin to appear at rates below 128 kilobits per second. At these lower bit rates, MP3 can use a trick known as joint stereo to improve quality. Audio generally consists of left and right audio tracks. Joint stereo combines, whenever possible, the sounds common to both left and right tracks into one track. Instead of left and right, it has “common” and “different” channels.

Being an open standard, and therefore available to anyone, has played a major role in the widespread adoption of the MP3 file format. While specific implementations such as those by the Fraunhofer Institute may be protected by patents, there exist numerous open source implementations. MP3s were originally only playable on computers, but inexpensive, portable MP3 players such as Apple’s iPod have since been developed.

History

The immediate predecessor in the market place of the digital audio player was the portable CD player, which was sometimes referred to as a “portable audio device.”

Briton Kane Kramer designed one of the earliest digital audio players, which he called the IXI. His 1979 prototype was capable of approximately 3.5 minutes of audio playback but it did not enter commercial production. The related patents expired in 1988. Apple Inc. hired Kramer as a consultant and presented his work as an example of prior art in the field of digital audio players during their litigation with Burst.com almost two decades later.

The first mass-produced DAP was created in 1997 by SaeHan Information Systems, which domestically sold its “MPMan” player in the middle of 1998. The South Korean company then licensed the players to Eiger Labs which distributed them—now branded as Eiger Labs MPMan F10—to the North American market during the summer of 1998. The flash-based players were available in 16 MB storage capacity.

The Rio PMP300 from Diamond Multimedia was introduced in September 1998, a few months after the MPMan. It was a success during the holiday season, with sales exceeding expectations. Interest and investment in digital music were subsequently spurred from it. Because of the player’s notoriety as the target of a major lawsuit, the Rio is erroneously assumed to be the first DAP.

In 1998, Compaq developed the first hard drive based DAP using a 2.5″ laptop drive. It was licensed to HanGo Electronics (now known as Remote Solution), which first sold the PJB-100 (Personal Jukebox) in 1999. The player had an initial capacity of 4.8 GB, which was advertised to be able to hold 1200 songs.

In October 2001, Apple Computer (now known as Apple Inc.) unveiled the first generation iPod, the 5 GB hard drive based DAP with a 1.8″ Toshiba drive. With the development of a minimalistic user interface and a smaller form factor, the iPod was initially notable within users of the Macintosh community. In July 2002, Apple introduced the second generation update to the iPod. It was compatible with Windows computers through Musicmatch Jukebox (now known as Y!Music Musicmatch Jukebox). The iPod series, which grew to include microdrive and flash-based players, has become the market leader in DAPs.

In 2002, Archos released the first “portable media player” (PMP), the Archos Jukebox Multimedia. Manufacturers have since implemented abilities to view images and play videos into their devices.

In 2003 the first MP3 players were installed into mobile phones in South Korea and the first artist to sell songs as MP3 file downloads directly to mobile phones was Ricky Martin. The innovation spread rapidly and by 2005, more than half of all music sold in South Korea was sold directly to mobile phones. The idea spread across the globe and by 2005 all five major handset makers, Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, LG and SonyEricsson had released musicphones. By 2006, more MP3 players were sold in musicphones than all stand-alone MP3 players put together. The rapid rise of the musicphone was quoted by Apple as a primary reason for developing the iPhone. In 2007, the installed base of musicphones passed the 1 billion level, and today more than half of all moblie phones in the world have an MP3 player.

Although online music services such as RealNetworks’ Rhapsody also offer legal downloads through a subscription plan, the launch of the iTunes Store in 2003 established the model of selling individual songs and albums for purchase.

Operation

Digital sampling is used to convert an audio wave to a sequence of binary numbers that can be stored in a digital format, such as MP3.

Common features of all MP3 players are a memory storage device, such as flash memory or a miniature hard disk drive, an embedded processor, and an audio codec microchip to convert compressed sound into analogue form that is then played through the speaker jack.

Most DAPs are powered by rechargeable batteries, some of which are not user replaceable. Listening to music stored on DAPs is typically through earphones and stereo systems connected with a 3.5 mm jack.

Types

Digital audio players are generally categorized by storage media:

Flash-based Players: These are non-mechanical solid state devices that hold digital audio files on internal flash memory or removable flash media called memory cards. Due to technological advancements in flash memory, these originally low-storage devices are now available commercially ranging up to 32 GB. Because they are solid state and do not have moving parts they require less battery power and may be more resilient to hazards such as dropping or fragmentation than hard disk-based players. Basic MP3 player functions are commonly integrated into USB flash drives.

Hard drive-based Players or Digital Jukeboxes: Devices that read digital audio files from a hard disk drive (HDD). These players have higher capacities currently ranging up to 250 GB. At typical encoding rates, this means that thousands of songs can be stored on one player.

MP3 CD Players: Portable CD players that can decode and play MP3 audio files stored on CDs.

Networked audio players: Players that connect via (WiFi) network to receive and play audio.

Common audio formats

MP3 is the dominant format, and is nearly universally supported. The main alternative formats are AAC and WMA. Unlike MP3, these formats support DRM restrictions that are often implemented into files from paid download services. Open source formats, which are completely patent-free, are available - though less widely supported. Examples include Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, and Speex.

Most players can also play uncompressed PCM in a container such as WAV or AIFF.

Controversy

Although these issues aren’t usually controversial within digital audio players, they are matters of continuing controversy and litigation, including but not limited to content distribution and protection, and digital rights management (DRM).

Lawsuit with RIAA

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) filed a lawsuit with Diamond Multimedia for its Rio players, alleging that the device encouraged copying music illegally. But Diamond won a legal victory on the shoulders of the Sony Corp. v. Universal City Studios case and DAPs were legally ruled as electronic devices.

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DAVID

David Rahimi asked:


With so many MP3 Players available on the market, it is quite a challenge on deciding which one is right for you. Apple’s iPod models are currently the most popular MP3 players today, though there are many other options that are giving the iPod fierce competition.

Below you will find a few things that our product specialists recommend our customers to consider before purchasing an MP3 Player.

Memory Capacity: It’s important that you think about how many songs you plan to have on your MP3 player before making a purchasing decision. If you want to have your whole music collection with you everywhere you go, then it makes sense for you to get an MP3 Player with more than 20 gigabytes of storage space. On the other hand if you only plan to have your favorites on the player, than you should be fine with less than 10 gigabytes.

On average, you should be able to fit about 250 songs in the MP3 format for every gigabyte. So for a 10 gigabyte MP3 Player, you will be able to store about 2500 songs. This figure is just an average; actual results may be more or less depending on the length of the individual songs you store.

Size: If you plan on using your MP3 player for entertainment while you exercise, you might want to consider the much smaller MP3 player models available. The drawback is that usually the smaller the player, the less music it can hold. Though as technology has advanced, sometimes even the smallest MP3 players can hold hundreds if not thousands of songs.

Format Compatibility: The phrase MP3 Player is commonly used to describe any type of digital audio player. Though almost all of these players are compatible with the MP3 file format, they can usually play many other types of file formats as well. When it comes down to format compatibility, it truly depends on where you will be getting your music. If you plan to “rip” your music straight from your CD’s then you should be fine with just about any type of MP3 player, as you will usually have the option to “rip” the files in the MP3 format. If you plan on downloading your songs from iTunes, then your files will most likely be in the AAC format. Unfortunately, this file format is usually only compatible with iPods. Be sure to check an MP3 player is compatible with the file format the site you plan to download from currently offers before you make a purchasing decision.

Photos and Videos: If you will be relying on your MP3 Player to keep you entertained while away from home consider one that can display photos and videos. Many sites on the Internet are offering movies, shows, and other videos for consumers to view on their MP3 players. If you plan on only using your MP3 Player for listening to music, for example while you worked out, then an MP3 player without the photo and video capabilities will be just fine for you. Keep in mind that watching videos on an MP3 Player drains the battery out much faster than only listening to music.

Radio Tuners: Many MP3 Players on the market have FM tuners, which allow you to listen to the radio. This is perfect when you’re tired of listening to your own songs and want to hear something new. Some players even have an FM Recording function, so you can record a song you like straight off the radio.

Games: If you plan on using your MP3 Player to keep you entertained while on the go, than you might want a player that has games that you can play. This added feature can make a difference in the level of entertainment you get from your digital audio player.

Voice Recording: You can find a lot of MP3 Players that have a voice-recording function. These players have a built-in microphone, which can be perfect for students who want to record lectures in the classroom.

Battery Life: Check to see how long the battery life of a particular MP3 Player is. If the battery life isn’t as long as you plan to use it on a single charge, than it is best you look for something else. There’s no point to having an MP3 player that requires you to constantly charge it for it to work.

Definitions:

AAC Format: A file format developed by the MPEG group and similar in nature to mp3, though not as widely used. The AAC format is the format used by Apple’s iTunes music download service.

Gigabytes: A unit of storage measurement consisting of one billion bytes (one thousand megabytes).



FERDINAND

Thomas Pretty asked:


The MP3 or digital audio player has been with us for some time and can now be considered the most convenient and portable method of carrying music around with us. Before the development of the MP3 file format and subsequently a player for this format the most common form of digital music device was the personal CD player, however this had serious limitations, particularly in terms of size where it was restricted to the proportions of the CD.

Attempts were made to introduce a smaller device, taking the form of the Mini Disc player although its use was limited and it did not become as popular as the CD. Today, there is an MP3 player in nearly every home in the modern world; in addition they have been incorporated into mobile phones for ultimate convenience. But what is the history of this little device?

The first digital audio player or DAP was produced as recently as 1997 by a company named Sae Han Information Systems, it was marketed as the MPMan by this South Korean company throughout 1998. It utilised a flash based memory but could only hold a paltry sixteen megabytes of data. The size restrictions of this inaugural device led to the development of a player with a hard drive. Compaq conducted the initial foray and with the cooperation of HanGo Electronics released the PJB-100 (Personal Jukebox), a device that could hold almost 4.8 GB of date, equating to over a thousand songs.

It was from this point onwards that a device was released that would not only revolutionise the design of MP3 players but design in other fields. This was the first generation of Apple’s iPod. In the beginning it was the Macintosh fraternity who used the device but thanks to a simplistic interface and minimalistic styling it soon gained acclaim and grew in popularity. The second generation iPod was a revelation and was now compatible with Microsoft PCs and hence users now had more freedom to transfer their MP3 tracks. Many other manufacturers also got into the act and released players that were similar in function, if not in form to the iPod.

Fundamentally there are two main types of MP3 players on the market today, these are flash and hard-drive based. Flash players have no mechanical parts an instead hold the musical information on a flash memory that is either built into the device or is on a memory card. While in the early years of DAPs flash devices were seen as the more restricted of the two variants, modem technological advancements however have meant that flash players can hold up to around 32 GB. The benefits of flash MP3 players is that they have no moving parts and are hence less susceptible to failure as well as using less power.

Hard drive MP3 players differ from flash variants in the way that they have a mechanical drive that stores the data. The HDD is read by the device to access the music and because the data is stored mechanically they are able to hold larger amounts of data. In some cases hard drive players can hold as much as 250 GB of data; the benefit is that the user is able to carry their entire music collection wherever they go with ease.

Today the MP3 player is one of the most noticeable forms of technology that we see everyday. On the streets, on the plane, train or bus there is almost guaranteed to be someone listening to a DAP, by reducing the size of the personal music player through advances in data retention technology it has been possible to bring portable music to the masses.



Kansieo.com

Roberto Sedycias asked:


An Mp3 player is also known as a digital audio player, and it has become a regular fixture in our everyday lives. Everybody seems to have one these days. Walking the dog, at the gym, traveling to work, the idea that you can carry your entire music library with you anywhere is extremely appealing to most people.

MP3 players have made music easily accessible to everyone. You can simply download the songs from the free download sites and save them in your player and carry with you everywhere. Nothing could be better when you are stuck in a massive traffic jam and don`t know how to while away your time.

Mp3 stands for Moving Picture Experts Group layer III, and can be seen as a technology which audio data can fit smaller memory space, without any loss to audio quality. Raw audio data is normally very large and difficult to use on portable devices because of the lack of available storage. A standard audio CD can hold up to 80 minutes of audio data. With Mp3, about ten times more audio data can be stored in memory of the same size.

Although you will find many mp3 player brands in the market, there are mainly three Mp3 player types, mostly based on memory capacity. The Mp3 player with hard drive has the highest capacity and is often called a Jukebox Mp3 player. Examples are iPod video, Sony Walkman. The Micro Mp3 player with hard drive has a lower capacity and is lighter than an Mp3 player with hard drive. Examples are iPod Mini, Zen Micro (Creative Labs). The Mp3 player with flash memory is the smallest in size with the lowest capacity, and is very light. An example is iPod Nano.

An Mp3 player with hard drive is good for travel or for those compelled to be away from their computers for long periods of time. It is ideal for listening in the living room, and it can be connected to external speakers. An Mp3 player with flash memory is useful while jogging or at the gym because of its lightness.

Mp3 players were introduced in the early nineties, and ever since then, there has been a running argument over audio quality. A lot of people feel that Mp3 compression has an adverse effect on the quality of the sound; the others argue that the Mp3 audio format just removes the frequency of audio data that cannot be possibly heard by people, so there is no real loss in the sound quality.

More and more new features are being added to the Mp3 player with advancing technology. Some have built in digital photograph albums, as in the later generation iPod, and you can download and access your pictures while you are on the move. Some have analogue radio and digital radio receivers.

It is usually believed that MP4 is just a modern and updated version of MP3. But it is not so at all. It is something very different in its features. MP3 can be considered to be of a particular category belonging to audio formats, whereas MP4 is considered to be in a container format. However in spite of these differences, mp3 files can be run in either of the players.

One thing you will do well to remember is that your Mp3 player sound quality is only as good as the headphones you are listening with. So do spend a little time and money on superior quality headphones.



Create a video blog…instantly.

Alfred Ang asked:


MP3 player, also well known as digital audio player has become a staple of our gadget life. There are many brands of MP3 players on the market today. So, which MP3 player are the most suitable for you? That’s where this MP3 player guide comes in.

Basically, there are 3 types of MP3 player based on capacity: -

Hard drive MP3 player highest capacity largest in size heavy often labeled as an “Jukebox MP3 player” has moving parts example: Apple iPod video, Sony Network Walkman NW-HD5

2. Micro hard drive MP3 player

use smaller hard drives lighter than hard drive MP3 player lower capacity than hard drive MP3 player but higher capacity than flash memory MP3 player example: Apple iPod mini, Creative Labs Zen Micro

3. Flash memory MP3 player

smallest in size lowest capacity very light has no moving parts often labeled as an “portable MP3 player” example: mobiBLU Dah 1500i, Apple iPod nano

What should you concern when you want to buy a MP3 player?

Use / Purpose a) MP3 player good for travel Hard drive MP3 player is good for people traveling or away from computer for an extended period of time, where they can’t transfer music files from their computers. Micro hard drive MP3 player is another option for travel since it is slightly smaller and lighter than hard drive MP3 player. Flash memory MP3 player is also popular for travel if you do not mind to listen to the same music.

b) MP3 player good for sport / jogging / gym Flash memory MP3 player is good for people exercising and jogging since it is very light. No moving parts for Flash memory MP3 player make it ideal for sport.

c) MP3 player good for home use Hard drive MP3 player is good for listening song in living room. It is suited to be connected to external speakers.



Connectivity There are two main options to transfer files from your computer: USB or FireWire. USB supported by both PCs and Macs whereas FireWire is supported only on Macs. For PC users, they need to ensure that the MP3 player support USB 2.0 which is faster than USB 1.1. Most of the MP3 players on market today are support USB 2.0.



Display screen Majority of MP3 players have LCD screen. Some MP3 players have color screen instead of dull black and white screen. The main things to consider are all the information such as battery level, song name & elapsed time are easy to read.



Compatibility PC or Mac compatibility. Mac users should ensure the MP3 player can support Mac since some MP3 players can only support PC.



Battery MP3 players come with either rechargeable batteries (some can be charged via USB port) or disposable batteries.



Music format Music files can be one of several types of formats, such as MP3, AAC (Advanced Audio Coding), WMA (Windows Media Audio) and Ogg Vorbis. Ogg Vorbis is a completely open, patent-free, professional audio encoding and streaming technology with all the benefits of Open Source.



Functionality Some MP3 players have extra features such as voice recorder, FM radio, FM recorder, image viewer, video player.



Memory capacity Most of the flash MP3 players come with 256MB, 512MB and 1GB. For hard drive MP3 players, they have gigabytes of storage capacity. If you would like to store many songs or CD collections in one, hard drive MP3 player or micro hard drive MP3 player is a better choice for you.



Kansieo.com

Alden Jerry asked:


A MP3 is a device which uses digital technology for playing music. Hence it is also known as a digital audio player and performs three basic tasks of storing, playing and organising audio files. There are many types of MP3 which can be found in the market today. Thus the user can store up to 32 GB in a flash player like the Apple iPod Nano. He can also use a digital jukebox or a hard drive based player and thus create a personalised collection of songs by using the storing capacity up to 250 GB’s. The listener can also play his own CD’s in a MP3 CD player as well as receive audio files over a network using Wi-Fi in a network player.

There are many types of brands which can be bought by users in the MP3 market today. MP3 players are now made by many companies and come with a host of other features besides listening to music. Hence the user can enjoy his music with the help of a Shuffle MP3 player which have a storage capacity of up to 128MB and provides great quality in terms of music quality and overall device performance. There is also another brand which serves the dual purpose of playing songs and displaying their lyrics on an orange PLED screen. This is the Creative Muvo S200 player which can store up to 1 GB of music files. This model has up to 17 hours of playback time and has additional features such as a voice recorder and a FM Radio. This player is available in three colours of purple, silver and blue. It is also a light device to carry around as it weighs only 38 grams. The Suvo is thus another marvellous choice for a music lover.

With the success of the Apple iPod Nano, the MP3 market has been increasing in leaps and bounds. This success has led to increase in the interest of users in using MP3’s and now more people are buying MP3’s. The success of the digital audio player has hence led to the shift in the focus of format of listening music and hence the MP3 is here to stay.

Hence digital audio players or MP3 players are now beginning to dominate the minds of the people all over the world and there are many brands which are becoming popular with each passing day.

However these mediums are also available at cheap prices in many websites. The growing trend of online shopping has led to one positive effect when it comes to prices. Users can now browse numerous shopping websites in order to find the best deal available on MP3 players and thus save a lot of money. Cheap MP3 Players are now readily available and there are many brands which can be found at very low prices. The only thing that a person has to do is to invest some amount of time in browsing websites in the endeavour to discover cheap MP3 players. They are thus no longer luxury items and now anybody can buy these music players.

Some of the cheap mp3 players that are in the market today are made by famous corporate entities like Sony, Samsung and Philips. There are many websites where the user will find these brands being listed at unbelievably low prices. Other than these websites there are also auction websites where MP3 players are bidded at the lowest possible prices. These are those websites where the user can find astonishing players at very low prices.

Music has been a cherished act of human beings since the stone ages to the guitar crunching ballads of Metallica. The medium started with record players, then came the audio cassette and today the raging medium is the MP3. Hence these players are a wonderful source of enjoyment and serve the tradition of being the carriers of the ultimate peace giver in the world-music.



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