By: Jennifer Wasilewski
Posts Tagged ‘Mp3 Players’
MP3 Players – Why to Buy and What to Look For
February 15th, 2010How to Download Music to Zune
January 21st, 2010
Zune players are considered new compared to iPods. As such, not much information is available about how to download music to Zune. But if you are already familiar with using MP3 players, then what you read here would be simple to grasp.
Anyone who owns an iPod would know how to download music to Zune quite easily. You would need computer software. For iPod, it is iTunes software but for Zune, you can use the Windows media player which should be a resident program if you are using Windows OS. There are essentially 3 ways to get hold of the Zune music downloads.
The first is of course to rip songs from CDs and download music to your Zune. Simply load the disc onto your ROM drive and then activate Windows media player. Click on your CD icon and you should see the songs available on the disc.
From there, just pick the tracks you like and mouse click the “Rip” button. The songs that are ripped would appear shortly in the library. Once it is done, connect your player to the computer via a USB cable. If the settings are properly configured between your player and the PC, synchronization should take place automatically and it would download the music to your Zune.
Even if the synchronization is incomplete, what you can do is manually copy and paste the music files onto your player. It is as easy as ABC. But when you rip the songs, remember to save them in the following formats WMA, MP3, WMV and MOV as these are compatible with your Zune. Other formats like RealMedia and DivX are not, so don’t bother.
On top of ripping, there is another method to download music to Zune players. This is the common route which is to buy your songs from mainstream music stores like Zune marketplace, iTunes, Amazon and so on. Each song typically costs around $0.99 onwards.
There is a third option nowadays to download music to Zune players. It is quite new and revolutionary. For a flat fee, you can actually purchase a yearly or lifetime membership to paid services for unlimited Zune music downloads. There are more than a million songs and soundtracks to download. This alternative is becoming more popular among youngsters these days due to its affordability and constantly updated database.
Quite simply, these are all great ways to download music to Zune players. Why not pop over to my music blog and start transferring some nice cool songs onto your player?
By: Davion Wong
What Makes the MP3 Player Tick?
December 17th, 2009
While storing data in your MP3 player, you seldom stop to find how files are saved in the player’s memory. The different types of memory types include internal flash memory, Compact Flash cards, Smart Media cards, Memory Stick and internal micro drive.
Except for internal micro drive, all of the above mentioned are ‘solid-state’ memory types in which there are no moving parts. This enables better reliability and no skips while you are enjoying the music. There are tiny hard disk drives in MP3 players which have capacity to store 10 to 150 times more date compared to flash memory devices.
In any MP3 player, the microprocessor is the brains of the system, monitoring user input through playback controls, displaying all the statistics related to the song playing on the LCD panel and sending instructions to the DSP chip that tells exactly how to process the audio.
The DSP withdraws the data of songs from memory, through application of special effects, or EQ, and streams it to the amplifier. A decompression algorithm run by the DSP will undo the compression of the MP3 file and then a digital-to-analog converter will change the bytes back into sound waves.
After boosting the strength, the amplifier sends the signal to the audio port, which is connected to a pair of headphones.
MP3 players are portable and battery-powered. Most of them use one or two AA batteries that last for about 10 to 12 hours on a single charge. Many players are equipped with AC adapters and can be plugged into a normal electrical outlet and some even offer DC adapters for use in a car.
Minidisk technology comes to music listeners in a new and improved line of Minidisk Walkman digital music players. A 1 GB disc is provided by Hi-MD technology to give users up to 45 hours of music. Those looking for a player that can store their entire music collection would find the hard drive ideally suited for the purpose. These discs can also store and transfer many PC data files to enable PowerPoint presentations, spreadsheets, etc. and depending on the model, it could allow 30 to 50 hours of playtime on a single AA battery.
By: Andrew Stratton
