Listen while you... with multiple-use MP3s
Gatot Tio, Contributor, Jakarta
There is a wide selection to chose from to satisfy your entertainment needs, thanks to tough competition and continuous developments in technology.
Just few years ago, we were astounded by the introduction of a walkman with which one could listen to while working, jogging or sleeping. It is relatively cheap, light and portable, but unfortunately only one tape can be installed at a time.
In today's digital age, hundreds of songs with higher sound quality can be played on a smaller device called the MP3 pocket player, thanks to its MP3 audio and data compression. This digital device, which is costly, can also record, and also acts as an electronic telephone, memo book, organizer and data storage.
These stylish, tiny MP3 pocket players come in different brands and names such as ClikMan, Mpio, Mpman, Hansori, Diamond Rio and Yepp.
It is generally the same size as a cigarette case, and many new brands are lightweight.
If you are a sports enthusiast, you don't need to stop running to listen to your MP3 player. The MP3 has an extra "hold key" as well as an antishock system. Thus vibrations don't have a chance to disturb the music.
Some MP3 pocket players use a multimedia card, like PDA and Microboss. The smallest one is the Pocket Digital Audio (PDA) player, which uses a stamp-sized storage media called the Multi Media Card (MMC).
Currently MMC capacity is 16MB. The MP3 pocket player from Microboss is equipped with a Compact Flash Card, which has storage of between 8MB and 96 MT. That means over 40 songs can be stored on a card.
Some MP3 pocket players have unique features. The Mpio, for example, has a flash memory and PC interface based multifunction audio player that can act as a digital camera.
After connecting a digital camera to Mpio, the user can use Mpio's flash memory to store digital photos. It can also be used as a normal CCD camera when connected to a PC. Some MP3 pocket players also have FM/AM radio and include an equalizer, mega bass and earphone remote control support.
Compiling the latest hits for your player is as simple as a click. You can download them from the Internet or just copy them from an MP3 CD by using a PC.
The number of titles totally depends on the storage capacity of your player.
Pocket Concert by Intel, which plays both MP3 and WMA audio files, has an internal data storage capacity of 128 megabytes. With this capacity, you can enjoy up to four hours of music, depending on each song's bitrate. Bitrate is the number of bits of data used for each second of music.
The Pocket Concert comes with Intel's Audio Manager and, fortunately, a copy of MusicMatch software player. MusicMatch will recompress your songs to whatever bitrate you like. You will need Intel's software to delete songs from the player, but for everything else use MusicMatch.
Be warned though, recompressing files takes time: It took around a half an hour for MusicMatch to recompress and transfer four hours of music to the Pocket Concert.
Hopefully, the waiting time will be lessened very soon.